Game info: Wikipedia
Listening: soundtrack album, extracted audio
Info
Here’s the Q flavor game soundtrack I mentioned without naming last month! GNOSIA kind of looks like a game-of-death visual novel, which isn’t entirely inaccurate, but it’s really a game where you repeatedly play randomized rounds of Werewolf against AI, and sometimes if the conditions are right with certain people being alive with certain roles, you’ll unlock brief events that advance the storyline or elaborate on characters’ backstories. It’s an interesting mix of logical deduction and pure vibes in trying to read intentions into how AI personalities respond in different situations. The logic system under the hood is really sophisticated, being able to prove people’s roles with complex multi-step analysis and then teasing you with “hey there’s someone who’s for sure a human but it’s up to you to figure out who,” and it’s really satisfying to spend 15 minutes poring over the discussion logs to find out what the fuck it’s talking about (and the computer is always right).
GNOSIA’s soundtrack is mostly in Q flavor’s standard style that you’ll find in other original and remix works from around the same time and earlier: a glassy, synthy, noisy, and often glitchy sound design that’s sometimes lush and sometimes hyperactive, mixed with tracks that tend to be chill and downtempo, tending to be more ambient or trip hop but oftentimes cuter, funkier, and/or more melodically-focused. This is a sci-fi game that takes place on a spaceship, so the spacey and somewhat suspicious vibe of the style is a pretty obvious fit atmospherically.
My attraction to Q flavor’s music is mostly because of their sound design and not so much their composition, which I generally find a bit less interesting. The result is that I tend to like the wonkiest track in this game the most, darker ones that focus more on noise or weird sounds, which is the standard outcome of every third post I make here. They’re very consistent in their sound design though, so even their simpler or more normal tracks have something to love in that respect. This soundtrack is a really good introduction to their work, if you’re unfamiliar with it.
Recommended tracks:
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“call of ender” is one of several vocals in the game, so you can get a taste of Q flavor’s songwriting too (which still has glassy, synthy, noisy, and glitchy sound design)
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“voting” plays during deliberation and is very percussive
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“enjoying my routine” is my favorite of the happier and funkier tracks in the game, featuring some erratic hoovering
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“a sip of wonder” I’m only realizing now reminds me a bit of Sayako Doi’s map themes from Splatoon 3 in the layered sound design and syncopated phrasing (though I don’t think Q flavor is secretly her……… I think…………..)
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“we all broken” plays when the universe disintegrates and suitably sounds like the universe is disintegrating
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“shooting stars go away” has some warm and rich synth phrases, has a little bit of an ’80s synth music feel to me
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