I know I’m 2 years late to this, but I’ve watched every video on this game over the last year or so, and have thought about it endlessly, and this is absolutely the best one, one that approaches it at a philosophical level. Not every game can inspire referral to Quine. Your point about expectation setting and traversal vis-a-vis past games is so important. The decision between violence and truth. The recognition of Fez just as much as dark souls and zelda (when the latter two are usually the only ones mentioned) is not just spot on, but necessary to understand what this game is doing. Excellent video, thanks 🙏🏻 ❤
This is a great analysis! I was processing all the stuff the game was giving me, and this definitely helped a lot. When you mentioned Miss Mass and who the affair is with, I remembered that the game showed wedding rings and one of them had Miss Mass and Golden Boy’s initials on it. Besides that, this was a fascinating discussion
I like the theory that the cat is so intelligent because cats as a species have evolved just like the companions and zurks. This wouldn't explain why the cat knows what a cassette or radio is, but the companions do give them all the info they need to piece it together if they have an intelligent mind. The shop owner complains about loud youthful music, which we then hear in the apartment courtyard. The cat wouldn't need to know how to use the radio because they have B12, all they would need to do is make the connection that the music could distract the shop attendant long enough to get the jacket. Could a cat do that today? Absolutely not. In 400-1000+ years when this takes place? Probably still no, but I like the theory nonetheless.
What makes the toy sorting "game" especially sad is that these books and toys are mostly for children... Sunny is 16 in the real world segments. His Headspace, his dreams and daydreams, are built on toys and recycled nostalgic memories from when he was (at most) 12 years old. He has not grown as a person and had no new experiences or even new content for his fantasies. He's stagnated at best and arguably regressed by the end of the Hikikomori route. Stranger calls him out, saying that escapism and isolation is not living. In Blackspace2 there is a secret Morse code message about how "Without recycling, you are nothing." This refers to the reset cycles in Headspace but it goes deeper. Materials cannot be recycled forever, they degrade with every recycling process until they're to degraded to use. Headspace is in a similar state of decay. Sunny's childhood memories are distorted by the passage of time and lack of refreshers (Kel drinking milk instead of Orange Joe). Headspace's barrier against Blackspace weakens with each reset. After the Hikikomori reset, the Vast Forest and Boardwalk are populated by the Faceless (imaginary friends banished to/corrupted by Blackspace) and Mari's corpse jumpscares you in the Basil boss rush. Sunny committed to his escapism by letting Omori absorb him but the Truth will always worm its way through the cracks in his mental walls.
How long did it take you to realize that the Something was Mari (in some form)? I first made the connection in the "Liar" room of Blackspace bcs we hear her say "Sunny, I love you." But on a second playthrough, i notice that you see Something transform into Mari's ghost before you fight the Arachnophobia Something boss. Implying that all 3 creatures are the same person: Mari's ghost trying to help Sunny, but distorted by his guilt, fears, and the environment into these monsters
My interpretation of Kite Kid is that he's a visual metaphor for the nexus of what Sunny/Omori originally was in Headspace: a boy with his head in the clouds (literally) playing with his imaginary friends. His battle emotion is Happiness, an emotion that Sunny cannot feel in real world fights and Omori has an... interesting facial expression for, especially if you make him Manic. Whenever his friend is destroyed, Kite Kid patches them up, not unlike Omori using Life Jam to revive dead teammates. He's also aware of the existence of Blackspace and his Kite resembles the Something or a Blackspace creature.
Your segment about Sunny's mother is reinforced be a handful of details in the Hikikomori route's Blackspace 2. Specifically, that the parent's knew that Mari's suicide was staged and that it was the mother's idea to run with the suicide cover story to protect Sunny. There's a line she says in the main route's Truth sequence where she says "You are my only son, i can't lose you too." In Blackspace 2 she tells Sunny "We'll protect you."
Mari died either on impact with the staircase or shortly after being brought to bed. The game makes it very clear that she was dead before being hung ("this person is not breathing"). Her eyes were either open upon death, they opened due to rigor mortis (eyelids have to be stapled shut for open-casket funerals) or they were forced oprn from the pressure of the noose.
Great commentary, tour observations are very nuanced and love the references. I feel there could be an entire documentary about this game, it's small, but it's so insane, like with disco elysium, I'm in awe that someone can think of something so deep and wide at the same time. The conspiracies, the humor, the ridiculousness, the characters, the story, add superb graphics on top and superb music and I'm just sitting here thinking "what the hell did I just play". Can't believe I almost missed because some review on Steam said "you have to be nostalgic about Americana to play it" like that scratches more than the surface.
We can look down on the robots for trying to emulate the humans, but think how much human society and culture is based around strict codes of behaviour set by people who lived thousands of years ago. By revering the past, the robots unknowingly embody the most human trait of all.
