By Ava Harper
For years, Grand Theft Auto (GTA) has ruled as the top open-world crimemafia game. Its massive, detailed environments and chaotic freedom have set a standard few games have matched. However, a new challenger is on the horizon, offering a fresh spin on the genre.
OMERTA, the upcoming Web3 crime-action game, promises an immersive world of crime and controversy. Unlike GTA V’s traditional single-player narrative or the chaotic multiplayer of GTA Online, OMERTA will combine both into a player-driven economy and a dynamic crime world to create something truly unique.
Let’s take a closer look at the OMERTA game and explore how it plans to shake up the crime-action genre.
The Setting: Brookton vs. Los Santos
In essence, Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) set a high standard with its open-world environment, Los Santos. This sprawling city is a fictionalized version of Los Angeles, brimming with diverse locations and endless activities.
Players can explore everything from bustling downtown streets to the serene countryside. In doing so, each area is packed with intricate details, making Los Santos feel remarkably alive.
As such, the scale of GTA V’s map, combined with the freedom it offers players, has significantly contributed to its success. Every corner of the city presents an opportunity for chaos, missions, or side activities.
In practice, GTA V revolutionized how players engage with open-world games. Now, with GTA 6 in development, fans are eagerly anticipating an even more detailed and expansive world, possibly introducing new cities and an array of exciting features.
Brookton: A City Controlled by Crime Cartels
OMERTA will offer a distinctly different experience. Its open-world city, Brookton, will be a crime-infested metropolis dominated by five powerful cartels.
While GTA leans into a satirical take on American culture, OMERTA will immerse players in a dark, noir-inspired city where crime permeates every aspect of life. Brookton’s unique aesthetic seamlessly combines gritty realism with elements of sci-fi and the occult, creating a distinctive atmosphere that sets it apart from Los Santos.
Moreover, the city’s cartel power struggles will introduce an additional layer of realism. Players must navigate dangerous sections of the city, making careful choices regarding their alliances.
In practice, unlike GTA, where random street fights and police chases are prevalent, OMERTA online game will require strategic planning and survival within a hostile, cartel-run ecosystem.
Unique Gameplay Mechanics: What OMERTA Offers That GTA Doesn’t
OMERTA, once released, will offer several unique gameplay systems that together create a dynamic and unpredictable world.
For instance, The Feud Limit is a mechanic that will increase tension. Every time a player attacks or harms a cartel’s interests, the Feud Limit will increase. Once the limit is reached, the cartel retaliates by sending elite assassins after the player. This means players must think carefully before attacking a cartel. The wrong move could lead to deadly consequences.
Likewise, OMERTA will have dark rituals and occult systems. This will add a supernatural twist to the crime-action genre. Players will be able to engage in high-risk, high-reward occult activities, like summoning dark entities or performing rituals for cartels such as the Coven Cartel. These occult missions will be highly unpredictable—successful rituals can grant players powerful buffs, unique items, or secret knowledge that provides a significant advantage in the game.
However, failure in these activities will come with severe consequences, such as curses, hallucinations, or hostile supernatural entities appearing in the game world. This mechanic introduces a layer of unpredictability and danger that GTA doesn’t offer, giving OMERTA players something truly unique.
Character Progression and Customization: Lone-wolf, Henchman or a Crime Boss
Players will have a choice whether to start as a lone-wolf or join any of the five feuding cartels. The ultimate goal is to rise through the ranks by completing different missions and building their empire. The game’s storyline will be shaped by the player’s choices, especially in dealing with the five cartels that control the city.
As players progress, they will be able to choose which cartel to align with, or if they want to betray certain groups. This affects the player’s standing in the game. The cartels will offer different rewards and missions based on these decisions. This will make game progression feel more dynamic compared to GTA’s linear mission structure.
The progression system also ties into OMERTA’s economy. Items earned in offline mode, such as weapons or vehicles, will be usable in the online mafia game mode, adding a unique advantage. This cross-mode progression is something GTA lacks, as it separates the single-player and multiplayer experiences.
