Omensight Review (PC)

The name of the studio that made Omensight, Spearhead Games, is probably less known than its previous creation – Stories: The Path of Destinies. Much like Stories, Omensight wants to revolutionize the action game genre without confusing its fans.

Although Omensight is purely an action game with some light RPG elements, it heavily relies on the narrative aspect to keep players engaged. While those who've played Stories: The Path of Destinies will feel right at home, the rest will get a taste of Spearhead Games' rather unique combat playing Omensight.

Visually, both Spearhead's games are similar, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, Omensight introduces a brand new time travel mechanic that allows the player to change the past within certain limits.

The time travel mechanic forces players to take some strategic decision throughout the story, which could influence the way some characters evolve. Unfortunately, there's one ending, so no matter what decisions the players takes, it will not have any influence on how the game ends.

The Harbinger is called to save Urralia

For Urralia!

In Omensight, you play as the Harbinger, a godly creature who only appears when the world is in grave danger. The world of Urralia is ravaged by a war between two factions: Pygarians and Rodentians. The former is an imperialistic faction led by the bird Emperor Indrik, while the latter fights for total freedom under the rule of Ratika the mouse.

There are a couple of other important characters in the game that can influence the story, like General Draga, one of the clever leaders of the Pygarian faction, and, in contrast, the dim-witted Ludomir, a ferocious brute who smashes skulls for the Rodentians.

Your main goal is to save Urralia from being consumed by the void brought by Voden, the evil god of destruction who's been imprisoned by a legendary hero many years ago. As a matter fact, Voden does manage to escape and consume Urralia, but, with the help of the Witch, the Harbinger can travel in time and change the actions that led to the gloomy outcome.

General Draga, the most knowledgable character in the game

The catch is that you'll be able to take one of these characters that play a major role in the story with you each time you're sent back in time. You'll relive the same day over and over again, but from a different perspective. The downside is you'll visit the same locations many times and even if you'll team up with different characters and the landscapes might be changed a bit, it almost becomes a chore.

What's really interesting is how you progress into the game in order to prevent Voden from raining destruction upon Urralia. Each time you're sent back in time, one day before Voden consumes Urralia, you must investigate and find clues that will finally reveal the person(s) responsible for Voden's escape.

During your travels, you'll find background information about the characters that often team up with you to help save the world. Some of the details that you find about these characters may shed light on some of their actions that couldn't have been explained otherwise. Finding these details isn't hard and neither mandatory, but it adds a nice flavor to the narrative and makes it easier for the players to take some decisions later on.

Time travel mechanic is a double-edged sword

Although it's an interesting concept, because the Harbinger is sent back in time at the beginning of the same day and forced to visit the same locations over and over again, Omensight becomes repetitive pretty fast. The slight changes in atmosphere aren't enough to get rid of that feeling that you're doing the same thing over and over again.

Moreover, the fact that you're fighting pretty much the same enemies doesn't help either. Luckily, the fluid, satisfying combat system ultimately redeems Omensight and makes some of the rather dull moments a bit interesting.

In Omensight, you'll visit five location over and over again

The folks over at Spearhead Games strongly recommend that the game be played with a controller, and they're pretty much correct. Many of the combos that you learn throughout the game are easier to execute with the controller rather than mouse and keyboard.

Although sometimes combat can become more of a button mash fest, it greatly rewards players who manage to execute complex combos with extra in-game currency, which is used to upgrade Harbinger's powers. It's true that the ideas behind the combat system and some of the attacks and combos sound great on paper, but I've finished the game using 2-3 attack combinations just because they work great together and are easy to execute. The rest require some planning ahead and, while more rewarding, heavily depend on the environment.

Another aspect that I've been hit with during my playthrough is the difficulty throughout the game. Difficulty spikes are present in Omensight and no, it doesn't become easier if you lower the game's difficulty just for those parts. Thankfully, I've only encountered two or three unusually difficult battles, but with a bit of luck and perseverance I didn't spend too much time getting passed them.

Discover clues, save the world!

Since I've mentioned some of the negatives, I'm going to highlight some of the things that I loved as well. Although I did play Stories and I knew what to expect visually, I was still positively surprised by Spearhead's art style. I also loved the soundtrack and the fact that all characters (NPCs included) are voiced and the actors are doing a pretty good job.

Surprisingly, the developers chose to make the Harbinger an insightful being who doesn't have the gift of speech. It gives her (yup, it's a she) an aura of mysticism, which a really liked. And finally, all the major characters that play a part in the story have solid personalities, which can be influenced by your actions, and that's something that keeps you immersed in the world of Urralia and the conflict between the two factions – Pygaria and Rodentia.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion