Electric Nightmares

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The sky's the limit in pretty puzzle adventure Omno

Hit me with your wizard stick

Omno's lovely sweeping vistas and playful traversal reminds me of Journey on the PS3, but one-man outfit Studio Inkyfox claims that the game will be a more active puzzling, platforming experience. Currently around 60% complete and turning to Kickstarter to get it finished, it's a 3D action adventure about a little wizard-person exploring a strange world. Players will be palling around with the local wildlife, collecting new powers, and occasionally just riding your staff across the sand like it was a surfboard. A lovely-looking reveal trailer lurks below.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for fun movement in games, but the surfing, teleporting and intentionally awkward flying in the trailer below has me instantly intrigued. That, and the lovely art. Who needs detailed textures when you've got clever shading and clear lines, leaving no doubt as to what you're looking at across its wide open landscapes. Developer Jonas Manke has a long history  as a film and games animator and it shows in the natural movement of the character. There's a sense of solidity and weight, and the strange (and sometimes massive) creatures move convincingly.

Cover image for YouTube video

From the Kickstarter page and the trailer it's easy to get a handle on how movement feels in the game, but tougher to piece together what moment-to-moment play looks like. There's talk of befriending animals and working alongside them (or just riding a dinosaur), collecting new relics to enhance your multi-purpose wizard-stick (it has a knob on the end). One thing that is notably absent is any kind of conflict or violence, which is nice. Those critters all look far too nice to throw fireballs at, anyway.

Inkyfox say the game has been in development for the past two years, although only 8 months of that is full-time dedicated development. The core of the game is good to go, but it needs fleshing out. There's another ten months of development estimated, although the Kickstarter is only asking for a relatively humble $32,000. If all goes to plan and nobody gets too badly cursed, Omno should be out in September 2019.

Omno's Kickstarter is live now, and €15 (£13, roughly) gets you a copy of the game when it's finished. It also has a Steam store page here.

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Omno

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Dominic Tarason

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