Spearhead Games, the developers of Omensight, released Stories: The Path of Destinies back in 2016. Following the adventure of Reynardo, a fox swordsman, the game made use of multiple branching story paths and game endings to weave an intricate tapestry of a tale. Spearhead Games have since been working hard on their latest action adventure role-playing game, Omensight, and thankfully it follows in the footsteps of their previous game’s success. Omensight takes place in the same world as Stories: The Path of Destinies, so many aspects of the game may seem familiar to players that played the developer’s earlier title.
In Omensight, players will take on the role of the Harbinger, a mythical, spiritual being that has been foretold to appear at the end of days to save the world from utter destruction. The Harbinger appears in the midst of a war between two factions in Urralia and is immediately thrust into battle. After a quick spat with the enemy, players will learn more about why the Harbinger was summoned and begin unravelling the mystery behind the impending apocalypse.
Omensight slowly introduces players to its character cast. The Harbinger, being the player’s character, is an ethereal being that can traverse time and bring about changes to the world thanks to their influence on history. The Harbinger must find out what happened to Urralia’s priestess and discover why a world devouring serpent known as Voden has suddenly made an appearance. A colourful cast of characters including Bird Emperor Indrik, General Draga, and the Rodent rebellion leader Ratika along with many others make an appearance. These characters will ultimately shape the way the story unfolds as the Harbinger relives and alters their history to uncover the truth behind the end of days.
Gameplay in Omensight feels a lot like Stories: The Path of Destinies. Though this time around, the nasty framerate problems have been resolved. Combat is about as hack and slash as it gets with the Harbinger being able to pull off flashy sword combos and make use of time altering magic skills. Apart from the fast paced, highly enjoyable combat, Omensight makes use of platforming with adventure exploration elements. Levels have paths that need to be unlocked and revisited later and this adds to the game’s replayability and longevity. By introducing new areas to explore and new story elements that previously did not exist in a level, Omensight somewhat eliminates the repetitive nature of travelling through time and reliving a moment of history.
The Harbinger will gain levels by defeating foes and using an altar at the Tree of Time to power up at the end of a story segment. Additionally, blue amber can be used to purchase upgrades to health and unlock new time related skills. This is standard fare for any self-respecting role-playing game and Omensight handles character and level progression just fine. At no point did I feel that the game was unfair. There are some segments where the camera control can be atrocious and can contribute to your untimely demise, but these are few and far between. The game is not overly difficult but those that are seeking a challenge may find themselves disappointed.
The voice acting in the game is absolutely phenomenal with Patricia Summersett (Zelda: Breath of the Wild) and Julian Casey (We Happy Few, Stories: The Path of Destinies) delivering stellar performances. Players will feel as if they are a part of a believable world and the game’s art design, gorgeous aesthetic and dramatic soundtrack contribute to this greatly. Spearhead Games implemented Unreal Engine 4 for Omensight and have clearly learnt how to use it to craft a beautiful game.
As the spiritual successor to the well-received Stories: The Path of Destinies, Omensight delivers on our expectations. The game might feel a tad out of place with Triple-A titles competing against it but for those that want to enjoy a game with a gripping story filled with intrigue and extremely fun gameplay, Omensight is a great choice.
If playing on the Nintendo Switch you get the full game with its core value still there, however, the game’s resolution while playing in handheld mode lets it down. Having the opportunity to play anywhere at anytime, is always where the Switch stands out over all other systems and the question here is, would you be willing to lose resolutions to playing the game on the go, or would you prefer to just playing it in the home, then playing this game on other systems is a better option.
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