David Bowie was always a forward thinker, and we've all seen that come out in the days since he died of cancer at the age of 69. He famously challenged MTV about their questionable ratio of content in the years where hip-hop was an underground sensation. He saw the way that the Internet would change music distribution forever, and he was one of the first famous personalities to attempt to harness social media to communicate directly to his fans. He also embraced video games as an emerging art form, collaborating with Quantic Dream on their first release, known as Omikron: The Nomad Soul.
Published by Edios in 1999 for PC and later for Dreamcast, Omikron established Quantic Dream's brand of narrative focus, and featured David Bowie music that was composed specifically for the game. In the present day, Square Enix have decided to offer the Steam version of Omikron for free from their official store.
https://twitter.com/SquareEnix/status/688032055700111360 Europeans can just log into the store and check out to acquire a Steam key for the game. Americans will have to do a bit more work and type in the coupon code "omikron" during checkout to receive their copy. The promotion will run for one week starting today, giving everyone plenty of time to check out this bizarre cyberpunk adventure.
Quick Take
David Cage is a divisive presence in the industry, but most people generally seem to regard Omikron as a great experience, even in the present day. While other celebrities were just jumping onto the FMV train that brought us Ripper and some of the Red Alert games, David Bowie seemed to have a handle on the true possibilities of gaming as a medium. Even if he never returned to games, it's still heartwarming to know that the sprawling catalog of this icon includes gaming at all.
Are you going to take Square up on their offer and try out Omikron - The Nomad Soul? Do you think Quantic Dream should revive their plans to return to the franchise, even without David Bowie? Sound off in the comments below!
