Nintendo’s classic RPG EarthBound has inspired countless games, many of which are ambitious Indie titles. Among these stand two champions: 2020’s Omori and 2015’s Undertale. While equally quirky and gut-wrenching, these ventures take very different approaches to their design and narratives. Exploring the differences in the philosophy of these works can tell us a lot about what they are trying to accomplish and which game appeals to which groups of people. Spoilers for both games will follow.
Contrasting Lighthearted and Bonechilling Moments
Both Omori and Undertale aim to disrupt RPG conventions and use contrasting tones to accomplish this process. Omori is all about this, as everything in it is a dichotomy. It starts in a dream world where everything appears to be a happy-go-lucky adventure but with a dark undertone: Whenever the titular protagonist, enters a situation that he finds distressing, he winds up in a white room of which the only exit is stabbing himself. In addition, there are also real-world segments in which the player controls a boy named Sunny, and the goofy RPG Battle System is replaced by a more realistic system in which the characters are normal humans who are in great danger from weapons like knives.
Undertale uses a dichotomy that is far more central to the gameplay mechanics. Killing enemies nets you EXP which allows the protagonist to become stronger, but there is a dark twist: The more enemies they kill, the grimmer the world becomes. The alternative option is to spare enemies by figuring out what they want and delivering on it with menu commands. Killing everyone results in a dark and dismal ending where the protagonist is the villain to all the other characters while acting as a pacifist results in the best ending. Even on this route, however, you learn much about the dark past of Undertale’s world towards the end.
Neither game is satisfied to be just one thing. Undertale will give you a quirky adventure (with a dark final act) if you play it opposite to how you would play any other RPG but presents a tragedy where cute characters are brutally killed should the player try to harvest them for EXP. Omori uses its dream world as an escape from the horrors of reality but has a dark underbelly that slowly rises to reveal that this world is not so pleasant. It also shows how RPG logic fails to function in a realistic setting. Both want you to treat them as normal RPGs so they can flip the script on you, a powerful tactic for conveying emotion.
Protagonists are not what they Seem
The Silent Protagonist trope, in most games, is used for one of two purposes. In RPGs like Persona, the main character is silent so the player may more easily project themselves onto that character, despite the character being a unique personality within their world. The other end of the spectrum has characters like Pokemon protagonists, who are blank slates for the player to create an avatar of themselves within the game world. The interesting part about Omori and Undertale is that both games opt for a different approach despite both utilizing silent protagonists.
Omori is an alternate self for Sunny within the dream world, acting as Sunny’s own “silent protagonist” who is a hero of a story going on within his head. Sunny himself is also a silent protagonist, though, but he is not easy for the player to relate to. He has multiple phobias that have varying origins, some of which are extremely dark. As he escapes from these phobias and we learn more about his past, Omori’s function as a mental shield for Sunny’s sins begins to break, and Sunny’s depression shows itself on a grander scale. By utilizing the protagonist this way, we can see how Sunny is unhealthily blocking out his worries and how he can recover.
Undertale is far more concerned with the player’s actions. The player appears to be able to name their character at the beginning, as a way to tell the player that the protagonist represents them. This could not be further from the truth, as the player is actually naming a completely different character, who acts as a motivation for the game’s main antagonist to both love and hate. On the evil route, this character becomes a reflection of the player’s horrific choices. Undertale is a game that wishes to examine the player’s motivations and uses its silent protagonist as a red herring to that end.
Undertale and Omori: Two Great RPGs
Both games are subversive takes on the same well-established genre. Turn-based JRPGs are known for highly strategic combat where the player character becomes more powerful as the game progresses. While Omori uses such a system, it also subverts everything about it. Undertale’s system is entirely about choosing whether to kill monsters as usual or take a better path. Both games do this, in part, by contrasting different tones and by intelligently presenting their protagonists. It is not hard to see why many consider these games to be masterpieces.
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