i definitely didnt expect to cry like crazy at 10 minutes of ori and the blind forest but apparently this game managed to amaze me even in that aspect and not only that i got to the ending while every 30 minutes having a crying fit which is very me i may admit

ori surpassed my expectations in so many aspects i sincerely wouldve never expected it . i mean i knew it was a good game because everyone had been talking about it for at least 3 years after its release nonstop and again now that the sequel is out (now meaning 2020 whatever) but i didnt expect it to be such a metaphysical experience it made me feel things i havent felt in a while (depression and last time was probably a week ago)

im talking about the plot of ori at the end of the review because if not im going to stand here crying like a bitch now and never finish this review

in video game terms ori is a metroidvania-like or whatever you may call it . i am the whore of metroidvanias as soon as i hear metroidvania i get a mind bending erection just like that tachycardia and so on . that being said ori (the first game at least (yes i'm already playing the second one because i need another dose of bittersweet trauma)) i didn't perceive it as a real metroidvania or at least the gameplay loop of pick up a skill > open a new path > pick up another skill and such is typically metroidvania but it's much more linear than that (although there are certain areas that aren't connected to the main story lets say so at least in that regard the exploration is quite extensive)

now let's get the weak point of this experience out of the way right away the combat in ori (again the first one because in the second one they have updated and improved it and honestly I love it to death but the fact remains that in the first one it's a bit like that) is not the best and i couldnt even explain precisely how it works there are kind of fires with auto aim or whatever i have no idea i didnt particularly like it or particularly hate it but it has to be said that at least the developers tried to differentiate the battle system a little bit with in game improvement charts that at least give you a sense of progress but still it remains a little shitty sorry and especially the boss battles (if you can call them that) are bad as fuck and even this will be something that will be improved in the second game (love the bosses there) but since ori is more of a platformer than an action game i dont really see that as a big ass flaw .

now after the weak point let's talk about the strong point the movement mechanics of this game are out of this world i swear holy shit it's amazing in the beginning like every metroidvania the most you can do is jump and do some other shit but as soon as you start getting more and more power ups the movement is possibly one of the best ive ever experienced in a fucking video game and im not kidding between triple jump the dash the bombs the bash (main mechanic of the game and one of my favorite platforming mechanics of any video game ever im sorry) you can do anything and get anywhere in this fucking beautiful gorgeous awesome world and this whole thing will culminate in my favorite parts of the game that a lot of people hated and honestly I can understand why but I loved them madly aka the sequences where you have to run away from the crazy absurd evil owl or you have to get out of the dungeon where you have taken an element of the forest that ends up exploding and flooding everything with fire water ice kind of like the ending of every metroid when the planet or space station or whatever is exploding and you have to run away like crazy but the reason why a lot of people hate these parts is kind of related to how the save system in ori works ie you have to use some energy to manually save progress (which sometimes resulted in me forgetting that the saving in this game is manual and then in a death that wiped out a few minutes of progress but whatever i actually hate this game) so at these points the save is disabled and you have to do like 3 minutes of crazy platforming that if you die bring you back to where you started so here everyone hates them but they might be my favorite parts of the whole game I mean I don't know all the frenzy of the moment the amazing OSTs that pick up and explode in all their orchestral might and the raw power of these moments idk they simply gave me chills every single time this game is amazing and I just love it with all my being but lets talk about another aspect that I loved madly

the art direction of this video game really leaves you breathless . any place within the forest of [name of the forest i can't remember ok i checked its nibel] is designed and structured in a way so breathtakingly competent that every single setting and enemy and particle effect and animation and background and foreground and graphic and lighting effect and anything is just so dies

along with the art direction there is to say that the audiovisual compartment doesnt stop there because the sheer might of the music and sfx .......... oof guys the OST in this game is something out of this world already the game by itself is incredibly emotional and all but every single track pulls at your heartstrings like nothing else really . most of it is new age instrumental stuff but they are composed with so much tenderness and beauty that even scenes which by themselves would be tear-jerking when you add to them these osts they just make you tear your hair out scream cry vomit anything and probably if I listened to them now which i havent yet because the wound of this game is still pretty open i would feel bad but really bad but really really bad goodbye vabbuon appost

