Omocat's 2020 role-playing game Omori is making the leap to the page with the announcement that a ??manga adaptation is in the? works. 

The reveal came from the game's official Twitter account, which shared an illustration by Nui Konoito, who will be handling the art. According to the tweet, the Omori manga will be serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon, a seinen magazine that currently runs series like Land of the Lustrous, Heavenly Delusion, and Vinland Saga. It adds that "the manga will be made for both longtime fans of the game and for a new audience experiencing the story? for the first time." 

The Monthly Afternoon Twitter describes Konoito as a "talented up-and-co??ming artist." 

Full of heavy themes, Omori was met with acclaim when it launched on Steam. The Japanese release followed in 2021, and Omori has since made its way to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. The game's story centers on a teenage shut-in and his alter-ego, Omori, and features multiple possible endings. Omori has its ups and downs, and the story and the balance it shares with game?play won't be for everyone, but when it clicks, i??t really clicks. 

It's unclear just how close the manga will stick to the story of the game. The art style is certainly suited for manga, and the subject matter is a nice fit for a magazine like Monthly Afternoon. As for when, a start date hasn't been listed for the seri??alization yet.&nbs??p;

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Maybe it’s not about the hours

I got to the Dark World in A Link to the Past in an afternoon.

I’m aware the debate over game length has raged for so long that it’s old enough to drive. I also acknowledge that games just run longer than they did 25 years ago. Yet replaying A Link to the Past and reaching this critical story moment so quickly was genuinely mindblowing. This game felt massive to me as a kid. Even when I wrote my Zelda list, I still internalized A Link to the Past as a solid 20+ hour adventure. All this time, I thought I wa?sn’t playing as many games because I was an adult with less free time. Have games real??ly gotten so much longer that my childhood favorites feel minuscule in comparison?

After surveying other retro games and comparing them to recent releases, I realized that ??maybe?? the great game length debate has precious little to do with the number of hours we’re spending in games. It’s how we’re spending those hours that counts.

[caption id="attachment_361550" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The miracle of pacing

To demonstrate this point, let’s discuss two RPGs across different generations: Chrono Trigger and Omori. According to HowLongToBeat.com, both these titles are approximately the same length. Yet many call Chrono Trigger short while Omori is often criticized for running too long.

See, Chrono Trigger has fantastic pacing. You are constantly visiting different time periods and following small plots with self-contained story arcs. Battles are unique spectacles, like the Dragon Tank boss battle that plays with perspective and has several components to target. You even have inventive gimmicks popping up in rapid succession, like the trial scene or the racing minigame. Chrono Trigger is a beautiful game with rock-solid gameplay that is filled to the brim with ideas, so you never get bored enough to let your mind wander thinking about how long it is.

Meanwhile, Omori’s pacing is all over the place. Its main sto??ry is f??antastic and contains genuinely spectacular moments. However, an unholy amount of time in Omori is spent in a barebones RPG dreamworld that functionally grinds the plot to a halt. There’s relevant stuff in there, but it stretches roughly ten minutes of symbolism into ten hours. These segments are visually spectacular, but the gameplay isn’t robust enough to sustain several hours of play. The RPG stuff here isn’t terrible, b??ut it feels agonizing because it blocks off the game’s major selling point.

To be fair, the issues in Omori almost certainly stem from Kickstarter promises. But that illustrates the point. It’s obvious when games are deliberately padded ??out or drowning in slow animations. This kind of filler content might have been welcome when we were younger, but it feels unnecessary in the current gaming landscape.

[caption id="attachment_361551" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Do we want for playtime?

Memes of Steam Backlogs date all the way back to when I was Cblogging here a decade ago (oh no I’m old!). Even disregarding this, I wonder why we continue to value games that are specifically long.

I’m not going to say free-to-play games are great, but if you’re looking to kill time, we have so many options now. Want to endlessly grind? Warframe is still going strong. Want a long RPG? Final Fantasy XIV has that free trial you always hear about. Fortnite, Destiny 2, Apex Legends, Genshin Impact; there are a staggering? number of ways to fill time in the modern era. And if you’re allergic to F2P shenanigans, Itch.io and other indie portals exist.

It’s not that filler content can’t exist in premium games. There just needs to be a distinction between the meat and the potatoes. Breath of the Wild does a really good job of this. Your main story objectives are clearly marked, with shrines serving as the major side distraction for you to pursue. Meanwhile, the Korok Seeds are fun little distractions that are clearly separated from the previously mentioned goals. Collecting every Korok Seed veers closer to the “filler�category, but because it's clearly treated as such, it isn’t detrimental t??o the game.

