Omori is a game with a history of a troubled production. After spending 6 years in development where developer Omocat infrequently communicated with Kickstarter backers and even canceled the Nintendo 3DS port, it seemed as if the game would become yet another Kickstarter failure a la Mighty No. 9 or Yooka-Laylee. The game would end up released to acclaim from both critics and general audiences, seemingly averting the Kickstarter curse. Likewise, as any game that becomes ridiculously popular, Omori has also seen a fair share of both entirely fair and overblown criticism. I think it's pretty good, but some of this game's major issues can make it a teensy bit hard to recommend.
You play as two protagonists: Sunny and Omori. Omori is essentially the younger version of Sunny who exists within his dreams, and Sunny is who Omori is in real life. Most of the game is played as Omori, and for the most part, he is a blank protagonist. Inherently not a very expressive protagonist, most of the game's story and humor are conveyed through the supporting cast: Aubrey, Hero, Kel, and Basil, Sunny's childhood friends given immortal youth within his dreams. Suddenly, Basil goes missing and the gang of dream children has to go find him. The story is something that will either leave you enamored with its characters and weeping at the tragic moments, or frustrated by its poor pacing. Omori's story is a solid one, with likable characters who do grow and change between headspace and reality and appropriately handles deeper and more depressing themes. The game does get quite sad at points, and I will admit to getting a little misty-eyed. I will say though, I found it hard to connect to the game's world. For a dream world, it seemed to be pretty standard as far as imagination goes. I never really felt like a part of this world and therefore it became hard to immerse myself just because of how cookie-cutter it could feel at points. The real-world feeling more immersive than the literal fantasy does cause a strange disconnect. After a while, I just got tired of the dream world shenanigans and just wanted to get back to the real world so I could just see what the characters I had grown attached to were doing. Most of the characters in headspace get little to no development and show up maybe once. It's a problem when the character specifically designed to be obnoxious and annoying, Sweetheart, has more screentime than any other headspace character. The poor pacing of this otherwise very well-written story caused me to almost drop the game, as I had become tired of the quirky dream shenanigans by the time I reached Humphrey the whale. Those real-world segments feel so tender and genuine that I wish there was more of that than headspace stuff. Each character I found myself caring about and wanting to see how they grew up and coped with loss and regret. I found myself relating to Hero as the college boy, though the rest of them are memorable too. However, if you can stick through it, I enjoyed the story, its characters, and the darker themes it handles, despite the uninvolving world and frustrating pacing.
Omori is a Japanese-style RPG, a genre that tends to alienate people due to the turn-based combat being oftentimes simplistic and grindy. Omocat tried to make the game a little more involving than your average JRPG though, adding an emotion system that changes character/enemy stats based on how they're feeling. It's similar to the rock paper scissors system from Fire Emblem, and certain emotions will beat others. Being sad, for example, reduces the damage you take while reducing the damage you do. This does add an interesting amount of nuance and strategy to the combat, and the ability to pass attacks to friends for extra damage certainly helps add oomph to the combat. You surprisingly don't have to do very much grinding in this game to succeed, though it's probably recommended. The boss fights aren't very good though. They lean from pretty decent (i.e. Space Ex-Boyfriend) to fine (Mr. Jawsome) to downright unfair (Sweetheart). Sweetheart, for example, has an attack that hits every single party member simultaneously and often does this when the party is at low health, pretty much instantly wiping out your attempt. These boss fights rely a bit too much on luck and cheap attacks and can make them very frustrating roadblocks if you are unwilling to do a little grinding, though they are still possible. Other than the boss fights, the combat is more than passable, and as far as JRPGs go, is more interesting than some of its competitors.
A common criticism of Omori is its length, and I concur with it. It feels like what is maybe a 10-hour game stretched out to 20. Major areas could potentially be cut or made optional because in the late game I felt like everything I was doing was mostly inconsequential. I also did not find many of the side-quests to be all that engaging, mostly being fetch quests, but at the end of the day, it's more Omori for those who want it so I'd rather have it than not.