I think it's unfortunately time to talk about the story because honestly there's an amazing story behind it (not the most amazingly intricate story in the universe lets just say that but the mere concept of it all… wow) and definitely one of the most emotionally charged ive ever seen lmao (+ the ost puts a lot of emotional stress on you basically you either cry or you cry theres not a lot of room for alternatives but still . HEAVY SPOILER WARNING because this will be an infodump of the story and a list of all the times I cried (profusely)

ori is the last leaf and guardian of the spirit tree of the forest of nibel which is slowly dying and he is looked after by naru who is a ... something I don't understand like a forest creature ok thats it and they grow up together and form a family (you already know where this is going) then the forest starts to die and there is no more food and naru out of selflessness and love for ori starves in order to leave food for ori and when ori tries to save her she is already dead . honestly ? developers you suck this happened after 10 minutes from the start of the game and I was already a broken human being I couldnt see what was going on because tears were flooding my eyesight now then ori sets out and explores nibel then he finds sein who is the light of the spirit tree which has also been separated from the tree by a malevolent owl beast something called kuro (which is black and encompasses darkness very innovative i know) who is initially very cryptic and in the trope of "this bitch is bad and ugly and very evil" but then when you get to her nest on Mt. Something there is a great flashback where you realize what really happened (alarm for another crying fit) the ceremony of light (which was supposed to summon ori) had accidentally killed the 3 babies of the evil bird (JWKFJSKSKW OH MY GOD I HOPE THAT EVERYONE WHO GOT HERE HAS PLAYED THE GAME BUT IF YOU DIDN'T YOU CANT IMAGINE HOW MISERABLE THE ENTIRE CUTSCENE MADE ME IM SHAKING) okay back to us kuro is angry and attacks the tree trying to defend her last child (still an egg) stealing sein and leaving the forest to rot but ori manages to gather all the elements (used to revive the tree) and when you're almost done with your journey kuro almost kills ori then naru (WHO IS NOW ALIVE YAY and reanimated by gumo I don't have time to talk about gumo you know who gumo is if youve played the game which you should have) cradles him for the first time after her death and for the apparent last time in front of kuro who seeing narus maternal affection for ori is moved (me too bitch) thinking of her children and realizing that she has become the monster she saw the spirit tree as so she sacrifices herself to return sein (another hysterical cry) and then the balance returns to nibel the little family is together again but now there is a new addition ..... the little owl in the egg that kuro left behind… sorry im too emotional and they take care of her like shes their little daughter and honestly that was the last straw i finished the game in 5 hours at 100% (I don't know if I unconsciously speed ran the game or im just I don't know incredibly good at metroidvanias likeeeeeeeeee but either way it is what it is) i can say I cried for at least 1-2 hours of the game its just that kind of emotional ride and im so sorry for the people who are my friends and who will get an infodump of the reasons for why this game made me cry my eyes out all this time

anyhow that was very long and i dont know why i really got a problem with getting the essential information in these reviews lately but anyway ori is really good and “remember those who are gone so may they live forever” is possibly the most distressing thing ive ever read in a game like why would you do that to me

ori is so cute guys im just gonna cry my eyes out again just like that

Nice graphics, music and concept, but ultimately an exercise in frustration. There are a lot of good ideas but the whole thing is mired in bad design, things that I find hard to understand how they could have gotten past the testing phase on a game with this budget.

