I'll see someone put the corniest string of words together under a game i like then this kids sad little face will be staring at me on their best games ever throne
Yeah the Pope didn't like this one too much.
Recommended by XenonNV as part of this list.
Partway through OMORI it dawned on me that there's a timeline where this game managed to release when I was in high school and I would've 100% made it a core facet of my personality for years.
OMORI is more likely than not the game that comes to everyone's mind when they think of the quintessential "Quirky Depression Earthbirth RPG", the hypothetical dead horse that encapsulates a lot of people's gripes with the modern indie scene and all it's eccentricities, and, to concede to that stereotyped image somewhat, it's for the most part true. OMORI is part lighthearted and surreal RPG about the titular main character and his adventures in the wonderfully quirky dream world of Headspace, and part mental health story about Omori's real-life counterpart Sunny and his struggles in the mundane reality of Faraway Town with his own mental health and relationships. The primary issue with OMORI however is not really with it's oft-maligned aesthetic or subject matter, but rather the fact that it's a complete tonal mess.
Headspace, as a dream world inside of Sunny's head, is obviously allowed to be a little surreal, as it's where most of the game's Earthbound DNA is apparent, from it's cutesy enemies to it's fun cast of eccentric NPCs and elevated sense of reality where anything goes. It's where 90% of OMORI takes place and is, for the most part, incredibly charming and fun. The tonal issues start to become apparent though when the Headspace sections lead into the Faraway Town segments, where, despite supposedly taking place in reality, still have a little too much whimsy and Earthbound-esque atmosphere. There's still wacky NPCs to talk to and goofy part-time jobs to have, which, while still enjoyable, isn't enough of a contrast to Headspace and doesn't mesh well with the relatively grounded and serious interpersonal drama between the core cast that revolves around grief and loss. It results in OMORI feeling like two disparate Quirky Earthbound-likes being duct-taped together without any real cohesiveness between the two halves, and only causes more issues down the line when the plot in Faraway town starts to actually go somewhere.
Headspace initially starts off as a low-stakes kid's adventure, which is perfectly fine for the Prologue, where it uses that initial impression to disarm the player when they first enter Faraway Town in the real world, but as is soon made apparent, Headspace is pure fluff, a complete nothing-burger that only really serves to pad out the runtime. Compared to the snappy pace and relative brevity of Faraway Town, Headspace tends to drag on for hours at a time with absolutely jack-shit happening, both literally and thematically. The various sprite animations, fancy textbox effects and UI is very charming and appealing at first, but the frequent use of them & their annoying length results in a start-and-stop gameplay flow that delights in wasting your time, and it's an issue that only gets worse as the game goes on, where long stretches of overly-goofy filler plot happen without anything substantive to bite into, that do nothing but pad out the runtime so the game can hit an arbitrary length quota. In addition to this, the idea of Headspace reflecting Sunny's inner thoughts is frankly underutilized, when that connection to the main character's subconscious could've been used to give the lengthy Headspace segments some more weighty thematic story relevance beyond simple visual callbacks to Faraway Town.
Despite the long stretches of nothing filler that feel like having a sugar crash, when OMORI wants to get serious, it can actually deliver more often than not. The subtle underlying horror of Headspace is pretty effective when it wants to be, and the drama of Faraway Town, while coming across like an afterschool PSA more often than not, is actually quite engaging and emotionally competent, but because OMORI is trying to maintain it's pastel Sanrio Lo-Fi Kawaii Future Bass Tumblr aesthetic at all times, this results in even the serious moments lacking punch because of the fact it's edges have been sanded down as smooth as possible for the sake of palatability. This is made most apparent with it's final plot twist at the very end of the game, which, without going into spoilers, is an insanely dark and out-of-left-field bout of tonal whiplash that is not only a massive misstep in the solid framework of the game's plot up until then, but is scrapping against the game's Instagram Self-Care™ Awareness Post-ass final message of overcoming depression and self-doubt by not being afraid to rely on your friends for help. It's way too big of an elephant to ignore and not something you can just drop in the player's lap and treat with the same levity with which the more mundane mental health struggles are in the plot. It's the most frustrating aspect of OMORI by far because I can see how it could work! It's not even presented badly in-game (in fact, the reveal is one of my favorite moment of the game bar none), but it's consistent adherence to the vibe initially established by Headspace ends up dragging what should be a master-class twist down hard.
OMORI is a frustrating, mixed bag of a game I want to like more than I do. It's playing all the right notes, and even manages to tug at my worn-out heartstrings with a surprising frequency, and I can see the appeal behind it; how it's managed to gather such a devoted fanbase that was emotionally wrecked by OMORI's style and presentation. However, it's too bloated, too messy and too toothless to make the landing it desperately wants to make. The video game equivalent of eating raw sugar by the handful.
Partway through OMORI it dawned on me that there's a timeline where this game managed to release when I was in high school and I would've 100% made it a core facet of my personality for years.
OMORI is more likely than not the game that comes to everyone's mind when they think of the quintessential "Quirky Depression Earthbirth RPG", the hypothetical dead horse that encapsulates a lot of people's gripes with the modern indie scene and all it's eccentricities, and, to concede to that stereotyped image somewhat, it's for the most part true. OMORI is part lighthearted and surreal RPG about the titular main character and his adventures in the wonderfully quirky dream world of Headspace, and part mental health story about Omori's real-life counterpart Sunny and his struggles in the mundane reality of Faraway Town with his own mental health and relationships. The primary issue with OMORI however is not really with it's oft-maligned aesthetic or subject matter, but rather the fact that it's a complete tonal mess.
Headspace, as a dream world inside of Sunny's head, is obviously allowed to be a little surreal, as it's where most of the game's Earthbound DNA is apparent, from it's cutesy enemies to it's fun cast of eccentric NPCs and elevated sense of reality where anything goes. It's where 90% of OMORI takes place and is, for the most part, incredibly charming and fun. The tonal issues start to become apparent though when the Headspace sections lead into the Faraway Town segments, where, despite supposedly taking place in reality, still have a little too much whimsy and Earthbound-esque atmosphere. There's still wacky NPCs to talk to and goofy part-time jobs to have, which, while still enjoyable, isn't enough of a contrast to Headspace and doesn't mesh well with the relatively grounded and serious interpersonal drama between the core cast that revolves around grief and loss. It results in OMORI feeling like two disparate Quirky Earthbound-likes being duct-taped together without any real cohesiveness between the two halves, and only causes more issues down the line when the plot in Faraway town starts to actually go somewhere.
Headspace initially starts off as a low-stakes kid's adventure, which is perfectly fine for the Prologue, where it uses that initial impression to disarm the player when they first enter Faraway Town in the real world, but as is soon made apparent, Headspace is pure fluff, a complete nothing-burger that only really serves to pad out the runtime. Compared to the snappy pace and relative brevity of Faraway Town, Headspace tends to drag on for hours at a time with absolutely jack-shit happening, both literally and thematically. The various sprite animations, fancy textbox effects and UI is very charming and appealing at first, but the frequent use of them & their annoying length results in a start-and-stop gameplay flow that delights in wasting your time, and it's an issue that only gets worse as the game goes on, where long stretches of overly-goofy filler plot happen without anything substantive to bite into, that do nothing but pad out the runtime so the game can hit an arbitrary length quota. In addition to this, the idea of Headspace reflecting Sunny's inner thoughts is frankly underutilized, when that connection to the main character's subconscious could've been used to give the lengthy Headspace segments some more weighty thematic story relevance beyond simple visual callbacks to Faraway Town.
Despite the long stretches of nothing filler that feel like having a sugar crash, when OMORI wants to get serious, it can actually deliver more often than not. The subtle underlying horror of Headspace is pretty effective when it wants to be, and the drama of Faraway Town, while coming across like an afterschool PSA more often than not, is actually quite engaging and emotionally competent, but because OMORI is trying to maintain it's pastel Sanrio Lo-Fi Kawaii Future Bass Tumblr aesthetic at all times, this results in even the serious moments lacking punch because of the fact it's edges have been sanded down as smooth as possible for the sake of palatability. This is made most apparent with it's final plot twist at the very end of the game, which, without going into spoilers, is an insanely dark and out-of-left-field bout of tonal whiplash that is not only a massive misstep in the solid framework of the game's plot up until then, but is scrapping against the game's Instagram Self-Care™ Awareness Post-ass final message of overcoming depression and self-doubt by not being afraid to rely on your friends for help. It's way too big of an elephant to ignore and not something you can just drop in the player's lap and treat with the same levity with which the more mundane mental health struggles are in the plot. It's the most frustrating aspect of OMORI by far because I can see how it could work! It's not even presented badly in-game (in fact, the reveal is one of my favorite moment of the game bar none), but it's consistent adherence to the vibe initially established by Headspace ends up dragging what should be a master-class twist down hard.
OMORI is a frustrating, mixed bag of a game I want to like more than I do. It's playing all the right notes, and even manages to tug at my worn-out heartstrings with a surprising frequency, and I can see the appeal behind it; how it's managed to gather such a devoted fanbase that was emotionally wrecked by OMORI's style and presentation. However, it's too bloated, too messy and too toothless to make the landing it desperately wants to make. The video game equivalent of eating raw sugar by the handful.
only losers like this game
edit: damn i just read the omoriboy comic and i was right. only losers like this game
edit: damn i just read the omoriboy comic and i was right. only losers like this game
really bad amalgamation of the most shallow understandings someone can have of what makes yume nikki and earthbound good. this is tumblr-2013core being sold to a 2020+ audience. unfortunately, it seems everybody ate it up.
Veredito: Um começo bom, um final magnífico e um tédio no meio.
É fácil ver por que Omori é tão querido, mesmo não sendo um jogo pra quem tem coração fraco. Seus tópicos de trauma, morte, luto, medos, culpas, depressão, suicídio, crises de ansiedade, perda e superação, negação e aceitação, amizades construídas, despedaçadas e reatadas... são todos trabalhados com muita maturidade e seriedade, por devs que sabem a importância desses temas.