The longer a game gets, the harder it is to keep you engaged in a cycle of rising and falling action before you just want to see the end. To me, this is the heart of why we pine for shorter games. A title like A Link to the Past packs so much into its playtime that it feels complete despite its brevity. You still have a fun world filled with secrets to explore, but you get those rushes of discovery and excitement consistently.?? The more a game's scope expands, the harder it is to curate that experience.

[caption id="attachment_361552" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

It's okay for games to end

I do think it’s important to not stigmatize long games. Titles like Elden Ring genui??nely pull off immersive worlds filled with fresh ideas and enemies, and games like these should be celebrated as major events. It’s also ??reasonable to expect a game to last a certain length to justify its respective price tag. That said, I wonder if this innate desire for long games stems from that bittersweet feeling when games finally end.

We all have tha?t game that we wish lasted longer than it did. Maybe it was one of your favorite games, and you long for that joy you felt playing it blind. The more games get padded, the less likely we are to have this feeling. Instead, getting to the end of a game makes you feel exhausted and drained, but is that a good thing? Being sad that something ended means it was a great experience. Maybe not a perfect one, but it’s a memory you can treasure and hold onto. I would much rather have that bittersweet feeling than feel sick of a game after dedicating dozens of hours to playing it.

There’s no clear answer to this debate. The quality of games is already subjective enough, let alone their ideal length. But the older I get, the more I desire that bittersweet feeling. That’s an experience that turns players into fans, and I’d rather get excited about new games in a series than begrudgingly accept them. As always, let me know in the comments your thoughts on this eternally raging issue. I’ll enjoy reading them with a cup of tea as I play through the Dark World in A Link to the Past, and at this rate, I imagine I’ll finish both at t??he same time.

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The adorable, yet dark RPG seems to have a release date

It looks like amid all the indie news today, the port of Omori now has a release date. Both a tweet from the developer and an updated date on the Nintendo eShop indicate Omori is coming to Switch and PS4 on June 17, 2022.

News first started going around when Omori appeared in the Japanese Indie World Showcase this morning, with a launch date of June 17. Though Omori was the end-of-showcase stinger at last December's Indie World Showcase, it didn't appear at all during today's presentation.

But over on the Nintendo eShop, Omori now has a release date of June 17 in North America. Developer Omocat also announced the date via Twitter late last week, as spotted by Gematsu:

"we’ve been working on porting OMORI to ??consoles. during testing, we found a small number of issues that needed to be fixed. while we will still release the digital version of OMORI ??for consoles on june 17th, to ensure quality, we will be delaying the physical releases by 2 weeks."

//twitter.com/OMORI_GAME/status/1??521957932585213952

There's a similar announcement on the official Omori website, too. And though it wasn't certain, the physical version of Omori had originally been slated to ship in June.

We've reached out to MP2 Games, the studio collaborating with Omocat for the port, for additional confirmation. But all signs point to Omori hitting consoles on June 17.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyVv-jFJiJ8

An RPG about halcyon days

If you haven't seen Omori or the following it's garnered since its launch in December 2020, it's a notable one to watch. The hand-drawn style and cheerful aesthetic give way to darker plot beats. Omori deals with some fairly heavy subject material, so it's w?orth knowing that going in.

It has some incredible story beats and design though, and a unique combat system that uses emotions in battle. Omori is a notable? piece of the indie RPG genre at this point, and definitely seems like a good fit for the S?witch. We'll see how the Nintendo handheld handles it in June, it seems.

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The acclaimed indie RPG is getting a boxed copy for its console versions

Omori is making the leap from PC to consoles later this year. And today, Omocat confirms Omori is getting a physical version too.

A physical edition of Omori is currently up for pre-order, both on the Omocat website and Fangamer. It's available for ??both PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch versions, and Fangamer currently estimates this won't ship until Ju??ne, as of this writing.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n6mZyZ2J34

The quirky, colorful, and tonally dark RPG Omori was confirmed for Switch at the end of last December's Nintendo Indie World Showcase. Originally released for just the PC at the end of 2020, Omori wi?ll now make its way to consoles. It looks to be a standard edition, with the stark black-and-white art on the front.

[caption id="attachment_310537" align="alignnone" width="600"] _{Image via Fangamer}[/caption]

This gorgeous, haunting story has picked up a pretty fervent following online. It's easy enough to draw comparisons to other offbeat RPGs, from EarthBound to Undertale. It has a style all its own, a battle system that uses characters' mental and emotional state as status effects, and a story that gets pretty dark the further in it gets. Really, it feels similar in tone to Yume Nikki.