- Confusing environments. Foreground/background elements are often mixed together and things that look normal end up hurting you.
- Confusing enemy patterns and tells. I can appreciate that each enemy has set patterns, but they are not well telegraphed and their attacks are always just a little varied. They come at you so fast that you will get hit unfairly.
- Too many effects flying around. When the enemies shoot at you, their bullets all mix together. Sometimes things that can't hurt you look a certain color, but things that can hurt you look the same. Attacks mix together and you can't tell if you're attacking or being attacked.
- Bad sound design. When there's too much crap on the screen, you would expect to be able to tell when you're getting hit, but the sounds are all so similar that you can never tell if it's you or the enemy taking damage.
- No clear rules regarding damage. Some spikes will be one-shot kills, and others will only take some life. Enemy attacks often feel the same.
- The lifebar does not provide clear indication of health. There are three colors: a light green for your health, a darker green for the health that's just been taken off, and a greyed out green for the life you don't have. When you get hit, the light green turns darker green and SLOWLY begins draining downwards. Because you look at a lifebar out of the side of your eye, you can never TELL how much life you have exactly, because of how busy the bar is. To add to the visual clutter, there is a slight animated wavy effect BEHIND it, and a lightly animated glow IN FRONT of it. Just astounding how this can't be two colors, on and off, with a quick flash to indicate what you lost instead of it slowly draining down... This is so overdesigned that it loses sight of its main function.
- The controls don't follow clear rules. For example, when you jump holding RT, the glider will come out. But if you're coming off another action while holding RT, then the glider won't come out. You'll often die because you don't have enough time to react by depressing and pressing the button. There are other confusing controls as well, such as a charge jump done with LT: When you hold it it charges, and if you depress it cancels. But when you're climbing a wall, even if you let go of LT, it will stay active if you're holding a direction. Things like this break the flow and don't allow the action of movement to feel intuitive--they require too much though and calculating.

And these are just some examples.

Ultimately, the game is designed around the idea of trial and error, but the main problem is that the error is usually induced by questionable design decisions. I just couldn't look past these problems.

Bom metroidvania com design de arte lindíssimo. Às vezes o gameplay é desengonçado e o jogo fica visualmente poluído, e houve momentos em que a jogabilidade me fez querer arrancar um dedo fora com os dentes, mas tudo bem, nada grave. A música não me agradou muito, mas também não ofende. Na verdade, me deu sono.

Quanto à história, não consegui me importar com nada do que acontecia. Só lembro de uma coruja cabulosa que às vezes aparecia pra tocar o zaralho e a voz irritante da bolinha de fogo que acompanha o personagem.

A exploração do mapa, juntamente com as habilidades que o jogador adquire, fazem uma ótima combinação. Realmente, metroidvania é igual pizza: mesmo quando não é muito bom, ainda é bom de alguma forma. Não é perfeito, e tudo bem, nem tudo é (exceto Hollow Knight, que é perfeito).

Ori and the Blind Forest, while now seemingly outmatched by the second game, still manages to be one of the best platformers I've ever personally played through. It had a significant impact on my life for a bit and ended up being my introduction to the speedrunning community as a whole.

It's certainly not perfect. The combat is garbage, inferior to almost every game adjacent in genre to it in that respect. Thankfully it's never a focus but it's still a problem that you have to tolerate. The platforming difficulty curve moves from seemingly casual experience to more hard hitting actual tests of the mechanics and not in a very smooth way. The first half in general has too much downtime and ultimately takes a hit to pacing that can end up breaking people's experience.

Despite this, Bash and Dash is the best platforming movement to date other than now Ori 2, and that's where all of the fun comes from. In fact, Bash conserves your momentum in this game unlike the sequel, which allows for some incredible speedruns that utilize the full extent of the speed you can build up. It's one of the most deep mechanics out there and the game makes great utilization out of it to the ending runtime.

The platforming levels themselves are pretty good in other regards, being excellent one stop challenges and the escape sequences are a wonderful concept done mostly well. The idea is to crystallize Castlevania 1-era level design, "don't just do these individual sections well, do them all CONSISTENTLY" in a way that's compelling although somewhat unpolished. There's certain parts of these level tests that reach the end of bullshit with certain things that, while they might be reactable, blend in with the visual design leading to some trial/error moments.

Another major pillar that brings this game up tremendously though is the aesthetic, which is personally one of my favorites in vidya in general. The excellent soundtrack sells each individual scene, and the heart-pulling emotional story works alongside that. It manages to all turn into a cohesive aesthetic experience with a fantastic speedrun underlining that the game encourages with its achievements and RTA compliant tech.

