Welcome to WHITE SPACE.

You have been living here for as long as you can remember.

:omori-miserable: OMORI is a critically-acclaimed indie role-playing game, made by OMOCAT (group) and directed by OMOCAT (person). It released on December 25th, 2020, after nearly seven years of development and delay following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Made in RPG Maker MV, it takes inspiration from Earthbound, Mother 3, and Yume Nikki in its premise, style, and atmosphere.

OMORI follows the titular OMORI, in his adventure across the magical lands of HEADSPACE alongside his childhood friends—KEL, AUBREY, HERO, and non-combatants MARI and BASIL. There’s something amiss, hanging over the party, but you just can't tell what it is.

Elsewhere, in the 90’s-esque setting of FARAWAY TOWN, a boy named SUNNY (or whatever you want, really) deals with an incoming moving day, faced with a hanging choice of a last-minute attempt of reconciliation with his years-estranged friends before he is to leave, or retreating further into the warm embrace of hikikomoridom.

OMORI is a story-centric turn-based RPG with a relatively simple battle system. The main gimmick of the battles is the EMOTIONS system. Each character is able to affect the emotions of both the party and the enemies, and the enemies can do the same. Emotions function as a sort of rock-paper-scissors mechanic, as each of the three main emotions are strong against one other emotion and weak to the one that’s left. Emotions provide stat changes that can enable or break strategies, so make sure to pay your party members' states and statuses heed.

With a vibrant and charming aesthetic, gorgeous art, banger tunes, as well as being the only work that has ever made me genuinely cry, I cannot recommend this game enough. Today is the second anniversary of its release. It’s so hard to talk about what makes it so unique, good, and memorable without spoiling it, so I hope you’ll forgive me for being a bit vague with my recommendation! If you’re able to, go in as blind as you possibly can. Hopefully you’ll share this sentiment when you finish!

OMORI is available on Windows, Mac, Switch, PS4, and Xbox. It is marked ‘playable’ on Steam Deck. Currently, if you buy it on Steam, it is on a 30% sale, going for 14$ USD until January 5th. I think the console version is more expensive, in general. I’m not exactly sure, though.

Look at all of us…
These are all of our memories together…
They’re a little sad now…
But we should be happy that they happened at all…
Let’s make some new memories together, okay?

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

reminders:

  • 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
  • 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes struggle sessions over upbears
  • 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
  • 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can go here nerd
  • 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

Spoiler your plot discussion comments properly or I will anger-buffed Hack Away your comment into the depths of the modlog :omori-furious:

  • OperationOgre [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Been reading a book called The Sympathizer which is about a communist spy who is embedded in the South Vietnamese army during/after the US/Vietnam War. I'll be interested to look up the author's ideology after finishing it, he certainly nails a lot of leftist language that I don't see often from non-commies, even if he seems critical of Vietnamese communists at times

    • jackal [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      A lib friend of mine was reading this and I tried to find this out too (haven't read it). Will be curious what you find

      • OperationOgre [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        A cursory read through some interviews and book reviews don't say much about his politics. He is very critical of America for what it did in Southeast Asia and for its racism at home. But the last chapter of his book ends by drawing a comparison between the French and American capitalists and Vietnamese communists, which gave me big "enlightened centrist" vibes. It's possible that the author was making this comparison to criticize Vietnam for falling into what he considers the same bad behavior as its colonizers, but it's not a fair comparison imo.

        I thought it was a good read overall though. A good perspective on Vietnam that's not the typical bloodthirsty American Rambo porn

    • ssjmarx [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I know he's a supporter of BLM/defunding the police if nothing else, and that he got into radical politics at Berkeley.