what is omori based on?

Light spoilers ahead!

After being hounded by my friend to give this game a shot, I finally caved. I figured I wasn’t going to be sacrificing much, considering it was only $20 on Steam. The game looked interesting enough - it looked to be a cute little role playing game (RPG) about a group of friends going on misadventures. But boy, was I wrong. So wrong.

Upon launch, “OMORI” greets you with a comforting warning stating “This game contains depictions of depression, anxiety, and suicide, and may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.” I brushed it aside with little care and launched a new game.

“OMORI” tells the story of a sixteen year old teenager named Sunny, who after the unexpected suicide of his sister four years prior, becomes a social recluse. Sunny spends his days asleep in his room, dreaming of his imaginary world he calls “Headspace.” A world where Sunny imagines himself as a version of his 12 year old self named Omori. In Headspace, Omori spends his time either stuck in a vast, empty room named “Whitespace”, or venturing the vibrant world outside with his best friends Hero, Kel, Aubrey, and Basil, as well as his sister Mari; all dream counterparts of his real best friends –– the ones he shut out from his life. One day, while hanging out with his friends in Headspace, Basil picks up a photo that was knocked loose from his photo album of the friend group, and is horrified by the contents. He tries to explain, but Headspace corrupts, and Omori is forced back into Whitespace, with Basil nowhere to be found.

Back in the real world, Sunny is set to move away from his house with his mother in three days, and he had planned to spend the rest of his time holed up inside house, when his friend Kel knocks on his door, asking to hang out with him one last time. Depending on the players choice, Sunny can either hang out with Kel, or stay inside for the three days (though it is not recommended to ignore Kel on your first playthrough). Upon talking to Kel, Sunny learns that his friends all split apart following the death of Mari - with none of them ever fully recovering from her sudden departure. Through out the three days, Sunny transitions between the two worlds - confronting Aubrey and Basil in the real world, and looking for Basil in the dream world.

Omori is a 2020 role-playing video game developed and published by indie studio Omocat.[b] The player controls a hikikomori teenage boy named Sunny[c] and his dream world alter-ego Omori. The player explores both the real world and Sunny's surreal dream world as Omori, either overcoming or suppressing his fears and forgotten secrets. How Sunny and Omori interact depends on choices made by the player, resulting in one of several endings. The game's turn-based battle system includes unconventional status effects based on characters' emotions. Prominently portraying concepts such as anxiety, depression, psychological trauma, and suicide, the game features strong psychological horror elements.

Omori is based on the director's webcomic series of the same name. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the game was delayed numerous times and experienced several development difficulties. It was eventually released for macOS and Windows in December 2020, six years after its initial funding. It would also see a release on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 4 with added content in June 2022. Critics praised the game's art direction, narrative elements, and depiction of anxiety and depression. Omori was favorably compared to games such as EarthBound and Yume Nikki, and went on to be nominated for several awards, winning DreamHack's "Daringly Dramatic" category in 2021. The game has sold over 1 million copies as of December 2022.

Omori's gameplay is inspired by traditional Japanese role-playing games.[1] The gameplay is split between two settings, Headspace and Faraway Town. In Headspace, the player controls a party of four characters: Omori, Aubrey, Kel, and Hero. In Faraway, the player begins with only Sunny, and slowly gains party members as he reconnects with his friends. Each party member possesses their own unique skills for use both in battle and in overworld traversal.[1][2]

The overworld portion is played from a top-down perspective.[3] The game features side quests and puzzles for the player to solve, bestowing them with various rewards and skills upon completion.[2][4][5] In Headspace, many beneficial weapons and items can be obtained, with some being purchasable using Headspace's currency, Clams.[5][6][7] In Faraway, the currency is dollars, and most found or purchasable items have little practical use outside of progressing the story.