If that sounds up your alley, then there's a physical edition of Omori available for pre-order right now. No date's been set yet for the digital versions, on Switch or PlayStation. The Indie World Showcase trailer put out a target of spring 2022, so hope??fully we'll hear another update soon.

Otherwise, if you can't wait, Omori is available on Steam here.

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From Chicory to Omori, it was a pretty colorful cavalcade of games

Nintendo debuted a new Indie World Showcase this morning, spotlighting the independent games coming to ?the system this December and into the new year. It was a lineup that was filled with surprises, new footage, and of course, some surprise "available later today" announcements.

Opening the show was Sea of Stars, the classically-styled RPG from The Messenger developer Sabotage Studio. It's got a great look, some good ol' RPG combat, and features some music from Yasunori Mitsuda of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross fame. It's aiming for a holiday 2022 launch.

In the games that followed, there were some dates laid out for indies across the coming months. OlliOlli World locked in a Feb. 8, 2022 launch date for its skateboarding world, and River City Girls 2 has a window of Summer 2022. A few new surprises showed up, like point-and-click mystery throwback Loco Motive and the seemingly heartbreaking musical adventure After Love EP, both targeting the summer of 2022.

On the "out today" front, a few games will be available sometime today on the Nintendo Switch. The headliner is Chicory: A Colorful Tale, a wonderful game that seems very well suited for the Switch. Dungeon Munchies looks like a cool dungeon crawler with a focus on cooking your enemies to make yourself stronger. Puzzle game Timelie gets both a demo and a launch today, and board game collection Let's Play! Oink Games also hits the Switch today.

Finally, closing the show out is Omori, the beautiful and haunting RPG from Omocat LLC that became something of a cult hit around the end of last year. It certainly comes bearing a content warning, but if you're looking for an RPG that doesn't feel like any other RPG you've played in recent memory, it seems well-suited to the task. Omori will hit Switch in spring 2022.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsSBN64IVpI

Here's a list of everything s??hown during today's Nintendo Indie World Showcase for December 2021, with release dates or windows:

• Sea of Stars - Holiday 2022
• Aliisha—The Oblivion of Twin Goddess - Spring 2022
• Loco Motive - Summer 2022
• After Love EP - Summer 2022
• Dungeon Munchies - Later today - Nintendo eShop link here
• Figment 2: Creed Valley - Feb. 2022, demo today
• Let's Play! Oink Games - Later today - Nintendo eShop link here
• Endling—Extinction is Forever - Spring 2022
• OlliOlli World - Feb 8, 2022
• River City Girls 2 - Summer 2022
• Parkasaurus - Spring 2022
• Don't Starve Together - Spring 2022
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale - Later today - Nintendo eShop link here
• Baby Storm - Jan. 21, 2022
• GRIME - Summer 2022
• Gerda: A Flame in Winter - 2022
• Timelie - Full game and free demo today - Nintendo eShop link here
• Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery - Spring 2022
• Omori - Spring 2022

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Waiting for something to happen?

Content Warning: This game, and thus the review, contains depictions and descriptions of depression, anxiety, and suicide.

Having been Kickstarted in 2014, Omori seems to have gone under many people's radar, myself included. While at a glance, it may be easy to write this off as something chasing the popularity of Undertale. But that does this game an incredible disservice. Sure, plenty of similarities exist, and I do think that fans of Undertale will enjoy Omori, but man is Omori in its own category here, for better or worse.

Omori (Mac, Windows [reviewed])
Developer: Omocat LLC
Publisher: Omocat LLC, Playism
Release Date: December 25, 2020
MSRP: $19.99

Ultimately, Omori is one of those games where the less you know about the plot, the better. But it is important to stress the severity of the content warning and that knowing the game de??als with suicide and depression doesn't actually take anything away. In fact, it may lead you, as it did me, to ??jump to conclusions that never come to fruition. This is a game that deals with death but also has a character named Hot Diggity Dog. It is both a serious and silly game, and the juxtaposition will not be lost on most players.

The main draw here is the emotional plot, and anyone who prefers their games to be more, well, gameplay-focused, will come away disappointed. But anyone who gets invested in the story? Hoo boy, you are in for a treat. Please know this: all of the criticisms I am about to share about this game are almost entirely wiped away by virtue of the perfect finale. If you ??find yourself pushing to get through the middle chunk of the game, please continue. I promise it will be wo?rth it.

I don't know the last game that really hit me so emotionally like Omori did. I definitely cried while playing Persona 4, so maybe then? But the characters and events that transpire during a playthrough of Omori are unlike anything else I've experienced. Even while the last act was unfolding, I couldn't believe what was happening. I refused to believe it. And to this day, I think about those even??ts and want to know more. Trust me when I say: this is ??not a game you will ever forget.