É um jRPG padrão bem sólido, com batalhas em turno simples e intuitivas que qualquer um aprende fácil, mas elaboradas o bastante pra se manterem envolventes até o final. O visual simulando rabiscos com lápis de cor é LINDO DE MORRER PQP, criando um contraste brilhante entre a temática pesada da trama e o fato de ela estar sendo vivida por crianças, com todo um ar infantil. A história começa promissora e te dá motivos suficientes pra querer avançar nela, os personagens todos são muito bem feitos (ESPECIALMENTE o protagonista, que mesmo sendo o tropo do avatar-mudo-pro-jogador-se-espelhar é um personagem super completinho e bem escrito pra cacete), e o último ato do jogo está entre os mais bem feitos e tocantes de toda a história gamística.
Mas o meio do jogo, ai meu caralho de asas, é um SACO. A introdução é excelente e quando você recebe um objetivo concreto - procurar X - se sente de fato envolvido nele... por um tempo. "Procurar X" é uma constante absolutamente imutável e monótona do começo ao fim da jornada. É ficar preso num ciclo infinito de "fomos em tal lugar e não encontramos X, e fizemos um desvio de rota sem motivo pra uma dungeon, vamos tentar agora naquele outro lugar porque sim" de novo, e de novo, e de novo... e de novo. É uma temporada de caça ao pato que nunca termina, nunca vai a lugar nenhum e nunca muda até você ter feito todas as dungeons do jogo. Sabe como em Chrono Trigger e Final Fantasy 6 você tem uma única meta o jogo inteiro que é derrotar Lavos/o império, e percorre várias etapas - pegar a Masamune ou entender a origem dos Espers - até conseguir? Imagine isso porém sem essas etapas, sem uma progressão na trama, sem uma sensação MÍNIMA de avanço, sem nada além de "estamos correndo atrás, confia". Isso é Omori desde o fim da introdução até o começo do último ato, salvo pequenos (e EXCELENTES) interlúdios. A apresentação top de linha e o combate bem estruturado seguram as pontas por um tempo, e o mundo ser criativo pacas (muito mais imaginativo do que os clichês medieval/futurista) não atrapalha, mas MEU DEUS DO CÉU, tudo tem limite.
Ah sim, e têm um porrilhão de sidequests. Todas uma bosta, não recomendo nenhuma. (mas fikdik: se não quiser ter retrabalho, pegue as letras sempre que passar por elas)
Dito tudo isso, repito que o último ato (pelo menos o da minha rota) é genial. Imaculado, emocionante, perfeito. Dá todo um significado novo pra um milhão de coisas que eu só achava que tinha entendido. Várias decisões que tomei ao longo da jornada e que nem sabia que eram decisões (sim, o jogo tem rotas) se encontraram aqui e concluíram com maestria o arco do protagonista e das pessoas que ele amava. Quase faz valer a pena os vários nadas que eu tive que aturar antes de ver os créditos.
É fácil ver por que Omori é tão querido, mesmo não sendo um jogo pra quem tem coração fraco. Seus tópicos de trauma, morte, luto, medos, culpas, depressão, suicídio, crises de ansiedade, perda e superação, negação e aceitação, amizades construídas, despedaçadas e reatadas... são todos trabalhados com muita maturidade e seriedade, por devs que sabem a importância desses temas.
É um jRPG padrão bem sólido, com batalhas em turno simples e intuitivas que qualquer um aprende fácil, mas elaboradas o bastante pra se manterem envolventes até o final. O visual simulando rabiscos com lápis de cor é LINDO DE MORRER PQP, criando um contraste brilhante entre a temática pesada da trama e o fato de ela estar sendo vivida por crianças, com todo um ar infantil. A história começa promissora e te dá motivos suficientes pra querer avançar nela, os personagens todos são muito bem feitos (ESPECIALMENTE o protagonista, que mesmo sendo o tropo do avatar-mudo-pro-jogador-se-espelhar é um personagem super completinho e bem escrito pra cacete), e o último ato do jogo está entre os mais bem feitos e tocantes de toda a história gamística.
Mas o meio do jogo, ai meu caralho de asas, é um SACO. A introdução é excelente e quando você recebe um objetivo concreto - procurar X - se sente de fato envolvido nele... por um tempo. "Procurar X" é uma constante absolutamente imutável e monótona do começo ao fim da jornada. É ficar preso num ciclo infinito de "fomos em tal lugar e não encontramos X, e fizemos um desvio de rota sem motivo pra uma dungeon, vamos tentar agora naquele outro lugar porque sim" de novo, e de novo, e de novo... e de novo. É uma temporada de caça ao pato que nunca termina, nunca vai a lugar nenhum e nunca muda até você ter feito todas as dungeons do jogo. Sabe como em Chrono Trigger e Final Fantasy 6 você tem uma única meta o jogo inteiro que é derrotar Lavos/o império, e percorre várias etapas - pegar a Masamune ou entender a origem dos Espers - até conseguir? Imagine isso porém sem essas etapas, sem uma progressão na trama, sem uma sensação MÍNIMA de avanço, sem nada além de "estamos correndo atrás, confia". Isso é Omori desde o fim da introdução até o começo do último ato, salvo pequenos (e EXCELENTES) interlúdios. A apresentação top de linha e o combate bem estruturado seguram as pontas por um tempo, e o mundo ser criativo pacas (muito mais imaginativo do que os clichês medieval/futurista) não atrapalha, mas MEU DEUS DO CÉU, tudo tem limite.
Ah sim, e têm um porrilhão de sidequests. Todas uma bosta, não recomendo nenhuma. (mas fikdik: se não quiser ter retrabalho, pegue as letras sempre que passar por elas)
Dito tudo isso, repito que o último ato (pelo menos o da minha rota) é genial. Imaculado, emocionante, perfeito. Dá todo um significado novo pra um milhão de coisas que eu só achava que tinha entendido. Várias decisões que tomei ao longo da jornada e que nem sabia que eram decisões (sim, o jogo tem rotas) se encontraram aqui e concluíram com maestria o arco do protagonista e das pessoas que ele amava. Quase faz valer a pena os vários nadas que eu tive que aturar antes de ver os créditos.
I got the good ending
I... I'm broken. Omori, while not being a perfect game per say, is a masterpiece in storytelling. A story of grief, loss, depression, trauma, and regret. There's so many different moods expressed here, whether it's the humor and whimsy or the otherworld, or the depressive nature of the real world. Despite any regrets we may have, we always have people that we can rely on.
"Remember, no man is a failure who has friends."
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
I... I'm broken. Omori, while not being a perfect game per say, is a masterpiece in storytelling. A story of grief, loss, depression, trauma, and regret. There's so many different moods expressed here, whether it's the humor and whimsy or the otherworld, or the depressive nature of the real world. Despite any regrets we may have, we always have people that we can rely on.
"Remember, no man is a failure who has friends."
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Sorry, the only “Sunny” I recognize is Sonny LoSpecchio, a true Italian American hero
Get ready to learn chinese buddy
I need to go back for the other endings, but wow. There are definitely some pacing flaws and other minor meh-lements but overall the style, tone, and writing are all my shit. The main cast are all gunna live in my heart for a long long time.
This game is special to me, and so are you. Thank you<3
This game is special to me, and so are you. Thank you<3
"There's something behind you.."
This game.. where do I even begin?
I think i'll start this with an emotion this game will make you feel and ESPECIALLY made me feel: Fear.
This game is extremely immersive, and the way the game conveys what Sunny is feeling is fantastic. Some of the imagery and moments in this game are just unsettling and terrifying. The story and it's main mystery is extremely intriguing, and the ending to it all is just insane. The entire final stretch of this game had me on the edge of my seat and my jaw was on the floor.
big boy words aside, the story and psychological horror is REALLY good. now lets talk gameplay!!
The combat system is extremely easy to learn and simple to use, but pretty satisfying! I will say i feel fighting the common roaming enemies is pretty lame and just feels like a nuisance. I mostly just ran away from every single one i saw since there's really no point in fighting them unless they're blocking your path, I don't really care about this however 😹 The bosses are really fun though! had a hell of a time fighting with them, but yeah. gameplay is fun and simple and that's fine by me. now lets talk art and music!!
This blend of two art styles: drawing and pixelated is just SO beautiful to look at. from the vibrant landscape and characters of HEADSPACE, to the normal looking town of FARAWAY, to the horrific and disturbing encounters with the embodiment of grief itself, to the cutscenes and even the menus/huds. it's all just so pretty and pleasing on the eyes. The music and sound design as well is just top notch. Not much else to say! to put it simply once again; the art and music are just STUNNING! now onto the last section and closing thoughts..
The amount of content there is in this game is nuts, theres a handful of endings to reach, A LOT of achievements to achieve, quests to complete, and a route i hear that is more focused on gameplay, while also expanding on the story even more.
and that's it for my long ass review! if you want to play a game that'll keep you up at night with an amazing and immersive story, great characters, simple and fun combat, stunning art and music, and tons of content, ALL FOR $20 BY THE WAY!! then this game is for you!
OMORI is a game that will definitely linger on my mind for a great while. I highly recommend it. (and get the good ending okay?)
This game.. where do I even begin?
I think i'll start this with an emotion this game will make you feel and ESPECIALLY made me feel: Fear.
This game is extremely immersive, and the way the game conveys what Sunny is feeling is fantastic. Some of the imagery and moments in this game are just unsettling and terrifying. The story and it's main mystery is extremely intriguing, and the ending to it all is just insane. The entire final stretch of this game had me on the edge of my seat and my jaw was on the floor.
big boy words aside, the story and psychological horror is REALLY good. now lets talk gameplay!!
The combat system is extremely easy to learn and simple to use, but pretty satisfying! I will say i feel fighting the common roaming enemies is pretty lame and just feels like a nuisance. I mostly just ran away from every single one i saw since there's really no point in fighting them unless they're blocking your path, I don't really care about this however 😹 The bosses are really fun though! had a hell of a time fighting with them, but yeah. gameplay is fun and simple and that's fine by me. now lets talk art and music!!
