For obvious reasons I lowered my expectations into the ground for this one, but, surprisingly, I found at least half of it interesting. Naturally, that would be the half that's a sort-of inverse Earthbound: an adult's recollection of an impossibly ideal childhood, where groups of kids have picnics and hold hands and make flower crowns for each other. However, the dev team disagrees with me here, and instead too often focuses the lens away from the dream world and towards "reality," in which tragedy has formed a schism between the party members. It's not that this is a bad idea, it's that there isn't enough going on in the real world to justify the time spent there. After the first few dream hours we already know that Mari is integral to the friend group and that Omori would likely be unable to overcome his debilitating anxiety if she wasn't around, not long into reality and we find out she's dead from implied suicide. From there, every moment outside of the dream world feels like padding. Kel and Hero haven't changed at all, Aubrey is a generic teen acting out (who instantly reverts to her old self once you talk with her) and plot revelations flounder. Instead, we get boring scripted battles, an overworld that feels less like a real place than the purposefully fake world, and overdone creepypasta representations of mental anguish. The only other true development comes at the very end, but also feels partially misguided. Omori needing to have a reason to feel guilty for a loved one's death doesn't fully sit right with me, but I suppose him killing Mari was necessary in order to give him a tangible display of coming to terms with himself. His ending line does make for a nice moment even if I think the story's more emotionally resonant if the twist never happened. But then again, I'm biased. To me, the story's real pathos isn't around Mari's death but instead its consequences. The depiction of the somehow-sudden drifting apart of a once tightly-knit friend group is the only part of the game that really pulled at my heartstrings, and, the thing is, two separate realities weren't necessary there. It'd be easy to say Omori's flaws stem from it being too ambitious, but I think the opposite is true. Attempting to portray the party's change over time solely within the dream world would be more of an admirable effort in my eyes, even if it wouldn't have ended up working out. Isolate the dream world sections and you already have three-quarters of a worthwhile little adventure, plus loads of good ideas that could be improved on. Personally I'd love to see the follow-up system used in a party that has a more complex dynamic. But, as it stands, Omori's only truly enjoyable during the points where you forget anything outside of your dreams exists- the relatively little time you spend there within a near 20-hour game is criminal.