(Spoiler) About Basil.

[dr_robert]

So, if I understood correctly it was him who came up with the idea of hiding Mari's murder by hanging her right? The only thing that left me wondering was how someone like him could came up with such a twisted idea. Basil might be a bit of a weirdo but he doesn't strike me as someone with dark thoughts or anything like that. I mean its not like I was ever involved in a situation like that luckily but its certainly not something that would occur to a normal child IMO. Anime logic or i'm I actually missing something here?

[puppygirl gaming]

When in great stress the human brain comes up with whatever it can to hopefully make sure it's safe.

You've probably had random thoughts like "kill that child" and be like "what no I'd never do that".

It could be a mix of these, there a articles on kids who have come up with plans like this from ages as young as 7. IT could happen, and it seems like Basil is hiding his demons throughout the story. Those are my thoughts.

[Sardonicus]

Personally I think he may have already had suicidal tendencies before the incident with Mari even happened due to feelings of abandonment towards his parents never being around, and used the knowledge he already had about that.

I'm personally not that surprised though a kid would know to do that either way. I already knew plenty about suicide and hanging and stuff like that by the age of 7 from just watching old Looney tunes cartoons back where suicide was often turned into the punchllne of a joke.

I imagine in today's age of the internet it's even easier for kids to learn about that kind of stuff. All he would have had to do is accidentally happen upon a popular youtube video about the topic like the Family Friendly noose song, and then he already knows exactly how to tie a noose.

[Metalist1]

Yep. The story was great up until the plot twist that Sunny killed Mari. It just completely ruined my suspension of disbelief.

The story would have worked better if it went something like this :

'A week before their play - Sunny got really frustrated and smashed his violin. Mari was mad and yelled at him. She still tried to practice for the play but kept failing as Sunny was integral to the song. During the day of the play Mari was overwhelmed with anxiety, perfectionism and feeling that she failed her parents and friends she had a moment of weakness and killed herself.
Basil and Sunny were hanging out in the bedroom as they heard some noise outside and went ahead to check it out. They found Mari which traumatised them.

Sunny feels that it was his fault. Because of his mistake that he 'pushed' Mari off the stairs which lead to her suicide. Basil feels the same way as he didn’t check up on Mari earlier. Both feeling the combined blame for her death.
After her death Sunny became emotionally numb and non responsive which made Basil feel even worse.

The game follows Sunny which over the course of the game learns to accept that his sister died and eventually learns to cherish the memories they had. Allowing himself for the first time in four years to face the shame and guilt he carried. By facing it, he saves Basil from suicide as he is completely delusional and consumed by his 'Something'.

This leads to the end of the game where Sunny wakes up at the hospital and cries symbolising that he is ready to move past his sisters death. He then wonders to the hospital room where Basil and friends are standing in. And for the first time in years admits how he felt about the event.

After this confession Basil wakes up and sees the Sunny is back and is showing emotions again. He feels relief that his friend is back and did not abandon him when he had his moment of weakness. Finally smiling and knowing that everything is going to be alright.'

Atleast this is how i interpret the story.

[CupHead]

Sunny was Basil's closest friend - the one who would always listen to him. Basil took the most pictures of Sunny than anyone else. I would not be surprised if he even loved Sunny in a non platonic way. Someone else already mentioned Basil's abandonment issues, given this, losing Sunny would have been a massive loss for Basil. Indeed, in the ending where Sunny does not go to confront Basil, Basil kills himself - in part because he's lost Sunny. Remember how distraught he was when Sunny leaves him the previous day after Basil begs him to not leave him alone?

It would not be very out of character for the terrified *real world* Basil (who was 12 years old at the time) to want to do anything to protect Sunny. I do agree that it would seem a little out of character for dreamworld Basil, who's always so optimistic. But remember, those are Omori's creations to avoid the truth. Indeed, the more the dreamworld Basil becomes like the real world Basil, the more Omori is determined to forget Basil. In Black Space (where you finally see the "real" Basil), Basil tells him that he lost half of himself on that day - that's how much Sunny means to him. Is it really so out of character for him to want to do anything to "save" Sunny?

[Serathis]

Most of Headspace is projection, take everything with several grains of salt. Most likely dad didn't literally disown Sunny to his face. And Aubry is not a borderline yandere for him either.

[matbrown3]

@metalist

Originally posted by Metalist:

Yep. The story was great up until the plot twist that Sunny killed Mari. It just completely ruined my suspension of disbelief.

