Destinybit, developers of Nitro Gen Omega, clearly watched a lot of mecha anime. You can feel the influence of series like Gundam, Evangelion, and Gurren Lagann on the character design, camera angles, events, and mech designs. It’s absolutely stylish, and you can tell the time spent in early access helped with quality of life additions. Some elements can be a little off-putting, as the UI takes getting used to and there are a few difficult quests. But if you take Nitro Gen Omega in as more of a post-apocalyptic mech anime adventure, rather than a straightforward RPG, you should have a good time.
Things in Nitro Gen Omega start small. You get a randomized crew of four pilots who formed a new team of mercenaries dedicated to wiping out robots on the surface and fighting back against the rogue AI. Initially, we’re only assigned to patrols by Anchorage. However, as our notoriety grows, so do our responsibilities. This eventually leads to us acting as an actually substantial force who can push back against the enemies that beat humanity and forced them into cities created atop towers in the sky.
Nitro Gen Omega’s biggest problem is explaining itself. Which is to its detriment, as it’s a really cool RPG that feels like taking control of the story of one of those types of mecha anime series Destinybit clearly admires. Things begin with your group of four mercenaries, which are already tied to different roles with the mech and in combat. They’re some of the few willing to head down to the surface and not stay in one of the pillar towns in the towers safe in the clouds, to try and fight back against AI and the robots it controls. For example, we know going in that while your mech is the unit in-battle fighting, you actually are managing the actions of the four people inside it. The tutorial doesn’t do the best job of clarifying that your procedurally generated Driver character is used to move the unit to possibly the same region as the enemy or attack, the Engineer is a supporter who can heal the system, the Operator prepares evasive maneuvers in response to the possible robot attacks, and the gunner can shoot the mech’s weapon. A little more handholding when it comes to getting you used to combat and managing your crew would be a huge help. Especially since later campaign missions can result in a game over if failed, and other ones do involve grinding robot fights and taking sidequests to get strong enough to compete.
Because once you start, there’s a lot to it. Combat is perhaps one of the standout elements and most memorable parts. It’s turn-based, but you’re actually planning for the phase ahead of time, then watching what happens when those actions are carried out. Various conditions, both on the part of your team and the enemy, affect the results. So if two of your party member pilots had an argument and aren’t getting along, one might sabotage the other. If they’re getting along and had an admiration event ahead of the battle, they might help instead. Basically, you see the timeline and get an idea when an enemy might attack, and you can organize things like moves to occur at optimal times. So you may want to have the Driver move to one region during a turn, the Gunner shoot a cannon, the Engineer deploy coolant to prevent overheating, then the Operator deploy smokes just before an enemy attack to increase evasion. If the Driver already got the mech in the same quadrant as the enemy, they could use offensive or defensive moves like Slap or Guard at their point in the battle. Or, if you’re sizing things up and want to stay out of an enemy’s reach for a moment, you could have the Operator scan them while the Gunner reloads and Driver defends to prepare. It’s impressively deep and, because you’re doing all this while looking at a timeline before choosing to begin the Resolution phase, you can use that portion to watch the anime-style shots and appreciate the artistry.
But that’s only part of what makes Nitro Gen Omega so cool. I mentioned earlier that this feels more like a “post-apocalyptic mech anime adventure” than an RPG, even with those turn-based fights. That’s because so much of this is dedicated to the management portion of things. We earn Activity Tokens when we play. This allows us to head into our base to send our pilots off to do things that influence their mindsets, status, and relationships. So as an example, I could use that earned currency to send people to the Game Area to play the arcade games or Shogi to hopefully foster positive relationships. (Ironically, sending a pair to the Paradise Dance game will actually decrease fatigue.) Ideally, you want to keep their status as Healthy, their mood at Content or better, and their fatigue down, while also hopefully acquiring and completing their personal Aspirations to unlock Skill slots and keeping positive relationships with other crew members.
I also loved how we can create our own custom characters. There are some limitations. The first is the character creator doesn’t offer all that many hair, clothing, and face parts, though the color selection is varied. I also never saw any of my original creations appear in my initial team, even though I rerolled a few times before starting my run. It seems they’re only limited to appearing in cities if you tick that option when starting a game. But it is fun to see someone come up, say like yourself if you make your own avatar, and force them into the robot.
Nitro Gen Omega feels totally original, even if it takes a little adjusting to life as a mecha mercenary. The combat system is really unique and feels great once you realize the right timing. Investing in your pilots by determining their “off duty” actions and ensuring they’re fit for fights is fun too. It feels very freeform too. So even though there is a bit of grinding and it might feel difficult sometimes, there’s a lot to do to brace yourself for the battle against AI.
Nitro Gen Omega is on the Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.