Omega Crafter is an open-world survival craft game set in an under-development game world that is being attacked by a mysterious program.
By NikaDaMartian
Programming can be seen as a tedious, time-consuming task but this game makes it feel simple! Omega Crafter is a new open-world survival game available on Steam and honestly, I enjoyed it! The sound, graphics, and gameplay have been crafted thoughtfully and the world-building is solid.
Omega Crafter is an adventure game centered around building your oasis with the help of cute little creatures called Grammis. You can customize your character and personal Grammi – including their name and base outfits.
Sound
Although the game forces you to survive on your own volition, the music is gentle and soothing. Immediately, the quality of the sound effects is most notable. The music is welcoming, adding to the ambiance and easing you into the world of Omega Crafter. The sound of rushing wind as you load in adds a layer, showing attention to detail. For example, when nearing a pond, I instantly hear rushing water. When collecting materials with enemies nearby, the music quickens and I hear their rustling of footsteps as they come closer. The soundtrack makes me feel like a surviving adventurer roaming around, planting my roots, and taking on enemies. Wearing headphones immerses the player in the world.
There are two modes for Omega Crafter. You can play solo; allowing you to build your city, however, you see fit and defeat bosses as a lone wolf. The second option is online co-op; gather your friends to build a city and bring them along on the adventure.
Once you’ve chosen your mode, you can customize your character and your personal Grammi sidekick.
Graphics
This 2.5D survival game is full of vibrant colors, transporting you into its reality. I have a few complaints about this game, one is the customization options. On the customization menu, there are limited hairstyles, none of which include diverse hair textures, solely straight ones. I don’t need to see every single hair type that exists. Adding in a couple of l hair textures is inclusive and broadens the game’s audience. Also, skin tone ranges between six shades, four of which are different shades of white. The lack of options leads us to believe, the developers wanted players' focus to be on the game – rather than customization. It’s a great idea to focus on gameplay. However, broadening the scale of custom options increases the game’s likability, which leads to more players.
Gameplay
Once you leave the customization menu, you are immediately added to your world and the tutorial begins.
I prefer details when introduced to something new, the tutorial does just that. It’s full of information but never feels overwhelming. For instance, as the game walks you through how to program your Grammis, the prompts direct you to where scripts are located and how to get your Grammi to perform them. The basic components of the game are balanced, such as the stamina usage bar. The rate at which you lose stamina by running is equal to how quickly you regain it. The design of the menus makes them easy to navigate. The workbench menu displays which items can be crafted. The skill level menu shows skills and their purposes.
There are simplistic fighting elements in Omega Crafter. For example, the hotbar shows the available inventory: weapons, food, and gathered material. To equip your weapon, press the corresponding slot number on your keyboard. There are various weapons to choose from like swords, axes, bow and arrow, and bludgeon maces. To swing them, click the left mouse button. To aim, long-click the left mouse button. Using quick element while switching weapons to deal more damage to difficult bosses is extremely helpful. Speaking of bosses, You won’t be able to use the same weapons for the next boss as you did the current. The bosses raise in difficulty; increasing as you beat one after the other.
Learning that the Grammis can be programmed to complete certain tasks adds an interesting element to the game. It also makes me wonder if Grammi is shortened for the word “program”. They can take on different objectives such as: gathering wood, forging weapons, and creating bark. The tasks assigned to the Grammi depend on its type; City Grammi or personal Grammi. City Grammis are non-combat tasks. While away from the city, Grammis, builds, gathers, and makes weapons like bark armor. Don’t roam too far from the city lest Grammi’s tasks be interrupted. Personal Grammis are for harvesting and combat. Level up your personal Grammi with accrued skill points. It helps improve their endurance, health, and damage stats, especially when getting hounded by enemies. They can collect wood, stone, and berries while roaming outside the city.
As a former code enthusiast, seeing programs in-game excites me. All Grammis can perform custom programs and come with premade scripts that you can load in. If you want to assign your city Grammi to craft at a processing table, press “E” to open their editor, select craft, and choose the correct storage containers. To initiate tasks, click the play button.
Collect Grammis like Pokémon. You can have a personal Grammi and up to 20 Grammis. You summon them from your Symbol of City using Bug Fragments. Bug Fragments can be collected throughout the world. I didn’t need anymore more than 10. Depending on how large you want your city to be, you may want more.
This game reminds me of PalWorld. While you can’t collect wild Grammis and store them in your city like PalWorld. Moreso in the way of friendly creatures helping establish the city and tag along on adventures.
There is so much to do and achieve in Omega Crafters; it almost feels endless. Right from the start, you can feel there is much to do. After maxing out the level, there’s still a lot of story left. Due to this, I think there are a lot of patches and updates to come. Omega Crafters is a great game on days when you just want to relax. The bosses are tough, but how fun would it be if there wasn’t a little challenge? I believe it has a nice balance of good fun.
The concept is simple and open-ended, allowing you to create your world how you see fit. You don’t feel overwhelmed or overly frustrated while taking out enemies. Your losses feel more like learning moments and your wins are fun satisfying achievements.
Conclusion
I really enjoyed my time playing Omega Crafter! It’s a pretty new game so there are a few bugs here and there but for what it is, it’s fun and a wonderful way to spend your evenings. I’m a horror fan, through and through but sometimes I want something a little more chill. I’m excited to see what else may come from this game. Omega Crafter is on Steam for $24.99.