This blend of two art styles: drawing and pixelated is just SO beautiful to look at. from the vibrant landscape and characters of HEADSPACE, to the normal looking town of FARAWAY, to the horrific and disturbing encounters with the embodiment of grief itself, to the cutscenes and even the menus/huds. it's all just so pretty and pleasing on the eyes. The music and sound design as well is just top notch. Not much else to say! to put it simply once again; the art and music are just STUNNING! now onto the last section and closing thoughts..
The amount of content there is in this game is nuts, theres a handful of endings to reach, A LOT of achievements to achieve, quests to complete, and a route i hear that is more focused on gameplay, while also expanding on the story even more.
and that's it for my long ass review! if you want to play a game that'll keep you up at night with an amazing and immersive story, great characters, simple and fun combat, stunning art and music, and tons of content, ALL FOR $20 BY THE WAY!! then this game is for you!
OMORI is a game that will definitely linger on my mind for a great while. I highly recommend it. (and get the good ending okay?)
1/10 its a stinker
I found out about this game around 2018 where i was searching on YouTube for music and found a video called “Omori – Imagination” and didn’t know that it was a game until late 2019. I thought to myself that this is going to be another Yandere Simulator and I’m very surprised that this game actually got released last December. Omori is a game that made me feel a lot of emotions. It made me laugh, it made me happy yet it also made me sad. The nuances and the creativity of this game is amazing, i found myself immersed on every idea this game provides from the concept of the dream world, the themes, and its flawed characters.
Omori was an amazing experience i had with a video game in a while, It reminded me of the days where i was at 4th grade playing around with my friends until i moved to another house and its through Sunny and Omori’s character that its able to made me feel that way. Omori/Sunny is the perfect silent protagonist that gets characterized early on in this game, a shy boy that carries a lot of guilt and burden but tends to bottle them up or run away from the horrors of reality thus creating the dream world. The dream world itself is very realistic and very charming, most of the time it doesn’t make sense because we have the ability to manipulate it and like dream itself, it can also seep the fears of reality within it. Also within the dream world, there’s a lot of creativity and wonders that i found myself spent a lot of time just staring at the screen, looking around and doing side quests that just elevates my experience with it. The use of the horror genre to tell its story and to associate with Sunny’s fear is a brilliant method that utilizes its genre as a whole.
There’s a lot of themes they tackled within this game such as escapism, the dichotomy of dreams and reality, nostalgia, friendship, and many more. But to put it into a single idea, it would be facing your fears. The fear of burdening one another, the fear of the truth, and the fear of facing yourself. It teaches me that it’s not good to carry your burden alone, that it’s okay to cry, and it’s okay to reminisce and feel nostalgia every now and then.
As i mentioned before, the casts of Omori is flawed yet also ties with its themes. Each one of them has their own unique personality and their own way of copping the event that happened making them truly likeable and alive.
The Gameplay aspect is also very fun and enjoyable. Each character have their own role in battle and the emotion system make battles very intense and satisfying. Although the game leans more to the easy side since it gives you a lot of items to help you throughout the gameplay but overall it was super fun and i really don’t mind that at all.
The final moments of the game is one of my favorite moments in all works of fiction, i can’t describe in details but it was a beautifully executed that it pays off the mystery and left an impression on me
Overall Omori is a genius craft that's filled with subtlety and nuances that utilizes its medium and genre to tell a story that made me feel a rollercoaster of emotions. It’s a game that I’ll hold dear and i think everyone should play it once in their life
Omori was an amazing experience i had with a video game in a while, It reminded me of the days where i was at 4th grade playing around with my friends until i moved to another house and its through Sunny and Omori’s character that its able to made me feel that way. Omori/Sunny is the perfect silent protagonist that gets characterized early on in this game, a shy boy that carries a lot of guilt and burden but tends to bottle them up or run away from the horrors of reality thus creating the dream world. The dream world itself is very realistic and very charming, most of the time it doesn’t make sense because we have the ability to manipulate it and like dream itself, it can also seep the fears of reality within it. Also within the dream world, there’s a lot of creativity and wonders that i found myself spent a lot of time just staring at the screen, looking around and doing side quests that just elevates my experience with it. The use of the horror genre to tell its story and to associate with Sunny’s fear is a brilliant method that utilizes its genre as a whole.
There’s a lot of themes they tackled within this game such as escapism, the dichotomy of dreams and reality, nostalgia, friendship, and many more. But to put it into a single idea, it would be facing your fears. The fear of burdening one another, the fear of the truth, and the fear of facing yourself. It teaches me that it’s not good to carry your burden alone, that it’s okay to cry, and it’s okay to reminisce and feel nostalgia every now and then.
As i mentioned before, the casts of Omori is flawed yet also ties with its themes. Each one of them has their own unique personality and their own way of copping the event that happened making them truly likeable and alive.
The Gameplay aspect is also very fun and enjoyable. Each character have their own role in battle and the emotion system make battles very intense and satisfying. Although the game leans more to the easy side since it gives you a lot of items to help you throughout the gameplay but overall it was super fun and i really don’t mind that at all.
The final moments of the game is one of my favorite moments in all works of fiction, i can’t describe in details but it was a beautifully executed that it pays off the mystery and left an impression on me
Overall Omori is a genius craft that's filled with subtlety and nuances that utilizes its medium and genre to tell a story that made me feel a rollercoaster of emotions. It’s a game that I’ll hold dear and i think everyone should play it once in their life
Damn.
Honestly not sure why I had the sudden urge to play this game but I'm really glad I did. I wasn't sure what to expect going into it but I certainly wasn't expecting a masterpiece, which is what it ended up being.
The gameplay and exploration of this game is really good. Headspace is a lot of fun to explore. The combat is deeper than I initially expected. The emotion system is somewhat complex but not complex enough to confuse anyone. Its very well balanced. There are plenty of bosses that can give you a run for your money but no overly hard impossible bosses. The difficulty is almost perfect imo. Overall the gameplay and combat are really good.
The story and cast are straight up amazing. I'm not going to get into the story too much to avoid spoilers but the ending literally blew me away. I love how headspace coincides with the real world and vice versa. There are no bad characters in this cast and the cast is definitely top 2 for me rn. The art style is also beatiful. Nice 10
The gameplay and exploration of this game is really good. Headspace is a lot of fun to explore. The combat is deeper than I initially expected. The emotion system is somewhat complex but not complex enough to confuse anyone. Its very well balanced. There are plenty of bosses that can give you a run for your money but no overly hard impossible bosses. The difficulty is almost perfect imo. Overall the gameplay and combat are really good.
The story and cast are straight up amazing. I'm not going to get into the story too much to avoid spoilers but the ending literally blew me away. I love how headspace coincides with the real world and vice versa. There are no bad characters in this cast and the cast is definitely top 2 for me rn. The art style is also beatiful. Nice 10
It's physically impossible to describe the true splendor of this game without me spoiling, but just know it's really good.
Stop me if you've heard this one before
We're gonna make an rpg. It's gonna be made in rpg maker. It's gonna be needlessly quirky and random, there's gonna be a jarring about face turn with attempts at drama that fall flat, Non characters will populate the story, and its climax will rip off a much better game that you'd rather be playing
Sound familiar? Welcome to indie rpgs of the last decade
We're gonna make an rpg. It's gonna be made in rpg maker. It's gonna be needlessly quirky and random, there's gonna be a jarring about face turn with attempts at drama that fall flat, Non characters will populate the story, and its climax will rip off a much better game that you'd rather be playing
Sound familiar? Welcome to indie rpgs of the last decade
This happened to me once.
I finished Omori thinking it was an alright 3 hour game that stretched itself into 12 hours, but the more I thought about the game and its story, the more those 3 hours lost their value and the weakness of its execution came to the forefront of my mind. It's a game that I wish was less afraid of showing its unique aspects, but it plays it safe and refuses to dig deeper into all the touchy subject matter that it brings up. The game is spends most of its time indulging in the escapist fantasy while leaving the meat of the story feel undeveloped, held back by the game's desire to fit into the mold of Earthbound-inspired RPGs.
Much has been said about the game’s pacing issues, the hours and hours it spends on tedious progression in the dreamworld before letting you get tidbits of real story. That content was probably meant to be fun for its own sake and that’s probably the biggest disconnect between me and someone who likes the game. As charming as the visuals were at first, they weren't exactly carrying the weight for me given how standard most of the areas feel for a place rooted in imagination. The quirky humor also fell flat for me as I found it to be missing good gags or any unique bite, most of the jokes felt kinda played out to me before they even started. The various “puzzles” and collection quests didn't do much but waste time when I wish they acted as space for compelling character interactions or story development. I only have good things to say about the music though, which was great throughout.
The combat also took a big chunk of the game, with most of the content geared around it given that the primary reward for all the sidecontent is items to make combat easier.
I’ve never been a big fan of turn based RPG combat and Omori did little to change my mind, as I found it an easy and boring exercise in attack/heal for most part. The emotion system, which gives party members unique effects such as using their mana pool as an extra hp pool, increasing crit chance, e.t.c was badly used IMO. I had hoped the game would allow me to use those emotions creatively to solve problems, but instead, the game explicitly states that it's an RPS system where certain emotions will inherently win against others, turning it into a glorified element system.
It doesn’t help that the story bosses were mainly a knowledge test of whether or not you guessed which emotion they would be inclined to. The only time I ever died was to Kite-Kid, who locked himself into a happy state early in the fight, and I lost because I already had some party members set to Angry. Restarting the fight with this knowledge in advance and setting my party members to sad preemptively made the fight a cakewalk. It was hard to get anything out of the combat for me when it operated on such a simple knowledge check.
That one death also exposed me to an oversight in the game’s design that would make it a chore even if it did attempt to leverage its systems to be challenging. If you lose, it's probably because you don’t have the right skills equipped to take advantage of the emotion you are meant to use. Unfortunately, if you die, the game will restart you right at the fight without giving an opportunity to change your build, forcing you to exit the game and reload your save to do so. This wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that most bosses were preceded by long unskippable dialogue scenes, so I can’t imagine how miserable the experience would be if you weren’t as lucky as I was with the equipped skills.
Now unto the story, and this is where my feelings with the game get complicated.
