Review – Omensight

I love a good murder mystery, don’t you? A body, a place, motive and a weapon, the ingredients for a delicious assassination. But what if killing the intended victim precipitated the end of the world? Well, in Omensight it means a time bending investigation at the hands of the Harbinger!

Omensight stars the Harbinger, a divine agent with sharp senses, intellect and sharp blade and a really short temper. She’s only meant to appear when the end of the world is night and its mission is to do its damnedest to prevent it.

Omensight is an investigative action adventure taking place over the course of three days, with four suspects to pursue and multiple ways the days can go.

Release Date: May 2018

The Good

• Doom is Sunny: Just because it’s the end of the world and there’s an apocalyptic serpent rising from the void to consume the land, doesn’t mean Omensight has to look the part. The world in which it takes place is wonderfully realised in lovely colourful and bright cel-shaded visuals that do wonders to bring the furry and feathery inhabitants of the world to life. Even the world-rending entity has a nice bright purple and black colour scheme that is instantly memorable, as is the Harbinger’s own inner blue light.
• Battle Dance: Combat in Omensight is fast, not only in the character’s attack speed but also how fast you must react to avoid enemies or using your special skills. It takes the press of a button to avoid incoming blows, and you can either mash buttons for attacks or hold for other powers, making it easy to chain abilities together. The controls get in the way (more on that below) but it’s a fast-paced system that takes skill to master.
• I’ll hire the DJ: The music of Omensight is outstanding, with powerful melodies throughout the game, some of them darker than others, matching the locale you’re exploring and the tension of the scenes. The pieces with lyrics, harmonies or choirs are especially good. Ratika’s song is a delight—as is the character.
• Gotta love the Bard: I love Ratika. I have my issues with the overall characterisation in Omensight, but the little mouse bard is a joy to see and listen to. Her voice actor, Leda Davies is just phenomenal. In a world of haughty Emperors, dry Generals and raging bears, Ratika jokes and mocks and finds the humour in every situation. The only way it would’ve been better is if she broke the 4^th wall at least once.
• Memorable Criminals: Between the voice acting and their personal stories the cast of suspects will definitely win you over, which is what makes the ending even more unbearable, but we’ll get to that.
• Nothing is True: Like a good murder mystery, you receive tons of clues but not all of them are true. You’ll find information that overwrites things you’ve already witnessed, adding twists to the story that broaden the picture considerably.
• Criminal Sidekick: Omensight takes a stab at the murder mystery genre in a unique way. Instead of pursuing the suspects from afar, you’ll join and follow them on their days, learning about them and their motivations, then using your eponymous ability to show them visions of what you’ve uncovered, changing their path on this time loop and opening the way to new revelations. These characters act as companions during those days, not only providing help with the plot but also joining you in combat with powerful skills. It’s pretty cool.
• Skip to the Good Bits: Omensight is repetitive, there’s no avoiding that, but if you decide to follow a character you’ve already visited with your current set of clues and observations, you’ll be allowed to skip to the 2^nd stage of their scenario, so you can choose a different option than before. Loved this option. It does have the caveat of not earning as much XP and upgrade resources, but some of these scenarios are annoying to do even once.

The Bad

• Throw the Keyboard: If you dare to play this with mouse & keyboard you’re in for a rough time, as I was. Instead of classic WASD movement, in Omensight you only use the forward button, controlling character facing with the mouse, without the ability to backpedal or even strafe, it makes moving in combat somewhat messy at time, especially if you’re surrounded. I found myself attacking in the same direction many times, as my fingers naturally went for the keys to move me. I’m disappointed, beyond words, that it’s impossible to manually bind keys or change movement schema.
• Controller Amnesia: Omensight tends to forget you’re pressing a key after cutscenes, so if you were holding the button down to pick up immediately, especially on those time-sensitive segments, you’re in for a big surprise and a bad time! Sometimes it’ll even refuse to recognise the button presses for a few seconds.
• Déjà vu: In a game taking place over limited locales and with a time loop, you’re in for some repeat scenarios, but in Omensight you really play them to the point of nausea and tedium, especially as the base scenarios play out in the same way, with only the 2^nd part of the level branching out. More variety, or a greater impact on the lives of your suspects, would have been welcome.
• One Boss with many Faces: Adding to the overwhelming repetitiveness of Omensight is the boss design. No matter who it is, all boss fights are essentially identical, a character floating in the air firing off projectiles at you. There are only two fights that are unique, and they prove to be the most challenging and entertaining.
• Perpetually Bad Ending: Omensight’s ending is one of those kick in the gut endings, where the hero vanquishes the villain but there’s a price. I don’t usually have a problem with this, but Omensight takes it to the extreme, with every character involved in the story having a miserable ending and worse still, instead of balancing that out with the complete destruction of the evil entity, they only show it imprisoned and make it clear it will eventually escape again and destroy the world. The result is that the entire journey feels worthless. And no, there aren’t multiple endings, I checked.

Gallery