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10 Most Disturbing Things in OMORI

**SPOILER WARNING**

By Jennifer ChildersPublished 3 years ago 10 min read
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I wrote a review of this psychological horror masterpiece after my first playthrough. In it, I called the game beautiful (which I still stand by) but said that it was too disturbing for a second playthrough.

Well, I kind of played through it again. In fact, I'm on my fourth playthrough while writing this. There's so many things you miss in the first playthrough, that second and third playthroughs are almost just as--if not, more--terrifying. But they still feel necessary to appreciate the full story.

This game is poetic and psychologically thrilling, and if you're into that kind of thing (as I am) it is worth the torment.

That being said though, even having played the game several times through, there are still certain things in the game that terrify and disturb me, and I'm going to talk about the ten things I find most unsettling about this game. Spoilers are ahead, so if you have not played the game, but intend to, click away now as I truly believe this is a game that is best played blind.

Mirrors

Fans of horror know that when mirrors are a prominent feature in a game--so are jumpscares. Omori is no exception. In Omori, mirrors aren't used as just a cheap trick for a jumpscare, however. In fact, I would say the presence of mirrors in the game is 100% necessary to understanding Sunny, who suffers from dissociation and hallucinations. Playing as him, we see exactly what he sees when he looks in the mirror. He is always being followed by "Something", which can frequently be seen in the mirror with him. After the secret to what he did is revealed, his mirror image changes to that of some kind of demon. When he fades into his own mind and lets Omori--whom he has crafted as an alternate version of himself that protects him from his guilt and fear--take over, his mirror image changes into Omori.

The Worst Ending Possible

There are four different possible endings in this game...And believe it or not, ONE of them is happy (or at least as happy as you can get in Sunny's situation.) But there are two "bad endings"--both of which see Sunny unable to handle his guilt any longer, and kill himself. Neither of these are ideal, but one, in my opinion, is still more disturbing than the other. This is one where Sunny is home alone and carries a knife with him to bed. We see Omori in his dreams, unable to progress anywhere, leaving the player no other choice but to have him stab himself...

Well, this results in Sunny stabbing himself in the real world. And all we see as the game ends is him lying in bed in a puddle of blood, with a knife in his chest, while credits play over the eerie sound of a telephone ringing, as Sunny's mother tries to reach him.

The other alternative (below) is...well, still sad. But the accompaniment of Bo En's "My Time" somehow makes it sound less hopeless than just a phone ringing while Sunny is dead.

"Do You Want to Save Basil?"

This is a choice that can drastically affect the outcome of the game. But whether you choose "yes" or "no"--you're still going to be greeted with nightmare fuel either way. Hey, if a peaceful gaming experience is what you're after, you came to the wrong game.

If you select "yes", we get to see sweet, pure Basil having a mental breakdown and attacking Sunny. During this fight, Sunny is so panicked that all he can do is attack Basil within an inch of his life, and vice versa. We get to see Sunny face a breakdown too. The fight ends when they both pass out and are taken to the hospital--Sunny having lost his right eye in the fight.

If you select "no", Sunny goes back to bed and wakes up not long after to Basil having committed suicide, and everyone crying. If you want an extra dose of nightmare fuel, you can peek in on Basil's room, and see his dead body leaning against the wall with a stab wound in his stomach and his version of "Something" covering him.

Terrifying if you select "yes", and depressing if you select "no"--you're not gonna win.

Mewo

This one was just uncalled for and unnecessary. There is a spot in the game called Black Space--a place where all of Sunny's darkest secrets and trapped emotions hide out. It is made up of separate rooms and each room takes us to a new surreal, nightmarish realm.

As Sunny delves into the crevices of his psyche, we see him come into a room with no exits, where the old family cat, Mewo, is tied to a table and we are asked "Would you like to cut open Mewo?"

Fortunately, you don't need to kill Mewo. But many first time players (myself, unfortunatley, included) are led to thinking that the key we need to the next room is inside of Mewo and therefore, he must be cut open. You can imagine how wrecked I, a cat lover, felt when the game kept asking me "Are you SURE you want to cut open Mewo?" and I did...only to find that there was no key, and Mewo died for nothing.

But oh, even if you don't kill Mewo, there's still only one way out of this room. And that is stabbing yourself. A friend of mine pointed out that this is a perfect metaphor for Sunny's suicidality: Being trapped in a hopeless situation with only one way to end the suffering. All of the "rooms" in this part of the game are unsettling, but this one is, without a doubt, the worst.

Stabbing Yourself

This game involves quite a bit of self-mutilation. As I mentioned previously, there are certain parts of the game where the only way to advance is to stab yourself, which is just...brutal. Granted, there is no gore included. But it still elicits a reaction of shock and terror from anyone just starting out playing the game. It is also very clear that Sunny is NOT okay, if this is how his psychological double--who is supposed to be shielding him from his life's unpleasantries--deals with coming to the real world.

