The Nomad Soul

About The Nomad Soul

The Nomad Soul (1999), known in North America as Omikron: The Nomad Soul, is Quantic Dream's genre-mixing adventure in a domed alien city, with a soundtrack and cameo by David Bowie.

The Nomad Soul in Depth

Omikron is a crowded metropolis on the world of Phaenon, sealed beneath a vast crystal dome since the planet's sun died and an ice age set in. Its sectors, Anekbah, Qalisar, Jaunpur, Jahangir and Lahoreh, have grown apart because citizens may not leave their own. A police officer, Kay'l 669, asks the player to leave their dimension and enter Omikron in his body to continue his investigation into serial killings. The trail reveals that the killer is a demon, that police commander Gandhar is a demon luring human souls into Omikron, and that Kay'l's request was a trap: if the character dies, the real player supposedly loses their soul forever. An underground movement, the Awakened, offers help.

Play mixes exploration, conversation and fighting, seen from third-person and side-on views in unarmed combat and first person with weapons. The player walks, runs, rides vehicles called Sliders and takes lifts to apartments and offices, and combat, speed and resilience improve with practice. Energy is restored with medikits, food and drink, and mana allows spells. On death, and eventually at will, the player is reincarnated in the body of the first character to touch them, with over forty people to inhabit. The SNEAK terminal holds character information, inventory and vital clues, magic rings save the game and buy advice, and seteks, the local currency, buy weapons and supplies.

Making The Nomad Soul

Tired of 15 years as a composer, David Cage began writing it in 1994, set up a team of friends in one of his studio's isolation booths and gave them six months to build an engine and prototype before the money ran out. In the last week he called Eidos in London, which signed a publishing deal by noon the next day; a prototype was shown at E3 three months later, and the game took two and a half years. Cage wanted "a movie-like experience - with total immersion" mixing genres. Reviewers praised its graphics, soundtrack, story, reincarnation and combat but criticised its controls, loading times and mix of styles. Nominated as 1999's best PC adventure by several outlets, it sold over 600,000 copies, though few in North America. A Dreamcast version followed in 2000.