The game’s biggest disappointment to me is the criminal misuse of its setup. The game introduces a dreamworld that our depressed protagonist escapes to in their sleep, where he gets to hang around with “dream” versions of people he knew, and then switches gears to the real world, where most of the plot progression happens, and continues to alternate between the two. I think it's a no-brainer that one would use the dreamworld to explore the boy’s deeper psyche and issues through the metaphor and symbolism offered by the flexibility of the dreamworld’s visuals, giving us perspective into his personality, thoughts, and the way he views the world and people around him. Then, that internal struggle that he goes through in the dreamworld would then affect his behaviour and actions in the real world as payoff, right?
Unfortunately, the application of this idea is extremely limited in the game. I get that the dreamworld is meant to be an escapist fantasy, and that is well established within the first hour of the game. We spend a lot of time interacting with characters in the dreamworld, who’s antics and storylines end up being shallow and unfulfilling and fail to give any insight into the real story that’s going on. I can attempt to read into it by saying that SWEETHEART’s antagonistic antics are reflective of Sunny’s negative view of self love, Space Boyfriend’s heartbreak as his fear of relationships, and the whale as his fear of...water? Even with these interpretations, it all feels incredibly weak, at best tangential to the game’s plot, and not nearly enough substance to justify the sheer amount of time spent in the dreamworld.
The reading that makes most sense to me is that the time in the dreamworld was simply meant to depict the protagonist's escapism and how he used it to avoid meaningfully confronting his problems. Maybe it was just that I didn’t find that ecapsim to be fun and worth escaping to in the first place that made it not work for me, but even if it did, I feel like this use of the dreamworld falls so short of its potential that I can’t help but be disappointed.
I understand that the warning posted on the Steam page and the start of the game is a trigger warning for people who are sensitive to those subjects, but the way it's presented almost makes me feel like its the game flaunting what it’s really about before it even gets to pull the rug on you in its intro. It’s unfortunate then, that the game seems to shy away from exploring any of those subjects meaningfully, especially given how ripe the dreamworld setup is for that purpose. I am not asking the game to give a clinical examination or intense psychoanalysis, but the game struggles to use its dialogue and characters to give us a lens to how our protagonist is affected by and parses all his trauma. Instead, much of the game is about him intentionally forgetting the source of his trauma amidst his dreamworld escapism and the conclusion of it being him finally remembering.
The game’s clearest thematic throughline instead, is that of communication, everything else feels like fluff that is only lightly touched upon. The protag’s want to save one of his friends who direly needs him, but his fear of communicating with him and acknowledging what they have done is what drives a major part of the story. Given this theme, I expected Sunny’s position as a silent protagonist to be deconstructed or at least acknowledged, but it's often ignored in a way that is customary of the genre but feels ill-fitting for the game’s themes. On top of that, the game does little in most of its run time to give us his perspective on those fears, and instead is content only implying the depth the character might have.
There is one section of the game however, where the theme and setup is used incredibly effectively, and that is the Black Space chapter. The game homes in on its Yume Nikke inspirations and presents a series of horror vignettes that represent the protagonists darkest thoughts and fears. Not all of it was a hit, as seeing the protag’s friend die gruesomely from neglect loses its shock factor after the third time in a row, but the way it was presented was very captivating to me and I appreciate that the game finally decided to use its visuals to effectively communicate something. It felt like the game was finally delivering in these scenes, but then it ends very quickly and doesn’t feel worth all the tedium of the 8 hours preceding it. I would have preferred if the storytelling of Black Space was something that was spread all around the dreamworld, perhaps delivered with varying levels of subtlety, rather than the way it used now which feels too little and too late.
The biggest victim of the game’s unwillingness to explore its protagonist is the ending. By the time the protag finally confronts his friend and overcomes his fear of communication, it feels undeserved as I never got to know how he parsed through that fear and what he did to overcome it, given that most of the game is spent avoiding the issue entirely. The journey in his mind fails to meaningfully reflect on his actions in the real world, making its “power of friendship” way of solving things feel rote and unimpactful by the end.
Instead, most of all development happens very quickly with him rediscovering the reason behind his trauma. In retrospect that story beat really hurt the game for me, as the reason ends up being so overdramatic and extreme for an otherwise grounded story that it impaired the story's ability to approach these issues in any relatable manner.
Given all that, I have to confess that a big part of my disappointment with this game is likely my fault, given the issues I was tackling when I played the game and still do. I too am afraid of communicating and the hurt I can cause, I’ve spent many nights crippled by my inability to reach out to people who really cared about me. A part of me wanted the game to tell me something nice and inspire me to get better, which is unreasonable to expect from any piece of media, but it's what happened regardless.
Despite all I said about Omori, I do think it has a heart and the strong impression it makes is not a fluke. It hurts for me to dislike this game knowing how personal it must have been to its creator. To tell someone that their depiction of their mental struggles was weak and unimpactful is so awful that I’d rather believe that it’s my own fault for being unable to appreciate what the game does, but to me the game itself feels like it's afraid of communicating too. It feels like a declawed version of itself, afraid of opening up about the issues it wants to talk about and too scared of hurting anyone with its content.
There is a strong chance that I’m just projecting, but regardless, I hope the devs don’t take any of what I said as discouragement. While it didn’t work for me, your game has earned its recognition and popularity for a reason. It might not have left the most positive impression on me, but I can appreciate its heart, the captivating imagery, and the sentiments it wanted to stir. I just hope the success will empower you to be more honest and more daring with your future projects.
Much has been said about the game’s pacing issues, the hours and hours it spends on tedious progression in the dreamworld before letting you get tidbits of real story. That content was probably meant to be fun for its own sake and that’s probably the biggest disconnect between me and someone who likes the game. As charming as the visuals were at first, they weren't exactly carrying the weight for me given how standard most of the areas feel for a place rooted in imagination. The quirky humor also fell flat for me as I found it to be missing good gags or any unique bite, most of the jokes felt kinda played out to me before they even started. The various “puzzles” and collection quests didn't do much but waste time when I wish they acted as space for compelling character interactions or story development. I only have good things to say about the music though, which was great throughout.
The combat also took a big chunk of the game, with most of the content geared around it given that the primary reward for all the sidecontent is items to make combat easier.
I’ve never been a big fan of turn based RPG combat and Omori did little to change my mind, as I found it an easy and boring exercise in attack/heal for most part. The emotion system, which gives party members unique effects such as using their mana pool as an extra hp pool, increasing crit chance, e.t.c was badly used IMO. I had hoped the game would allow me to use those emotions creatively to solve problems, but instead, the game explicitly states that it's an RPS system where certain emotions will inherently win against others, turning it into a glorified element system.
It doesn’t help that the story bosses were mainly a knowledge test of whether or not you guessed which emotion they would be inclined to. The only time I ever died was to Kite-Kid, who locked himself into a happy state early in the fight, and I lost because I already had some party members set to Angry. Restarting the fight with this knowledge in advance and setting my party members to sad preemptively made the fight a cakewalk. It was hard to get anything out of the combat for me when it operated on such a simple knowledge check.
That one death also exposed me to an oversight in the game’s design that would make it a chore even if it did attempt to leverage its systems to be challenging. If you lose, it's probably because you don’t have the right skills equipped to take advantage of the emotion you are meant to use. Unfortunately, if you die, the game will restart you right at the fight without giving an opportunity to change your build, forcing you to exit the game and reload your save to do so. This wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that most bosses were preceded by long unskippable dialogue scenes, so I can’t imagine how miserable the experience would be if you weren’t as lucky as I was with the equipped skills.
Now unto the story, and this is where my feelings with the game get complicated.
The game’s biggest disappointment to me is the criminal misuse of its setup. The game introduces a dreamworld that our depressed protagonist escapes to in their sleep, where he gets to hang around with “dream” versions of people he knew, and then switches gears to the real world, where most of the plot progression happens, and continues to alternate between the two. I think it's a no-brainer that one would use the dreamworld to explore the boy’s deeper psyche and issues through the metaphor and symbolism offered by the flexibility of the dreamworld’s visuals, giving us perspective into his personality, thoughts, and the way he views the world and people around him. Then, that internal struggle that he goes through in the dreamworld would then affect his behaviour and actions in the real world as payoff, right?
Unfortunately, the application of this idea is extremely limited in the game. I get that the dreamworld is meant to be an escapist fantasy, and that is well established within the first hour of the game. We spend a lot of time interacting with characters in the dreamworld, who’s antics and storylines end up being shallow and unfulfilling and fail to give any insight into the real story that’s going on. I can attempt to read into it by saying that SWEETHEART’s antagonistic antics are reflective of Sunny’s negative view of self love, Space Boyfriend’s heartbreak as his fear of relationships, and the whale as his fear of...water? Even with these interpretations, it all feels incredibly weak, at best tangential to the game’s plot, and not nearly enough substance to justify the sheer amount of time spent in the dreamworld.
The reading that makes most sense to me is that the time in the dreamworld was simply meant to depict the protagonist's escapism and how he used it to avoid meaningfully confronting his problems. Maybe it was just that I didn’t find that ecapsim to be fun and worth escaping to in the first place that made it not work for me, but even if it did, I feel like this use of the dreamworld falls so short of its potential that I can’t help but be disappointed.
I understand that the warning posted on the Steam page and the start of the game is a trigger warning for people who are sensitive to those subjects, but the way it's presented almost makes me feel like its the game flaunting what it’s really about before it even gets to pull the rug on you in its intro. It’s unfortunate then, that the game seems to shy away from exploring any of those subjects meaningfully, especially given how ripe the dreamworld setup is for that purpose. I am not asking the game to give a clinical examination or intense psychoanalysis, but the game struggles to use its dialogue and characters to give us a lens to how our protagonist is affected by and parses all his trauma. Instead, much of the game is about him intentionally forgetting the source of his trauma amidst his dreamworld escapism and the conclusion of it being him finally remembering.
The game’s clearest thematic throughline instead, is that of communication, everything else feels like fluff that is only lightly touched upon. The protag’s want to save one of his friends who direly needs him, but his fear of communicating with him and acknowledging what they have done is what drives a major part of the story. Given this theme, I expected Sunny’s position as a silent protagonist to be deconstructed or at least acknowledged, but it's often ignored in a way that is customary of the genre but feels ill-fitting for the game’s themes. On top of that, the game does little in most of its run time to give us his perspective on those fears, and instead is content only implying the depth the character might have.