Despite that it's not the most polished game with very quite visible cracks, I've speedran this game for weeks on end, and I can't deny how fulfilling each run has been for me that practically no other game touches for me. Even other than that, the movement is incredible on its own to be recommendable. I encourage trying out Ori 1 to any extent, and even if you dislike this game, there's Ori 2 to pick up which is better in every single way (except for not conserving bash momentum, a change i still don't get). Still one of my favorite games of all time. (9.5/10)

looks great, plays great. sometimes looks too great to play great.
bonus points for playing as a little creature. this is a good trend in videogaming.
"combat" (and i mean that loosely) is kinda ass and really just adds more pretty fireworks - i think it's almost dishonest to call this a metroidvania

"we're gonna stop the volcano from erupting by plugging it"
think the next game should be ori and the fucking geology class

Meu Deus, esse jogo... É simplesmente perfeito! Por muito tempo não tive vontade de joga-lo, porém do nada me deu uma vontade imensa de experimentar como ele é, não tinha tomado nenhum spoiler sobre ele e aproveitei quase tudo oque eu podia no jogo. Me diverti muito do início ao fim. A história me encantou e me emocionou, os gráficos são lindos demais, e mesmo não gostando muito do estilo Metroidvania, amei esse. Super recomendo mergulhar nesse universo e aproveitar sua experiencia com essa obra prima!

Heartwarming story, fun platforming, and great visuals.

Although I enjoyed Ori and the Blind Forest, the movement isn't as accurate as I would like it to be; and having to rely on enemies for some sequences can be frustrating. But the poor save system was my only real complaint. If you run out of energy cells, it can really shoot you in the leg.

Overall, I recommend Ori and the Blind Forest. 7/10

Já tinha comprado esse jogo há bastante tempo mas deixei ele de lado, tentei começar a jogar algumas vezes mas nunca voltava, me empolguei e comecei de novo, e não me arrependo nem um pouco, a história é bem legal, o design e trilha sonora é impecável, todo o senso artístico é excelente, e a gameplay também é boa e muito fluída, foi o primeiro metroidvania que eu joguei e com certeza vou jogar a sequencia desse e procurar outros, é um excelente jogo e dito tudo isso... VAI TOMAR NO CU EU TILTEI MT COM ESSA PORRA TEM UMAS PARTES DIFICEIS PRA KRL

mas é isso ai kkkkk muito bom

Ori and the Blind Forest is a Platforming-Focused Castleroid, and it's pretty darn good at being that. The movement is extremely smooth and the level design is great, with each new ability being taught to the player naturally and expanded upon in cool ways. While the moveset isn't the most unique in any platformer, there are some really cool abilities, such as catapulting yourself off of enemies and projectiles. Most of the puzzles are pretty good too. Also, compared to most Castleroids, Ori's difficulty curve is pretty consistent even with it's experience and adventure based progression system. Honestly, this game is excellent when it comes to being a Platforming Castleroid.

However, I do have two major complaints: First, the combat. At best, Ori's combat is a fine change of pace. At worst, it's passive to the point of arbitration. Oftentimes it consists of mashing Y (I played on Switch) while running past enemies. This is because the game auto-aims the attacks for you. Sometimes you may have to use the ground pound or aforementioned projectile catapult, but even then it's pretty basic: Ground pound to get ride of the enemy's armor, THEN mash Y. Shoot the projectile back continuously until the enemy dies. I see an attempt to tie platforming and combat together, and it can work, but 50% of the time the combat is unengaging.

I do, however, have to praise that the game actually had no real bosses, and each section of the game is instead topped off with a great chase sequence. Many games would've inserted a boss just because that's an expectation at this point, so I have to respect the decision to cap off each area with a bit of the main focus: platforming.

My next big issue is with the story. I wasn't expecting that much, and I feel like the story here simultaneously was pleasantly surprising and kind of annoying. The best moments are the opening an ending. Both are wordless scenes that display the emotions of the characters well. However, the rest of the story has a bit too much narration, despite the fact that it's easily discernable what's happening at any moment. It just makes the game feel a bit patronizing.

