Omori (2020)

I'm extremely conflicted about this game. As a game, I can't help but feel that it is absolutely awful. It's basically just Earthbound with some twists. The whole dream world section feels absolutely useless and the tone and writing is absolutely subpar. I find myself passing through all the dialogue and it's just filled with useless chores that bring NOTHING to the story whatsoever. A complete waste of time.

I ended up finding a weird site where u could hack your stats, so I could end up one-shotting everything, and that sure helps. Let me tell you I would NEVER have played this if I hadn't had this solution for the gameplay. Not in a million years. And yet, and yet I still had to mash through the dialogue and look up walkthroughs to just try and bypass the puzzles or whatever.

But then there's the flip side. In the real world section, the story and writing and build-up is absolutely incredible, some of the best vibes I've ever experienced in a game. It asks vague questions and it makes you just want to keep going. Every dialogue is sacred. No button mashing here. It's just, wow. SO much goosebumps and feelings.

It's a damn shame then that this part is not the bulk of the game. Instead we spend 80% in lala land and it means next to nothing to the real world. It has no impact. I don't know I just feel conflicted. Maybe I'm missing something, maybe this is a zoomer game, maybe Im just too old? Whatever. Point is, it sucks as a game, but strikes well as a story.

Also I found myself very disappointed by the end of the game and how things turned out. Sure, there's a "fun" twist. But it feels somewhat... I don't know, weird? I'm not into where the direction took.

All in all it had parts that were some of the best gaming experiences Ive ever had, but overhaul the full experience was extremely myeh at best. So that's that.

I mean wow, this game has some really wonderful scenes.

I've played a lot of pixel games, but like Omori so far I haven't seen any. It always made me breathless, in horror battles, like it was me in there feeling anxious.

I don't know how I even managed to find the best ending in the game, I didn't even know there were other endings. Lol. This game really deserves to be played at least once in a lifetime! I played it all day and night, completing it in 4-5 days, because I really enjoyed it. I recommend it to everyone.

Great and devastating. Don't stop in the middle of the extremely long "good" ending to take a break, because though it does get worse and worse, it also gets better.

That being said, it did make me laugh out loud when Sunny has his first real-life battle and is immediately called out for wielding the knife he was using the entire game up to this point.

I can understand why there is a lot of love for this game and it's far from mediocre. The music is fantastic and easily the strength of the game (excluding the leitmotif of Sweetheart which is intentionally grating but that doesn't make it more enjoyable to listen to). The writing is no master class in subtlety or subtext and while it has plenty of poignant moments, the big reveal is pretty outrageous and unbelievable. It does feel like edge lord fan fiction. For example, while the first time the game makes you stab yourself to progress the plot is poignant, it becomes attenuated over time as the game forces you to do it more and more which seems to defeat the purpose of including something so traumatic. it shouldn't lose it's power, yet it does via it's repetitive implementation.

Why, on a re-watch, I don't like Muholland Drive is for many similar reasons revolving around a lack of subtext and subtlety in the narrative. Plenty of people like having answers clearly spelled out for them, I personally prefer thoughtful ambiguity which allows for the audience to instill their own subjective impression on a given work of art. When things are literally spelled out, the conversation and interpretation of a work of art are severely limited.

Another issue I have with the "metaphor" is how on the nose it is. It basically boils down to I'm depressed so I have no color but everything around me is colorful and bright so I can escape my sadness. I think with more clever writing via using subtext and metaphors to convey a message would have elevated the narrative for me rather than everything being so literal.

That all said, I do like the art direction. It can be truly harrowing and the contrast between the mundane and the fantasy is well done and follows a dream logic to immerse you into Sunny's world view. The different "somethings" all look rad even if the game play around them is completely mindless. It's just a shame that the big reveal that the whole narrative builds towards falls flat for me from it's absurdity without a shred of self-awareness. All this said, I think they do a great job developing the main cast of characters. They each have their own personality (even if it lacks complexity).

Game play is pretty mediocre. It's a standard turn based party JRPG. It feigns depth with it's emotional states (that function like rock, paper or scissors) and it's party combos which are a more hollow version of what was included in Chrono Trigger. You can win every battle without really concerning yourself with emotional states. Most fights are over so quickly that the impact of this system is barely felt. Sure, some attacks have certain properties based on an enemies emotion (which can be manipulated via items and skills), but these skills aren't needed to beat the game. Likewise, the combos are bear bones. When you build up enough points by taking damage, you can push a direction to combo an attack with another party member. Chrono Triggers system felt more dynamic, not only because more combos were present but also in the way they were executed.

The combat is at it's worst when you're confronting the different "somethings." It's impossible to lose these fights. All you do is wait until the combat text prompts you to use an ability and then you win... nothing engaging with this which is a real shame given how artistically creative the design of these entities are.