There is one section of the game however, where the theme and setup is used incredibly effectively, and that is the Black Space chapter. The game homes in on its Yume Nikke inspirations and presents a series of horror vignettes that represent the protagonists darkest thoughts and fears. Not all of it was a hit, as seeing the protag’s friend die gruesomely from neglect loses its shock factor after the third time in a row, but the way it was presented was very captivating to me and I appreciate that the game finally decided to use its visuals to effectively communicate something. It felt like the game was finally delivering in these scenes, but then it ends very quickly and doesn’t feel worth all the tedium of the 8 hours preceding it. I would have preferred if the storytelling of Black Space was something that was spread all around the dreamworld, perhaps delivered with varying levels of subtlety, rather than the way it used now which feels too little and too late.
The biggest victim of the game’s unwillingness to explore its protagonist is the ending. By the time the protag finally confronts his friend and overcomes his fear of communication, it feels undeserved as I never got to know how he parsed through that fear and what he did to overcome it, given that most of the game is spent avoiding the issue entirely. The journey in his mind fails to meaningfully reflect on his actions in the real world, making its “power of friendship” way of solving things feel rote and unimpactful by the end.
Instead, most of all development happens very quickly with him rediscovering the reason behind his trauma. In retrospect that story beat really hurt the game for me, as the reason ends up being so overdramatic and extreme for an otherwise grounded story that it impaired the story's ability to approach these issues in any relatable manner.
Given all that, I have to confess that a big part of my disappointment with this game is likely my fault, given the issues I was tackling when I played the game and still do. I too am afraid of communicating and the hurt I can cause, I’ve spent many nights crippled by my inability to reach out to people who really cared about me. A part of me wanted the game to tell me something nice and inspire me to get better, which is unreasonable to expect from any piece of media, but it's what happened regardless.
Despite all I said about Omori, I do think it has a heart and the strong impression it makes is not a fluke. It hurts for me to dislike this game knowing how personal it must have been to its creator. To tell someone that their depiction of their mental struggles was weak and unimpactful is so awful that I’d rather believe that it’s my own fault for being unable to appreciate what the game does, but to me the game itself feels like it's afraid of communicating too. It feels like a declawed version of itself, afraid of opening up about the issues it wants to talk about and too scared of hurting anyone with its content.
There is a strong chance that I’m just projecting, but regardless, I hope the devs don’t take any of what I said as discouragement. While it didn’t work for me, your game has earned its recognition and popularity for a reason. It might not have left the most positive impression on me, but I can appreciate its heart, the captivating imagery, and the sentiments it wanted to stir. I just hope the success will empower you to be more honest and more daring with your future projects.
you've turned to page 56 in our lovely gamedev cookbook--wanting to create a smash indie hit yourself? not to worry, i have you covered. first, you'll want some hyper friendly, super inoffensive art. really smooth those edges. "wait, i want a dark twist to it!" of course you do, because your indie darling isn't taking off without one. now what you're gonna do is contrast the inoffensiveness with, i don't know, edgy scribblings found on an eighth grade desk or somewhere in the 2008 archives of deviantart? obviously we can't have anything ACTUALLY visually disturbing or raw, because then you're going down the hylics path, and noooo one cares about hylics. no, it needs to be scary in the same way a hatsune miku vocaloid music video about a "serious" subject is scary--draw a circle a bunch over itself until it's got a tone of lines and looks super disoriented. creepy, right? yeah just do that for everything.
well, that's pretty much it! with the cutesy sparkle artstyle contrasting just the right tint of edge to unnerve slendermen veterans, you just need some basic, serviceable writing and to hire a musician better at music than you are at game dev, and you've got a real shot at things (but make sure it's real easy, too, or your players are gonezo)! what, don't believe me? just take a look at undertale, OFF, super paper mario, doki doki literature club: cute presentations, horror twists, easy to beat. except... you know... every single of these games (okay, maybe not doki) does omori's job better in just about every single way. see, these games have biting writing and make bold, aesthetic decisions, and they all do it in brevity. off, hylics, space funeral, and undertale may all be inspired by earthbound, but their developers each understood that aping its absurd, overly stretched out game length is a BAD idea. hoh, but not omocat!
no, in fact, omori is actually longer than earthbound.
and to what purpose? because after over eight hours, i'm completely checked out of this endurance tester designed to absolutely waste your time. and i'm not saying that in like a "every second of this game sucks" way, but a "no seriously, there is so much garbage and fluff in this game designed to waste your time". backtracking plagues omori like a virus as you juggle tasks and side quests that amount to a lot of holding one direction forward while running for five, six, twenty screens. worse, the game lacks the grace to let you run up and down ladders, so those to-and-fro journeys are best aided with a phone in your free hand. there's this minecart section where you slowly drift down a lane for two screens until coming to a missing piece that then... slowly sends you back another two screens. but perhaps the absolute most grating time and effort waste comes from trying to navigate absurdly inefficient menus.
no, seriously. here's how many actions i have to get through just to heal a party member with another member's heart spell.
1) b button for menu
2) 3 analog clicks to the right
3) a button to select "skills"
4) 3 analog clicks to the right
5) a button to bring up health character
6) a button to select healing spell
7) a button to select "use"
8) 1-3 analog clicks to the right to select character to heal
9) a button to heal
10) 4 b buttons to get out of all the menus and back into the game
holy fuck.
i'm being really hard on the game's pacing because it really, truly is miserable. it's annoying that nearly every object has a useless description attached--does pressing A on, what, a fire hydrant need to give me a text box that says "fire hydrant"? no shit. tell a joke or don't have the box at all. enemies respawn every new screen catching you in a battle with whatever variation of rabbit you're definitely sick of fighting by a certain point. the dialogue's the worst, though, and i'm not even yet discussing its actual quality: it's just so much. there's so much of it (like this review). there is so many words used and a fourth of them are to any actual merit. so much dialogue is wasteful, unfunny, flat, basic, and bloated, and you just sit through it hoping someone will say something interesting.
they never will. omori's a game that decides earthbound wasn't insufferably quirky enough and proceeds to ham it up to infinity but with little purpose, and it results in writing and a world that feels disingenuous. not always, of course--there's a very specific interesting contrast that occurs in the dialogue when you first go from real world back to dream world, and it feels poignant and interesting. this feeling also lasts a very limited amount of time as you realize, yes, you really HAVE been ripped from the curious part of the game and sent back to a creative wasteland, the game proceeding to hammer in a point you already got two hours ago.
let's talk more about that real world dream world contrast more but, first, the combat. it's actually pretty clever and i enjoy the synergy between your characters and how to manipulate that to take on even the biggest of challenges. but then, the game presents a different problem where MOST battle encounters will not actually involve using the system in any meaningful way, the simplest and most straightforward (and successful) way of fighting through your enemies being a mash A fest a la OFF. why? because nothing in this game has any fucking health. and you know what's really crazy about that? the people who play this game do NOT fucking care about the combat. oh, what, you think that's presumptious of me? at the time of writing this, only 29% of players bothered fighting and beating two optional minibosses early in the game. meanwhile, 60% of players finished the first dream world day (taking place post-minibosses)... which means another 40% didn't even bother to get that far.
what this tells me is that half of omori's actual playerbase don't understand the combat system and don't care enough to learn it, and they're just here for the very syrupy soft pastel story. oh, and i'm saying that with confidence because i'm among the only 10% that did not return a character's high five. it's telling.
additionally to combat, i really enjoy the effort put in to give several enemies different "mood" states that may reflect new animations and designs, and that's really cool. the battle ui is sharp, even, and its a great use of colors all around--easily beating out the utterly generic world design otherwise. but getting back to the real world/dream world contrast, what really bothers me about omori is that the game rips this system out of your hands and gives you something immeasurably boring to work with in the real world. but the thing about said real world is that it has the more "interesting" narrative going on and so, when you're sent back to the dream world, you've got the fun(er) combat back but are trapped with a half of the story that you don't care about or don't really need to hear. additionally, the real world shows just as much creative prowess as the dream world in its design--all a series of hallways. it's really flat.
there's moments of charm, like the sound effects similar to animal crossing on the gamecube, pushing over a cardboard dumptruck, and a character that holds a trophy for "most horse second place". and there are moments of complete reverse charm where the intention is inept, like a list of "whatchamacallit"s to collect, a character named smol, and that entire cheese rat segment that just goes on and on and on... like the game. like the game does. the game goes on and on.
i don't know, i've written SO much about this game i clearly don't enjoy, and a majority of where this is coming from really is in response to critical reception i can't understand whatsoever. and i didn't understand the reception undertale got six years ago and felt annoyed by its heavy presence on the internet, but then, well, i started playing it and the experience was instantly lovely, and there was no "oh dude just play thirty hours to get to the cuhrazey part!". it was fun from the start, like a video game should be, and half the length of omori, too. as is OFF, and hylics, and barkley, space funeral, ib, yume nikki--all of these brief indie rpgs i would recommend to anyone over playing ape inc's sloppy seconds.
when i look at omori, i certainly do see omocat in its design: bland, easily digestible, inoffensive, and round edged--just like those t-shirts. and then i realize what this game really is.
well, that's pretty much it! with the cutesy sparkle artstyle contrasting just the right tint of edge to unnerve slendermen veterans, you just need some basic, serviceable writing and to hire a musician better at music than you are at game dev, and you've got a real shot at things (but make sure it's real easy, too, or your players are gonezo)! what, don't believe me? just take a look at undertale, OFF, super paper mario, doki doki literature club: cute presentations, horror twists, easy to beat. except... you know... every single of these games (okay, maybe not doki) does omori's job better in just about every single way. see, these games have biting writing and make bold, aesthetic decisions, and they all do it in brevity. off, hylics, space funeral, and undertale may all be inspired by earthbound, but their developers each understood that aping its absurd, overly stretched out game length is a BAD idea. hoh, but not omocat!
no, in fact, omori is actually longer than earthbound.
and to what purpose? because after over eight hours, i'm completely checked out of this endurance tester designed to absolutely waste your time. and i'm not saying that in like a "every second of this game sucks" way, but a "no seriously, there is so much garbage and fluff in this game designed to waste your time". backtracking plagues omori like a virus as you juggle tasks and side quests that amount to a lot of holding one direction forward while running for five, six, twenty screens. worse, the game lacks the grace to let you run up and down ladders, so those to-and-fro journeys are best aided with a phone in your free hand. there's this minecart section where you slowly drift down a lane for two screens until coming to a missing piece that then... slowly sends you back another two screens. but perhaps the absolute most grating time and effort waste comes from trying to navigate absurdly inefficient menus.
no, seriously. here's how many actions i have to get through just to heal a party member with another member's heart spell.
