SuperSleepy
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Student.
Opinions are my own. I'm not an expert at game design or anything. Please consider me more of a beta tester than a critic ^^
Student.
Opinions are my own. I'm not an expert at game design or anything. Please consider me more of a beta tester than a critic ^^
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(Taken from my Steam Review.)
TLDR: Omori features a strong story with interesting gameplay, although the ending slightly missed the mark.
It's important to note that Omori has content outside the main story, some of which I missed on my first playthrough.
I enjoyed this game. I'm going to give it another run to explore the different endings. I might even try to 100% it if it grows on me enough. Omori is probably one of the more pleasant surprises that 2020 had to offer.
That being said I have a few issues with it.
OMORI wears its Earthbound inspiration on its sleeve proudly, but to my eyes it was unique enough to stand on its own. The concept was interesting, the story felt compelling, and there was far more content than I was expecting for a $20 kickstarter game. The main story is probably around 20 hours long. If someone was trying to do a completionist run of this game I could easily see them sinking 35-50 hours in total on this game depending on how quickly they went about it.
The story for the most part is good, and takes a couple of twists and turns. I think ultimately I was dissatisfied with the ending, but I really enjoyed the characters. From the silent protagonist to the main cast to the antagonist to that godawful laughing wreck known as Sweetheart, the characters feel unique and compelling enough to suck the player into Omori's world.
The music and art are Omori's strongest points. The soundtrack and illustrations help establish an atmosphere of childlike innocence that can quickly turn into a horrifying landscape of monsters at any time. It's one of the better indie OSTs I've heard in a while.
The gameplay favors exploration and experimentation. Outside of a basic tutorial on how combat works the player isn't given much direction. This can lead to some occasional frustration (I got stuck twice: once in Sweetheart Castle and once on the hard puzzle in Humphrey, which took me way longer than I feel like it should have.) but overall I enjoyed wandering around the different maps and switching out charms and skills to see how that would affect my party's combat performance. The combat system itself isn't deep by any means, but it's interesting enough that I never felt bored when fighting enemies. The maps themselves were usually pretty interesting, and were far more populated than I was expecting. However, there are some side quests that require a bit more effort than I thought was really necessary. There were at least two fetch quests I encountered that had the player running all over the place in order to get the required items, which felt more like a chore than anything else. Still, I'd say the gameplay was fun overall.
Omori is tagged as a story rich game on Steam, and while I think the story (and in particular the characters) are very very good, I found the conclusion to be less-than-great. While the open-ended and abstract method of storytelling makes for a great first and second-act, the lack of a definitive conclusion left a bitter taste in my mouth, especially given the twist. In this sense, I think the bad ending of the game actually has a slightly better execution, since at least it provides closure. The twist itself, while well-executed, doesn't seem realistic. And I know that it's a video game, and that realism should be wayyyy down on the list of priorities, but I couldn't but think "seriously? These characters are like, 12. How did they come up with this? I feel like most 12 year-olds wouldn't default to the response presented in the story." I feel like my criticism about realism is valid in this regard, given the dark content of the final act.
Ultimately I feel that the climax and the resolution of Omori could have been handled better by simply changing a few details. The current non-special ending s of the game are frankly boring, and the story fails to effectively hammer its themes home in them.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time with Omori immensely, and my qualms with the ending aside, I'll be coming back for at least one more playthrough. I was presently surprised by the scope and depth of this game, and I sincerely hope it gets the recognition it deserves.
TLDR: Omori features a strong story with interesting gameplay, although the ending slightly missed the mark.
It's important to note that Omori has content outside the main story, some of which I missed on my first playthrough.
I enjoyed this game. I'm going to give it another run to explore the different endings. I might even try to 100% it if it grows on me enough. Omori is probably one of the more pleasant surprises that 2020 had to offer.
That being said I have a few issues with it.
OMORI wears its Earthbound inspiration on its sleeve proudly, but to my eyes it was unique enough to stand on its own. The concept was interesting, the story felt compelling, and there was far more content than I was expecting for a $20 kickstarter game. The main story is probably around 20 hours long. If someone was trying to do a completionist run of this game I could easily see them sinking 35-50 hours in total on this game depending on how quickly they went about it.
The story for the most part is good, and takes a couple of twists and turns. I think ultimately I was dissatisfied with the ending, but I really enjoyed the characters. From the silent protagonist to the main cast to the antagonist to that godawful laughing wreck known as Sweetheart, the characters feel unique and compelling enough to suck the player into Omori's world.
The music and art are Omori's strongest points. The soundtrack and illustrations help establish an atmosphere of childlike innocence that can quickly turn into a horrifying landscape of monsters at any time. It's one of the better indie OSTs I've heard in a while.
The gameplay favors exploration and experimentation. Outside of a basic tutorial on how combat works the player isn't given much direction. This can lead to some occasional frustration (I got stuck twice: once in Sweetheart Castle and once on the hard puzzle in Humphrey, which took me way longer than I feel like it should have.) but overall I enjoyed wandering around the different maps and switching out charms and skills to see how that would affect my party's combat performance. The combat system itself isn't deep by any means, but it's interesting enough that I never felt bored when fighting enemies. The maps themselves were usually pretty interesting, and were far more populated than I was expecting. However, there are some side quests that require a bit more effort than I thought was really necessary. There were at least two fetch quests I encountered that had the player running all over the place in order to get the required items, which felt more like a chore than anything else. Still, I'd say the gameplay was fun overall.
Omori is tagged as a story rich game on Steam, and while I think the story (and in particular the characters) are very very good, I found the conclusion to be less-than-great. While the open-ended and abstract method of storytelling makes for a great first and second-act, the lack of a definitive conclusion left a bitter taste in my mouth, especially given the twist. In this sense, I think the bad ending of the game actually has a slightly better execution, since at least it provides closure. The twist itself, while well-executed, doesn't seem realistic. And I know that it's a video game, and that realism should be wayyyy down on the list of priorities, but I couldn't but think "seriously? These characters are like, 12. How did they come up with this? I feel like most 12 year-olds wouldn't default to the response presented in the story." I feel like my criticism about realism is valid in this regard, given the dark content of the final act.
Ultimately I feel that the climax and the resolution of Omori could have been handled better by simply changing a few details. The current non-special ending s of the game are frankly boring, and the story fails to effectively hammer its themes home in them.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time with Omori immensely, and my qualms with the ending aside, I'll be coming back for at least one more playthrough. I was presently surprised by the scope and depth of this game, and I sincerely hope it gets the recognition it deserves.