Battles are played out in a turn-based format in which each party member performs a move.[4] After attacking, party members can work together to perform "follow up" attacks (Given they have available energy.)[7] Follow ups use "Energy," a collective resource which starts at 3 at the start of each battle, and is gained when a party member takes damage, up to a maximum of 10. Characters and enemies have Heart,[6] which functions as health points; if damage is taken, it decreases, and if it reaches zero, the character is defeated and turns into toast.[5] The Juice meter is used to perform skills, special abilities which aid in battle (I.e pass to Omori).[6] Outside of battle, the party can heal and save by encountering a picnic blanket, associated with Omori's older sister Mari. The player can also resurrect "Toast" characters by using either "Life jam" (A food which can be purchased using clams) or homemade jam (One of Hero's abilities which can be unlocked via levelling up).[7]

Unlike most role-playing games, status effects are based on a three-pointed emotion system.[8] A party member or opponent's emotion can change throughout the course of a battle, usually due to moves by another party member or enemy.[2][5] Neutral is the baseline and has no effects; Angry increases attack but lowers defense; Sad increases defense but lowers speed, as well as converting a portion of damage to Heart into damage to Juice; and Happy increases luck and speed but lowers accuracy.[6] Emotions are either strong or weak against each other – Happy beats Angry, Angry beats Sad, and Sad beats Happy. Additionally, higher-intensity variants of each emotion also exist.[1]

The titular main character, Omori, awakens in "White Space", a barren void he has lived in "for as long as [he] can remember". He enters a door to the vibrant world of "Headspace", where he meets his friends, Aubrey, Kel, Hero, and Basil, and his older sister Mari. They peruse Basil's photo album, containing pictures of their shared memories, and decide to visit his house. Once they arrive, Kel and Aubrey scuffle, damaging the album. Upon seeing an unfamiliar photo fall from it, Basil panics and Omori is abruptly teleported back to White Space. He stabs himself with his knife, revealing the previous events to be the dreams of a teenage boy, Sunny, as he wakes up in the middle of the night.

The player discovers that Sunny and his mother are moving. He goes downstairs for a midnight snack but is confronted by a nightmarish hallucination. He dispels the illusion by taking deep breaths and returns to bed. Awakening once again in White Space, Omori reunites with Aubrey, Kel, and Hero. They discover that Basil has gone missing and set out to rescue him. The four explore the various regions of Headspace in search of Basil, with Mari assisting along the way. The group is continuously diverted from their search by various situations, leading their memory of Basil to gradually fade away. Eventually, they return to Basil's now-dilapidated house, where Omori is transported to the more disturbing "Black Space". Basil appears in different areas, repeatedly attempting to talk to him about something before dying gruesomely each time. In the final room, Omori kills Basil and places himself atop a throne of massive, red hands.

Meanwhile, in the real world, it is revealed that Mari committed suicide four years ago, which led to the friend group diverging. Although Kel and Hero managed to recover to varying degrees, Sunny became an estranged shut-in, Aubrey a delinquent, and Basil an anxious recluse. Kel knocks on Sunny's door in an attempt to reconnect one last time. The player can either ignore Kel or answer the door: if they choose the former, Sunny stays inside for the remaining three days, immersing himself in housework and his dreams.

If the latter option is chosen, Sunny and Kel venture outside to find Aubrey and her new friends bullying Basil. The two discover that she has stolen Basil's real-life photo album, ostensibly to stop him from vandalizing it. After confronting Aubrey, they return the album to Basil, though some photos are missing. As he believes Sunny needs it more, Basil lends the album to him. While eating dinner together, Basil becomes mortified as he learns of Sunny's impending departure and runs to the bathroom. Sunny finds him in a hallucinatory panic attack but leaves him alone. The next day, Kel and Sunny encounter Aubrey and her gang surrounding Basil at their old hangout spot. After they confront her, Aubrey angrily pushes Basil into a lake. Sunny dives in to rescue him, but both boys are saved from drowning by the arrival of Hero.

On the last day before Sunny's departure, the others reconcile with Aubrey, discovering she had kept the photos containing Mari from the album. Coming to terms with Mari's death, Sunny's friends decide to spend their final night together at Basil's house, despite him refusing to leave his room. In his sleep, Sunny confronts the truth about Mari's death: in an argument before their recital, he accidentally pushed Mari down their staircase, causing her to die. In denial that Sunny did it, Basil helped frame her death as suicide by hanging her corpse. As they finished, they glanced at Mari's body and saw an open eye staring back at them, shaping their subsequent hallucinations. While Basil was consumed by guilt and self-loathing, Sunny's suicidal depression led him to create Headspace and his dream persona Omori to repress his trauma. To hide the truth, Omori reset Headspace every time memories of the incident resurfaced. Sunny then wakes up in the middle of the night, leaving the player with the choice of either confronting Basil or falling back asleep.

