Omega Pattern

Developer: Borokai Studio  | Publisher: Borokai Studio  | Release Date: 2017 | Genre: Adventure / Indie / Visual Novel | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam / itch.io

The protagonist of Omega Pattern is Shaiel, a 21 year old that has been living his life on the run from an organization called Bioagora. He’s got a pretty good reason for avoiding them too, as they have a tendency to recruit people with special brain patterns to work as their agents. These brain patterns typically cause the development of psychic skills, which is valuable to Bioagora. Since the organization tend to use any means necessary to get people with these abilities under their control and Shaiel is a perfect candidate, he’s been trying to keep a low profile. However, as it begins to become harder and harder to avoid Bioagora, Shaiel’s only option might be to throw in his lot with the Celtas, the only other group with any hope of opposing Bioagora. Unfortunately for Shaiel, he and his guardian end up being ambushed by Bioagora agents.

After a short prologue, Omega Pattern opens with Shaiel waking up in a hospital only to hear some pretty bad news. Since the story is quite short we won’t go into any further details, but suffice to say that the outcome of the ambush wasn’t very positive. As Shaiel regains his strength in the hospital, he not only meets a couple of new people, but also experience flashbacks about his past. These flashbacks don’t just serve to flesh out the story of this visual novel, but also enable players to make choices. The interesting thing about people with the special brain pattern is that the psychic skills they develop are based on their life experiences. This means that the choices you make during the flashbacks actually determine Shaiel’s personality in the present and what type of psychic abilities he has.

Omega Pattern is the first part of a multi-part visual novel, so unfortunately the story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. The game is also quite short if you only stick to a single playthrough, so we definitely recommend exploring all three story paths for some replay value. The world that Borokai Studio has created for this game is quite an interesting one and while it contains some familiar elements the story also veers in some unexpected directions. Depending on the choices you make, some scenes could have a positive or negative outcome and some choices lead you down a pretty dark path. However, no matter how much of a mess you make or get into based on your choices, the game will never end before the final “To Be Continued” where all paths end up eventually. Although the game doesn’t go overboard with fan service as is often the case with the genre, it is definitely not aimed at children either. In addition to the rather dark twists and turns the story takes, the protagonist doesn’t hold back when it comes to swearing either.

When looking at the visuals it is clear that the game was developed by a smaller studio who didn’t have a huge art budget. While this means that the graphics doesn’t look as polished as the output from bigger studios, they are not without their charm either. Kudos to the developers for using full HD resolution artwork as well as original illustrated material instead of photos with a filter slapped over them.

Players spoiled by the detailed artwork and animations of titles like the Nekopara series might find the artwork in Omega Pattern to be a little basic in comparison, but overall everything looks fine. The game features just short of 20 CGs and all of these, along with the scenes can be viewed in the gallery after unlocking them.

One of the things about Omega Pattern that really stands out is the audio. Unfortunately the game doesn’t feature any voice acting, but more than makes up for this with a really good soundtrack. None of the thirteen songs featured on the soundtrack sound like your typical visual novel fare and they all complement the mood of the game nicely. From sinister tracks like “Gurdjief Lessons” and “Death Valley” to melancholic ones like “In Memory Of” and whimsical ones like “Kids,” the songs are all really good. The background music, sound effects and ambience can all be adjusted independently while the Gallery also enables you to listen to all the songs. Omega Pattern was created in Unity instead of something like Ren’Py, but has all the features that are expected from a visual novel, such as the ability to set the message speed, auto message speed and the ability to skip text that you’ve already read on a previous playthrough. In addition, you can save at any time and the 59 save slots that are available should be more than anyone would ever need.

Omega Pattern is title that definitely deserves some attention as it is a nice alternative to all the fanservice-laden slice of life visual novels that are so common these days. However, there are a couple of things that count against it. The fact that it is rather short and only the first part of a complete story might deter some players as there is never a guarantee that the conclusion will ever be released for these types of titles. The developers appear to be very committed to the game, but many players will understandably want to wait until they can experience the full story before committing, which makes it a bit of a catch-22 situation. There is a free demo version of the game available, which we recommend that players try out to get a better feel for this title.

Overall, we really enjoyed Omega Pattern and the story was interesting enough that we ended up completing all three routes and gaining all the achievements in the game. The variable multi-choice decision system featured in the game sets it apart from the linear kinetic novels on the market and the story also features some intriguing elements, which makes it easy to get drawn in. Fans of the genre who don’t mind trading in length for replay value should definitely try out Omega Pattern.