The emergence of the Omicron Covid-19 variant has led some nostalgic gamers to revisit Omikron: The Nomad Soul, a 1999 video game with nightmare-fuel visuals. The once-forgotten game has gained a contemporary following due to sharing its name with the newest Covid variant. On top of this, fans of the game are speculating that Omikron predicted the pandemic.
The game was initially released for Microsoft Windows and eventually became available on Dreamcast. It was developed by Quantic Dream in partnership with David Bowie, who voiced a character in the game called Boz. In the sci-fi game, players try to save their own soul whilst hunting down a serial killer. The horror doesn’t stop there; within the game, demons will constantly try to lure the player into Omikron, a dark and futuristic city. In a Matrix-esque twist, if the player loses the game, it is said that their real-life soul is also lost.
Creepy concepts and visuals aside, online fans have picked out Bowie’s character Boz’s speech as evidence that the game somehow predicted the current distrust of government after the mistakes they made during the pandemic. A TikTok of Boz’s speech has gone viral, driving many to look into the conspiracy theory.
Within the speech, Boz says:
“Wake up. People of Omicron and it’s corrupt government are lulling you to sleep in order to control you better. They have transformed you into puppets that are manipulated by Icks and the Demons. Join the Awakened Ones and rise up to fight for your freedom. Together we can win.”
Omikron is Driving Conspiracy Theorists Wild
The 1999 game, after being brought up by original fans, continues to go viral on social media amid the new Omicron strain. On Twitter, people have taken both Boz’s speech and the game’s overall plotline and aligned it with widespread conspiracy theories about government control after the numerous lockdowns during the pandemic.
One person on Twitter combined the theory that the new Covid variant is somehow connected to Bill Gates, who was the head of Microsoft at the time the game was developed, with the plotline of Omikron. They commented: “Omicron was the name of a 1999 video game by Microsoft (Bill Gates) about demons pretending to be humans and harvesting their souls…. I’ll just leave that right here…”
Another reposted Boz’s speech with the caption: “This is a video game from 1999 called Omikron. Listen to the video from 4:30 to 4:52. Completely conspiratorial, but it’s very very unnerving when compared to what is happening.” A third person added to the discussion around Boz’s speech: “Omikron (Omicron) The Nomad Soul video game from 1999. David Bowie was one of its composers. Listen to his words, coincidence or a foretelling of what was to come?… you be the judge.”
Although Omikron may seem connected to what’s happening in the real world, it’s really just a strange coincidence focused on a largely forgotten, decades-old game, combined with the current global situation.
