Electric Nightmares

Our four part series about generative AI and its use in video games

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Striking A Discord: Ossuary

Discordian adventure coming to Steam

I choose to see the funny side of Ossuary, a gloriously strange Discordian adventure game from Future Proof, home of Gregory Avery-Weir, creator of (I Fell In Love With) The Majesty Of Colours and Looming. Upon its initial release back in 2013, I found Ossuary baffling. "What could it all mean?" I asked, never expecting anybody to answer. I played it eventually and while I never managed to answer that initial query, I found a hundred more deliciously clever questions.

If you've ever stared at a list of upcoming releases and wished for something extraordinary to shake things up, pay attention to Ossuary. It's coming to Steam on May 27th and deserves a second helping of devotees.

Ah, but what is Ossuary? It's a game with the appearance of an oldschool JRPG but the sensibilities of a point and click adventure. It's a setting full of horror and death, but the skull is grinning - laughing even. You will walk through a mysterious (mostly) monochromatic world, collecting sins and 'giving' them to the people you meet.

It contains more than 32,000 words of dialogue and, while I probably haven't read all of them, I'm willing to state that at least 95% are good words. Good words in the right order.

Here's an example of what you might experience, straight from the developer's outbox:

You are a mysterious traveler who arrives in the Ossuary, the place of bones, and tries to find a way forward while undertaking quests from the strange leaders of the dark place. At the moment, you must gain access to the Museum’s Furnace, one of five places of power. You have to use Sloth on the inhuman Furnace Keeper to convince it to take you on as an assistant. You must then gather three artifacts and convince the Administrator to choose one to be burned in the Furnace; only then will the Keeper open the Furnace doors.

There are also cabbages disguised as people. You can play the demo right now and if you're not inclined to wait for the Steam release, the game is available direct from the developers.

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About the Author

Adam Smith

Former Deputy Editor

Adam wrote for Rock Paper Shotgun between 2011-2018, rising through the ranks to become its Deputy Editor. He now works at Larian Studios on Baldur's Gate 3.

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