FARAWAY LOGS is an Analog Horror and Alternate Reality Game series by jayck34
based off the hit indie RPG OMORI, and serves as a fan prequel to the events of the game. The series consists of YouTube videos recorded and uploaded by Basil, one of the major characters of the game and a young boy living in Faraway Town. In said videos, he chronicles his mundane experiences with his friend group, consisting of Sunny, Aubrey, Kel, Hero, and Mari. At first, the videos seem normal, but soon glitches and strange apparitions appear hinting towards the tragedy that would kick off the game's plot.
The videos are done in a unique style — while the world is made in Unity and is as realistic and life-like as possible, the characters are represented as 2-dimensional drawings in the game's artstyle. The videos also contain secret codes and hidden messages that lead to secret videos.
Warning: while no knowledge of the game is needed to understand the basic premise, the series does contain several Late Arrival Spoilers for the game, which will not be marked. You Have Been Warned.
This series contains examples of:
- Disguised Horror Story: Much like the source material. The first few videos are a fairly innocuous look at the mundane lives of Basil and his friends in Faraway Town, but starting from “meet my friends”, the videos start getting split-second glitches and Something starts showing up. The more overt horror is confined to secret, unlisted videos about Sunny's tragic Accidental Murder of Mari that triggers the game's plot.
- Fan Sequel: Or Fan Prequel; the series follows Basil, Sunny, and their friends as we see them go about their lives, all leading up to Mari's Plot-Triggering Death.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The normal videos spoil the First-Episode Twist of the game that Headspace is just Sunny's dream world and not the actual reality of the setting. Meanwhile, the secret videos revolve around The Reveal of Mari's death and Sunny accidentally causing it, and while they are vague enough that this may not be immediately obvious to a viewer unfamiliar with the source material, in general the series is best experienced by viewers who do know the big twist.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In a few brief shots in some videos, Something is noticeable, hidden in the footage. Given that this is camera footage visible to all, it's possible that Something/Mari's Spirit is/was actively possessing the tape as we watch it, but it is unclear.
- Perspective Flip: Sunny/Omori is the protagonist of the original game, while Basil was a prominent but infrequently-appearing character. This series is from Basil's POV as he is the one with the camcorder.