I really liked how well articulated this video was. I also think that the two of you playing different routes really fleshed out the experience into a whole picture
Humphrey is way more significant than most people give him credit for. He is a microcosm of Headspace and what Sunny (through Omori) has become: a parasite within his own mind. Humphrey's dungeon is the inside of his stomach, infinite and every-growing like Headspace. Besides the Slime Sisters, it's only populated by a hive mind of Humphreys roleplaying different characters/personalities. His hunger reflects Sunny's neglect of his own bodily needs in the prologue. Humphrey and Sunny wake up hungry, eat a meal, vomit it up due to internal stress (indigestion from fighting vs anxiety) and go back to sleep. Humphrey even repeats Sunny's "That didn't go down too smoothly" line. Humphrey has lost his marbles, isolated with only himself for company. Him eating the Sisters and your party is a visualization of Sunny's habit of "swallowing" his trauma and guilt, pushing his dark thoughts into Blackspace. Even Omori has a bit of this parasitic "consumption" imagery going on, with his ability to turn enemies into Bread snacks (Headspace's version of souls), him eating Sunny's head to obtain knowledge/power/control, and his absorption of the three phobia bosses to gain their abilities and further control over Headspace.
about making a dream world in your head... i've never been able to do it cuz i can't imagine every good the most i can come up with is a 1 day timeline or a basic relantionship not a whole world and that makes me sad but it's ok it just means i need to be apart of the real world again
i was gonna quote some stuff from this video like "if your a sad person you go back to that numbness even if your life is objectively good" and stuff like that but i would be quoting stuff forever cuz there's too much
not even 5 mintues in and already putting this in every playlist and sending this to all my friends this is beutiful... the words i had no never knew how to say have been said
I’m curious by the last sentence you said. Do you mean he won’t be alone because “him and his friends will be working on figuring out the problem together?” I know that isn’t the message of Omori ultimately but I’m curious if that’s what you meant
Ah, I do not think that Sunny and Basil have actually killed her by hanging her because she was very much clearly stated to not be breathing in a lot of the scenes. Also, she did fall down stairs, hit her head on a broken violin and it is entirely possible that people can die from something like that. !! Additionally, if you water all of Basil's plants, at the end of the credits there's a scene where Sunny and Basil smile at each other and their somethings disappear. I think that this video was amazing and it's so cool to see people who essentially experienced a side of the same coin talk to each other and gain such profound insight into the game :000 I learnt a lot from this video and feel like i'll come back again just to listen to the knowledge and wisdom that oozes out from it!
Although this game can touch anyone incredibly deeply, it has impacted me emotionally in ways I can't describe as someone from southeastern Louisiana. It perfectly captures the feelings here, in this time and place, and has many hidden themes and references that impact someone familiar with the area much more deeply. Generally, it's the love for the area despite its messed up reality and conflicted feelings of leaving to find better opportunities elsewhere, but never being able to find anything quite like it anywhere else and always thinking about maybe going back/staying despite it all. I'm glad it's getting a wider exposure to display our little swampy, dreadfully haunting, and simultaneously beautiful corner of the world.
I really liked this video and the whole time I was thinking about some other games that deal with some pretty intense topics as well. I thought it would be a lot of fun for you guys to check out the games Sally Face, Night in the Woods, and Doki-Doki literature club. They all deal with intense topics of death and working through intense mental health issues and what that can lead to. I think you would enjoy checking out and talking about these games. This was a great video. Thank you for making it. Edit: Detroit: Become Human and Life is Strange deal with the decisions you make and how it affects the world around you. These would also be some great games to talk about.
Man just came here after watching your video essay on Omori and my goodness even as first time players you guys picked up on so many things and it really shows that the game does give ample opportunity for blind playthroughs to interpret the game correctly and it also shows how the game tricks players into barely missing the mark as to what exactly happens this was very enjoyable to watch only thing I will say is the use of certain music choices in the video particularly at the end are a bit jarring and can maybe be considered a very light late game spoiler.