If the player chooses to confront Basil, Sunny enters his room and is cordially greeted. However, Basil quickly loses his temper over Sunny's absence after Mari's death, and the two boys enter a delusional state and start fighting. After Basil stabs Sunny's right eye with his garden shears, both of them pass out. While unconscious, Sunny remembers his childhood memories with his friends and Mari, giving him the strength to face Omori. Refusing to die, Omori defeats Sunny, causing the player to receive a game over screen.

Alternatively, if the player ignores Basil on the final day, Sunny and his friends will wake up to discover that he has committed suicide. Depending on the player's choice, Sunny can then either kill himself with his knife or move away with his guilt still unabated. This ending also occurs if the player has chosen to remain inside and avoid Kel.

Omori was developed over the course of six and a half years, directed by pseudonymous artist Omocat.[9][b] It is based on Omori (ひきこもり, hikikomori) , a webcomic Tumblr blog Omocat created to "help [them] cope with [their] problems during a confusing part of [their] life." Initially planned as a graphic novel, they switched its medium to a video game to enable the audience to make choices in the story. For the game engine, they chose RPG Maker, as they deemed it important to support an accessible platform and community.[10][11]

A Kickstarter campaign was launched in 2014, and was successfully funded within one day,[12][8] with an initial projected release date of May 2015. A Nintendo 3DS port was promised as a stretch goal, but ultimately never came to fruition due to the discontinuation of the console. Backers were instead offered a Nintendo Switch port.[13] To aid the game's creation, Omocat hired several additional team members, including an RPG Maker expert, but still had a goal of keeping the team size small. Initially, they enlisted their musician friends Space Boyfriend and Slime Girls to help with the soundtrack; after being inspired by Bo En's "My Time" and coming up with the idea of hidden music tracks, they contacted him as well.[10]

As development continued, the team had to change their version of the RPG Maker engine, using this opportunity to refine the game's visual style, story, and gameplay.[14] After crowdfunding money was exhausted, they relied on merchandise sales to continue development.[3] The game would be delayed into 2019 and early 2020, but would again miss both targets.[15][16]

Later in 2020, Omori received its final release date of December 25,[16] when it was released on macOS and Windows via Steam.[17] Initially available only in English, the Japanese localization was released on December 16, 2021.[18] Following this, the support for Simplified Chinese and Korean languages was added on March 18, 2022.[19]

The Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One versions of Omori were first announced during Playism's Tokyo Game Show 2019 presentation on September 11.[20] Playism also announced it would be working on a Japanese release of the game, which was initially planned for 2020, but later delayed. During an Indie World presentation in December 2021, it was announced that a Nintendo Switch version would release in Q2 2022.[21] The Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Series X/S ports, as well as the new port for Windows 10, were eventually released digitally on June 17, 2022.[22][23] After a slight delay, the PlayStation 4 port followed on June 24, 2022.[24] These versions were developed by MP2 Games, and feature additional content not found in the original Steam release.[25] The physical edition by Fangamer for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 was initially planned to launch alongside the digital release, but did not launch until early July.[26][27]

PC Gamer reviewer Rachel Watts praised both Omori's combat and gameplay, saying the game had "all the makings of being a modern cult classic".[5] Patrick Hancock of Destructoid stated that he didn't "know the last game that really hit me so emotionally like [it] did", but criticized many gameplay elements, stating that they could ruin the experience for some players.[4]

Multiple publications positively reviewed the game's depiction of anxiety and depression, with Rock Paper Shotgun reviewer Kat Bailey comparing it to her real-life experiences.[1] According to her, the game managed to take overused themes regarding the subject and create a "memorable darkness". Watts stated that the game "captures this sentiment [of overcoming anxiety] masterfully", but criticized some parts of the game for being too dark.[5]

A majority of reviewers praised the game's writing and tone, comparing it to games such as EarthBound, Undertale, and Yume Nikki.[1][5][7] Writing for Wired magazine, reviewer Julie Fukunaga commended the depth and psychological themes of the narrative, stating that "it is in this medium that Omori thrives".[7] Hancock praised the "juxtaposition" of serious and discomfiting themes with whimsical moments, stating he sometimes thought of the game's jokes "on a weekly basis".[4]

