Fighting game Omen of Sorrow from eastasiasoft and AOne Games is ready for you to dive into on PlayStation 5. Find out if it’s worth your time and money in our Omen of Sorrow review!
Fighting game Omen of Sorrow from eastasiasoft and AOne Games is ready for you to dive into on PlayStation 5. The game brings together monsters of horror, literature, and mythology in a fighting game that pays homage to the many classics in the genre. Omen of Sorrow was originally released on PlayStation 4 back in 2018, and it’s now getting a new go at things on Sony’s PlayStation 5.
There are 12 characters in total to choose from: Gabriel, Radegonda, Caleb, Dr. Hyde, Vladislav III, Zafkiel, Arctorious, Imhotep, Quasimodo, Adam, Erzebet, and Thalessa. You can fight in one of 11 stages: Forest of Thirst, The Tomb of the Prophet, Hall of Hubris, Misshapen Paradise, Feast of Folly, Garden of Tears, Cauterized Innocence, Untamed Madness, The 7th Gomorrah, Frozen Regret, Vanity’s Requiem, Calcified Lust, and the always classic but basic Training Room.
The game offers three different options for playing. Practice will allow you to play through the tutorial or to, well, practice the moves and combos you’ve managed to learn so far. Online will allow you to take the fight to the rest of the world as you search for opponents from around the globe to duke it out. You’ll be able to take on either a Quick Play match or a Ranked match or create or search for a room in the Lobby.
There’s also Battle, where you’ll be fighting against either a CPU or a human-controlled opponent locally. Battle is split into Arcade, which has you battling against the CPU as you try to clear all stages; Versus, which pits you against another human player locally; Story, which allows you to experience the story for Omen of Sorrow as you play as each of the different characters during specific segments; and Survival which will task you with fighting against CPU opponents for as long as possible before failing.
You’ll be controlling your fighter with the left analog stick or the D-Pad. The Square and Triangle buttons will be for light and heavy punches. The X and Circle buttons will be for light and heavy kicks. The R1 button can be used for throws, while the R1 button is for EX. You can run by double tapping in the direction your character is facing. Pressing the EX button and double-tapping in the opposite direction will make your character retreat.
Since this is a fighting game in 2023, that means you’ll be pulling off some special moves for each character with the now familiar and classic patterns. These include quarter circle forward motions (down, down-right, right) and a button, quarter circles backward (down, down-left, left), charge moves that have you hold one direction for a second and change before pressing the opposite direction, and a button (either left and then right or down and then up), or double tapping down and then pressing a punch or a kick button.
You’ll also have a Decimation Gauge at the bottom of the screen to fill up. This is used to unleash a mighty Decimation Move. For example, Gabriel will be able to unleash Longinus with two quarter-circle forward motions, which will consume half of his Decimation Gauge. Inputting two quarter circle backward motions will unleash Imhullu, which will consume all of his Decimation Gauge. As you can imagine, Imhullu will be a flashier Decimation Move, and it will also deal more damage.
As you attack and defend, your amount of Fate – which is shown at the bottom of the screen in purple – and your Fortune – which is presented in blue – will vary. Both Fate and Fortune are shown on the same gauge, which means that an increase in one will set a decrease for the other one. If your Fate and Fortune gauge reaches max Fate, then you’re at risk of becoming Doomed. If, on the other hand, it reaches max Fortune, you’ll be in a Blessed state.
Fortune will be gained by playing offensively, and it will dictate the rate at which your health recovers, the damage modifiers applied to your attacks, and if you have access to Bold Counters. Playing defensively, using retreats and Bold Cancels will increase the value of the Fate gauge. Fate will determine how much damage you receive. If you’re at max Fate and you’re hit, you’ll be put in Impending Doom. This lasts for a few seconds. When in Impending Doom, you won’t be able to win any Fortune, and any knockdown will send you into Doomed.
Once you’re Doomed, you’ll be in a very unfavorable state. The Doomed state will last for a few seconds. While in Doomed, you won’t be able to use your Decimation Moves, throws, or even special moves! On top of that, if you try to guard against certain moves while in the Doomed state, your guard will break, leaving you considerably open to a world of hurt. If you deal damage to your opponent, the overall duration of the Doomed state will be reduced.
Trophy-wise, this one has a full trophy list to work on. The list is a long one since it includes 30 Bronze trophies, 5 Silver trophies, and 5 Gold trophies. This won’t be a short trophy run. Why you may ask? Because the objectives to complete include playing for at least 5 hours with five different characters, playing the training mode for 30 minutes, playing for at least 100 hours, earning 50 titles, completing 300 online fights, winning 300 ranked matches, winning three ranked matches in a row, ending 300 rounds with a Decimation Move, and ending 300 rounds with an EX move, to name some examples.
Omen of Sorrow is a fighting game that pays homage to the classics as it presents a cast of monsters of horror, literature, and mythology with mixed results. Some of the characters feel too sluggish for their own good and don’t offer enough special skills to offset their cons. There are some unique ones in the mix as well – see Imhotep and Erzebet, but the overall package certainly feels a bit lacking. There’s a large Gallery section where you can check out over 100 pieces of artwork. These are split into 96 images for characters, 24 images for environments, and nine miscellaneous images. Omen of Sorrow is available for $19.99.
Disclaimer
This Omen of Sorrow review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by eastasiasoft.
