Omori
Omori is a RPG style game that was developed by OMOCAT and co-published by PLAYISM. While this game came out on December 25th 2020, the game had been in development for almost six years as there was a kickstarter back in 2014 where the game met its goal to be fully funded. OMOCAT and her team then worked on the game into the psychological horror game that it is today.
Omori itself was inspired by other works that OMOCAT had created such as OMORI'S BLOG, OMORI'S STORY, OMORI'S SKETCHBOOK and an unfinished graphic novel that depicts a slightly older version of the character Omori called OMORI BOY.
In the story, the player controls a hikikomori (ひきこもり -Japanese word for being antisocial/ a 'shut-in') boy named Sunny and his dream world alter-ego Omori. They explore both the real world and the surreal dream world to overcome their fears and secrets (- from Wikipedia).
The game starts with you as Omori- waking up in what you quickly find out to be called White Space. As shown in the picture above White Space is completely void space, only containing a few things. A carpet, cat, tissues, laptop, sketchbook, lightbulb and door. Within Omori, being in White Space is supposed to be an analogy for being safe within ones mind. Within the first opening of the game when we are in White Space, we can look at Omori's laptop and we see- Today, I spent time in White Space. Everything was okay. We see this a lot along with Today I visited my friends. Everything was ok.
There is a theme of everything being ok- the idea that saying it enough hides the pain we are really in and Omori really shows this in a game.
Visiting friends turns into an amazing world as you are able to leave the security of White Space. A dream world known as HEADSPACE (shown below).
Headspace is another level of being protected by ones mind. One of the main ideas/ themes of Omori is trying to hide from mental health issues. In a way it feels like Omori is showing how the brain copes with trauma, trying to suppress it as it finds way to protect you.
It then starts to get dark. You start to realise that hiding away from you trauma can be just as dangerous as facing it. The Headspace starts to hint towards a darker story.
As you go through Omori there are multiple endings. 5 main ones and then the Hikikomori Route.
The first 5 endings come from the SUNNY ROUTE. This route only takes place if you open the door to Kel on all days. Essentially Sunny is about to move away from his hometown- FARAWAY TOWN. As you go through this side of the story, you start to uncover the mystery that revolves around the death of Sunny's sister Mari.
The first ending is known as the GOOD END. Then you have the SECRET END and BAD END. You then have two more from the NEUTRAL ENDINGS. These are called the ABANDON ENDING and KNIFE ENDING.
Within the Hikikomori route, you refuse to talk to Kel and any of your friends in FARAWAY TOWN. You end up staying within the house and HEADSPACE- leading to ending the route with the NETURAL ENDINGS.
This wiki explains all of them in full detail.
Within the endings, 2 of them involve Sunny committing suicide while within the neutral endings, Basil also commits suicide. In the GOOD ENDING- there is a hint towards Sunny wanting to go out of a window, but he refuses implying he doesn't want to die.
Omori does not pull it's punches whatsoever when it comes to dealing with mental health and trauma. As you uncover the death of Mari, you find out that Sunny got into an argument with Mari on the day they were supposed to do a duet together at a recital. Sunny pushes Mari down the stairs and she hits her head. Basil walks in and sees. Sunny think's Mari is just sleeping and is distraught to discover that he killed his own sister. Basil comes up with an idea to frame Mari's death as a suicide and they hang her from the tree in Sunny's back garden. As they go to leave, they see one of Mari's eyes is open through the tangle of her black hair- leading to them both being further traumatised and manifesting into the main cryptid of the game- SOMETHING.
Through the game, you constantly see SOMETHING. In the mirror as well as hinted at within cutscenes as you further explore Headspace and through character interactions in FARAWAY TOWN. This hits the nail on the head that trauma still follows you. Repressing it can also cause it to get worse and within Omori we see how it effects Basil and Sunny the most. Basil is plagued with guilt and depending on the ending you get- it can consume him. The same goes for Sunny especially in the BAD END.
It is crushing to see the characters suffer like this. In a game that looks cute and has such bright visuals to begin with, it really hits home as the layer of cuteness fade away to the bare bones of trauma, anxiety and even suicide as every time Omori/Sunny wishes to leave WHITE SPACE, you have to make the decision to STAB him. Looking at it with a glance, you wouldn't fully realise the story that hides just underneath.