1) b button for menu
2) 3 analog clicks to the right
3) a button to select "skills"
4) 3 analog clicks to the right
5) a button to bring up health character
6) a button to select healing spell
7) a button to select "use"
8) 1-3 analog clicks to the right to select character to heal
9) a button to heal
10) 4 b buttons to get out of all the menus and back into the game
holy fuck.
i'm being really hard on the game's pacing because it really, truly is miserable. it's annoying that nearly every object has a useless description attached--does pressing A on, what, a fire hydrant need to give me a text box that says "fire hydrant"? no shit. tell a joke or don't have the box at all. enemies respawn every new screen catching you in a battle with whatever variation of rabbit you're definitely sick of fighting by a certain point. the dialogue's the worst, though, and i'm not even yet discussing its actual quality: it's just so much. there's so much of it (like this review). there is so many words used and a fourth of them are to any actual merit. so much dialogue is wasteful, unfunny, flat, basic, and bloated, and you just sit through it hoping someone will say something interesting.
they never will. omori's a game that decides earthbound wasn't insufferably quirky enough and proceeds to ham it up to infinity but with little purpose, and it results in writing and a world that feels disingenuous. not always, of course--there's a very specific interesting contrast that occurs in the dialogue when you first go from real world back to dream world, and it feels poignant and interesting. this feeling also lasts a very limited amount of time as you realize, yes, you really HAVE been ripped from the curious part of the game and sent back to a creative wasteland, the game proceeding to hammer in a point you already got two hours ago.
let's talk more about that real world dream world contrast more but, first, the combat. it's actually pretty clever and i enjoy the synergy between your characters and how to manipulate that to take on even the biggest of challenges. but then, the game presents a different problem where MOST battle encounters will not actually involve using the system in any meaningful way, the simplest and most straightforward (and successful) way of fighting through your enemies being a mash A fest a la OFF. why? because nothing in this game has any fucking health. and you know what's really crazy about that? the people who play this game do NOT fucking care about the combat. oh, what, you think that's presumptious of me? at the time of writing this, only 29% of players bothered fighting and beating two optional minibosses early in the game. meanwhile, 60% of players finished the first dream world day (taking place post-minibosses)... which means another 40% didn't even bother to get that far.
what this tells me is that half of omori's actual playerbase don't understand the combat system and don't care enough to learn it, and they're just here for the very syrupy soft pastel story. oh, and i'm saying that with confidence because i'm among the only 10% that did not return a character's high five. it's telling.
additionally to combat, i really enjoy the effort put in to give several enemies different "mood" states that may reflect new animations and designs, and that's really cool. the battle ui is sharp, even, and its a great use of colors all around--easily beating out the utterly generic world design otherwise. but getting back to the real world/dream world contrast, what really bothers me about omori is that the game rips this system out of your hands and gives you something immeasurably boring to work with in the real world. but the thing about said real world is that it has the more "interesting" narrative going on and so, when you're sent back to the dream world, you've got the fun(er) combat back but are trapped with a half of the story that you don't care about or don't really need to hear. additionally, the real world shows just as much creative prowess as the dream world in its design--all a series of hallways. it's really flat.
there's moments of charm, like the sound effects similar to animal crossing on the gamecube, pushing over a cardboard dumptruck, and a character that holds a trophy for "most horse second place". and there are moments of complete reverse charm where the intention is inept, like a list of "whatchamacallit"s to collect, a character named smol, and that entire cheese rat segment that just goes on and on and on... like the game. like the game does. the game goes on and on.
i don't know, i've written SO much about this game i clearly don't enjoy, and a majority of where this is coming from really is in response to critical reception i can't understand whatsoever. and i didn't understand the reception undertale got six years ago and felt annoyed by its heavy presence on the internet, but then, well, i started playing it and the experience was instantly lovely, and there was no "oh dude just play thirty hours to get to the cuhrazey part!". it was fun from the start, like a video game should be, and half the length of omori, too. as is OFF, and hylics, and barkley, space funeral, ib, yume nikki--all of these brief indie rpgs i would recommend to anyone over playing ape inc's sloppy seconds.
when i look at omori, i certainly do see omocat in its design: bland, easily digestible, inoffensive, and round edged--just like those t-shirts. and then i realize what this game really is.
This review contains spoilers
What is a game about? Much time is spent trying to evaluate the holistic message of an experience in gaming spaces, often to the detriment of critique. People will spend hours upon hours finding things to say about everything, to try and tie everything together into one contained point, when sometimes, art is just not that simple. Sometimes the parts of a work of art that resonate with you the most have nothing to do with its major ideas. A lot of people I meet who love Final Fantasy VI speak of it with passion and fervor, but it's never really about how it portrays nihilism - at most it ends up being a very surface level gesturing at the fact that the main villain says nothing matters and is really evil, which is not the extent to which Final Fantasy VI portrays those concepts. Instead, it's about the characters. Maybe the soundtrack. Hell, some people even like the gameplay somehow. For me, when I was young, it was Cyan. Ostensibly a side character who was one of the first video game characters to make me feel something, Cyan is one of the first things I think about when I think of Final Fantasy VI. He is far from a major character, a samurai whose family was killed by the main villain. His inner struggle and coming to terms with his guilt made him very compelling to me at 12 years old. I had never seen a character in a video game with interiority like that before. Despite the popularity of gaming critique to be about gigantic videos of holisiticity, to demand an entire work be laid bare through your writing, it should be known that it's simply not how art works. Sometimes a side tangent is what defines the work for you.
OMORI is a game that is easily defined in its major messaging, and I think it is fairly effective in that messaging in spite of it being incredibly overwritten and poorly paced. You wouldn't be able to tell that I think it's easily defined considering that I've made a frankly embarrassing four and a half hour video on the subject, but I do. It's a game about how guilt and trauma intersect. The main character Sunny's manslaughter of his older sister redefines his entire life, and the secret he shares with his best friend surrounding its cover-up as a suicide drives him into becoming a shut-in who hides in his own fantasies. The imagery is spectacularly on point in this game. I think the Something in particular is one of the most effective horror designs there is to me. A single unblinking eye on a jagged, unknown shape born out of a traumatic, foggy memory of his sister's corpse. It's extremely potent, and I love that sometimes I see it when I close my eyes after playing the game.
However, even though that is the main thesis of OMORI, it's not what I think about most of the time when I discuss OMORI. My relationship to this game is not defined by trauma and guilt, though I certainly have some strong opinions on its portrayals of those subjects both negative and positive informed by my own life experiences. No, what I think of when I think of OMORI is really quite simple.
It's her.
To the average player, Sweetheart is not notable. She's just another boss in the world of Headspace, Sunny's imagined plane of existence inside his head. I know this because I've seen it - a common critique of the game is that the Headspace sections simply don't matter. Because they aren't directly connected to the larger plot in a lot of ways, that must mean they're a gigantic waste of time. A significant contingent of people even hate Sweetheart, but at that point they're usually just misogynistic, to be honest, considering how vitriolic it gets. Headspace is often written off as a "neat concept" at best and "game-ruining" at worst, when to me, it's integral to the game itself.
When I played, I found myself much more interested in a lot of the denizens of Headspace than I was the real world. I know that, to some degree, this is intentional and actually pretty clever design. Of course Headspace is more fun. It's supposed to be. It is ostensibly a coping mechanism. There is something oddly compelling about a lot of the characters we meet there, though. Interpreting parts of Sunny's psyche and how different symbols are recontextualized throughout the game's runtime is a hugely fun part of the game for me that I return to far more often than anything in the real world sections. Captain Spaceboy is Sunny's fear of abandonment, his isolation atop a freezing mountain after a divorce a representation of Sunny's own self-isolation to protect himself from his friends finding out the truth about what happened. Mr. Jawsum, Sunny's negative opinions about bosses and work culture, is aggressively silly and not very complicated because Sunny doesn't truly understand the intricacies of capitalism's evil. All he sees it as is when guys are incompetent. Sprout Moles smell like dirty laundry because Sunny never washes his clothes. That kind of thing.
What Sweetheart represents is much more complex and interesting than any other character in Headspace to me by a ridiculously wide margin, which is fitting given that she has the most screentime of any of the Headspace original characters. This is mainly due to her role as the "distraction": she is supposed to keep Sunny from finding out The Truth, though she doesn't know that. There is a deeper reason to why she is the distraction, though. She seems vapid on the surface, just a pink lady who the game tells you is obnoxious regularly and is constantly framed as the villain in every interaction, but in reality she is something more than that (as amazing as she is already): she is Sunny's own repressed femininity. She is Sunny's desire to break out of his egg.
In the route where you stay inside, more of Headspace opens up to you. You're able to return to locations to see what's been going on with characters since you last saw them. There's a very, very, very mean-spirited gag with Sweetheart here where she's forced to be a slave to another character which makes me want to vomit, but that's besides the point. In this stretch of the game, Omori, Sunny's alter ego, is given a potion that "turns him into a girl". Whatever this means is not elaborated on, but to me it is very clear: Sunny is a transgender girl, and this potion is a subconscious desire of hers manifested. It's not common for cis people to have intense lucid dreams about bottomless gender swap potions.
