Not clear on the Omori vs Sunny routes.

[kerry.yakish]

I just completed the inside of the whale and I'm still missing G, X, Y, and Z. I seem to be at the end of the game and they're apparently in locations only available in the "Omori Route". From what I can tell, you unlock the Omori Route by basically skipping the real world story sequences. It's absolutely bizarre that the game would punish you for sitting through lengthy story sequences by blocking off content.
It's also really weird that you seem to be able to trap yourself in the final real world story sequence if you save it in there. Luckily I made a backup save file, but that really sucks.
Is there something I'm missing? It looks like I just can get the last few letters or access the last few areas because I didn't reject Kel in the real world?
I've also never discovered the purpose behind the tentacles, mirrors, and faces in walls.

[PhantomHourglass]

you can only get all the letters in the Hikikomori route

[Hood]

SPOILERS AHEAD:

Hikikomori Route gives more content to headspace, and Sunny Route gives more lore and content to real world, then no letters in Sunny Route because they unlock the last bonus location in headspace. You will get the tentacles purpose there.

The mirrors are just some random interactions, but there's a achievement about interacting with all of them, and a rare little surprise.

You must explore the orange oasis (unlocked in train station at prologue's end) to understand about those face in walls.

[maestro]

(spoiler-y post for anybody who's not played it yet)






It makes perfect sense if you consider what exactly Headspace is.

For Sunny (as Omori) to delve deep into the recesses of his mind, he would likely need to do so when he's got lots of time and nothing else on his mind, IE, if he decided not to answer the door when Kel knocks. But, if Sunny answers the door when Kel knocks, then during the final day left, he's busy, and after reconnecting with his friends, he makes a subconscious decision to stop living in his own fantasy world and 'wake up' to reality, and stop repressing the memories (destroying the light bulb).

It would make zero sense if you could continue to explore Headspace in the Sunny Route after all of this, and the areas that have those final letters, are only accessible during the Final Day even in the Hikikomori Route, and even then, only once Omori has taken over entirely after Sunny submits to him.

Therefore, there's zero sense in allowing the player to get the last few letters and visit the remainder of Headspace during the Sunny Route. It's not a "Punishment", but rather just the game and its plot being consistent, coherent and just making sense.

And besides, there's quite a few players who feel the opposite that you do -- they dislike Headspace and prefer Real Life because Headspace is full of convoluted grinding, dungeon diving, and just distractions in general to the point where people complain about Humphrey and Sweetheart's Castle taking absolutely forever to complete and it seems to just go on and on and on and on... which is... well... the exact in-verse PURPOSE of Headspace. A distraction to keep his mind away from the awful truth.

[TheRedSpace]

Hikikomori route gives more headspace content while the Sunny route gives access to real world content