Reviewers' opinion of the game's combat varied. Hancock criticized the lack of strategical depth, stating that he "found a strategy that worked and basically just repeated it ad nauseam",[4] and claiming that the combat was "hardly necessary". Opposingly, Bailey praised the game's "well-executed" combat and "difficult" bosses, stating that they helped break up some of the dungeons.[1] In her review, Rachel Watts complimented the way the game's abilities made the party feel like a cohesive unit.[5]

The art direction also received positive reactions. Watts praised the art direction of the monsters, stating the mix of different art styles "really heightens the horror".[5] The "anime-style cut-ins" were praised by Bailey, who called them "surprisingly well-animated".[1] Despite his criticism of the game's battles, Hancock stated he often anticipated them due to the art style, calling it "nothing short of phenomenal".[4]

Omori received two Honorable Mentions at the 2021 Independent Games Festival.[30] It was also nominated for three categories in DreamHack's 2021 "Dreamies" awards, winning the "Daringly Dramatic" prize.[31]

In Japan, the Nintendo Switch version of Omori sold 2,903 physical copies within its first week of release, making it the nineteenth bestselling retail game of the week in the country.[32] On December 31, 2022, the game's official Twitter account announced that Omori had sold 1 million copies.[33]

Omori is based on the director's webcomic series of the same name. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the game was delayed numerous times and experienced several development difficulties. It was eventually released for macOS and Windows in December 2020, six years after its initial funding.

OMORI Developer OMOCAT Release date Microsoft Windows, macOS: December 25, 2020Nintendo Switch: June 17, 2022PlayStation 4: June 24, 2022Xbox One: June 17, 2022 Engine RPG Maker MV Composer bo en, Pedro Silva, Jami Lynne Platforms Microsoft Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Modes Single Player Official website OFFICIAL SITE

OMORI is a surreal psychological horror RPG Maker game developed by OMOCAT and co-published by PLAYISM which fully released for PC Windows and macOS on December 25, 2020.

The Nintendo Switch and Xbox One port released on June 17, 2022 and the Playstation 4 released on June 24, 2022, while the Japanese port for PC and macOS released on December 16, 2021.[1]

It is directed, written, and illustrated independently by OMOCAT and her TEAM, including music by SLIME GIRLS and CLOVER & SEALIFE. The 2020 trailer music was written by bansheebeat (Dylan Browne) and composed by Pedro Silva.

The game was successfully funded on June 5, 2014 via Kickstarter. A Nintendo 3DS port stretch goal for the game was funded, but it was later announced at PLAYISM's pre-Tokyo Game Show 2019 that this port was cancelled and replaced by a Nintendo Switch port.

The game is based around several previous works by OMOCAT, including OMORI'S BLOG, OMORI'S STORY, OMORI's SKETCHBOOK, and an unfinished graphic novel. The game focuses on OMORI, a depressed young boy, going on adventures with his friends and helping others in the world. He wonders why his friends would want to be with someone horrible like him, but OMORI recalls a time when he was not like this. He also seems to have forgotten something... or someone... very important.

OMORI is heavily inspired by the Mother series, specifically EarthBound and Mother 3, as well as Yume Nikki, another independent horror RPGMaker game. The art direction combines pixel art with hand-drawn art. The overworld and its characters are represented with pixel art while enemy battles, images of items, and important cut scenes are represented with hand-drawn illustrations.

While OMORI has already been released, any future updates for the game will be posted to the OMORI GAME official website or any listed social media.

OMORI features many traditional RPG elements but contains a very unique battle system. The player controls a party of four characters who travel through the game's colorful two-dimensional world with no accessible overworld map. Areas can "loop" into each other, making the two-dimensional OMORI-verse feel uniquely three-dimensional.

Various helpful items are spread throughout the world. Some items can be gained by breaking the WATERMELONS that are in each location. There are many buildings, rooms, and NPCs to explore. Interacting with the PILE OF FRUIT on the PICNIC BLANKET heals the team, while interacting with the PICNIC BASKET allows the player to save the game.

