Game:

Omikron: The Nomad Soul (1999)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 29:08

257 views

1

Dreamcast Club, originally streamed live at twitch.tv/masukomiclub, is where we randomly select and play Dreamcast games. In this edition we play Omikron: The Nomad Soul, an action adventure game by Quantic Dream. In Part 12 we defeat Gandhar, start learning more about the Awakening, and go to a new sector of the city.

From Wikipedia:
"Omikron: The Nomad Soul (known as The Nomad Soul in Europe) is an adventure game developed by Quantic Dream and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Dreamcast. While the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 versions were in development for a short time, after the commercial failure of the Dreamcast version they were cancelled altogether. The Nomad Soul is set in a futuristic city known as Omikron, which is a densely populated metropolis on the world of Phaenon, the second planet of the star Rad'an. At the start of the game, players are asked by an Omikronian police officer named Kay'l 669 to leave their dimension and enter Omikron within his body (thereby breaking the fourth wall). After doing so, players continue with the investigation of serial killings that Kay'l and his partner Den were originally working on, attempting to pick up where Kay'l was apparently stopped from investigating...The game combines the mechanics of distinct game genres such as adventure games, first person shooters, fighting games, and even elements of a puzzle game. Its primary genre is adventure, with the other elements only played out during key moments as the story progresses. One of the main features in this game is the possibility to reincarnate in a different world character upon the death of the one you ‘incarnated' in. However, doing so results in all character stats resetting prompting the gamer to fight in tournaments or buy more potions to jot stats back up...David Bowie, who had some input on the storyline and game's design, makes two cameo appearances within the game, although not as himself; first as Boz, a game character who's a revolutionary wanted by authorities, and secondly as the nameless lead-singer of the fictional musical group, 'The Dreamers', who perform illegal concerts in Omikron. In addition, select tracks from his (then) upcoming 'Hours...' album were written specifically for the game and then rewritten for the album release. For example, for the song 'New Angels of Promise' (used in the game's intro), Bowie changed the chorus lyric Omikron to Suspicious Minds. The game's soundtrack is a main feature as well, featuring songs by Bowie and Reeves Gabrels (most of which appeared on 'Hours...' or as B-sides on the associated single for the song 'Thursday's Child') in addition to the primary composition work by Xavier Despas. Most of Bowie's songs are then available (in-game only) for later listening either if the player opts to 'buy' the recordings or simply walk into an apartment that already has some of the music laid out in plain view or in hidden compartments. Bowie's wife Iman also makes a cameo as one of the numerous Omikronian citizens the player can 'reincarnate' into...While the game received mixed critical reaction, it achieved enough commercial success to convince Quantic Dream to start production on a sequel. Series creator David Cage claimed to receive dozens of emails every day (more than three years after the game's release) from fans worldwide asking for a sequel. Titled Nomad Soul: Exodus, it was to take place hundreds of years after the events in the first game. Ties were severed with Eidos, leaving Quantic Dream to move to Vivendi Universal, and then Atari, to pursue their next project Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in the US). On 6 April 2005, Omikron 2 and a new franchise, Infraworld, were announced to be in development. David Cage confirmed at the time that they dropped the subtitle Exodus in favor of Karma. Infraworld was canned only a few months later as 'the concept did not appeal to its publishers'. Because of Fahrenheit's surprise critical and commercial success, Karma was temporarily put on hiatus to focus production on Heavy Rain (an extension of the Fahrenheit formula). A critical story element in Cage's Beyond: Two Souls is the realm known as the Infraworld, indicating that the original Infraworld may have been a prototypical form of Beyond: Two Souls, or simply something that was reused."

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Masukomi Club brings you the weird and wonderful in video games, from Japan-only rarities to vintage oddities to contemporary classics, on Twitch and Youtube. Through historical and anecdotal commentary, Masukomi Club aims to inform and entertain the Let’s Play (LP) community and shed light on games old and new.

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