Sweetheart is only evil because Sunny has been influenced by a society ruled by masculinity, one where he is conditioned to act masculine, to think that way. She is constantly attacked by the game, stated to be annoying and "the source of evil" by some of Headspace's denizens who we are supposed to trust like Sunny's own distorted versions of his best friends. It makes Sunny feel safe, like he has nothing else to his gender. If she's evil, then clearly, he must be cis, right? Sweetheart is the repression of transgender thoughts that every trans person has had at some point. I know I have.
Before I came out as trans, I spent several years questioning. In a lot of ways, I lived my life as two people. There was a masculine front I had, and my other half, who was my feminine side that I only let out online. I felt terrible about it, and at every turn, I tried to squash that side. It tore me up inside, and it showed up in my dreams frequently. I even wrote short fiction about a character with the same issue, a lycanthrope who turns into a woman instead of a wolf. Eventually, it was all I could think about. Luckily, this does have a happy ending: I do get help, and I have been on HRT for seven months now. But there are reasons why Sweetheart is so deeply relatable to me. Why this character has dominated most of my thought process surrounding this game, why I discuss her endlessly, why I am so frustrated by people who hate her where they would praise a male villain for doing the same things that they hate her for.
Because to me, Sweetheart isn't just gender in the sense of gender envy. She is desire to be something you can't, how hard your brain works to stop you from becoming your true self. She represents my own femininity that I fought so hard to show to people, and seeing people dislike her confidence only makes me love her more. The awful way that she's treated by the game just makes me want to hold onto her tighter.
OMOCAT obviously intended for none of this. Frankly, I'm not sure why Sweetheart is in the game at all - she's just a punching bag for it. It's really mean-spirited, ghoulish, and a bit racist considering she's one of the only major dark skinned characters in its runtime. However, in this case, I don't care about developer intent. I have dissected OMOCAT as a person more than most people and I fundamentally disagree with her interpretations of her own work in a lot of regards.
Besides, as the great pink woman once said, "Sweetheart is for sharing!" It's my turn with her now.
OMORI is a game that is easily defined in its major messaging, and I think it is fairly effective in that messaging in spite of it being incredibly overwritten and poorly paced. You wouldn't be able to tell that I think it's easily defined considering that I've made a frankly embarrassing four and a half hour video on the subject, but I do. It's a game about how guilt and trauma intersect. The main character Sunny's manslaughter of his older sister redefines his entire life, and the secret he shares with his best friend surrounding its cover-up as a suicide drives him into becoming a shut-in who hides in his own fantasies. The imagery is spectacularly on point in this game. I think the Something in particular is one of the most effective horror designs there is to me. A single unblinking eye on a jagged, unknown shape born out of a traumatic, foggy memory of his sister's corpse. It's extremely potent, and I love that sometimes I see it when I close my eyes after playing the game.
However, even though that is the main thesis of OMORI, it's not what I think about most of the time when I discuss OMORI. My relationship to this game is not defined by trauma and guilt, though I certainly have some strong opinions on its portrayals of those subjects both negative and positive informed by my own life experiences. No, what I think of when I think of OMORI is really quite simple.
It's her.
To the average player, Sweetheart is not notable. She's just another boss in the world of Headspace, Sunny's imagined plane of existence inside his head. I know this because I've seen it - a common critique of the game is that the Headspace sections simply don't matter. Because they aren't directly connected to the larger plot in a lot of ways, that must mean they're a gigantic waste of time. A significant contingent of people even hate Sweetheart, but at that point they're usually just misogynistic, to be honest, considering how vitriolic it gets. Headspace is often written off as a "neat concept" at best and "game-ruining" at worst, when to me, it's integral to the game itself.
When I played, I found myself much more interested in a lot of the denizens of Headspace than I was the real world. I know that, to some degree, this is intentional and actually pretty clever design. Of course Headspace is more fun. It's supposed to be. It is ostensibly a coping mechanism. There is something oddly compelling about a lot of the characters we meet there, though. Interpreting parts of Sunny's psyche and how different symbols are recontextualized throughout the game's runtime is a hugely fun part of the game for me that I return to far more often than anything in the real world sections. Captain Spaceboy is Sunny's fear of abandonment, his isolation atop a freezing mountain after a divorce a representation of Sunny's own self-isolation to protect himself from his friends finding out the truth about what happened. Mr. Jawsum, Sunny's negative opinions about bosses and work culture, is aggressively silly and not very complicated because Sunny doesn't truly understand the intricacies of capitalism's evil. All he sees it as is when guys are incompetent. Sprout Moles smell like dirty laundry because Sunny never washes his clothes. That kind of thing.
What Sweetheart represents is much more complex and interesting than any other character in Headspace to me by a ridiculously wide margin, which is fitting given that she has the most screentime of any of the Headspace original characters. This is mainly due to her role as the "distraction": she is supposed to keep Sunny from finding out The Truth, though she doesn't know that. There is a deeper reason to why she is the distraction, though. She seems vapid on the surface, just a pink lady who the game tells you is obnoxious regularly and is constantly framed as the villain in every interaction, but in reality she is something more than that (as amazing as she is already): she is Sunny's own repressed femininity. She is Sunny's desire to break out of his egg.
In the route where you stay inside, more of Headspace opens up to you. You're able to return to locations to see what's been going on with characters since you last saw them. There's a very, very, very mean-spirited gag with Sweetheart here where she's forced to be a slave to another character which makes me want to vomit, but that's besides the point. In this stretch of the game, Omori, Sunny's alter ego, is given a potion that "turns him into a girl". Whatever this means is not elaborated on, but to me it is very clear: Sunny is a transgender girl, and this potion is a subconscious desire of hers manifested. It's not common for cis people to have intense lucid dreams about bottomless gender swap potions.
Sweetheart is only evil because Sunny has been influenced by a society ruled by masculinity, one where he is conditioned to act masculine, to think that way. She is constantly attacked by the game, stated to be annoying and "the source of evil" by some of Headspace's denizens who we are supposed to trust like Sunny's own distorted versions of his best friends. It makes Sunny feel safe, like he has nothing else to his gender. If she's evil, then clearly, he must be cis, right? Sweetheart is the repression of transgender thoughts that every trans person has had at some point. I know I have.
Before I came out as trans, I spent several years questioning. In a lot of ways, I lived my life as two people. There was a masculine front I had, and my other half, who was my feminine side that I only let out online. I felt terrible about it, and at every turn, I tried to squash that side. It tore me up inside, and it showed up in my dreams frequently. I even wrote short fiction about a character with the same issue, a lycanthrope who turns into a woman instead of a wolf. Eventually, it was all I could think about. Luckily, this does have a happy ending: I do get help, and I have been on HRT for seven months now. But there are reasons why Sweetheart is so deeply relatable to me. Why this character has dominated most of my thought process surrounding this game, why I discuss her endlessly, why I am so frustrated by people who hate her where they would praise a male villain for doing the same things that they hate her for.
Because to me, Sweetheart isn't just gender in the sense of gender envy. She is desire to be something you can't, how hard your brain works to stop you from becoming your true self. She represents my own femininity that I fought so hard to show to people, and seeing people dislike her confidence only makes me love her more. The awful way that she's treated by the game just makes me want to hold onto her tighter.
OMOCAT obviously intended for none of this. Frankly, I'm not sure why Sweetheart is in the game at all - she's just a punching bag for it. It's really mean-spirited, ghoulish, and a bit racist considering she's one of the only major dark skinned characters in its runtime. However, in this case, I don't care about developer intent. I have dissected OMOCAT as a person more than most people and I fundamentally disagree with her interpretations of her own work in a lot of regards.
Besides, as the great pink woman once said, "Sweetheart is for sharing!" It's my turn with her now.
but why didn't the omori kid start lifting
this is a sentiment that has been echoed by many other people on this website, but omori and its fanbase are exactly what people thought undertale and its fanbase were like in 2015.
i think ultimately, omori's commodification and desire for marketability with a subject as touchy as childhood trauma and mental illness for the sake of making a shoddy attempt at replicating early rpg maker titles turns omori from a 5/10 mediocre horror rpg to one of my least favorite pieces of media.
you spend a good chunk in the game in a frustratingly obnoxious trauma induced headspace with a woobified cast that ultimately has no depth, and the other half in the real world which is barely much better, all of which to set up badly done, laughable horror while still making these sensitive subjects digestible to people who would otherwise be put off by them. the whole game feels like it was designed to sell merchandise of these uwu so sad teenagers and i wouldn't be surprised if that was 100% the intention with making this game, as the entire experience is deeply shallow.
if you want an actually nuanced depiction of childhood trauma and mental illness that doesn't try to make a dark and troubling topic marketable for teenagers, read oyasumi punpun.
i already made a review of omori that i will be keeping up since they were my thoughts when i had initially played the game, i just wanted to give my thoughts about the game now that i've sat on my experience with it for a few months.
i think ultimately, omori's commodification and desire for marketability with a subject as touchy as childhood trauma and mental illness for the sake of making a shoddy attempt at replicating early rpg maker titles turns omori from a 5/10 mediocre horror rpg to one of my least favorite pieces of media.
you spend a good chunk in the game in a frustratingly obnoxious trauma induced headspace with a woobified cast that ultimately has no depth, and the other half in the real world which is barely much better, all of which to set up badly done, laughable horror while still making these sensitive subjects digestible to people who would otherwise be put off by them. the whole game feels like it was designed to sell merchandise of these uwu so sad teenagers and i wouldn't be surprised if that was 100% the intention with making this game, as the entire experience is deeply shallow.
if you want an actually nuanced depiction of childhood trauma and mental illness that doesn't try to make a dark and troubling topic marketable for teenagers, read oyasumi punpun.
i already made a review of omori that i will be keeping up since they were my thoughts when i had initially played the game, i just wanted to give my thoughts about the game now that i've sat on my experience with it for a few months.
Omori is a terrible game. Not only is the gameplay sleep inducing for a horror game that's supposed to keep you on your toes, the cast of characters is also abhorrent; each one of them showing no purpose to the narrative and the worst one being the main character Sunny. He starts out as someone who wants to find his sister, but when the main twist actually happens, it's like he's never even changed. He's the same person before and after his "development." Overall a horrible game if you want a game like this, but actually checks all the boxes on what makes a story about coping with death amazing.