Finally, there are different endings and two main paths through the game. A good and bad ending. While it's cool conceptually to give the player a reason to replay the game, the differences between the two paths are pretty minor. You still largely play the same game, albeit much shorter if you go for the Bad ending. I think there were plenty of opportunities to make these paths more divergent to reward the player more for wanting to replay the game. That said,they were clearly a small team of passionate creatives so perhaps that's an unreasonable expectation.

In conclusion, this is an interesting RPG maker game that falls flat for me due to a lack of subtext and mediocre game play. It has great music and art direction, it's just a shame that the narrative's final twist feels too outrageous for a satisfying pay off.

I can't believe people actually like not only the game, but the story especially.

I'm going to talk about the story by the way so if you care about spoilers, leave now. BUT, I very much do not recommend playing this game. It's a waste of 15 hours.

First things first, as a game, it is completely mediocre if not agonizing to play. The pace is all over the place. You get an admittedly interesting start, but after 6 or so hours you start realizing that nothing in the imagination land has any bearing on the story. Not only that, the combat is also extremely boring and feels like its wasting your time. The mechanics are nothing more than rock, paper, scissors, and the other rpg mechanics feel underdeveloped. Forcing characters to have only 4 skills makes sense in battle but then having to navigate the annoying menu every time you want to switch one out when you have 20 is awful. There are plenty other examples but this review doesn't need to be any longer than it already is.

The story is honestly what threw me over the edge in outright hating this game. At first, the game does a pretty good job at making you think the writer knows what they're doing. But, 8 hours in you realize what you thought were subtext and metaphor were just incredibly literal. The game outright begins to tell the player how they've forgotten something gravely important, how they can't run away from it, and accepting it is inevitable. The entire ending sequence of finding out you killed your sister is incredibly ham fisted. Visuals that amount to a creepy pasta with realistic blood eyes and childish ideas of torment like constantly seeing Basil die make up that entire sequence. Think Yume Nikki but worse. And then the actual kicker that had me losing my shit was the fact that you and Basil have the brilliant idea as 11 year olds to then string up the dead body of your sister and hang her from the backyard tree. I can not stress enough how unbelievable that is. If they had just left it at accidentally killing your sister I could've easily still suspended my disbelief.

It all culminates in a walk down a literal memory lane as you repair your violin you threw in angry right before pushing your sister down the stairs. You perform once more and fight your literal depressed persona in a fight you cant win, only to pick continue at the game over screen, pick up your violin, and play like you've never played before. You beat your depressed self, bow to the make believe audience, wake up, and then tell your friends you have something you need to tell them, and then credits. Oh man, I clapped and wiped away so many tears, it was so beautiful. Sadly for the creators, I'm not 14 and instead I was laughing my ass off. It is hysterical how blunt it is and how they had no idea the actual consequences that might occur from telling your friends and family you faked your sister's suicide. The last thing that had me rolling was the bad ending where you instead jump off the roof, and then the camera follows you down as it plays the credits besides your falling body, a silly song playing in the background.

As a comedy, 10 outta 10.

This game would've been better as a 4 hour "experience" and if they completely dropped the faking a suicide.

Today is another one of those rare days when I am utterly incapable of doing anything because of a game I finished yesterday; this time that game is Omori. It occupies every corner of my mind and makes me appreciate the duality of humanity, about how great we can be and at the same time how tragic.

Omori is on the surface a simple RPGmaker game that wears its Earthbound inspiration on its sleeve. Even though I backed this project day one on kickstarter, due to having been a fan of Omocat's work ever since I discovered her in my late teens, I was a bit weary as JRPG's really isn't my genre. However, these feelings quickly evaporated after my second session with the game. It wasn't because it does RPGmaker game mechanics especially well - even though I do appreciate the innovative use of the turn based combat mechanic on occasion - it was because the story telling, the world building, and the characters compelled me forward, urging me to discover what actually lurks beneath the surface. The pacing, the story telling, and the way the video game medium is used is second to no other game that I have played. There is a lot of impetus in the disconnect between the cute and charming dream world and the subtle hints about something darker hiding in the shadow. I particularly remember Aubrey's "transformation" between these two realities the main character experiences, and the subsequent journey that character takes.

Another thing that really stuck with me is the music, or more specifically how the music is more than just music, it does tie closely into the story, making it a lot more impactful. The best comparison I can think of right now is how music was used in Outer Wilds, one of my favourite games of all time. I have been listening to the soundtrack on repeat all day and there are certain songs that even after the 5th or 6th time around I still can't hear without breaking down crying.

I can't recommend this game enough. It is cute, and funny, and heartwarming, and tragic, and terrifying, and devastating. It is a perfect roller coaster of feelings, I don't know what else to say. I wish I was better at taking screenshots...