In terms of audiovisuals, Ori is actually very poor. That was a lie, the audiovisuals are really good. My only complaint is that while the locations are stunning visually, they're not interesting conceptually. The most interesting was the Misty Woods, where your map is pretty much useless and the layout of the world changes seemingly randomly, but even "Confusing Forest" has been a trope since Super Mario World. Not a huge issue, but worth mentioning.

I thought about giving this game an 8/10, but since I usually lower the rating later anyway, I'm pre-emptively rating the game a 7/10. That's kind of arbitrary though. If you enjoy either 2D Platformers or Castleroids, you'll probably enjoy this.

While objectively very beautiful, there's so many minor issues I have with this game that make it beyond frustrating. Some of these include the way the amount of color and detail on the screen can make it hard to see what's attacking you. The bash skill was highly inconsistent with regards to how close I needed to be for it to function. When you go upside-down, the controls, don't change, so you're inversed for these movement segments. While all of these things are manageable, the mere fact that they exist makes the game more obnoxiously difficult than it needs to be. Much of the difficulty I experienced while playing the game came from control issues, or other issues with illogical respawn states and game progression

Blind Forest is a game that nails almost everything it attempts, from its gorgeous presentation, fluid platforming, simple but charming story and mesmerizing music you have a recipe for a near perfect game.

Except there is one fault with the game, and it is unfortunately a big one, the combat. Blind Forest’s combat is painfully boring, slow and offers basically no player expression. In a game with such top tier gameplay across the board when it comes to anything else about the game it’s a shocker one of the most integral aspect about the game is so lackluster. To make things worse there’s really no good fights in the game, some are ok but enemy design is dull.

But as I said almost everything else is perfect about the game, it’s short, well executed with no fluff or filler.

Visually I mean wow, like seriously wow, it’s one of the most visually stunning 2D games ever made.

The music is also exceptional, I still have the soundtrack saved to my phone.

The story is simple, a little boring and predictable at times, but for a game that can be knocked out in 8 hours it doesn’t need to be anything more. It’s a short, moving and well executed story about family and it serves its purpose well.

The platforming is some of the best I’ve ever played, quick, responsive and extremely fluid. The movement and platforming is put on full display in the excellent chase sequences where you have to utilize every tool you have to escape from an enemy or hazard.

Overall the game is top notch and only weighed down by one beyond frustrating aspect, I wish I could give Blind Forest higher as it deserves higher, but for me it’s a 7.5/10

Depois de 4 anos enrolando para jogar Ori, eu finalmente zerei. E valeu cada segundo.

O jogo em 90% de minha gameplay nele foi maravilhoso, as músicas são lindas, a história é daquelas que não precisam de uma profundidade imensa para ser marcante e emocionante, e o combate/sessões de plataforma foram muito divertidos no geral também.

Me arrependo muito de ter demorado tanto para jogar, mas me alegra que tenho sido uma experiência fantástica.

100% by collecting everything.

Not only the visuals are stunning, but so is the gameplay. A great (short) metroidvania but sadly it has some flaws which keeps it from getting a 5/5.

My thoughts:
(+ = (mostly) positive; - = (mostly) negative)
+ Gameplay;
Solid gameplay with nice progression. You get more agile over time, but it doesn't really feel like you get stronger as well. That doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, but something to keep in mind while playing.
One thing that bothers me are the escape sequence parts. I dig the idea but the execution isn't as great as hoped to be. Some parts it feels like you have to die so you can prepare yourself next time knowing what will come. Also some parts you rely on enemies attacking you to continue, but sometimes it just didn't work because they were too late to attack you. Things like this really ruin the flow of the game.

++ Music;
Perfect ambiance music fitting the scenery of the game.

+++ Graphics;
Every screenshot you would take is just stunning. One of the prettiest 2D games I've played.

+ Story/Characters;
A simple but interesting story. Perfect for me, just like how Metroid does it.

Recommend?
Yes if you enjoy metroidvania games. Might even recommend if you never played one and want to give one a try.

A really cute and charming little platformer. Gorgeous visuals and fun mechanics and areas, it takes a while to get the hang of Ori's momentum and moves, but once you do it leads to some really cool and satisfying segments. It has pretty poor "combat" but it's at least a very minor part of the game overall, with bosses being moreso chase sequences then actual battles.