GTA’s Customization and Progression
On the other hand, GTA V, and particularly, GTA Online gives players a wide range of customization options for their characters. They can change their character’s appearance, buy cars, and own properties. However, these customizations do not directly affect the game’s narrative or progression. Rather these customizations are more about aesthetics.
While GTA offers a lot of freedom in terms of cosmetics and property purchases, it lacks the strategic depth of OMERTA’s cartel system. The choices players make will impact both their character’s progression and their place within the game’s world.
Graphics and World Immersion: Unreal Engine vs. RAGE
OMERTA is currently in development using Unreal Engine 5, which is notable for its high-quality visuals and realistic environments. This engine allows for detailed character models, lifelike textures, and dynamic lighting. The game uses features like Lumen for real-time lighting and Nanite for detailed geometry, making Brookton feel immersive and visually rich.
The city of Brookton is being designed with a mix of cyberpunk influences and gritty, noir-style visuals, which will give this mafia game a unique atmosphere to stand out from GTA’s sun-soaked realism. OMERTA’s use of darker tones, neon lights, and shadowy environments will create a moody and intense setting in which every corner of the city feels dangerous.
GTA’s RAGE Engine and Its Evolution
Grand Theft Auto V uses Rockstar’s RAGE engine, which has been praised for creating detailed open-world environments. Los Santos in GTA V is packed with life-like details, from busy streets to scenic beaches. The engine handles massive areas with smooth transitions, allowing players to explore without interruptions.
However, GTA V was released in 2013, and while its graphics still hold up, they don’t match the level of detail offered by Unreal Engine 5. With GTA 6 on the horizon, rumors suggest that Rockstar will significantly upgrade the RAGE engine to compete with modern titles. Still, for now, OMERTA’s use of Unreal Engine 5 will provide a more advanced graphical experience, particularly in terms of lighting and world depth.
While GTA’s visuals lean toward realistic city life, OMERTA’s visual style, with its cyberpunk edge, will give players a different kind of immersive world—darker, more mysterious, and filled with tension.
What Makes OMERTA Stand Out: The Web3 Element
The OMERTA game will use blockchain technology to provide a unique Web3 gaming experience. Key features include:
- In-Game Asset Ownership: Players will be able to own assets like businesses, properties, and items through Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). These NFTs will be tradable both in-game and on external marketplaces.
- Play-and-Earn Model: Players will earn OMERTA Tokens (ticker to be announced) by completing missions or running businesses. These tokens will be used for in-game purchases or traded for other cryptocurrencies, allowing players to profit from their in-game activities.
- Real-World Value: Unlike GTA Online, where in-game assets hold no value outside the game, OMERTA’s blockchain-based economy will give players the opportunity to generate real financial rewards. For more on how NFT games create real-world value, you can read this guide.
- Decentralized Governance: OMERTA will eventually be run by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), allowing players with OMERTA Tokens to vote on important game decisions, such as updates, gameplay changes, and new features.
Conclusion: Can OMERTA Dethrone GTA?
It goes without saying that GTA has set a formidable benchmark for others to follow. However, OMERTA is emerging as a strong contender, aiming to redefine the genre with its AAA-level gameplay and innovative Web3 integration.
In doing so, it promises an experience that challenges the traditional confines of crime games. The blend of strategic planning, dark rituals, and dynamic character progression introduces a level of depth and unpredictability that GTA has yet to explore.
As we await the full game trailer slated for release before the end of 2024, it’s clear that OMERTA has the potential to captivate both veteran gamers and newcomers alike. Its recently announced airdrop campaign invites players to become part of the OMERTA community before the game’s release.
With GTA 6 on the horizon, the competition is heating up. OMERTA’s unique approach could very well entice fans of the genre to rethink their allegiances, making it a title to watch in the coming months.
Will OMERTA manage to dethrone GTA, or will it carve out its own niche in the vast landscape of open-world gaming? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain: OMERTA is a name that gamers will remember for a long time.
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