While Omori has some incredibly serious themes of grief, loss, and guilt, much of the game is very quirky and wacky. Despite being Kickstarted before Undertale, it does feel like the influence of the indie darling is very much on the sleeve of Omori. Characters say goofy things and have even goofier designs, musical queues will play for two seconds before something zany happens, and all sorts of offbeat things take place throughout the approximately 25 hours of this RPG. The humor will absolutely bounce of some, but it mostly landed with me. There are some jokes that I think of on a weekly basis because they are that funny.

Overall, I found myself enjoying the world Omori had built. I wanted to talk to each person and see what they had to say. Even when the game started to get a little long in the tooth, I still found myself wanting to talk to just about everyone. Although someti??mes those conversations would lead to more of the battle system which, toward the end, I wanted nothing to do with.

Gameplay will be familiar to anyone who has played turn-based RPGs in the past. Players control four party memb?ers, each with their own stats and abilities, and take turns acting until the fight is over. Adding onto the basics here is the emotion system: anyone can be happy, sad, or angry, each coming with their own stat changes. Additionally, there is a rock-paper-sciss?ors element to these emotions as angry beats sad, sad beats happy, and happy beats angry.

Taking advantage of this emotion triangle will yield extra damage, though it's hardly necessary. For as long as the game is, combat is not nearly deep or engaging enough. ?Before I reached the halfway point, I found a st??rategy that worked and basically just repeated it ad nauseam for the rest of the game, with the exception of maybe some bosses and the end game...and I only switched it up toward the end because I was bored out of my mind with the combat systems.

Part of me still looked forward to every battle despite criticizing the systems, simply to experience the art of the characters and monsters. While the overworld art is sprite-based and of varying detail, the actual charact?er and monster art is hand-drawn and nothing short of phenomenal. The level of detail and care put into every frame is masterful, and I applaud? Omocat in every way possible.

The bosses do little to shake things up, other than forcing players to use Kel and his healing abilities a bit more. Still though, the aesthetic always kept me clamoring for more. Not only are the boss fights a joy to look at, but they come with some extremely good tunes. The music overall is an absolute treat, and while the boss music varies greatly in style, it never varies in quality. Seriously, these are some absolute bangers and I am very much looking forward to a potential vinyl release of the OST (note: there are no plans I am aware of for a vinyl release, but the OST is available on Bandcamp).

Outside of combat, there's little in the way of gameplay. I guess there are some puzzles, but they're so simple that I refuse to even mention them outside of that last sentence and this follow-up one. There are essentially two phases to the gameplay experience, but divulging any details would be a huge spoiler, so I'll simply mention that the juxtapo?sition between these two phases is very well done, albeit poorly paced. The game ends up using the battle system mechanics in pretty unique ways at various parts of the story, and these are t??he moments that truly stand out upon reflection.

I do wish the gameplay and story meshed better together. At times, it feels like the systems do tell a story: an enemy will use an attack and then get the happy emotion indicating that they enjoyed it. Party members will yell at each other with spec??ific moves and get angry. But these micro-stories quickly fade into the background and just become more gameplay elements as the game trudges on, and they never become more complex than these examples, which is disappointing.

There is also a lot in Omori. While I spent just over 25 hours in it, I found out after the fact that I missed an entire section of the world, complete with mini-games and bosses to take on. There are also, for lack of a better word, random elements that players will likely miss out on. For example, there is just a random tree in the overworld that, if you click on it, happens to be a boss fight. Like, what? Omori is brimming with optional content and various endings, some of which players will need to look up to ever experience. And even then, will likely just look up the differences on YouTube because actually playing Omori for more than 30 hours sounds rather unpleasant.

There is so much to love in Omori, though it feels like the unlovable items do their best to get in the way as much as possible. As the gameplay begins to feel rote and tiresome, more and more seems to be piled onto the player's lap. Splitting the game into three acts, the second act is easily the longest and can only be described as a slog. The first does a tremendous job of setting up the world and getting the player hooked, and the third act is an absolute masterpiece. So really, the question is: what will the player come away with after finishing Omori?

Omori is certainly not for everyone. Someone who values gameplay much higher than storytelling will come away feeling bored and frustrated with the overall experience. However, those who value a game's plot and the emotions that games can elicit will never be able to shake Omori from their headspace. It is a flawed game in many aspects, but I can't help thinking about it throughout my daily life (especially while opening up the spice cabinet), even having finished the game over a month ago. While the entire middle of the game can be frustrating due to its poor design, the third act is?? well worth everything that comes before it. In the end, everything else faded away, and it all felt ??worth it.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game purchased by the reviewer.]}

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