Far from perfect but I enjoyed the 8 or so hours it took me and I'm looking forward to trying out the sequel, which I hear improves the original in a lot of ways

Que jogo LINDO.
Acho que esse é o melhor adjetivo pra definir seu design, historia, dificuldade, progressão, é lindo como tudo acontece mas pq uma nota três? Eu não me diverti como eu gostaria ou como eu imaginei e acho que o motivo disso é o fato de ser "metroidvania" que é dos generos dos games o mais complicado de rolar uma química comigo. Pra quem gosta do gênero e do estilo mais focado em puzzles recomendo quase como obrigação o game mas se vc é como EU e não é um amante do estilo, vai devagar que talvez de pra apreciar uma experiência pelo menos linda.

Beat this game in a few days and I got some thoughts

Ori and the Blind Forest felt like the obligatory indie platforming darling that everyone HAD to play, or else your opinion on platformers get laughed out of the room. And for the most part I kinda felt a disconnect with much of the praise this game was getting.

Don't get me wrong, the graphics and art design of this game are undoubtedly beautiful, and every environment looked stunning, but as for the overall platforming, I wasn't having the best time.
Much of the early-game requires you to execute incredibly precise jumps, but it grew pretty frustrating to execute since Ori is such a floaty lil guy. This would kinda continue up until I finally got the bash and double jump abilities. While I still kinda have some gripes with some platforming sections (Fuck Black Root Burrows), I was having a lot more fun. In fact, I actually really enjoyed the last two areas of the game, (the Valley of the Wind, and Mount Horu go fucking harddd).

I don't wanna harp on the combat too much, most ppl who've played this game say it's bad, and I agree. Having a stupid lil energy ball fight your battles for you gets very annoying veryyy fast. But I mean it wasn't enough to ruin my experience .

But anyways I'm glad i gave this game a shot, and I can't wait to play the sequel, since I heard that was better (just like with RE 2) lmao

There were two things I knew about Ori and the Blind Forest when I booted the game up for the first time: (1) it had been compared to Hollow Knight despite the fact that it was released two years prior and (2) the main character was a white rabbit-esque creature named Ori. Everything else about the game - the mechanics, the story, the lore, the crushing difficulty - I learned during this first playthrough, and I was completely unprepared.

Ori and the Blind Forest is a Metroidvania released in 2015 for Windows and Xbox One and later in 2019 for the Nintendo Switch. Developed by Moon Studios, the game tells the story of the titular character Ori, a guardian spirit of the Nibel forest, who fell from the Spirit Tree during a terrible storm as a newborn. Ori is fortunately adopted by a creature named Naru, who raises the spirit as her own. A cataclysmic event, however, soon causes Nibel to wither and die, leaving Ori to save it from impending doom by recovering the light of three main elements: Waters, Winds, and Warmth. To complete this task the player takes control of Ori and must jump, climb, bounce, bolt, and dash their way around the game's treacherous and unforgiving world avoiding boiling acid, incendiary lava, falling debris, crumbling bridges, sharp spikes, and other deadly hazards. To combat enemies, break obstacles, discover secrets, and fully explore the forest of Nibel, player’s must find, unlock, and master an assortment of abilities like the Spirit Flame, Charge Flame, Bash, Stomp, and Light Burst. Along the way, the player can also discover health cells and energy cells to upgrade Ori’s health and abilities to make this difficult game less of a challenge.

