I love surprises and Omno might just be the best surprise I’ve had in gaming for many years. I had no idea what to expect from this game. I barely remember bits and pieces from a trailer a couple of months ago, but nothing could prepare me for the joyous spectacle and wondrous adventure I was about to participate in with the full release. Omno is transcendent, achieving a status that AAA games with millions of dollars and hundreds of staff only wish they could attain. It’s a game I desperately want to livestream but won’t. It’s a game I find even hard to review lest a spoil one single element of magical discovery that awaits you.
Entering the world of Omno you are greeted with this magical storybook world created from low-poly landscapes and simple flat textures, yet somehow this world is more alive than many photo-realistic game worlds. Spanning five chapters, you’ll explore all the typical climates; jungles, winter mountains, desert canyons, and lush forests, all modestly detailed with trees and grass, ancient architecture, and a vast catalog of creatures – seriously, you get to catalog all 41 creature types that populate the world. There is also this green flying squirrel-like creature that will join you for the adventure; remember to interact with him often as he become the heart and soul of the game.
While not specifically targeting kids, Omno is a great game for players of all ages. There is no combat or violence, just a huge open world of discovery and minor puzzle-solving, much of which is rooted in level traversal and platforming. The game offers numerous and frequent checkpoints and there is no dying aside from plummeting into the abyss if you miss a jump or fail to float and drowning; your character cannot swim so stay out of the deep water. The only “damage penalty” in the game is losing a few energy shards after a high fall, but even those gravitate back into your body.
As you advance through the game your character unlocks abilities like Dash, Surf, Teleport, and Float to make your exploration faster, easier, and much more exciting, even integrating itself into some fabulous puzzle solutions where these abilities must be combined. Even transitions between chapters are fantastic with these breathtaking cinematic sequences where you’re riding a giant turtle, dinosaur, jellyfish, ancient dragon, or even dematerializing into pure energy.
The core game is all about collecting energy from the world. There are energy orbs scattered about each environment and you need three to power each level’s shrine and unlock the path to the next level, but you’ll need twice that many if you want a perfect 100%. Energy can be gathered from just about any organic thing like plants and animals. You can use your staff to release energy shards from rocks, trees, bushes, or interact with any of the creatures you encounter for them to release their energy in unique and delightful animations. Energy gathered shows up as a strip of light on your arm and when fully charged grants you increased movement for a time. It also fuels your staff and special abilities as well as unlocking a certain shrine in each level to earn one of those energy orbs. Also scattered about the levels are books or Glyphs that combine to create a journal telling the story of why you are here and what you are doing. These also factor into your 100% rating for each chapter.
Omno is all about exploration and your character controls nicely with mostly responsive inputs. I did notice a bit of lag on the jump button, so I would frequently run off the edge without jumping, but over time I learned to compensate and it was no longer an issue. The same with jumping and gripping a ledge; if you don’t push forward to climb up you will lose your grip and fall. There are plenty of platform and jumping sequences, many of which require expert use of the Dash ability to reach the next platform or ledge. About midway in the game you’ll unlock the Surf ability that lets you surf on your staff on any environment, snow, sand, or even grass. It basically turns your staff into a hoverboard. This can greatly speed up traversal and the game even reminds you to use it if it detects you’ve been walking too long. It’s also easier to surf across ice rather than walk, slip and fall.
The presentation for Omno is magical and often quite breathtaking with these epic panoramic vistas as you arrive at each new chapter and the camera rises up to reveal all that lies ahead of you. The draw distance is to the horizon so you can see most of the glowing orbs from a single vantage point; getting them is the challenge. Each environment has specific visual details like the grassy oasis in the desert or the dripping ice off a snowy ledge. New creatures are introduced in each chapter, around eight per environment, but they will also show up in later levels too. While the game uses simple architecture and textures there is some really good use of color, lighting, and shadows with god rays streaming through the trees and mountains and the shadows of flying creatures overhead sweeping over the landscape. The entire world is simply alive; this magical place that could easily exist whether you were here or not.
In additional to the fantastic art design the ethereal soundtrack is a pure work of audio art. It blends seamlessly with the gameplay and cinematic narrative elements adding a sense of joy and wonder to the entire experience. I’m not sure how well the music works outside of the game but you can certainly find out as the official soundtrack is available as a Steam purchase. Perhaps one of the most unnoticed graphical elements is the UI…because there is none. The only measurable element in the game is energy and that’s depicted on your character’s arm. Creatures and Glyphs find a home in their own screen and there is no health or life counter to keep track of basically freeing up the entire screen so you can enjoy this epic storybook masterpiece in all its glory.
It took me five hours to finish Omno; I did it in a single sitting without even realizing it. There was one moment where I briefly considered stopping when I noticed I had cataloged half the creatures, but the game has this uncanny ability to not offer any logical stopping points. Sure, you would think having five distinct and titled chapters would make that easy, but each level flows seamlessly into the next and offers just the right amount of tease to make you want to explore the new world that lies in front of you and then you are hooked all over again.
Omno is easily one of the best games I’ve played in years. Not many games can captivate and make me lose all track of time like this one did. When it was over I was left wanting more; not because the emotional ending wasn’t enough, but I just didn’t want to leave this world. There is an Extras menu that does offer a Time Trial mode where you can replay the snow surfing section from the game, racing through checkpoints and collecting energy for speed boosts. It’s fun to do a couple times, but once I broke the one minute mark I moved on. Now I am simply trying to decide how long I should wait before I replay the game. I’m only missing four achievements and they look fairly easy to unlock the next time I do reenter the magical world of Omno.
Simply put, Omno is a Zen-inspired adventure like no other. Nine out of ten Buddhist monks achieved total consciousness playing this game; the tenth just vanished into the astral plane during the closing credits. Seriously, this is a must-play game for anyone and everyone. I’m not even going to qualify it beyond that. The game is out on PC and consoles now and coming to the Switch later this year so no one is left out. Play it now and thank me later.