The battle system in OMORI is described as "a traditional turn-based battle system with untraditional statuses and states based off real human emotions and conditions". When physical contact occurs between a character and an enemy on the map, the screen switches to battle mode. Battles are fought against ENEMIES with various capacities of heart, juice and attack. The MAIN CHARACTERS can earn experience and level up. This increases the character's attributes such as attack, defense, speed, luck, accuracy, juice and heart.

OMORI and his friends are shown in the four corners of the battle window. The heart meter shows how hearty they are. Don't let their HEART drop to 0... or else they'll become TOAST. During a character's turn, their specific heart meter is shown as well as their level, heart, and juice.

The JUICE meter shows how much juice characters have. During battle, characters ATTACK enemies using a weapon. Some weapons might do cool stuff when attacking with them. Juice is needed to use SKILLS. These are special abilities that help in battle. Most skills use up juice, so players must be careful not to run out. Once each character is assigned a command, the characters and enemies perform their actions in order of their speed.

POCKET allows items to be used in battle like TOYS or SNACKS. Items can help OMORI and his friends, damage enemies, and even change emotions.

If the fight is too difficult or players are in a rush, they can RUN AWAY. The characters will leave the battle immediately. However, there are some things they can't run away from.

Friends and enemies can be affected by emotion. Emotions can be changed by using a skill or item during battle. Certain ENEMIES'S abilities may also affect characters' emotions. Different emotions have different effects and last for a few turns. The default emotion is always NEUTRAL.

When ANGRY, ATTACK goes up but DEFENSE goes down. When SAD, defense gets higher, but attack lowers. When HAPPY, CRITICAL HIT chance rises, but ACCURACY drops.

Effects of SKILLS and ITEMS can change depending on the emotion of the target. Some ATTACKS do more damage to enemies feeling certain EMOTIONS.

When a party member's attack hits an enemy, the party member can choose to FOLLOW-UP (Active Chain Skill). Speech bubbles will show up next to the attacking party member. Press any of these arrow keys to FOLLOW-UP with another effect. There are only a few seconds to choose an effect before the attacking member's turn ends. Party members need to save up ENERGY to perform FOLLOW-UP abilities. Every battle starts off with the party at 3 ENERGY. ENERGY goes up by 1 per time a party member gets hit as well as per time a party member lands a hit or skill. FOLLOW-UPS usually cost 3 ENERGY, but can be stored up to 10 ENERGY. The FOLLOW-UPS' effect depends on who is interacting with who; for instance, when KEL passes his ball to OMORI, OMORI won't notice and will get bonked on the head, becoming SAD.

"Welcome to WHITE SPACE. Your name is OMORI and you've been living here for as long as you can remember. Everything is bright white; there aren't any walls. A black lightbulb hangs from the ceiling… wherever it is. There's a floor but it's always cold. The warmest thing here is probably your laptop. You don't mind though. You have a blanket, a laptop, a cat, a sketchbook, and a tissue box. You have everything you need.

You are usually upset. Everyone annoys you, you think you are ugly, you don't know where you came from, you don't know where you are going, and you're too tired to care.

On good days, your neighbors invite you over for a visit. "How can they have fun with someone as horrible as me?" You miss them now. When will they come again? Maybe today will be a good day! Or maybe today is a day for sleeping.

But...Sometimes you're reminded you used to have another friend-- someone really important. Somewhere in the back of your head, you have a feeling that you weren't always like this. You weren't always living in WHITE SPACE. The truth is... Your story is already over. You just have to remember it."

"Explore a strange world full of colorful friends and foes. When the time comes, the path you’ve chosen will determine your fate... and perhaps the fate of others as well."

For information and details regarding the full plot, see the following page.

In OMORI, there are four main playable characters in the "dream world": OMORI, AUBREY, KEL, AND HERO. They are also playable in reality as their real world counterparts, with OMORI being replaced by SUNNY.

The announcement of the game happened on July 31, 2013 from OMOCAT, where she announced the discontinuation of the OMORI manga and the starting development of the OMORI game. Her post contained running animated sprites of the four main protagonists.

After the launch on Kickstarter on April 21, 2014, the very first look into OMORI was at the GR2 Gallery in Los Angeles on May 3, 2014 presented by their Game Night. People were able to demo the very first prototype of the game.

The game was successfully funded on June 5th, 2014 via Kickstarter. It was funded just a little over 30 hours of launch and raised significantly more money than its $22,000 goal, finishing with over $200,000 donated. Kickstarter prizes included copies of the game, pins, T-shirts, sweaters, exclusive cassettes and soundtracks, signed posters, and access to the OMORI launch party.

A demo of the game was available to play during Anime Expo 2014 at the OMOCAT booth, where she announced production of the game on the Crunchyroll stage. Hand-drawn originals of OMORI were on display during a Pop-Up shop at Japan LA on March 28, 2015 to April 26th, 2015.

The production has been hit with many obstacles, one being the entire migration from one engine version to another, as well as revising art direction entirely from scratch. Some more team members were added to help out with production. Backers have received many updates of the game's progression.

OMOCAT hosted another Pop-Up shop event in Los Angeles on October 7-8, 2017, where people could demo the latest version of the game. The event handed out exclusive OMORI pins and allowed 15 minutes of gameplay demo per person or 30 minutes of play if you were a Kickstarter backer. Also presented were more hand-drawn original concept art. The event was well-attended and even included a musical performance from one of the game's musicians, SLIME GIRLS (TEAM).

On April 9, 2018, OMOCAT released their demo on itch.io for Kickstarter backers.

On December 25, 2020, OMORI is finally released on STEAM and will be coming to other consoles soon.

OMORI was created as a much older boy on a blog by OMOCAT called omori ひきこもり, which lasted from 22 Dec 2011 to 14 Mar 2012. He introduces himself as OMORI, who likes to play old games. He wears a black tanktop, striped shorts, and long black socks.

The blog features OMORI with simple phrases in the WHITE SPACE which are rather depressing or they contemplate about life. Common items shown in the blog are a black lightbulb, his cat, his laptop, his Game Boy, a tissue box, his blanket, and a knife. It contains some dark images and an insight into his character and depression. In a few of the scenes, he nearly kills himself.

The blog appears to end when OMORI cannot access his laptop anymore. It is unknown whether or not this is intentional or coincidental.

OMORI'S STORY is a short story about OMORI and his colorful neighbors. Besides the Kickstarter, this STORY and a POSTER were the only things sold as merchandise by OMOCAT. You can no longer buy the STORY in the OMOCAT SHOP.

The OMORI SKETCHBOOK is featured on the OMORI GAME website. The SKETCHBOOK shows many drawings by OMORI, some shown in the game's SKETCHBOOK in WHITE SPACE.

The OMORI GRAPHIC NOVEL was the initial idea for OMOCAT to bring OMORI's story to a larger project. It is now a discontinued graphic novel to make way for the OMORI game, as OMOCAT had a much bigger vision to tell this story.

OMORI Wiki is focused on creating the definitive guide to OMORI (GAME). But while we make an effort to be complete, we are not an official game support channel. Report issues on the game's STEAM BUG THREAD.

Official merchandise has been created by OMOCAT and is currently for sale on her website[2], including keychains, stickers, pins, and posters.

OMORI Developer OMOCAT Release date Microsoft Windows, macOS: December 25, 2020Nintendo Switch: June 17, 2022PlayStation 4: June 24, 2022Xbox One: June 17, 2022 Engine RPG Maker MV Composer bo en, Pedro Silva, Jami Lynne Platforms Microsoft Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Modes Single Player Official website OFFICIAL SITE

OMORI is a surreal psychological horror RPG Maker game developed by OMOCAT and co-published by PLAYISM which fully released for PC Windows and macOS on December 25, 2020.

The Nintendo Switch and Xbox One port released on June 17, 2022 and the Playstation 4 released on June 24, 2022, while the Japanese port for PC and macOS released on December 16, 2021.[1]

It is directed, written, and illustrated independently by OMOCAT and her TEAM, including music by SLIME GIRLS and CLOVER & SEALIFE. The 2020 trailer music was written by bansheebeat (Dylan Browne) and composed by Pedro Silva.

The game was successfully funded on June 5, 2014 via Kickstarter. A Nintendo 3DS port stretch goal for the game was funded, but it was later announced at PLAYISM's pre-Tokyo Game Show 2019 that this port was cancelled and replaced by a Nintendo Switch port.

The game is based around several previous works by OMOCAT, including OMORI'S BLOG, OMORI'S STORY, OMORI's SKETCHBOOK, and an unfinished graphic novel. The game focuses on OMORI, a depressed young boy, going on adventures with his friends and helping others in the world. He wonders why his friends would want to be with someone horrible like him, but OMORI recalls a time when he was not like this. He also seems to have forgotten something... or someone... very important.

OMORI is heavily inspired by the Mother series, specifically EarthBound and Mother 3, as well as Yume Nikki, another independent horror RPGMaker game. The art direction combines pixel art with hand-drawn art. The overworld and its characters are represented with pixel art while enemy battles, images of items, and important cut scenes are represented with hand-drawn illustrations.

While OMORI has already been released, any future updates for the game will be posted to the OMORI GAME official website or any listed social media.

OMORI features many traditional RPG elements but contains a very unique battle system. The player controls a party of four characters who travel through the game's colorful two-dimensional world with no accessible overworld map. Areas can "loop" into each other, making the two-dimensional OMORI-verse feel uniquely three-dimensional.

Various helpful items are spread throughout the world. Some items can be gained by breaking the WATERMELONS that are in each location. There are many buildings, rooms, and NPCs to explore. Interacting with the PILE OF FRUIT on the PICNIC BLANKET heals the team, while interacting with the PICNIC BASKET allows the player to save the game.

The battle system in OMORI is described as "a traditional turn-based battle system with untraditional statuses and states based off real human emotions and conditions". When physical contact occurs between a character and an enemy on the map, the screen switches to battle mode. Battles are fought against ENEMIES with various capacities of heart, juice and attack. The MAIN CHARACTERS can earn experience and level up. This increases the character's attributes such as attack, defense, speed, luck, accuracy, juice and heart.

OMORI and his friends are shown in the four corners of the battle window. The heart meter shows how hearty they are. Don't let their HEART drop to 0... or else they'll become TOAST. During a character's turn, their specific heart meter is shown as well as their level, heart, and juice.

The JUICE meter shows how much juice characters have. During battle, characters ATTACK enemies using a weapon. Some weapons might do cool stuff when attacking with them. Juice is needed to use SKILLS. These are special abilities that help in battle. Most skills use up juice, so players must be careful not to run out. Once each character is assigned a command, the characters and enemies perform their actions in order of their speed.

POCKET allows items to be used in battle like TOYS or SNACKS. Items can help OMORI and his friends, damage enemies, and even change emotions.

If the fight is too difficult or players are in a rush, they can RUN AWAY. The characters will leave the battle immediately. However, there are some things they can't run away from.

Friends and enemies can be affected by emotion. Emotions can be changed by using a skill or item during battle. Certain ENEMIES'S abilities may also affect characters' emotions. Different emotions have different effects and last for a few turns. The default emotion is always NEUTRAL.

When ANGRY, ATTACK goes up but DEFENSE goes down. When SAD, defense gets higher, but attack lowers. When HAPPY, CRITICAL HIT chance rises, but ACCURACY drops.

Effects of SKILLS and ITEMS can change depending on the emotion of the target. Some ATTACKS do more damage to enemies feeling certain EMOTIONS.

When a party member's attack hits an enemy, the party member can choose to FOLLOW-UP (Active Chain Skill). Speech bubbles will show up next to the attacking party member. Press any of these arrow keys to FOLLOW-UP with another effect. There are only a few seconds to choose an effect before the attacking member's turn ends. Party members need to save up ENERGY to perform FOLLOW-UP abilities. Every battle starts off with the party at 3 ENERGY. ENERGY goes up by 1 per time a party member gets hit as well as per time a party member lands a hit or skill. FOLLOW-UPS usually cost 3 ENERGY, but can be stored up to 10 ENERGY. The FOLLOW-UPS' effect depends on who is interacting with who; for instance, when KEL passes his ball to OMORI, OMORI won't notice and will get bonked on the head, becoming SAD.

"Welcome to WHITE SPACE. Your name is OMORI and you've been living here for as long as you can remember. Everything is bright white; there aren't any walls. A black lightbulb hangs from the ceiling… wherever it is. There's a floor but it's always cold. The warmest thing here is probably your laptop. You don't mind though. You have a blanket, a laptop, a cat, a sketchbook, and a tissue box. You have everything you need.

You are usually upset. Everyone annoys you, you think you are ugly, you don't know where you came from, you don't know where you are going, and you're too tired to care.

On good days, your neighbors invite you over for a visit. "How can they have fun with someone as horrible as me?" You miss them now. When will they come again? Maybe today will be a good day! Or maybe today is a day for sleeping.

But...Sometimes you're reminded you used to have another friend-- someone really important. Somewhere in the back of your head, you have a feeling that you weren't always like this. You weren't always living in WHITE SPACE. The truth is... Your story is already over. You just have to remember it."

"Explore a strange world full of colorful friends and foes. When the time comes, the path you’ve chosen will determine your fate... and perhaps the fate of others as well."

For information and details regarding the full plot, see the following page.

In OMORI, there are four main playable characters in the "dream world": OMORI, AUBREY, KEL, AND HERO. They are also playable in reality as their real world counterparts, with OMORI being replaced by SUNNY.

The announcement of the game happened on July 31, 2013 from OMOCAT, where she announced the discontinuation of the OMORI manga and the starting development of the OMORI game. Her post contained running animated sprites of the four main protagonists.

After the launch on Kickstarter on April 21, 2014, the very first look into OMORI was at the GR2 Gallery in Los Angeles on May 3, 2014 presented by their Game Night. People were able to demo the very first prototype of the game.

The game was successfully funded on June 5th, 2014 via Kickstarter. It was funded just a little over 30 hours of launch and raised significantly more money than its $22,000 goal, finishing with over $200,000 donated. Kickstarter prizes included copies of the game, pins, T-shirts, sweaters, exclusive cassettes and soundtracks, signed posters, and access to the OMORI launch party.

A demo of the game was available to play during Anime Expo 2014 at the OMOCAT booth, where she announced production of the game on the Crunchyroll stage. Hand-drawn originals of OMORI were on display during a Pop-Up shop at Japan LA on March 28, 2015 to April 26th, 2015.

The production has been hit with many obstacles, one being the entire migration from one engine version to another, as well as revising art direction entirely from scratch. Some more team members were added to help out with production. Backers have received many updates of the game's progression.

OMOCAT hosted another Pop-Up shop event in Los Angeles on October 7-8, 2017, where people could demo the latest version of the game. The event handed out exclusive OMORI pins and allowed 15 minutes of gameplay demo per person or 30 minutes of play if you were a Kickstarter backer. Also presented were more hand-drawn original concept art. The event was well-attended and even included a musical performance from one of the game's musicians, SLIME GIRLS (TEAM).

On April 9, 2018, OMOCAT released their demo on itch.io for Kickstarter backers.

On December 25, 2020, OMORI is finally released on STEAM and will be coming to other consoles soon.

OMORI was created as a much older boy on a blog by OMOCAT called omori ひきこもり, which lasted from 22 Dec 2011 to 14 Mar 2012. He introduces himself as OMORI, who likes to play old games. He wears a black tanktop, striped shorts, and long black socks.

The blog features OMORI with simple phrases in the WHITE SPACE which are rather depressing or they contemplate about life. Common items shown in the blog are a black lightbulb, his cat, his laptop, his Game Boy, a tissue box, his blanket, and a knife. It contains some dark images and an insight into his character and depression. In a few of the scenes, he nearly kills himself.

The blog appears to end when OMORI cannot access his laptop anymore. It is unknown whether or not this is intentional or coincidental.

OMORI'S STORY is a short story about OMORI and his colorful neighbors. Besides the Kickstarter, this STORY and a POSTER were the only things sold as merchandise by OMOCAT. You can no longer buy the STORY in the OMOCAT SHOP.

The OMORI SKETCHBOOK is featured on the OMORI GAME website. The SKETCHBOOK shows many drawings by OMORI, some shown in the game's SKETCHBOOK in WHITE SPACE.

The OMORI GRAPHIC NOVEL was the initial idea for OMOCAT to bring OMORI's story to a larger project. It is now a discontinued graphic novel to make way for the OMORI game, as OMOCAT had a much bigger vision to tell this story.

OMORI Wiki is focused on creating the definitive guide to OMORI (GAME). But while we make an effort to be complete, we are not an official game support channel. Report issues on the game's STEAM BUG THREAD.

Official merchandise has been created by OMOCAT and is currently for sale on her website[2], including keychains, stickers, pins, and posters.