As for my time with Ori and the Blind Forest, I couldn’t have been more pleased. The art style of the game is impeccable; the story is tear jerking and beautiful; the gameplay is fluid, intuitive and constantly evolving with each new ability; and the character designs and the forest of Nibel as a whole are unique. While I could spend several more paragraphs gushing over the positives of this game, there are few gripes that keep Ori and the Blind Forest from achieving a perfect 5 out of 5. First, while the game world and backgrounds therein are expertly crafted, they may just be slightly too perfect. What I mean by this is that several times throughout the game it is near impossible to tell what is a platform to land on and what is part of the background. In a game heavily dependent on expert platforming, this small issue can have huge downsides. Second, Ori’s movement is a tad too floaty for my liking. I obviously got over this during my playthrough, but, again, in a platform heavy title it is incredibly important to be able to adequately gauge the length of a character’s jump. When that character’s jump has an unknown weightlessness to it, however, any estimations of where you may land after any given button press is near impossible. Third, while not something I really knock off any points for, it’s important to state just how difficult and unforgiving Ori and the Blind Forest can be. One wrong button press, one slightly off the mark jump, one misjudged landing, or one unavoided enemy attack can immediately lead to a death. While this typically wouldn’t be an issue with modern auto-save features, Ori and the Blind Forest takes a different approach to save mechanics. Where most modern games auto-save a player’s progress at certain checkpoints or after certain actions are taken, Ori demands that the player manually save their game by holding down a button. While this feature does allow a player to save nearly anywhere, it can also inadvertently lead to several minutes lost of game time. This loss of progress is, of course, the player’s fault for failing to save, but in such a fast paced game as Ori and the Blind Forest, stopping mid adventure to save seems nearly counterintuitive. I bring this up alongside the discussion of difficulty and not as its own negative because I believe the difficulty and the saving feature go hand in hand. A difficult section, boss fight, or escape sequence encountered after several minutes of carefree and saveless gameplay can lead to a slew of lost progress. Therefore the difficulty and the save feature inadvertently causes players to lose progress that a modern auto-save feature in the most difficult of games would have saved them.

Despite the negatives listed here, it should go without saying that Ori and the Blind Forest is a fantastic game. I hope these negatives don’t put anyone off from experiencing this game, as it is truly one not to miss. From the adventurous story and beautifully detailed worlds, to the deadly and crushing obstacles, enemies, and overall difficulty, Ori and the Blind Forest is a masterclass in video game storytelling and design. I can’t wait to try the sequel.

'A De-"light"-ful Metroidvania (Sorry, Had To Do It)'

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition was a surprisingly enjoyable platformer! I had tried this title out in the past and had lost due to insert stupid reason not to play this magnificent title, and figured I owed the game another chance. Boy, am I happy I decided to do that!

The first things that a player will notice are the exceptional relationship between Ori's visual style and soundtrack. The unique environmental details which showcase both places of intense warmth/light and cold/darkness are compounded by some astounding parallax in the background to create a truly awe-inspiring image, one which is very easy on the eyes. The score is beautiful and tranquil with some very solid ambient tracks alongside some bombastic and powerful pieces of sonic bliss (oh yeah, this soundtrack is GOOD). These elements combine to create a part of some of Blind Forest's best moments, and yet this game decided to also have a story AND gameplay to boot as well. I felt so spoiled playing this one!

The story in Blind Forest is actually pretty solid. The characters are simple in design, but they retain some key features that can give insight as to who they might have been before the events of the game took place. The main villain is menacing and unlikable in many ways, but the writers manage to make her pain relatable and understandable by the end of the title. There isn't any normally spoken dialogue (that is, not in any decipherable language), but it is delivered gracefully and added to the mysticism of the world Ori traverses.

Gameplay-wise, this title nearly perfects what it is aiming to achieve. Maneuvering in the world with Ori feels very responsive, and the fact that the world is designed in such a way where there is nothing that seems "blocky" or "inorganic" is very impressive. It feels like you are actually travelling around a forest that is interconnected, which is a core mechanic of any metroidvania title. Platforming is pretty smooth and there are some very tight sequences where you use a variety of jumps, bombs, dashes, and bounces in order to fly from one location to another, and it felt awesome to play through. Puzzles and exploration are very solid as well, with collectibles testing out your skillset before you are able to collect each one. Sometimes items require certain abilities in order to collect them, other times you are required to use your already learned abilities in order to discover new ways to traverse the world. It created some moments of intrigue for myself as I attempted to unlock certain pathways or collect upgrades, and it felt rewarding to finally solve these areas of the game. However, the only areas of the title which I found to be a bit weak in these aspects are "Black Root Burrows", the escapes after collecting the second and third elements, and "Forlorn Ruins".

