Omikron: The Nomad Soul

Exceptionally ambitious, not exactly perfect in execution and with a somewhat disapointing ending, but still worth playing.

The game is very quirky. The mouse supposedly only works in-game (I've never gotten it to work). You'll get a DirectX error if you try to set certain resolutions. If you have a controller attached the input can bug out. My external keyboard is only detected sometimes. If the game crashes it leaves GOG galaxy in an unusable state and you have to restart the application. Maybe this was a different experience 10-15 years ago but unless you have an old machine to run this on I would pass on it. I got it on sale for ~$1. I wouldn't pay $10 for it.

If you're looking for an easy game, this isn't it. Made in the days where blood sweat and tears was the motto of the gaming industry, this game will confuse and irritate you to no end... in a good way. A limited number of saves that can only be used in specific places will make crashes and mistakes frustrating as hell... but don't dispair! the majority of times that you die will end up resulting in reincarnation later on in the game... which can actually be very annoying if you wanted to keep the person you were playing... This results in a constantly changing experience, with a feeling of permadeath. And then there is the font! I guarantee you will find yourself struggling to understand the majority of documents and street signs until you get used to the... unique... font used. Despite these set backs, I consider them as much of a plus as a negative, because they all add to the atmosphere of a foreign and hostile world, where you could actually die at every corner. The way the game tailors the dialogue as if you are an outsider inhabiting someone's body inside the game world is fantastic too, and very few games have the chance to make this sort of idea work, much less as well as Omikron manages it. I give the game 5 stars for Challenge, Plot, Atmosphere, Music, and Creative nerve. I highly recommend it if you like sci-fi, demons, rebelion, and strippers.

The controls for this game are incredibly stiff. You feel like you're controlling a robot more than an actual human being. Turning is slow and clumsy, jumping doesn't let you do really anything useful [why it's in the game is beyond me], and you can't really crouch meaningfully outside of combat. Nothing feels intuitive - and there's a lot of stopping and popping into menus to do things - so it's also jarring. This game was clearly made before "context use" was a concept, as you have to keep manually going into your inventory to select an object to use on whatever's directly in front of you. And if you're not right on top of it, your character will just say "I don't understand" and assume you're examining the air. Combat is frustrating, not satisfying, as there's no mouselook for shooting so you have to use keyboard keys to aim properly, and no way to know what you're specifically aiming at. I'm only giving this 3 stars because I love the premise of the game itself and the story seems engaging.

This game blew my mind when it came out. The feeling of freedom was huge : the city felt aliev - well, not so much in today's standarts, but I had a blast exploring it. A ton of hidden stuff to find. The story was great - not so much the whole conspiracy, IA and stuff, but the execution, the way it unveiled. It had nice puzzles, sometimes difficult but always rewarding. Sadly, I forgave a lot to the gameplay back then, that would be hard to overlook now. There are too many "street fighter" sequences, and they are weak and annoying. The FPS parts aren't great either. You can walk around aimlessly for ages in that big city, hoping to find something. The directions in the quest aren't always clear, you get lost a lot reaming endlessly. Al in one, I don't think I would enjoy the game so much without the nostaliga factor - not that the game isn't good, but the bad parts are really bad and more obvious now. The game is unique, and I would really like everybody to love it as much as I did, but I know it's not possible. But if you're aware that it won't be perfect and you just get ready for an experience, you can enjoy it greatly.