The story would have worked better if it went something like this :

'A week before their play - Sunny got really frustrated and smashed his violin. Mari was mad and yelled at him. She still tried to practice for the play but kept failing as Sunny was integral to the song. During the day of the play Mari was overwhelmed with anxiety, perfectionism and feeling that she failed her parents and friends she had a moment of weakness and killed herself.
Basil and Sunny were hanging out in the bedroom as they heard some noise outside and went ahead to check it out. They found Mari which traumatised them.

Sunny feels that it was his fault. Because of his mistake that he 'pushed' Mari off the stairs which lead to her suicide. Basil feels the same way as he didn’t check up on Mari earlier. Both feeling the combined blame for her death.
After her death Sunny became emotionally numb and non responsive which made Basil feel even worse.

The game follows Sunny which over the course of the game learns to accept that his sister died and eventually learns to cherish the memories they had. Allowing himself for the first time in four years to face the shame and guilt he carried. By facing it, he saves Basil from suicide as he is completely delusional and consumed by his 'Something'.

This leads to the end of the game where Sunny wakes up at the hospital and cries symbolising that he is ready to move past his sisters death. He then wonders to the hospital room where Basil and friends are standing in. And for the first time in years admits how he felt about the event.

After this confession Basil wakes up and sees the Sunny is back and is showing emotions again. He feels relief that his friend is back and did not abandon him when he had his moment of weakness. Finally smiling and knowing that everything is going to be alright.'

Atleast this is how i interpret the story.

That would require extreme changes to the story and more particulary Mari's charecter development. Mari would have to be portrayed as having almost an obsessive trait on perfectionism (in the game they just said she tried her best to make things perfect but not on a obsessive degree). You would also have to make Mari's moderately unhinged in flashbacks along with hints of anxiety from her. Also not to be rude or anything but most people who commit suicide usually think about it recurrently and takes months for depressive thoughts to build up to the point where they kill themself. Killing herself out of perfectionism again would also require a build up. Also the game portrayed that she committed suicide 1/3 of the way in (either aubrey or hero said they couldn't believe she did that to herself), if the truth being that Mari committed suicide, then that would have to be revealed at the end of game not 1/3 of the way in(not good plot writing to reveal the climax so early in). Honestly i dont think players would be that interested waiting for that and that wouldn't be a plot twist more just a climax decreasing the appeal and writing of the game. I think your interpretation is a more pg-13 friendly version but again would change the entire game. Either way it was a great game :)

[Hidden]

Of all the characters in the game, Basil is the worst off.

Abandonment issues. Anxiety issues.

Planting and tending to flowers is a coping mechanism, he caters towards and doesn't abandon the plants. It's....... literally him expressing that he himself feels abandoned, so he tends to a bunch of plants and grows them to sort of.... show that he isn't going to abandon something.

Hard to explain, but the connection with that is there. It's like someone getting a pet because they feel lonely.... He tends plants because he himself feels abandoned, so he wants something he can... be attentive too.

That's also why he tends to hang around Sunny so much, and remember something.
Basil is the one that tries to be the most positive. Yet he outs himself about how he vents and talks to Sunny about his problems all the time, to the point he's worried he's bothering Sunny.

Sunny also mentions that not even once has he ever met Basil's parents.

Basil stayed over at Sunny's house a lot. Even when school started, and the group seemed to get busy and not hang out as much. The pictures became mostly of Basil visiting Sunny and Mari's house regularly. Sunny and his home likely became a place for Basil to go too because he felt alone.

The memory where they walked out in the rain... Basil and Sunny left Sunny's house together, while Kel and Aubrey met them outside... This really tells us that Basil is spending a lot more time there than anyone else... or they'd have already been with them too.

It wouldn't at all surprise me if Basil harbored a lot of feelings towards Sunny.

When Mari died, Basil was the one who took on full responsibility in his eyes. He didn't want to accept that Sunny did it, especially seeing Sunny's pain over what happened.

Basil stepped in to help Sunny. It doesn't surprise me at all, that this person who by far, has already lead a rough life with absentee family, and a grandma on death's door, to have the concept of suicide. To naively think they can cover up an accident like falling down the stairs by doing so... Locking up the evidence and then hiding the key away.

I believe Sunny's parents knew what happened. You can't really hide that... Only from people who don't see and hear about Mari's body can you just go with the lie.