As mentioned earlier, Omori can be a bit of a mixed bag visually. On a technical level, it looks superb for an RPG Maker game. Everything is fantastically animated, drawn, and detailed, and you can tell that Omocat's artists put their heart and soul into this game. The art direction however is a bit lacking. As stated earlier, the game simply falls in line with what is expected from modern Earthbound-inspired JRPGs. It looks the part and never looks bad, but rather it doesn't have much in the way of unique locations or enemies. This is the primary reason why the world feels a bit unengaging because I feel like I have seen this before.
The soundtrack, on the other hand, composed by Bo En, Jami Lynne, and Pedro Silva is fantastic. Almost every track is incredibly catchy and will stick in your mind for hours after a play session. Each one nails the atmosphere of each location and none feel out of place or strange, at least not in a bad way. My favorite tracks would be Spaces In-between, By Your Side, and World's End Valentine.
I've seen some online label Omori as a "psychological horror" game. To be completely honest, this isn't true. Omori not being a horror game isn't a bad thing, rather the descriptor is simply inaccurate. While yes, there are moments where the game does try to scare you and does so effectively I might add, they are pretty infrequent. Yes, some of the major scenes are horror-themed, but in proportion to the vast majority of the game, they are few and far between. Most of the time you will be wandering around and having fun in the quirky RPG world with the quirky RPG characters and therefore I don't think "psychological horror" is true for about 90% of the game. It's a minor thing, but I figured I might temper the expectations of those hoping to gain sleepless nights from this game.
I do have some miscellaneous observations that I do not know how to categorize, so I will just write them here. A lot of things in this game take too much time. For example, why can't I deposit all of my cans at once in the recycling machine? Why do I have to put them in individually? Why does it take forever to recycle, and why doesn't the game tell me that I can skip that cutscene? WHY DOES EVERYTHING IN THIS GAME TAKE FOREVER.
Omori is a pretty good game. It's got some hard-to-ignore faults, such as poor pacing and a fairly stock world, but it also has great characters and a very solid narrative, and that is the game's major strength. If you never liked JRPGs, Omori won't convince you otherwise, but if you're a fan of the genre you really should check this out.
You play as two protagonists: Sunny and Omori. Omori is essentially the younger version of Sunny who exists within his dreams, and Sunny is who Omori is in real life. Most of the game is played as Omori, and for the most part, he is a blank protagonist. Inherently not a very expressive protagonist, most of the game's story and humor are conveyed through the supporting cast: Aubrey, Hero, Kel, and Basil, Sunny's childhood friends given immortal youth within his dreams. Suddenly, Basil goes missing and the gang of dream children has to go find him. The story is something that will either leave you enamored with its characters and weeping at the tragic moments, or frustrated by its poor pacing. Omori's story is a solid one, with likable characters who do grow and change between headspace and reality and appropriately handles deeper and more depressing themes. The game does get quite sad at points, and I will admit to getting a little misty-eyed. I will say though, I found it hard to connect to the game's world. For a dream world, it seemed to be pretty standard as far as imagination goes. I never really felt like a part of this world and therefore it became hard to immerse myself just because of how cookie-cutter it could feel at points. The real-world feeling more immersive than the literal fantasy does cause a strange disconnect. After a while, I just got tired of the dream world shenanigans and just wanted to get back to the real world so I could just see what the characters I had grown attached to were doing. Most of the characters in headspace get little to no development and show up maybe once. It's a problem when the character specifically designed to be obnoxious and annoying, Sweetheart, has more screentime than any other headspace character. The poor pacing of this otherwise very well-written story caused me to almost drop the game, as I had become tired of the quirky dream shenanigans by the time I reached Humphrey the whale. Those real-world segments feel so tender and genuine that I wish there was more of that than headspace stuff. Each character I found myself caring about and wanting to see how they grew up and coped with loss and regret. I found myself relating to Hero as the college boy, though the rest of them are memorable too. However, if you can stick through it, I enjoyed the story, its characters, and the darker themes it handles, despite the uninvolving world and frustrating pacing.
