|| REVIEW || Omensight (PC)

Developed By : Spearhead Games                        Published By : Spearhead Games
Category : RPG, Fantasy                                                Release Date : May 15, 2018

Code provided by Spearhead Games

 

Are you ready to step into one of the most important gaming roles you'll ever face? Because the world of Urralia needs you. Who are you? You're the Harbinger, a mythical warrior who only shows up when things are going wrong, and this time things are about to go really wrong. After showing up, once night falls, you watch as the world around you crumbles and ends. A witch pulls you to the Tree of Life and informs you that a series of events has been set in motion that brings on the summoning of Voden and the end of the world. 

Based on what is known, the witch believes the event that set everything in motion was the death of Vera, the Godless-Priestess, but the location of her body is unknown. As the Harbinger, you are forced to relive through the final day of the world over and over in hopes of piecing together this mystery, and stopping everything before the world ends. 

Initially, you start off Omensight trekking through a forested area. You'll meet the two races who are pivotal in the events that will unfold : Pygarians and Rodentians. Additionally, you'll encounter some seemingly important people after their time has ended. As the Harbinger, you are able to interact with their souls and in a way...sort of bind them to you, which becomes rather important once you meet the witch in the Tree of Life. 

Your goal is to solve the murder of the Godless-Priestess, and those souls just might be your key in doing so. There's four in total that you'll need to rely on, but you can only do so one at a time. Each one is a companion of yours for the entirety of the last day of the world. But also, each one in some way is tied in to the events that result with the appearance of Voden. You'll need to follow each one in-turn and obtain whatever information you can, piecing together the mystery bit by bit.

That final day is broken down into four segments, which are always on display at the top of the load screens. You'll have morning, afternoon, evening and night...and Voden always comes at nightfall. Once you decide who you want to follow, you'll appear in their vicinity in the morning and silently introduce yourself (you're the Harbinger after all, recognizable on sight). From there you'll stay by their side until nightfall when the Witch brings you back to the Tree and you start the process again with someone else. 

During your day-period, you'll experience quite a lot of combat, so it's a good thing you came prepared with a sword! You can utilize quick and heavy attacks on all of your enemies, as well as possessing the abilities to jump and dodge. All of these things will come in more than handy with the many different enemies you'll face. They'll be from both races of people, because depending on who you are following for the day, it will determine who deems you a threat or an ally. 

Your companions each possess the ability to fight by your side, and also each has a special ability that you can "activate" on demand. These abilities, as well as your own that you will learn over time, all make up the majority of Omensight's RPG elements. On your journey's through "The Day" you'll obtain experience points for how you perform in battle, as well as a resource called Amber that can be found in any of the crates, barrels, and chests in the world. After you complete a cycle, you'll return to the tree and these two resources can be spent. 

The experience is dumped into a statue that provides your level, and with each level you will gain a new ability, or an enhancement on an ability you already had. These include things like special moves such as shooting a beacon of light at an enemy, slowing down time for a few moments, and being able to charge up your heavy attack and deal an instant deathblow on someone. Amber, your other resource, is spent on what are essentially upgrades. Mostly, these will be things for you...extending your health, making your sword or abilities stronger. But, as I mentioned before, your daily companions each have an ability themselves, and you can level this up as well.

The final, and maybe most important piece of Omensight is your "map" of the investigation. This contains all of the important people and information you'll uncover. Among the people you'll find each of your four companions, as well as Vera, our victim, and Voden, the wannabe eater-of-world himself. There's also a second page of this map that depicts the timeline of Vera's final actions, where she was and who she was with. You won't need to fill in every piece of this map along the way but you'll end up being extremely close by the time you save the world.

Every so often, your investigation will shift into a new phase. This means that you've obtained a very big and key bit of info. What's cool about this is you get to see the name of the game in action. Omensight is an ability of the Harbinger. Once you have this big piece of the puzzle, once you start the day with one of your four companions, you can pierce into their mind and share this with them as well, effectively shifting the course of the day for that particular person.

I got incredibly hooked on this game almost immediately, and for me that's saying something. Omensight uses a system to drive the game that I'm normally not a fan of. However, the key is in how Spearhead made excellent use of this system. Again, you're repeating the same day over and over. Just for reference, by the time I finished the game I'd completed over a dozen cycles of The Day. Not once did I dread another cycle, nor did I feel ripped off or anything. 

Each day is different from each perspective, and even when you join up with the same person for the third or fourth time, that particular day isn't even a repeat. Even more so, there may be points where you'll be following one companion and you'll reach a dead end, something blocking your path so you're forced to find an alternate route around when, in fact, that blocked path is where you need to be...you just need to experience the day with someone else to learn how to get past it. Naturally, in this scenario, that means you'll have to replay the day just to get to that path and unblock it. Spearhead was thoughtful enough that when you re-join that day with that same companion, you'll be fast-forwarded to the appropriate time of day. So if you encounter your road block during the evening time, when you return to that companion you'll skip over the morning and afternoon. 

Omensight feels like so many different things wrapped into one. There's RPG elements, a murder mystery, combat and even some puzzle-like elements. But, to be short what this game is...is incredible. Every aspect of it the story, the art-style, the mechanics driving it all, it's a perfect package for an amazing experience. I'm sure a lot of people just might be put off by the system of repeating the same day, but I can promise you that once you're in this game, it doesn't feel that way at all. I promise you, this journey is more than worth taking.

Game Rating : 9/10

Game Played on : Steam (PC)
Also Available on : Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch