The Shoemaker Bugle

By Yael Ventura

Content Warning: Omori features a cute hand drawn aesthetic but the plot covers very heavy themes along with containing flashing lights. If you aren’t comfortable with heavy themes, please skip this game.

Pseudonymous artist OMOCAT released the trailer on April 21, 2014 for an upcoming project called Omori. The video gained traction very quickly as people awaited its release. After 6 years and 8 months of development for what felt like forever, Omori was released on Steam for Windows and MacOS on Christmas Day of 2020 to amazing reviews, with a Nintendo Switch port coming in the near future along with an artbook.

What originally started out as a small comic on Tumblr entitled Omori’s Story, it featured panels of a boy named Omoriboy with his friends as they play games and hang around. Later it is revealed that all of the story took place in Omoriboy’s imagination, with him drawing his “friends” and adventures in his sketchbook.

Omori is an indie Horror RPG made in RPG Maker where the player controls the character Omori exploring the world of HEADSPACE, Omori’s dreams. When your best friend Basil goes missing, your group, consisting of your closest friends, go on a big journey to find him. As the story progresses, you begin to uncover the truth behind all the horror elements of the story.

Outside of HEADSPACE, you control Sunny, a boy who became a shut-in after an incident caused him to become more isolated. Sunny is moving out in three days and the player controls Sunny as he hangs out with his friends one last time before he moves away.

The horror aspects of the game are really well made. There are a few jumpscares, as expected of anything in the horror genre. What the game does really well is how it scares players with a tense feeling. Another great aspect of the game is how the game scares those players who like to explore the areas of the game. The music also fills players with a deep feeling of dread and leaves them scared to continue playing. Omori is an amazing RPG, best played blind. The game gives multiple warnings about the themes that the story covers. If you can handle said themes, the game is a wonderful experience. Players really get connected with the characters of the story, which only makes the truth more gut-wrenching. There is a lot of replay value with the multiple endings the game features.