Night-time Hallucinations

Night alone in Sunny's house is not for the faint of heart. Everything becomes terrifying, and jumpscares are everywhere. Some of these scares are randomly generated, so you may get them (or not get them) in different playthroughs. Just a few of the creepy things we see at night: Sunny sees himself covered in blood standing at the top of the stairs, something (though we're not sure what) is in Sunny's bed, various mirror jumpscares, "Something" staring at Sunny just an inch from his face as he falls asleep, opening the front door for a ghost Mari and therefore getting all kinds of creepy things following you in every room--All of these will give you a mighty case of the "nopes"

Repression ("Hikikomori Route" Only)

There is a route you can take in the game, where Sunny never leaves the house nor interacts with anyone. It ends with Sunny never facing his fears or confronting his guilt, and letting Omori take over his mind completely so he can (mentally at least) live forever in a dream world. Sunny, as we know him, is erased. In this route, the player also has the option to fight Sunny's three biggest fears--Heights, water, and spiders--once you defeat these bosses, he completely represses himself and his memories of his sister, Mari. Not just of her death and the circumstances around it--but everything about her. While this results in Sunny's psyche taking an "ignorance is bliss" approach, causing the game to become more upbeat and less stressful--the implication beneath this happy-go-lucky facade is extremely disturbing. It is fun to fully explore Sunny's dream world without the oppressive air of guilt and dread coloring everything. But it's still very hard to ignore the disturbing truth beneath it. It's terrifying to think that the mind is so powerful it can erase the entirety of the person who owns it. But sadly, this is a reality for some people.

Omori's True Form Revealed

Omori is an extension of Sunny's psyche that Sunny created after his traumatic experiences--a way for him to escape reality. Throughout the game, we believe that Omori has Sunny's best interest in mind, and is there to protect him. That may be what he started out as, even for Sunny. But as the game continues, we see Omori do more and more terrifying things, and realize that Omori is only after one thing: Destroying the past, and taking Sunny out with it.

This is revealed after a particularly upsetting scene where Basil is trapped in a sticky, black web and Omori rescues him...only to sic his disembodied red hands on him and literally tear him apart. When Sunny later confronts Omori, it is then we see Omori never really wanted to protect Sunny--just destroy his reality and substitute his own. He says very personal and venomous things to him like "You should just die" over and over. (The main reason I tell people who experience suicidal ideation to stay away from this game.)

Killing Basil...Multiple Times

Basil is the only person who knows the truth about what Sunny did. And for that, Omori wants him gone.

But...Basil is portrayed as the most sweet and pure thing on planet Earth. I knew immediately upon seeing him that I wanted to protect him. But because we are playing as Sunny--and by proxy, also playing as Omori--we are forced to harm him. There are several instances of Sunny dreaming about killing Basil--just so nobody else will know what he did. And they're not quiet deaths either. They're very violent.

We see him spontaneously combust, we see him get eaten by spiders, we see him get beheaded in an elevator, we see him get beaten to death by his "friends", we see Sunny decapitate him. Even with non-detailed pixel graphics, it's brutal, and very hard to stomach.

The Truth

Losing a family member is already painful...But being responsible for that family member's death, even if inadvertently, is shattering. The revelation that Sunny accidentally killed his sister gives me chills just thinking about it. The way it unfolds in the game ACTUALLY made me feel physically sick, and still does. I dread having to go through this part of the game. It is without a doubt, the scariest and most disturbing part.

But to make it worse, Sunny didn't only accidentally kill his sister, he covered up the fact by hanging her body on a tree, making it look like a suicide. Which just feels WAY worse than if he had simply just accidentally killed her. I feel like if he had been honest about what happened, people might be mad--but they would eventually accept it was an accident and forgive him. But making her death appear to be a suicide caused so much more pain. All of her friends and family having to feel guilty about not recognizing the signs, and not having been able to save her.

Sunny is aware of this, with hindsight, and has to live with the guilt of the pain he caused. One also needs to wonder that, given how young he and Basil were when this happened, if they even knew how to check for vital signs. It becomes even scarier when you think that Mari could have been alive--but unconscious--but being hung from that tree is what killed her.

It is through this sequence that we see the origin of Sunny's "Something" which repeatedly shows up through the game taunting him. It is the silhouette of his sister's dead body hanging from a tree branch, her dead eyes still open and watching him.

Just absolutely terrifying, heartbreaking, and disturbing. These images are ones that stay with you long after finishing the game.

horror
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About the Creator

Jennifer Childers

I just write thoughts on anime, games, music, movies, or other things that are on my mind. Occasionally a poem or short story might come up.

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