There are so many simple details that you have to consider for yourself, because the game doesn't handhold you to figure out. It just shows you how things are, and you need to put that together and think it all through yourself.

There's a very good reason that Basil's Something seems so much bigger and more developed than Sunny's... there's a reason that after Sunny overcomes his, even in the true ending Basil's seems to only retreat away.

[dr_robert]

Sorry for the bump.

I didn't pay enough attention at his backstory and how he dealt with the pain during my first playtrough. But after closely reading your comments and playing through the Hikikomori route my view about Basil's character pretty much changed.

Of course, he his the character who had it the worst, and Sunny not being there for him made much worst. Of course, it wasn't that Sunny wasn't dealing with his own pain in his own way... well, more like he wasn't actually dealing with it but getting used to live with it, living more inside his dream world than in real life itself.

Even before what happened to Mari, Basil dealt with being a lonely, anxious person, as Hidden said. Therefore causing Sunny to become somehow everything he had.

I guess sometimes kids are not as naive as they are supposed to be, because of the circumstances of life itself. And I was a fool for thinking of him as just a normal kid.

Thank you all for taking the time to express your thoughts and helping me to understand. Omori is indeed an amazing piece of game and art and it will always have a special place in my heart.

PS: I hope I managed to express my thoughts correctly, since english is not my mother language.

[Sardonicus]

Originally posted by Metalist:

Yep. The story was great up until the plot twist that Sunny killed Mari. It just completely ruined my suspension of disbelief.

The story would have worked better if it went something like this :

'A week before their play - Sunny got really frustrated and smashed his violin. Mari was mad and yelled at him. She still tried to practice for the play but kept failing as Sunny was integral to the song. During the day of the play Mari was overwhelmed with anxiety, perfectionism and feeling that she failed her parents and friends she had a moment of weakness and killed herself.
Basil and Sunny were hanging out in the bedroom as they heard some noise outside and went ahead to check it out. They found Mari which traumatised them.

Sunny feels that it was his fault. Because of his mistake that he 'pushed' Mari off the stairs which lead to her suicide. Basil feels the same way as he didn’t check up on Mari earlier. Both feeling the combined blame for her death.
After her death Sunny became emotionally numb and non responsive which made Basil feel even worse.

The game follows Sunny which over the course of the game learns to accept that his sister died and eventually learns to cherish the memories they had. Allowing himself for the first time in four years to face the shame and guilt he carried. By facing it, he saves Basil from suicide as he is completely delusional and consumed by his 'Something'.

This leads to the end of the game where Sunny wakes up at the hospital and cries symbolising that he is ready to move past his sisters death. He then wonders to the hospital room where Basil and friends are standing in. And for the first time in years admits how he felt about the event.

After this confession Basil wakes up and sees the Sunny is back and is showing emotions again. He feels relief that his friend is back and did not abandon him when he had his moment of weakness. Finally smiling and knowing that everything is going to be alright.'

Atleast this is how i interpret the story.

This sounds like a far more underwhelming less memorable story that I've seen far more often. I've seen SO MANY stories about people dealing with a suicide of a loved one, and the survivors guilt, feeling that they could have done something and all that. I've read, and watched and played so many games with that exact same theme. Nearly all games related to suicide are either you being the suicidal character trying to fight your own impulse, or being someone who had someone close to them die of suicide, and dealing with the emotions related to that.

The twist in this game was so much more unique, and memorable, and cutting. I remember getting that feeling in my chest that I don't usually feel unless I've been thrown completely offgurard and I loved it since so often I predict that twist towards the beginning. I got to feel emotions I don't usually get to feel in a game, since I so rarely get to see this kind of theme. I wouldn't have wanted to instead go through another cliche story about a suicide messing someone up because there's many other stories about suicide where that happens. Frankly if that was the twist I would have been sorely disappointed that the buildup lead to something so.... cliche. Something that I could have figured out from the start.

Instead we get to deal with far more interesting themes I don't get to see as often, like the guilt and trauma of accidentally taking a life, and the emotional trauma that comes with that since so many other games take killing with so much more a cavalier stance. We get to deal with gray morality instead of another story where the lesson is pretty black and white. Basically this story blew my mind and made me feel so many things, and if the story was replaced by your story I wouldn't have felt much besides disappointment that the story went in the most predictable direction possible.