I believe in omens, and believe there’s a reason I have three successive shoot ’em ups to review this month, and each of them is very different from the others. It’s a sign; it’s an Omen. Coincidentally, that’s the name of this isometric rogue-like shooter from Codex Interactive, available now on Steam, and with a playable demo, too.
As can be expected from yours truly, I’ll begin by being an ongoing contradiction in saying that I love narrative-driven games, though skimmed over a lot of the story in this. It’s not that it’s bad, but I’ve always struggled to get my teeth stuck into sci-fi yarns and fantasies, often forgetting the names of the characters or what the evil empire led by Dark Helmet has planned for the peasants.
This is all not so relevant in Omen as the gameplay is far too engaging for you to be invested in the characters and story. Again, I’m being contradictory, but I don’t think it’s needed in a game so much as this – except the missions you accept. You definitely need to read those and understand why you’re heading into a hostile environment in the first place.
In short terms, you’re often raiding desolate bases to grab vital resources not only to survive raids on your own base, but to boost your ship’s survival rates and abilities. Similiar to most rogue-likes, you have a familiar path pattern from the world map; however, this is updated based on the missions you complete, and instead of choosing one locked path, you often will raid the same areas or go back to finish off something you were incapable of previously doing. Perhaps you were underlevelled or didn’t have enough consumables.
Omen is a twin-stick shooter, but not a fast-paced one. On the mini map, points of interest will link to potential supplies, and it’s up to you where to head first, though each section is optional – including the missions, as you can bail at any time. Knowing when it’s time to get your coat is important in the game, as each area has a time limit until elite guards will enter the fray, and they are typically more powerful and relentless in their approach. Another key factor in escaping is destroying structures that prevent you from using a jump gate; otherwise you’re trapped.
Because Omen is a rogue-like, you will die, but you have the chance of reclaiming any lost resources by revisiting the map. Though, like a decent Souls-like, you only get one chance of retrieval. Another sore point for resources is the fact that this isn’t a one-way street, as the enemies will attack your base, The Monastery. A successful attack for them steals some of your goodies, so you must build and research structures to prevent these raids.
Hopping back to the base side of things, you can use the resources you’ve pinched by upgrading your ship with a better hull, tinted windows, first-aid kits and missile jammers to take on your next run. As consumables, these do run out and do not automatically refill on the next run. I found this out the hard way. Besides ship upgrades and mission selection, you can also build turrets to protect your base, and every few runs will be a countdown to when the next raid will occur. Fortunately, you can head into these battles and cull the threat.
I got Omen quite early on, but received the code while on holiday. Having taken my new Ayn Thor with me, I was unable to get it running and instead had to wait until I got back to play on my Steam Deck. Handling is pretty good, and like any rogue-like, it encourages you to have ‘one more go’, though I would recommend playing this on a larger screen. Whether that’s putting it on your desktop or streaming your portable through the telly is up to you, but articles on screen are very minuscule, and I often crashed into mines because of this.
Yes, this is a twin-stick shooter, and while it can get a bit hairy, it’s not a bullet hell like IKARUS. As indicated at the start of this Omen review, I did say how different the three games were, and out of all three, this was my preferred one due to how straightforward it was, the pacing, and, of course, the incremental gains of a looter shooter type. Because there’s a flexible approach to the missions you address, Omen is a little more forgiving; you can invest in the right build for both your ship and base, and for me, this slower, more methodical approach was more rewarding.
And, because there’s a demo available at the time of this article, I’d suggest you download it, though give it a shot on a larger screen if you can.
