Gnosia

This game uses a visual novel role-playing game format mixed with an RNG social deduction game. It is single player and utilizes a timeloop structure to create new situations. Aboard a spaceship, the player and several NPCs must deduce who on board is a Gnosia, an alien-like creature that will kill the regular humans on board. The player works with the NPCs to suss out and nominate the potential Gnosia suspects and put them into cryo-sleep.

The player can also be Gnosia, in which case they know the other Gnosia on board and will work together to try to eliminate the humans. The number of Gnosia as well as the number of NPCs on board as well as the player's role, is determined prior to each loop beginning. In addition to regular humans and Gnosia, there are other roles, including the Doctor (who can investigate the recently frozen NPCs and determine if they were human or not), the Engineer (who can investigate non-frozen characters to determine if they are human), the Guardian Angel (who can protect high-risk targets from elimination by the Gnosia), Guard Duty (who are two guaranteed humans who can vouch for each other), Anti-Cosmic Follower (also referred to as AC Follower; who is a human that sides with the Gnosia), and the Bug (who is essentially playing for themselves, trying to stay alive to the end of the round and seizing victory for themselves, destroying the universe).

Gnosia is set in the far future, where humanity has become a massive spacefaring civilization, dealing with a threat called Gnosia, an infestation that compels people to murder other people in the name of their god, Gnos. The player character manages to get a ride on a refugee ship escaping from a planet being ravaged by the Gnosia. However, during the trip to another planet, the ship's computer LeVi detects Gnosia infection on board the ship and following protocol, instructs the passengers and crew to deduce which one of them is the Gnosia and put them into cold sleep. If they fail to do so, the ship is forced to self-destruct.

However, the player quickly discovers that regardless of the outcome of the investigation, time loops back to the initial discovery of the Gnosia infection. The player also discovers one of the passengers, Setsu, has also been trapped in a series of time loops, and they both agree to collaborate to figure out how to escape their loops. However, when time loops, the conditions are not always identical; the number of humans and Gnosia can change, as well as the identity of the Gnosia. The player even gains the ability to manually adjust the settings for each loop as they play through numerous different scenarios.

Gnosia's development first began in 2015 by four-person indie studio Petit Depotto, being their second video game released after Unholy Heights. Unholy Heights originally released in Japan on the Xbox 360 in 2012. The Gnosia team was led by game designer Toru Kawakatsu, who goes by the pseudonym Mezukare. They were inspired to make the game after playing a werewolf-style game and finding the construction of the experience lacking, which lead to them planning to make their own version they would enjoy.

Development of this project began in 2015 on PlayStation Mobile, though it was initially not planned to be released. It was eventually announced for a PlayStation Vita release in 2017, and was ultimately published by Mebius in Japan on June 20, 2019, shortly after the platform was discontinued. The music was composed early into development, without the context of the gameplay, cast, or story to develop it.

Gnosia received generally positive reviews from video game critics. Katsuhiko Hayashi, head of the Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards committee, awarded Gnosia due to the "level of satisfaction we heard from players [being] extremely high." In 2022's Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards, Gnosia was voted number one in every category, including best indie game, most unique indie game, best indie game music, best indie game scenario, and best indie game character. The latter category was won by Setsu, though the second, third, and fourth placements were held by Raqio, Sha-Ming, and SQ, respectively.

It received a score of 82 on MetaCritic based on 39 reviews, ranging from a perfect 100 from Digitally Downloaded to a 40 from Switch Brasil. Mollie Patterson of Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the game's single-player adaptation of a typically multiplayer affair, stating: "arguing against the computer in an attempt to determine who is the human-killing alien in your group is far more dynamic and exciting than you’d ever expect this type of game to be." Nintendo Life's Trent Cannon found joy in the "clever, varied game design," deeming it perfect for both short or long gaming sessions.