How Omori Broke Me

POP CULTURE

Omori is a game about trauma. This is one of the best pieces of summary I can offer about the game. Released in 2020 by Omocat and MP2 games it is truly a masterpiece. From its hand drawn animations to its beautiful soundtrack and heart-wrenching story, this game may now be my favorite game of all time. Back to that story though, because the word “heart-wrenching” does not do it justice. Heart-destroying-week-ruining-tear-jerking-hole-of-sorrow might come closer. You should absolutely play this game (only if you are in a stable mental state, this game gets pretty dark) because it deserves every dollar it makes and more. I cannot think of a better way to spend your money. GO PLAY IT RIGHT NOW. I would hate to spoil this game for you if you ever want to play it. SPOILER WARNING SPOILER WARNING 

In Omori you play as a boy struggling with trauma named Sunny. Every night Sunny dreams of a place called Headspace where he becomes another boy named Omori. In Headspace Omori hangs out with his old friend group that fell apart due to whatever happened to give Sunny trauma. The friends are Kel, Hero, Aubrey, and Basil. The game switches between Headspace and reality as you slowly uncover the story of what happened to Mari, Sunny’s dead sister. Through a psychological horror disguised as a cute RPG adventure, it is revealed that Sunny accidentally killed his sister by pushing her down the stairs. Afraid for his friend, Basil stages it as a suicide by hanging Mari from a tree in their backyard. They look back at Mari one last time and an eye meets Sunny’s. This event haunts Basil and Sunny for years, until the events of the game. The game has several endings, the worst being that both Basil and Sunny kill themselves out of guilt, and the best being that they both live and confess to the rest of the gang. Here is a link to a YouTube video that explains the story of the game better than I can.

Yeah that was rough, particularly so if you actually played the game, I doubt the video is as effective but it will have to do. So why did this hit me (and possibly you) so hard? I have narrowed it down to three key reasons: First, the way Mari died obviously, the game lets you grow attached to her just to hit you with that like a truck. Second, the loss of innocence and childhood for the most adorable little friend group I have ever seen. And third, the ability of the characters in this game to remind you of the people you love.

The reveal of how Mari died is jarring and unforgettable. The most important event in the game happens long before you start playing. What makes this story so awful is that it was a complete accident, and yet I completely understand why Sunny and Basil blame themselves for Mari’s death. After all, Sunny did throw her intentionally. He did not want to kill or even hurt her in my opinion, but it happened. And as for Basil, it is left ambiguous whether or not Mari died on impact, or died by the noose. The story is somehow even darker if her eye opening at the end is her waking up, and this would put the blame more squarely on Basil's shoulders since the coverup was his idea and he did all the work. Trauma thrives in the darkness, and Sunny and Basil have no one to talk to about this. Instead they push it down as deep as they can and try not to think about it. The guilt they must feel is immense and unimaginable to me.

Loss of innocence, the core friend group in Omori is one of the most wholesome things ever and it gets completely ripped to shreds by a preventable accident. Mari’s supposed suicide on its own would likely have torn this friend group apart but it in tandem with the complete mental shutdown that Basil and Sunny go through, the group was not surviving. These are just kids that have been ripped out of their world of treehouses and scrapbooks to a hell of guilt and regret. This is obviously much more sudden and awful than anything I have ever experienced but I have had a lot of nostalgia for my childhood lately, and this extreme version of that loss of innocence hits me hard.

The characters in Omori make me think of my own family, which as you can imagine is rather upsetting. I see some of my older sister's kindness and perfectionism in Mari, which makes me sad for obvious reasons. I see my little brother in Kel, who had to endure this whole story without knowing the truth. I think about how my little sister Scarlet, is almost as old as Sunny was when the incident happened. I cannot imagine the sheer trauma and suffering an experience like that would inflict on her and I pray to god it never occurs. My point is that these characters are so interesting and lovable in specific ways, but their archetypes are also broad enough that you can fit them around people you love, and that is bone-chilling.

I do not think the story of Omori will ever leave me and I do not want it to. The final piece of the puzzle that makes Omori so powerful is what happens in the good ending. In spite of all his fear, doubt, and guilt, Sunny confesses to his friends what truly happened that day. The game ends right then and there without showing you how they react. I truly believe that Sunny and Basil deserve forgiveness, but I can see how that would be hard for someone who loved Mari. I wonder whether or not I would be strong enough to forgive them. Do you think you would? Lastly, the game is still incredible even if you have been spoiled a little by this article, so if you want to play the game you still can! You definitely should, although you should have done it the first time I asked you. There is so much more that makes this game incredible that I could not cover in this short article, so what are you waiting for? Go play it!