Should You Play or Watch GNOSIA First?

Petit Depotto's GNOSIA was recently turned into an anime, giving players the opportunity to learn more about their favourite characters. With the visual novel existing since 2022, it's up in the air to wonder: should you play or watch GNOSIA first?

It's worth noting, right off the bat, that GNOSIA is an amazing experience to behold, boasting a unique narrative and gameplay mixture that won't be replicated for quite some time. The easy answer is that, for those who are dedicated to enjoying the most out of it, the visual novel makes sense to tackle first, as the show adds more to the experience, but there's nothing like getting to be the protagonist first-hand.

That said, there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer that I can give because the time investment to enjoy both is vastly different. The anime runs for 21 episodes of about 25 minutes each, running for about seven hours, whereas the visual novel — with perhaps less context and fewer scenes with some characters — runs for about 30 hours.

For me, it took 189 loops to reach the end of the experience, including all of the Steam achievements to be found. This took me 33 hours to do, with some grinding near the end for a hyper-specific ability to unlock.

However, the anime will always, consistently, be a seven-hour-long endeavour, and it's a binge-worthy one at that. The story follows mostly the same scenes, though some of them were removed, as keeping every bit of context across the 15-character cast may have been a bit too much to tackle.

You do get a lot of the package for watching GNOSIA and getting to know the characters, but I do feel there's a lot to love from experiencing the game first-hand that gets lost on watching first. There were plenty of moments I enjoyed more while playing that I feel would lose their impact if you know the context from the anime, and some elements were less impactful when watched rather than experienced.

For those who want to enjoy the full package of GNOSIA, it makes more sense to play the game first and then watch the anime. There is a lot of extra context to be found from playing first, and knowing everything will devalue the narrative from the visual novel's perspective.

For those who don't have as much time to dedicate over 40 hours to the franchise, then experiencing the anime first is the way to go. You don't have to min-max the enjoyment, and across the seven-hour runtime for the season, you'll get all the information you'll need from the characters, though you're sacrificing experiencing it as the protagonist, opting to watch Yuri endure the moments in your stead.