Play SILENT HILL 2.
Play SILENT HILL 2.
what the fuck
la gente que tiene pfp de este juego en twitter no es de confiar
The only scary part of this game was when they had the most realistic door knocking sound effect that made me throw my controller out of my window and run 10 laps around my neighborhood screaming at the top of my lungs at 4am a few months ago
Undertale de puta
psychologically speaking this possibly is one of the greatest deep dive into the mind of a post traumatic experience and dissociative amnesia disorder i have ever seen in a videogame and im glad they managed to convey it amazingly well
as a grim and powerful experience this is not exempt of a shopping list of trigger warning eg Flashing Images Jumpscares Self-Harm & Suicide Severe Anxiety Arachnophobia, Claustrophobia, Thalassophobia, and Trypophobia Cat Death Snakes Child Death Eye & Finger Mutilation Blood/Gore Body Disfigurement Drowning
thats . a lot to sit through and i honestly wouldnt fault anyone to not be able to play this game due to the excessive amount of triggering stuff
but for the people who actually did play this game im sure its actually one of the most unforgettable experience in gaming in a while
i wont dive into too much spoiler territory because this deserves to be played blind even though i think its a bit hard to do now since everybody talked about it for 2 years or something
either way i will just get the general stuff out of the way first
i enjoyed the rpg elements and battle system quite a bit in the first parts of the game but somehow they grew tiring after some time to the point that i rushed humphrey because i just wanted to be done with it
its not the worst rpg ever but i guess for me the battle system got somehow boring after a bit even though i can see that the developers tried to make it as interesting as possible till the very end with skills stronger friendship attacks or whatever the fuck theyre called and top notch boss battles if i can say so
that being said this is still an rpgmaker game so i should at least commend the dev team for making a great battle system for a game whose main point clearly is the story and damn what a story this is
the art direction is outstanding and proves professionality and love for the game by the amazing omocat that somehow i actually found somewhere deep in the web before omori was even released and instantly fell in love with their art style (im still hoping they make new fudanshi sweaters because i never got around to buy them in the first place omocat if youre reading this please i beg of you)
locations are art wise amazing as well gameplay wise hmmmmmmmmmmmmm i dont know i kind of hated sweetheart castle a not so normal amount and again i rushed humphrey because i was really growing tired of the game (the rpg parts)
now you cant really talk about the story without saying that the characters are all incredible and fleshed out in a way that i wasnt expecting this game to achieve since theyre all little kids / teenagers and unbeknownst to me theyre all mentally ill and have some degree of traumatic experiences theyre just like me fr fr and probably thats because the story hits you right in the feelings because you end up caring for every single one of them in the end
aubrey my little sweet angel i love you from the bottom of my heart im profusely cries
as for the story its incredible how 14 something hours of not understanding shit about the plot fucking unfold in 2 hours of mainly story segments and OOF HOW EMOTIONALLY DO THEY UNFOLD
the bittersweet and anxious crescendo till the climax of the story (the final duet) is possibly one of the most well done pieces of videogame narratives i have witnessed for some time now and i cant even put into words how much ive cried in that cutscene i swear that segment was fatal and if i think about it again i feel like tearing up im sorry this game was too much i cant continue this review anymore thats it
this is honestly a game that for me at least has some issues which the story and overall vibe of the game completely obliterate anyway so i can only see the good in a work of art that has so much charm and emotion put into it
im not gonna blame the 0.5 reviewers or whatever because this is not a game that can be enjoyed by everyone and i for once dropped it like 2 times because again the rpg segments sometimes got really tiring but im still glad i pulled through the "chores" to get to the wonderful stuff that awaits you in the end (depression and trauma)
this game is sad as fuck it worsened my mood more than 1 time and i still believe the horror segments or haunting parts of this game make up for a cathartic experience in the end so fuck i will take 15+ hours of mental maladies put into the videogame media any day
that being said
SPOILER ALERT
the slow and steady learning of how sunny and indirectly also basil killed mari is the most accurate depiction of slowly making bad memories resurface from a dissociative amnesia episode and i hope game designers who are making games about mental illnesses or whatever take some notes from this because that was the highest moment of psychological issues representation in a videogame and im not joking rn
all in all omori is great you should try it and get depressed (thats part of the process) and cry (also part of the process) and be deeply traumatised by the black space segments (umh... anyway)
music is great rateyourmusic users say so
hero are you free on saturday im free on saturday if youre free on saturday
me when i go on a date with aubrey and she brings me home: damn bitch you live like this
i hope the final boss fight gets earthbound final boss disturbing level of recognition in 2040 top 10 sinister videogame moments youtube videos
this was a long review i wasnt planning to make
as a grim and powerful experience this is not exempt of a shopping list of trigger warning eg Flashing Images Jumpscares Self-Harm & Suicide Severe Anxiety Arachnophobia, Claustrophobia, Thalassophobia, and Trypophobia Cat Death Snakes Child Death Eye & Finger Mutilation Blood/Gore Body Disfigurement Drowning
thats . a lot to sit through and i honestly wouldnt fault anyone to not be able to play this game due to the excessive amount of triggering stuff
but for the people who actually did play this game im sure its actually one of the most unforgettable experience in gaming in a while
i wont dive into too much spoiler territory because this deserves to be played blind even though i think its a bit hard to do now since everybody talked about it for 2 years or something
either way i will just get the general stuff out of the way first
i enjoyed the rpg elements and battle system quite a bit in the first parts of the game but somehow they grew tiring after some time to the point that i rushed humphrey because i just wanted to be done with it
its not the worst rpg ever but i guess for me the battle system got somehow boring after a bit even though i can see that the developers tried to make it as interesting as possible till the very end with skills stronger friendship attacks or whatever the fuck theyre called and top notch boss battles if i can say so
that being said this is still an rpgmaker game so i should at least commend the dev team for making a great battle system for a game whose main point clearly is the story and damn what a story this is
the art direction is outstanding and proves professionality and love for the game by the amazing omocat that somehow i actually found somewhere deep in the web before omori was even released and instantly fell in love with their art style (im still hoping they make new fudanshi sweaters because i never got around to buy them in the first place omocat if youre reading this please i beg of you)
locations are art wise amazing as well gameplay wise hmmmmmmmmmmmmm i dont know i kind of hated sweetheart castle a not so normal amount and again i rushed humphrey because i was really growing tired of the game (the rpg parts)
now you cant really talk about the story without saying that the characters are all incredible and fleshed out in a way that i wasnt expecting this game to achieve since theyre all little kids / teenagers and unbeknownst to me theyre all mentally ill and have some degree of traumatic experiences theyre just like me fr fr and probably thats because the story hits you right in the feelings because you end up caring for every single one of them in the end
aubrey my little sweet angel i love you from the bottom of my heart im profusely cries
as for the story its incredible how 14 something hours of not understanding shit about the plot fucking unfold in 2 hours of mainly story segments and OOF HOW EMOTIONALLY DO THEY UNFOLD
the bittersweet and anxious crescendo till the climax of the story (the final duet) is possibly one of the most well done pieces of videogame narratives i have witnessed for some time now and i cant even put into words how much ive cried in that cutscene i swear that segment was fatal and if i think about it again i feel like tearing up im sorry this game was too much i cant continue this review anymore thats it
this is honestly a game that for me at least has some issues which the story and overall vibe of the game completely obliterate anyway so i can only see the good in a work of art that has so much charm and emotion put into it
im not gonna blame the 0.5 reviewers or whatever because this is not a game that can be enjoyed by everyone and i for once dropped it like 2 times because again the rpg segments sometimes got really tiring but im still glad i pulled through the "chores" to get to the wonderful stuff that awaits you in the end (depression and trauma)
this game is sad as fuck it worsened my mood more than 1 time and i still believe the horror segments or haunting parts of this game make up for a cathartic experience in the end so fuck i will take 15+ hours of mental maladies put into the videogame media any day
that being said
SPOILER ALERT
the slow and steady learning of how sunny and indirectly also basil killed mari is the most accurate depiction of slowly making bad memories resurface from a dissociative amnesia episode and i hope game designers who are making games about mental illnesses or whatever take some notes from this because that was the highest moment of psychological issues representation in a videogame and im not joking rn
all in all omori is great you should try it and get depressed (thats part of the process) and cry (also part of the process) and be deeply traumatised by the black space segments (umh... anyway)
music is great rateyourmusic users say so
hero are you free on saturday im free on saturday if youre free on saturday
me when i go on a date with aubrey and she brings me home: damn bitch you live like this
i hope the final boss fight gets earthbound final boss disturbing level of recognition in 2040 top 10 sinister videogame moments youtube videos
this was a long review i wasnt planning to make
perfect example of a "7/10 game"
a game of memorable highs, uninteresting lows, but ultimately a lot of forgettable middles. this game feels a lot like someone's first game and the fact that it is shows. it's about 10 hours too long (it took me about 20 hours to beat with avoiding a lot of the random encounters, not doing much side-content), the stuff happening in the dreamworld doesn't really have any bearing on the story 95% of the time, and most of the characters feel very ignorable, superfluous, and slightly annoying due to their constant presence.
that being said, the game is VERY ambitious in its scope, which i appreciate. it feels like a few interesting ideas and discussions that are weighted down by the game's need to feel "gamey" and long due to typical RPG bloat. can't wait until people fully abandon the RPG genre as the de-facto means to tell a story in a narrative game!
a game of memorable highs, uninteresting lows, but ultimately a lot of forgettable middles. this game feels a lot like someone's first game and the fact that it is shows. it's about 10 hours too long (it took me about 20 hours to beat with avoiding a lot of the random encounters, not doing much side-content), the stuff happening in the dreamworld doesn't really have any bearing on the story 95% of the time, and most of the characters feel very ignorable, superfluous, and slightly annoying due to their constant presence.
that being said, the game is VERY ambitious in its scope, which i appreciate. it feels like a few interesting ideas and discussions that are weighted down by the game's need to feel "gamey" and long due to typical RPG bloat. can't wait until people fully abandon the RPG genre as the de-facto means to tell a story in a narrative game!