Good ol’ Omikron: The Nomad Soul, a classic to be sure. Did you know David Bowie composed its soundtrack?
Developed by Quantic Dream (of Heavy Rain and Fahrenheit fame) and published by Eidos Interactive, Omikron dared to be different and offers a fairly unique experience as a result.
An action-adventure game first, placing the player in one of the most impressive sandbox environments of its time, Omikron incorporates mechanics from a number of genres, like fighters, shooters and puzzlers, and still to this day has yet to be replicated – a bit of a shame, if you ask us.
But the reason we’re all reading this is because Square Enix is currently giving it away for free on their store, as a tribute to the late David Bowie.
Not only did Bowie compose a lot of the songs and instrumentals featured throughout Omikron, he makes two cameo appearances within the game.
Omikron for free in celebration of @DavidBowieReal. RIP
NA: https://t.co/vshkDLqqVG
EU: https://t.co/NbSCM4WDsP pic.twitter.com/N6RJky3CYn— Square Enix (@SquareEnix) January 15, 2016
We’ve tested it ourselves and can confirm that it is possible to make the free purchase here in South Africa; just be sure to use the EU link. And we highly suggest you do give it a go.
Little foibles aside, this first/third-person shooter fighter action-adventure RPG puzzler offers a unique experience – go figure. It even incorporated a reincarnation mechanic that saw the player reviving in new vessels following death – think ZombieU.
It did have a habit of bewildering its players, when it wasn’t addressing the player directly that is, but its obtuse design could be put down to its explorative nature as much as it is too many cooks spoiling the broth.
We guess the intention was to let the player figure it out, so expect a good deal of backtracking and head scratching.
You’ve got until January 22nd to claim your free copy.
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Looks old and cr@ppy. For a good mixed genre game I recommend PSV’s Danganrona Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls. It’s got FPS action, it’s a puzzler, it’s a visual novel and arcade action game in one. The dialog is second to none.