Review | Omno - Not of This World
Have you ever dreamed you're exploring new planets with fantastical animals living in every corner? Or perhaps you dreamed of surfing on land or floating in the air? Omno is all that and more.
You haven’t seen a game with sand-skating this good since that Sable demo a few weeks back… BUT you haven’t seen a game with sand-skating this good, before that, since Journey.
In Omno you go through different worlds, or perhaps different continents of the same world, collecting light and learning what happened to a civilisation that came there before you during their pilgrimage.
Hi friend!
My favourite part of Omno is the animals, each incredibly adorable and very unique - although sadly none are pettable. Each time I found a new species it was a lot of fun reading their interesting little descriptions, learning about how they live and how they survive.
The environments of the game are varied, each beautiful, peaceful, and dreamlike, with music that perfectly encapsulates all of those feelings. Exploring these worlds is very satisfying, especially as you collect different cool abilities, especially the one that lets you surf (sometimes alongside the cutest penguin-like animals I've seen!).
And you thought Skyward Sword was the best game with gliding between floating platforms to come out this month!
Throughout the various worlds, you'll be prompted to collect light orbs in order to progress. Although there are more in each level, you'll only need three to unlock a clever puzzle that once you solve will get you to the end of that world. Some of these puzzles are a bit finicky, but most are not too difficult to understand.
The story of the game takes a subtle approach and is told through collectable glyphs, but unlike the light orbs I mentioned before - which show up on the in-game compass so that you know where to find them - these glyphs are only discoverable if you happen upon them either by chance or because you were searching every corner to find them. The result is you might not notice you haven't found certain ones, which, in turn, means you won't be getting the entire story, at least not on your first playthrough.
Don’t look up, ok?
That is probably the only real gripe I have with Omno , many vital details are easy to leave behind or not clear if they matter. I already mentioned how easily you could miss out on glyphs which are the only way to learn the backstory, but another thing that frustrated me is how the game doesn't specify that you can collect every orb from the start. The orbs, as I mentioned, show up on your compass so you know where they are, and alongside the compass, there's also a percentage that shows up on screen that shows how many orbs, glyphs and animals you’ve discovered. However, in the first few levels, some of the orbs’ locations might make you assume you would need to go further into the game to unlock an ability to reach them. However, that isn't the case. You can collect them all from the start by just platforming or puzzling out your way to the orb. This would be fine but you can't come back to any level either so if you miss any, that's it, you can only go forward.
That said, the game is actually quite short, you can beat it in one sitting in just around 5 hours. So you could easily restart the game and collect everything after your first playthrough, paying close attention to those glyphs that are sometimes a bit harder to find. You can even choose specific chapters to replay if you don't want to start from the very beginning.
Need a ride?
Overall Omno is a great experience if you want to just vibe out with some breathtaking otherworldly animals and environments and lose yourself in exploring these worlds. It's a nice few hours of chill adventuring that I’d recommend to anyone even remotely interested in less traditional games. If you enjoyed games like Journey or Flower, you'll also enjoy Omno.
