Omensight is a rather peculiar take on a wartime story. Set shortly before and after the end of the world, you take on the role of a time-traveling deity who must turn back the clock and figure out how to prevent the end of all things. Developed by Spearhead Games--the same team behind Stories: The Paths of Destinies--the developer describes its alluring time-travel narrative as something influenced by the classic detective TV series Columbo. As an apocalyptic detective story, with regular moments action and platforming, it mashes up a number of different genres together, making for a rather unique and intriguing action-adventure game.
With several factions at war, the escalating conflict in a world full of anthropomorphic beings eventually reaches a boiling point--resulting in the demise of all life. While that may seem like the end of the story, it's really only the beginning. Taking on the role of a timeless warrior known as The Harbinger, you're tasked with rewriting history to learn just how the end of the world was set into motion. As you meet each character and learn their story, you'll come to blows with many of the soldiers and monsters in the land who seek to stop The Harbinger from interfering in the conflict. Set within a time-loop of the final day, you'll have to pick a path and learn the fate of each of key character in order to prevent the end of the world from happening again.
Taking cues from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, you'll have to be selective about your course of action when it comes to stopping the apocalypse. Each of the supporting characters' particular story takes place across the entire final day, forcing you to commit to one person of interest. After seeing their story through to the finish, the world ends and The Harbinger returns to his base of operations with another clue. Of course, all this meddling on The Harbinger's part won't go unnoticed, and in a number of cases you'll have to fight off enemies and creatures looking to stop you from interfering. Combat has a free-flow style rhythm to it, where you'll be able to bounce between multiple targets and use a number of time-bending powers to gain the upper hand. Moreover, many of the supporting characters you assist--some of which were meant to die in previous events before your interference--can help out during fights, leading to rather hectic battles when against a large group of enemies.
While in the player hub--located outside of the present timeline--you can examine current clues, along with characters' relationships and connections, and upgrade The Harbinger before planning your next course of action. Though the flow of the narrative can initially come off a bit abrupt, and somewhat episodic, the background of the conflict gradually becomes more detailed--showing a greater depth of world history and each character's place in the world's final hours. One of the more striking elements of Omensight is its strong visual style which feels akin to The Secret of Nihm's balance of whimsical aesthetic with dark undertones.
Set for a 2018 release on PC, Omensight presents its apocalyptic story in a way that shows great attention to the world it's set in. With some rather stunning visuals, and a charming artstyle that confronts a rather bleak atmosphere, Spearhead's upcoming action-adventure game about preventing the apocalypse before it happens is one to watch out for.