Just recently played this game and it is easily now one of my favorite games of all time and after watching this video essay I would say that this video essay is one of my favorites of all time as well. So many points that I didn't notice during the game and how well it uses specific aspects to tell its story or sometimes not even tell it's story but to just let the player experience it's themes and leave the player with just these very negative feelings. Which is why I love the fact that both of your playthrough's were different and that you stuck to that, it makes the conversation overall much more interesting and it also brings a lot of value to the hikkomori route though of course it is still sad that only one of you got the true ending (unless I'm misunderstanding how you guys played the game). Now personally for me I liked to examine this game on a more practical/realist point of view and examine its narrative rather than the philosophical and psychological view however watching this video really helped my understanding of those aspects of the game. So I would like to talk about my view of the ending sequence, for the Omori fight I think one of the reasons why it hits so hard and is so emotionally resonant is besides the absolutely gut wrenching track it plays is the fact that some of the things Omori says about himself/Sunny are completely true. Which is why the ending for me at least is so triumphant almost. in its tone, it's the fact that even with those things being true he still chooses to be strong and accept the harder route for him to go (in his own view) which will lead him to eventually forgive himself. I think this is also one of the reasons why the ending is so ambiguous because what happens next will probably not lead to his friends forgiving him and I think they're not wrong for doing so however as you said, that specifically wasn't the point whether Sunny's friends forgave him or not. This game really does push the idea of Moral Luck to the extreme degree by making Sunny's actions so horrific and making it a very conscious decision which masterfully puts you in the mind of Sunny because it confuses you on the idea that control and intent are the same thing does that mean Sunny is to blame for what he did I personally think he deserves some however that does not make him a bad person at all and as I talked about the ending just because he's not a bad person doesn't mean he doesn't deserve or needs to accept the consequences for his actions. Anyways that was just a rant on this amazing game and on the video essay, you guys brought some extremely good points to my attention that I really wanted to leave my input on, this was an absolutely amazing analysis on this game and I hope you guys keep making these very serious analyses on more games like this.
I always kind of thought that the robots did human things bc they were programmed by humans and therefore have a way of understanding the world that comes from humans' understanding of the world and that being kind of being unintentional or intentionally programmed into them. Like how we see ai often unintentionally perpetrating prejudices we see in society today. Their ways of thinking are based on how humans thought. There's something I find kind of comforting about it in a way. People often worry about what legacies they leave behind, how they will be remembered after they die. Even though the humans may have died a long time ago, there's parts of them that's still remembered. It's not gone just bc the humans are. I find it sweet. Even if there's a lot of the unsavory parts of society and culture in it. It's like B12 said about seeing a future in the robots
I do also like how robots taking over is usually treated like the end of the world, but it's looked at much more positively in this game. They're not evil. They're not the reason the humans died. In fact, they're like us. It's not the end. It's kinda just the next part of life, the next chapter of earth's history
We call that a "passion project" It's kind of an unfortunate trend that there are many great videos out there from smaller creators, filled with passion and effort, only to be flown under the radar by the almighty algorithm
The flow of each puzzle felt seamless to me. There were many times I happened upon a puzzle and immediately started solving it because I just felt that what I was doing was right. This was always confirmed with a musical queue. It really felt like it was made by experienced game designers. I loved thinking about how they must have play tested to ensure things ran like butter. The only nitpick I have about the game is the atmosphere and music didn't feel like as much of a priority as similar games. My interest did falter a bit because of this but right when it did, the game ended. Overall great game and I loved how you both articulate your experience. It's spot on.
I am happy they put this up on playstation plus for free this month. I would have missed this otherwise. Only about two hours in and deciphering the manual pages are very fun to me. I get very excited when I get a new page to look at.
this is one of the most beautiful analysis of this game, I've left it sitting in my watch later for a year now, and recently watched a friend play through this game, which sparked me to watch this video, and god. This is beautiful, I have no other words, truly. It is just beautiful.
Ay great analysis love to see how just the design of a game can be extremely interesting on a more philosophical level even if there is the absence of a narrative.
Thank you for making this analysis video! You put into words the thoughts I had when I was playing with Stray. I was wondering what message the developers want its player to get from the obvious dissonance between symbols that humans intuitively understood vs. how a cat would interpret said symbols
I see where you see how animals like a cat don't see language the same way as a human, not quite, only after I was 20, did I realise that other people hear a voice when they read, or think, only then, did I start thinking in language, what language does a baby think in? I know, the same language I thought in. It wasn't linguistic, it wasn't visual either, symbolic of sorts, (but I'm not sure how people with aphantasia would see the world how I did before I learnt to speak) they learn how humans think based on their interactions with me (I have had many cats, trust me, they learn) the biggest difference between man and animal, is their thinking is rigid in a different way than mankind's is
What I like is it feels like both. I feel like I'm the cat, but also like I'm a ghost or spirit helping the cat. One could even argue you are seeing the cat from B12's perspective, if you're willing to accept the cat is more intelligent than a normal housecat. I just go with whatever feels the most fun at the moment. Also, noticing how silly society's norms/pretendings are is something many neurodivergent people never had a choice but to do. That's one reason I love the game, I feel more like myself from this cat's perspective. It felt familiar, not new. Freeing, not like a big mental shift. I even tried/wanted to climb everything as a kid and to this day dream about moving around like that, rather than being stuck in lines and walkways. Meanwhile, people's faces don't seem that different from a robot's to me, alien and hard to read without context clues. Only with actual robots, that's expected. I wonder how many of us not so typical brains love the game for these exact reasons.
