Omensight | PS4 Review
You are the Harbinger. Your duty is to avert the apocalypse. You must find and solve the murder of the Godless-Priestess, and you only have one day to do so. Unluckily, there is war brewing between the nations of Rodentia and Pygaria. Luckily, time is on your side. You will relive this day as many times as it takes to find the answers you need. Such is the task of one gifted with the power of omensight.
Omensight is from developer and publisher Spearhead Games, whose past work includes Stories: The Path of Destinies. Much like that game, a branching narrative takes center stage here. As mentioned, your task is to solve a murder, which in some way is connected to the upcoming end of the world. Each time you relive the final days of the world, you can spend your time with different characters that offer up varying clues.
One Day to Save the World
The key to solving the crime is this information you gather. Unlike other games that purport to have you piece together a mystery, Omensight really feels like you are. Instead of taking a character through a set path to reach a conclusion, it truly does seem like it is you making the connections. It’s a formula that feels both compelling and addicting.
Less compelling and addicting is the combat, however. It’s flashy and simple, but does overstay its welcome in the game’s 8-10 hour running time. Due to the nature of the story, you’ll be replaying the same areas a lot. It’s usually not an issue, as the new revelations distract you from any potential tedium, but when you have to fight through the same escort mission five times it definitely drags.
The combat is simple for sure, but it gets the job done. The animation work makes the game seem like a cartoon come to life, and it was never boring seeing The Harbinger do her work. Some of the enemy types are more annoying than challenging, but for the most part it’s fine. It just seems like a lot of it is there to pad the length a little.
There’s also a decent chunk of platforming in the game, but it never becomes difficult or engaging. Plenty of nooks and crannies hide collectibles, typically either experience points or character backstory. The backstories take the form of short stories that, though sometimes awkwardly written, add a lot of depth to the characters.
Two Sides to Every Story
Though the gameplay never truly shines, the characters do. Because you spend time on both sides of the war, you see many perspectives on every character. It paints everyone in a fair light and shows that every war has two sides believing themselves right. The only niggle in the plot is how it eventually devolves into the typical “save the world” plot of every video game. Though in truth, the ending is so good and gut-punching that it’s easy to forgive.
I want to give special shoutouts to production on this game. The music is beautiful in its ability to breath a fairy tale life to this world of anthropomorphic animals. The camera work is also stellar. Cameras aren’t something I notice in games typically, but Omensight has a really great one. You can’t control it directly, but it’s very dynamic in how it follows The Harbinger. It’s constantly moving around in interesting ways, but never getting bothersome. I was really impressed.
Omensight is really good at what is wants to do. It’s obvious the gameplay wasn’t the top priority for the studio, but the focus on story pays off. It’s a really interesting mystery to solve and has stellar lead characters. If you’ve ever wanted to feel like a proper crime sleuth in game, this one is for you.
This review is based of of a PS4 review copy provided by Spearhead Games and Evolve PR for coverage purposes.
Omensight
$19.99
Pros
- Beautiful Visuals
- Stellar Camera
- Enchanting Music
- Fun Detective Gameplay
Cons
- Mediocre Combat
- Repetitive Encounters
