As a long time fan of action RPG’s in pretty much all of its many formats, I’ve been keeping an eye on Spearhead Games since the release of their award-winning title Stories: Path of Destinies. However, in the business of the life, I am just now getting around to playing their latest ARPG, Omensight. Sort of a Spiritual successor to Stories, this title follows the story of a time travelling, a mystical warrior known as the Harbinger, tasked with solving the murder of a powerful priestess and halting the end of the world.
Taking notes from its previous title, Spearhead Games has worked hard to produce a compelling story wrapped in a solid ARPG experience. With the Nintendo Release having just happened on December 13th it felt like the perfect time to dive in and take a look at Omensight from Spearhead Games. So grab that coffee, kick back and enjoy our Omensight review.
Set in a world at the very end of its time, the player is tasked with taking on the role of the Harbinger. As a powerful, time-travelling warrior you set out on an investigation to unravel the mystery of a powerful Priestess in the hopes of stopping the destruction of the world by the dark god. As such you will spend most of your time reliving the events leading up the the end of the world from the perspectives of many of the games lead characters. As with Stories before it, Omensight offers some exceptional player choice and narrative trails to follow, always allowing the player to unpack the story as they desire.
The narrative itself is wonderfully voice acted which in turn allows the story to be told without slowing down the action. A unique art style also paints a beautiful world around the player offering a solid, narrative-rich world for players to explore and discover. As the Harbinger progresses through the world, it will unlock new clues that lead the player closer to discovering the identity of the killer and in turn how to prevent the dastardly deed from taking place in the first place. As with its previous title, Spearhead Games does a great job at bringing a unique spin to the genre with an excellent narrative, world building and delivery all of which work together to keep players engaged.
That being said as a time travelling, warrior on a mission to discover the identity of a murderer you will spend much of your time replaying events in Omensight. Spearhead has done a solid job at trying to present new perspectives and takes on the events each time you play through them but the very nature of the game’s concept does lead to a feeling of repetition from time to time. You will see the areas and people over and over. However, each playthrough presents a new piece of information which in turn can impact the following playthrough. Thankfully the abovementioned story delivery does help keep the grind fairly enjoyable. Overall the narrative rich storytelling does outweigh the repetitious nature of the game.
Another mechanic that helps keep the game engaging is the combat. Combat is quick, rhythmic and engaging combo building and special attacks offering an array of player options. Coupled with this is an interesting dodge mechanic that, when performed successfully, opens enemies to counter attacks making every encounter a nice blend of strategy and hack and slash. My only real struggle with combat is that the camera has a semi-locked perspective meaning that from time to time its difficult to see and engage enemies. This, in turn, can lead to some slightly frustrating moments during gameplay. Overall it’s a minor frustration but one that some players may struggle with.
Moving on to the RP elements of Omensight the game comes packed with some pretty solid progression mechanics. Coming in the form of level-ups and spending collected currency to upgrade abilities. The former offers new and interesting special abilities that can be combined together during combat while the latter offers upgrades to obtained abilities as well as base attacks and health. Although neither system offers a great amount of depth in an of themselves, when brought together it offers up a progression system that compliments the quick, narrative driven focus of the game.