It is dark and real. A representation of how someone can feel. I feel like Omori is a really effective game. It doesn't pull punches, it shows you both good times and bad ones. You feel yourself growing attached to characters and finding out their real selves and the twists, turns and turmoil that they all suffer through. The empathy I feel towards this characters is strong and this game continues to stick with me as I find myself always coming back to it and thinking about how it deals with it's heavy themes.
This game is a psychological horror one- showing an interesting way to show how the mind can try and keep oneself from crumbling down on the inside. It also shows you how your mind can't protect you forever. How when you try and find the thing your mind is trying so desperately hard to keep you from- everything starts to fall apart. It really shows this in ways where it also blends the world of his subconscious and FARAWAY TOWN (the scene where he pulls a knife on Aubrey in the real world after you yourself are so used to seeing it in game within Headspace).
I didn't want to go on a tangent too much, but there is an incredible video essay by Daryl Talks Games, as he talks about how Omori delves into mental health, how it delves into what he believes is Dissociative Amnesia. He talks about the psyche if the game far better than I ever could so I would suggest watching it as it really puts the game in an even further light that is just incredible (sorry words fail me to sometimes explain things so this YouTuber can do it better for me instead T-T).
You should also check out this video essay where Clark Elieson talks about the portrayal of mental health within Omori too as it as also an incredible analysis of the game.
It's a beautiful artistic way to show how mental health effects someone. Usually it's seen as taboo and people can also find it hard to explain. Omori, with its visuals and sound design really adds to the overall feel as you yourself can sometimes get the feeling of loosing yourself that the game portrays within its story. You can feel yourself in the shoes of any of the characters, especially if you've suffered the ways they have...
My only qualm with this game is that the battle and management of tasks can sometimes get a little confusing- there is a lot to understand from the get go. Though it is also an RPG game, I feel like sometimes it would've been better with just the story. Though I do understand how the RPG element gives us this feeling of Omori and in turn, Sunny getting stronger through the game as he tackles his fear. While it become integral to the story, I do wish the story was more of a focus at times. I just found the combat a little confusing at times and wanting to get all the ends, the management of saves was wild (though that is to get all achievements too).
[Honestly it's hard to find anything wrong with this game as a whole].
This game is very effective. I would love to be able to create a masterpiece like this someday. I would want my game to have an impactful story like Omori does. Delving into the idea of how mental health can look on the inside. The idea of how your mind could protect you. It's creative and fantastic.
Omori did have a bigger team than games like Subway Midnight and Flesh, Blood and Concrete, so making a game on this scale would not be the best idea for me, but overall, I would love to have a story this deep within my own game, character that everyone can relate to even if it's just a little degree (as not everyone suffers from trauma).
If I could create a smaller version of a game like Omori (more the story than the RPG) then I could always do a Celeste and have an overall story and just showcase a small amount.
One final note: Omori also has a trailer, much like how Subway Midnight does, but it is A LOT more psychedelic- filled with wild imagery that really sets the scene and overall themes of the game. While this came out in 2014 (six years before the game itself came out), it generated buzz and was probably made when the kickstarter first went live to generate interest.
The song within the trailer was made by Bo En, an English musician who made the album Pale Machine that released back in 2013. My Time is the song and it's theme revolves around sleep- starting off cute and then delving into an almost overwhelming beat with noises and more that makes the listener feel overwhelmed in a sense- just like how Omori makes the player feel when playing (or at least in my case). It is a perfect symbiosis of art and music, combining to create an experience that will show the true nature of the game, even if you don't understand the full story at this time.
Much like how I talked with Subway Midnight, making a trailer will be an important part of showcasing my game and generating interest. If I could ask a music student to create a song that has a feel like this within my own game, that would be something.
The pure chaos of this score is incredible and I find myself listening to it constantly. I want music in my game that would want people listening to it over and over again. The art style is also iconic and having a hand drawn feel is something I'm going to think about when it comes to the style I want for my game.