Oh, I love this comment!-Yes, yes, stay in that liminal headspace of fluidity and let the divisions wash over you as so many diversions from self! How freeing to be-and-yet-not-be a cat.
This is such a great video, one of the things that your section on the danger of knowing reminded me of, is Faust by Goethe, with I assume either of you know, both because it is my assumption that you both have degrees in english, and because you guys seem to be pretty well acclimated with classic literature, atleast in my opinion. I feel like a lot of your videos take me back to my english classes, in the sense that you guys seem to talk about it from a more literary perspective than what I believe is common in most analysis. It is very cool to see how your academic background may impact how you talk about things, that is if my assumption is correct. I am curious what got you guys into writing/teaching english, and also if either of you published a thesis in any english or writing fields, and if so, what is was about.
Thank you! This is such a lovely comment! Yes, you're completely right, we both went for English degrees. No published thesis to point to, but I work as an English teacher and both of us as book editors from time-to-time (the one writing now is the first voice you hear in the video). We both, being brothers, grew up in a writerly household: our mother worked as a journalist and still works now sometimes as an editor; our father also worked as a journalist and is now a published author and speaker with many successful books-but we'd rather not reveal too many specifics. Bookshelves lined our home growing up and now that I'm older line where I'm living and sitting right this moment. It's wonderful that you sense that bookish inclination in our words. That feels great to read-It's almost as if we've made a Faustian bargain for such a lifestyle! Thank you for joining us here and for your nice comment!
@@ToGamesItMayConcern I appreciate the response! That sort of environment would definitely prime you to have some sort of love of books, although it doesn't necessarily predetermine you to love literature, but I think it's very interesting your parents backgrounds. I am curious if either of you guys have played the persona series before. It's a JRPG, I believe you may find it interesting, as it delves into themes such as social connections, the meaning of death, the value of truth, justice, finding your true self, change, and the human psyche. These videos are great, I think that throughout these videos there definitely are parts that make me think of literary theory and literary criticsm, so it's very cool to see how your educational backgrounds influence how you analyze media. I recently watch your videos on games that shift reality and disco elysium, I certainly hope that y'all can find another game as great as that one, or one that leaves you feeling a similar way you did after completing it.
Games so rarely reach the register of Disco Elysium that we may return to that game for a deeper dive, one that truly offers that masterpiece the analysis it deserves. We've both played Persona 5 Royal and half of Persona 4. We loved our time with them, but we weren't making videos then. The remake of Persona 3 is now on Game Pass and I downloaded it and tried it for consideration, but we've had so little time lately and have been slowly working through four-ish separate videos at once; at some point we actually need to finish at least one of them. Have you seen our 3-hour OMORI vid? We cover just about all the themes you listed and more. You might really get something out of it (though I know it's super lengthy). The tiny bit I've played of Persona 3 makes me think it could be a game we attend to carefully in the future. It seems to offer much to think about, just like the other Persona titles. Did you go for an English degree or do you currently work in relation to literature? Either way, it's great that you seem to care for and notice the significant themes within the works you consume.
@@ToGamesItMayConcern I actually did watch the Omori video, multiple times in fact, and it was the video that introduced me to your channel. Although it certainly was a very long video, it was, and still is, a very interesting video, and I think you guys cover very interesting topics in that video. I certainly do think that, out of all of the persona games, Persona 3 is the most worthy of a video made about it. I have not gotten an english degree, I don't work in relation to literature, the most education I would have that may be considered as being literature-adjacent would be psychology, besides that my experience with literature has mainly been writing papers on video games for personal pleasure. Actually, due to your video on Omori, I am in the process of drafting a paper on the psychological aspects of the characters in Omori. I am certainly excited for when you guys talk about whatever it is you are going to talk about next. Although you have been busy, I certainly hope you have been busy with things that you enjoy!
Oh, we've talked before! You're the reason we put Night in the Woods back on our potential games list!-I had a sense your name looked familiar. Tough to keep track, but I appreciate your recommendations and thoughts. Now I'm thinking about Night in the Woods again. Hmm, could connect to some other things we've been thinking about... I _love_ that you're contending with the psychology of the OMORI characters. These stories and the myriad social connections within them are fantastic opportunities to consider oneself in relation to others, and oneself in relation to one's own judgments of self. If you ever create something you're proud of and wish to share with us, please don't be shy! The fact that you're even _thinking_ about games in that way makes you extraordinary in this space of otherwise lighthearted and/or superficial criticism. Keep at it!
This video is the one i just keep coming back to over and over. Its really put a new perspective about... Well about those parts of myself i never want to think about. This is such an important video to me, thank you guys so much for making it.
this video made me really think even more deeply about this game and it brought back some personal memories of emotional experiences I've had and made me think more about that. thank you for this video. because of it, i can understand and appreciate not only the game, but my life more
