Omori manages to efficiently tug at the heartstrings with its mysterious underlying plot, likable characters, excellent presentation and very nice soundtrack while also being a decently fun RPG in its own right. The story's balance between lighthearted fanciful adventure in a dreamlike world and more grounded future events with some psychological horror tossed in is handled very well and keeps both halves fresh for the most part. The plot twists at the end are thoroughly surprising while also being pretty well-foreshadowed, and the constant theme of overcoming guilt and fear with the power of friendship is conveyed in a powerful and endearing manner. The main characters are all very likable despite being kids and, surprisingly enough, generally acting like kids. The side characters are pretty fun too. The game's sense of humor isn't particularly great or anything but it did make me grin a few times, though it is kind of predictable and groan-worthy at this point to have the race of strange creatures like the mr.saturns from Mother. The artstyle is great, particularly in the boss battles, horror segments and cutscenes. I really like the character designs too since they manage to look distinct enough from anime without veering into calarts wiggly arms territory. The gameplay is solid with really nice-looking animations on attacks and I like how the friendship and emotional themes play into the battle system, giving it a unique vibe from other JRPGs. Unfortunately most battles are very easy and even with battle text speed set to fast they can last way longer than they should. Limiting each character to 4 skills limited combat variety as well and I think it was an unnecessary restriction. A way to skip cutscenes would've also been nice since my computer crashes often and the time between save points can be quite lengthy. Not to mention if you lose to one of the few difficult bosses like Sweetheart you have to view their entire pre-battle cutscenes as well. Certain areas also last way longer than they should like the Humphrey segment and underwater as a whole so pacing can be a grating at times, especially since you're quite close to the end by that point. And while it's not a major complaint, I don't really see the point of the hangman letters being a requirement to progress to the end. I only had to go back for one and it wasn't difficult to find or anything but it felt like needless padding, especially coming after the drawn-out Humphrey segment. Overall OMORI was an impressive and heavy-hitting game. The gameplay might've had its shortfalls but I'm always a little biased toward games that can emotionally affect me so I can forgive the majority of them.