Omori is a Japanese-style RPG, a genre that tends to alienate people due to the turn-based combat being oftentimes simplistic and grindy. Omocat tried to make the game a little more involving than your average JRPG though, adding an emotion system that changes character/enemy stats based on how they're feeling. It's similar to the rock paper scissors system from Fire Emblem, and certain emotions will beat others. Being sad, for example, reduces the damage you take while reducing the damage you do. This does add an interesting amount of nuance and strategy to the combat, and the ability to pass attacks to friends for extra damage certainly helps add oomph to the combat. You surprisingly don't have to do very much grinding in this game to succeed, though it's probably recommended. The boss fights aren't very good though. They lean from pretty decent (i.e. Space Ex-Boyfriend) to fine (Mr. Jawsome) to downright unfair (Sweetheart). Sweetheart, for example, has an attack that hits every single party member simultaneously and often does this when the party is at low health, pretty much instantly wiping out your attempt. These boss fights rely a bit too much on luck and cheap attacks and can make them very frustrating roadblocks if you are unwilling to do a little grinding, though they are still possible. Other than the boss fights, the combat is more than passable, and as far as JRPGs go, is more interesting than some of its competitors.
A common criticism of Omori is its length, and I concur with it. It feels like what is maybe a 10-hour game stretched out to 20. Major areas could potentially be cut or made optional because in the late game I felt like everything I was doing was mostly inconsequential. I also did not find many of the side-quests to be all that engaging, mostly being fetch quests, but at the end of the day, it's more Omori for those who want it so I'd rather have it than not.
As mentioned earlier, Omori can be a bit of a mixed bag visually. On a technical level, it looks superb for an RPG Maker game. Everything is fantastically animated, drawn, and detailed, and you can tell that Omocat's artists put their heart and soul into this game. The art direction however is a bit lacking. As stated earlier, the game simply falls in line with what is expected from modern Earthbound-inspired JRPGs. It looks the part and never looks bad, but rather it doesn't have much in the way of unique locations or enemies. This is the primary reason why the world feels a bit unengaging because I feel like I have seen this before.
The soundtrack, on the other hand, composed by Bo En, Jami Lynne, and Pedro Silva is fantastic. Almost every track is incredibly catchy and will stick in your mind for hours after a play session. Each one nails the atmosphere of each location and none feel out of place or strange, at least not in a bad way. My favorite tracks would be Spaces In-between, By Your Side, and World's End Valentine.
I've seen some online label Omori as a "psychological horror" game. To be completely honest, this isn't true. Omori not being a horror game isn't a bad thing, rather the descriptor is simply inaccurate. While yes, there are moments where the game does try to scare you and does so effectively I might add, they are pretty infrequent. Yes, some of the major scenes are horror-themed, but in proportion to the vast majority of the game, they are few and far between. Most of the time you will be wandering around and having fun in the quirky RPG world with the quirky RPG characters and therefore I don't think "psychological horror" is true for about 90% of the game. It's a minor thing, but I figured I might temper the expectations of those hoping to gain sleepless nights from this game.
I do have some miscellaneous observations that I do not know how to categorize, so I will just write them here. A lot of things in this game take too much time. For example, why can't I deposit all of my cans at once in the recycling machine? Why do I have to put them in individually? Why does it take forever to recycle, and why doesn't the game tell me that I can skip that cutscene? WHY DOES EVERYTHING IN THIS GAME TAKE FOREVER.
Omori is a pretty good game. It's got some hard-to-ignore faults, such as poor pacing and a fairly stock world, but it also has great characters and a very solid narrative, and that is the game's major strength. If you never liked JRPGs, Omori won't convince you otherwise, but if you're a fan of the genre you really should check this out.