The player animates a human astronaut and member of OESI, who was sent on a single-man space exploration mission. The craft the player receives is a rebuilt spaceship, which crashed on Earth due to unknown reasons, and had all navigational data erased. After the ship's launch, it is stranded in orbit, due to damage the engine suffered. However, the player is rescued by Granger Tinker Brin O'Keef, a representative of the Alliance, which fights a highly advanced "race" of robots, the Korok, who are bent on destroying all life within the galaxy in order to secure their survival. One of the gamer's first assignments is destroying a rogue WR-4000 Korok spacecraft threatening Earth. Afterwards, he is relegated to Maka Bola, the Alliance's main world, where the real game begins. The game features eleven completely different races, ranging from the robotic Korok to arrogant, beautiful Phelonese, who are, as their designation suggests, anthropomorphic felines. Additionally, the game includes a dazzling array of trading goods, ranging from exotic goods, such as the alien Grun cattle and its derivatives to the mundane. The spaceship is also customizable, with different missiles, loaders, shield generators, engines and scanners and jamming devices. To give the player a chance to employ this equipment, the developers provided an entire galaxy with several hundred planets to explore. The gameplay itself is primarily centered around exploration and information gathering. This is primarily done through character interaction and asking questions. The amount of text written for this game is simply astonishing, as every trade good and race is fitted with a description, which varies depending on the race, whose member is asked about the item. However, the cumbersome talking interface makes it difficult to ask many questions in a short time. Combat, while an essential part, is simple and relies heavily on reflexes, which may discourage gamers with less gaming experience. The economic element, however, is stressed heavily, but requires experience to understand and operate, especially because the trade system is based on barter, not any currency system.
Plot
The game's plot is centered around finding a way to defeat the Korok and save the universe. The game can be roughly divided into acts, basing off the player's rank in the Alliance, which in turn, is affected by the result of missions the player undertakes. Apart from the main plot, there are also many sub-plots, such as finding and reactivating EX Korok robots, piecing together the origin of the species or each species' history.
Races
The eleven races each possess an intricate story, different set of trading goods, ship classes and vocabulary.
Altec Hocker
Arden
Bellicosians
Chanticleer
Kenelm
Korok
Musin
Pahrump
Phelonese
Shaasa
Ursor
Losten
Reception
Stating that Nomad "is well balanced between allowing freedom of choice and imparting a feeling of progression toward the conclusion", Computer Gaming World in May 1994 approved of its interface and multiple ways of solving the game. The reviewer stated that the game "came dangerously close to" imitating Starflight instead of being an homage, but "comes up short" compared to and Elite 2: "It simply isn't as large, doesn't pay off in as many hours of play, and doesn't have the same detailed atmosphere and scope". He recommended Nomad to casual gamers "who actually work for a living and game 'on the side'".
