Ossuary Reviews

Ossuary is a short but interesting little game that, while the gameplay is rather simple and text-based overall, manages to convey a fascinating world with thought-provoking concepts to keep players engaged. I will say that I was introduced to this game by someone who thought it'd be fun to speedrun, and so far it is, as categories for it are pretty short if you don't want to dedicate time to trying to do a full run of the game. In essence, if you want to try out an interesting little "horror" experience, I'd recommend giving Ossuary a try.

Very enjoyable, tickles my pineal gland in all the right ways. Why did the chaotic magician decide to work at the ossuary? Because he had a knack for raising a real "skeleton crew"! This joke was brought to you by GPT-4

I am a sucker for a good story. I am intrigued by Ossuary's spin on philosophy. One of Ossuary's best qualities, is that it seems to cover every angle and every side. Five Sides preferably (Including the roof). I really appreciate the amount of time it must have taken to compile all of the character dialogue. It is in depth and interesting (thought provoking). As I continue playing I will update my opinion. I am convinced my opinion will be the same however. Ossuary? Awesome, Very! ~kingofhearts2540~

Ossuary's description and video make it seem like a surreal/creepy horror game, but the gameplay heavily detracts from that feeling. You play as a person-like entity who wanders around and talks to other person-like entities. The unsettling vibe is undercut by game-y, boring 'quests' where you talk to Person A, who tells you to talk to Person B on the other side of the map, who then tells you to talk to Person C, then back to Person A. Then you are rewarded with an item that lets you talk to Person D, and so on. The sole mechanic in the game is using your Sins on different people to get the reaction you need to advance a quest. This is interesting thematically but is actually just dressing for a very old adventure game mechanic. Corrupting a soul with the sin of wrath is not fundamentally different from "USE [object] ON [subject]". Just as it does in adventure games, this boils down to a trial-and-error system where you end up mindlessly using every sin on every character, as the puzzle's logic is skewed and often only makes sense in retrospect. Ossuary's story is its strongest asset. It has a good theme, coherent design, and well-executed characters. As a satire of 1st world society it is a decent framework; unfortunately, the writing is weak. Much of it leans heavily on Discordian texts and similar 60's counterculture pseudophilosophies. This is what initially drew me to the game, being a fan of that sort of thing. But the writing here is largely referential in nature and brings neither the wit nor the insight of the source material. It reads like a creepypasta Principia Discordia fanfic. All in all, the biggest flaw in Ossuary is the tedious gameplay. The store page sells this game entirely on the ambience and aesthetic, but you'll spend less time going "wtf that's messed up!!" and more time going "uuuuuuugghhhhh why do I have to walk BACK to that guy". I give it a 2/5 fnord.

Clearly recommended. Quite a fun little game. I really like the ideas of these devs and I'd like to see more from them. They make weird conceptual games, don't read too much about it, just try it.

One of a kind. Clever light puzzles, superb atmosphere and lots of good dialogues, almost text-based; overall, most of the game is "optional" but I've found myself wanting to uncover more and more. The setting and objectives are pretty straightforward and almost the whole map is open since the start, so it's more of a morbid curiosity about the strange ideas and the hypocrisy that populate this tiny world, other than progressing a plot. It's about the journey. If you're willing to play something different and make use of sins as a game mechanic: 100% recommended.

don't bother playing this unless you (like me) have fallen into a state of mental ruin so intense that you're able to understand the most absurd and meaningless things Seriously, this is a really effing good game, but it's surreal and confusing from start to finish. That's what makes it so enjoyable to me. I'm a philosophy buff and pretty into the occult so it was right up my alley; it's not for everyone. I do wish, somewhat, that it was a little longer, but I imagine if it were any longer it'd get old quickly. The concept is better suited for a shorter game.

It is short. The gameplay is text-based puzzle solving. It is confusing, and in the end seems to ask more questions than it answers. If you are still undeterred, I highly recommend you buy this brilliant game. Its writing manages to evoke a unique and often unsettling lore and setting, and it poses questions with an intelligence I have scarcely seen in videogames as a whole. It is creepy, atmospheric, often surreal, and yet made me laugh multiple times. Do yourself a favour and pick this one up. Maybe don't even play it immediately. Forget about it, leave it for yourself to stumble across later on. You wont regret it.

Buyer beware: Treat this game as if it were a visual novel with very little to no gameplay. It's more of an interactive venture into philosophy and whatnot. A "Talk N' Walk" if you will. Gameplay amounts to talking to NPC's over and over and collect a variety of four particular "core aspects" each of the 4 main NPC's will require of you. In doing so, you get an "ending" which is a summary quote of the ideologies behind that particular NPC's beliefs. There is very little to play here. A very loose definition of what a game is. You really need to understand this BEFORE you spend $8 on it. To re-emphasize my point: it is not so much a game, as it is more a visual novel. I impulse bought and I will admit I was a bit annoyed. Especially since I got all 6 endings in under 2 hours. The disappointment subsided however due to the amount of text that is included and the atmosphere the game gave. So, when you see it as more of a sprawled out book while you keep your hands busy doing other things, then it becomes a bit more tolerable. Also, tagging it horror is a bit poor taste. it isn't really "horror." The aesthetic gives it a "horror" look but it isn't really. It's all atmosphere. The cool thing is when you get 6 endings, the developer opens up to you via a notes page so it is always nice to have that kind of transparency. There is also 26 achievements with the bulk being secret ones, so I imagine that will be where most of the "replayability" will come from. Finding all those. There is also a couple other things I couldn't figure out post game, so I imagine there is even more hidden stuff or whatever if that is your bag. The developer was kind enough to release a demo. Play THAT first. In doing so, it's basically playing the actual game for free. The gameplay does not change, and what you get in the demo is what you get in the real game. Have a good day.

Ossuary might be the most fun religious game I've ever played since the Shin Megami Tensei series. Ossuary is basically Bible Adventures but for Discordianism - and actually fun to play. But what's Discordianism, you ask? Well, in the late 1960s, a small group of american counterculture theorists, magicians and writers decided to sketch out a parody of all religion - which turned out to be a completely valid religion in its own right. This religion has as its "main" texts several editions of The Principia Discordia. These editions laid out the contradictory, absurd, non-foundation for a religion that has somehow stuck in culture. Discordianism, the world's first open source religion, is basically a collage of Zen Buddhism, western philosophy, parodies of ceremonial magic and a healthy dose of drugs. And you're one of its Popes. Ossuary is a clever way to express the views of the Principia Discordia in game form. The world of Ossuary is an allegory of what is called the Aneristic Delusion and the Curse of Grayface: the current "fallen" state of humanity. It's a world where people take themselves too seriously with ridiculous results. What the Principia presents as metaphorical, Ossuary represents as literal. All of the factions in Ossuary come from the Principia Discordia. Your quest in this game is to collect Sins and share that corruption with others, hopefully helping them chill out a bit. Ossuary is only very slightly a "game", it has minimal interaction. But it's an excellent way to immerse yourself in Discordianist thought. It's a way to interact with the tenets of a religion. If you care for useless philosophical navel-gazing, enjoy paradoxes or are in any way attracted to any occult tradition, I strongly recommend Ossuary. If you're a serious person who wants serious action-packed games, you might want to skip this. Or better yet, open your pineal gland and try something outside your comfort zone.