A black lightbulb (“blackbulb”): the repression of an idea

To make a long story (20+ hours long!) short, Omori is a surreal physiological horror role-playing game where you play as the main character, canonically named Sunny (though his name can be customized), in both the real world and his dream world (his “Headspace”). Lore-wise, Sunny suffers from dissociative amnesia, causing him to repress the “truth.” He also has seen practically no one (besides his mother), has refused to exit his house for four years as a result of the trauma from the “truth,” and has not been taking care of himself properly. Furthermore, he is shown to be “haunted” by hallucinations/manifestations during the night that are remnants of the “truth” that he has repressed and his three phobias (acrophobia, arachnophobia, and thalassophobia) that have been causing stress and anxiety for Sunny, known altogether as “Something.” The direction of the game and the resulting ending depend on the choices you make in the game and whether you have Sunny pursue the “truth” by having him exit his house to meet up with his old friends or have him continue staying inside his home.

The poem “Ghost” by Cynthia Huntington can be related to the game because an interpretation of the poem is that the “ghost” in question refers to a distant or forgotten memory that “makes [it]self present, though never distinct” in the mind of the person in question, similarly to the repressed “truth” that “Something” represents. In the poem, the said “ghost” eventually tells the person in question their name, just like how Sunny ultimately determines what “Something” truly is (if the player has him pursue the truth).

The film “Scavengers” can be related to the game because the main protagonists of the short video cause damage to the environment just to have a glimpse of their past lives. Similarly, Sunny also causes damage in an attempt to stay in a dream-world version of his past life with his dream-world friends. However, the damage is directed mainly towards himself instead of the environment due to being a complete shut-in for four years and not taking care of himself properly. Also, in “Scavengers,” it’s indicated that the main protagonists have been doing their routine of damage to the environment multiple times, just like how Sunny had been doing his routine of self-destruction for four years.

The “Ending Procrastination” and “Limiting Distractions” parts of my group’s infographic could also be related to the main character’s actions during the story. In a way, Sunny tries to procrastinate his discovery of the “truth” using his dreams, which serve as distractions, similarly to how a student might use distractions to procrastinate on doing homework. Only after “limit[ing] all possible distractions,” just as the infographic says, does he start to rediscover the “truth” by exiting his house to face the real world and reconciling with his real-life friends, like a student limiting their own distractions and forcing themself to complete their homework.

External Links:
Official Omori website: https://www.omori-game.com/en
Omori (Fandom) Wiki: https://omori.fandom.com/wiki/OMORI_WIKI