Omensight PS4 Review

Stories: The Path of Destinies may have had its problems, but it was still a memorable game that had a lot going for it all the same. The developer Spearhead Games have followed it up with Omensight, a game that actually has quite a bit in common with Stories, although it’s also one that manages to stand alone as a fine story driven action game.

Omensight’s story is actually surprisingly dark and intricate given that it involves cartoon animals. The voice acting does leave a little something to be desired, but the writing makes events intriguing. The lead character is the Harbinger, and as she only appears when the world is under threat, you just know that you’ll have to deal with devastation, and that devastation is the destruction of the world, and it’s an event that you’ll witness occurring again and again. Omensight is also a murder mystery at heart, with the Priestess, Vera, being slain, and it’s up to you to fight back the darkness and recover her soul in order to save the world.

To do the above, The Harbinger has the ability to relive the same day over and over again, which is an interesting manner in which to tell the story and deal with the events surrounding you. As repetitive as things might sound, you’ll be playing the final day (over the morning, afternoon and evening) with different companions as well as taking different routes through the environments to get to the bottom of the mystery. In truth, the developer has attempted to lessen the repetition, but they haven’t managed to eradicate it completely unfortunately, which did gnaw at me slightly.

From experiencing the final day from a number of different angles, you’ll harvest helpful information for your investigation, and branching paths mean that things can play out differently depending on how you decide to play. Gathering a lot of information often leads to receiving the titular Omensight, which is an important vision that you are able to show to other characters, altering the characters beliefs about different things. By gaining the trust of each of the four companion characters, you’ll also learn how to unlock particular sealed doors in the world, which then allows you to return to areas to unlock ones that you previously couldn’t access. It’s a clever way of doing things without a doubt, and it’s worth exploring everywhere to find XP hidden away in chests or to unearth more of the story.

The Harbinger is also deft with a sword, and the combat system on display is smooth, flashy, and more than adequate enough, if perhaps a little too simple for some. There are light and heavy attacks as well as a dodge manoeuvre, and you are also able to make use of special attacks such as slowing down time, while building combos also unlocks the potential to use other abilities during fights. There’s definitely more challenge here than there was in Stories, which is welcome, although the fixed camera angle isn’t particularly helpful in some combat situations, and it’s enough to annoy from time to time.

Between levels, you are also able to upgrade The Harbinger at the Tree of Life, unlocking moves as well as making her stronger in various ways. In order to do this, you’ll earn experience in the game. It’s at the Tree of Life that you also decide which direction to take your investigation in, and various clues help you decide that, although the toughest difficulty level gets rid of such help, leaving you to fend for yourself.

Omensight is an interesting game that tells its story in a clever way. There’s much to like in terms of its twisting and branching storyline, its slick and flashy combat, and the beautiful and moody cartoon visuals also make the game particularly inviting. There’s flaws here and there with repetition and a not always reliable camera, but this is still one well made game that is superior to the developer’s previous game in many ways.