Omen Coming to Killer Instinct

A text update on the Killer Instinct Forums has revealed that the Season 2 Bonus Character, Omen, will be released later this month.

Omen is the ‘Herald of Gargos’, baddie of Killer Instinct’s past, that used to live inside Jago. Omen is now free and doing his own thing as a unique character.

Even though we’ve only seen a bit of a wing Omen is sounding like a hugely interesting character. From being the first Killer Instinct character with three shadow stocks (up till now only Fulgore had a unique shadow meter), to advertised ‘aerial movement options’ and ‘powerful projectile zoning’, Omen is sounding like an interesting character.

If you ask me? This sounds like an Akuma situation in so far as Omen will be a twist on the Shoto playstyle. We know that Omen is rocking a shadow-y teleport, but image if his zoning options come from directional fireballs? Throw in air dashing and Omen could be a powerful Oni-like presence amongst the Killer Instinct cast. It seems safe to assume that Omen will be at least partially based on Jago’s moveset, after-all.

How do you get Omen? Simply ‘own’ Season 2. Omen is the bonus character of the season and won’t be sold separately – his inclusion is the sweetener to encourage people to purchase the full game. Given the good job Iron Galaxy have done with Kan-Ra, Riptor and Maya to date, Killer Instinct does seem in safe hands so if you were holding out, now might be a good time to return.

But what of Shadow Jago? Unfortunately the skull-wearing, blue fetish version of Jago will remain, for the time being, unchanged, with many of his proposed tweaks being implemented into Omen instead. The reason given on the forum makes sense, ‘we wanted to add a character that was tournament viable, and that means they have to be available to everyone, not just a smaller subset of the playerbase.’ Shadow Jago is still only available via limited means.

Given that Street Fighter V has surfaced as Killer Instinct’s primary competition, it’s unsurprising that Microsoft are pushing Killer Instinct’s tournament viability.

Omen will be shown next week, followed by a trailer the week after, and then he’ll be in the game within the month. Exciting!