The problems that I have with each area listed above are straightforward and increase in frustration successively. In "Black Root Burrows", the biggest obstacle is a lack of light source in order to traverse the area. While this is the main theme of the area to begin with, I feel that as an add-on with the Definitive Edition, it shouldn't have relied on having an item that doesn't exist in the game. Thus, there are some blind jumps you are expected to make that are extremely hard to recognize. However, the escape sequences are much worse. These areas repeatedly aim for flashy, over-the-top escapes, but fail to provide proper insight as to where the player is expected to go/what they are supposed to do during each one. This wasn't a problem at all with the first escape in the "Ginso Tree", but in these areas obstacles are indecipherable from one another, and the player is expected to react almost "before" seeing each threat. This led to many more deaths on my end that I felt was reasonable, and I had to essentially memorize the entirety of each escape in order to finish them. Lastly, the gravity mechanic introduced in the "Forlorn Ruins" is a complete failure in my opinion. The path towards the end of the level is difficult to decipher, and I resorted to abusing my leveled-up health and abilities in order to reach the end rather than use the gravity mechanic itself. There are many insta-death obstacles here as well as small platforms, which only compounded with my frustration with the mechanic itself.

Besides these flawed areas, there was also an issue I had with the balance of the game with its upgrade tree. I was able to fully specialize my Ori and started to breeze through most combat and platforming challenges by the halfway point of the game, and the game felt much too easy for my tastes. Combat is already very "abstract" due to just pressing your attack button and having your helper "Sein" shoot enemies for you, but by upgrading their power you can totally melt most enemies in the span of seconds. This causes Ori to transform from a weak, vulnerable character into a ravenous god who can destroy any creature at will - not the best for what the game is trying to portray them as.

Yet despite my complaints with some locations and with the balance of the game, I consider Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition to be an absolutely excellent title. Its strong relationship between platforming, puzzles, and combat alongside its fantastic visuals and soundtrack make it a must play for indie gamers, platformer fanatics, or art connoisseurs. It is one of the best titles I have played from 2015/2016, and I can easily Recommend it as a must play platformer for the 2010's. Now go on - play the damn thing!

Final Verdict: 9/10 (Excellent)

Brilliant locomotion makes for a fun time once you get past the slow beginning.

I really did not enjoy Ori in the first hour or so that I played of it. It was slow and I constantly couldn’t tell if story progress or my own skill were preventing me from reaching certain areas or collectibles. The natural environmental design is beautiful to look at, but does a poor job of communicating what you can or can’t do in contrast to games like Guacamelee or Headlander which use clear visual design language to communicate progress blockers so you don’t waste your time trying to figure out what’s possible or not. It was a frustrating beginning.

However, once I got a bit further into the game and unlocked more skills that opened up locomotion, the game clicked and I fell in love. Moving through an entire area chaining together jumps, dashes, and yeeting off enemies is truly a joyous feeling. Yeah it was annoying that the fast travel spots were so far apart, but when moving is so quick and fun, I guess it’s not that bad. I started the game wanting to beat it as quickly as I could and by the end of it, I wanted to keep playing to find every collectible (which I did).

The “create your own checkpoint” system is interesting and sometimes works well. It doesn’t work well, however, when I forget to make a checkpoint and then die losing 10 minutes of progress. That is decidedly less fun. Even less fun are the escape sequences with zero checkpoints forcing you to replay the entire thing over and over again just to replay the last section because you can’t figure out what you’re doing wrong with a jump. Bad.

Ori also fails with accessibility and difficulty options. Turning the difficulty down to easy helps with the combat (that ends up being easy and inconsequential anyway), but does little to curb the difficulty of platforming.

As much as I loved Ori in the end, I still think there are games that do parts of Ori better. It’s not the best Metroidvania, it’s not the best side-scrolling shooter, and it’s certainly not the best 2D platformer. But it does combine all those elements better than most other games do and ends up being better than the sum of its parts.

+ Fully upgraded locomotion is a blast and better than most other games like it.
+ Beautiful soundtrack
+ Gorgeous visuals

- Slow and sort of just not fun beginning
- Poor accessibility/difficulty options

Visually very appealing and looks like a children's game, but it's definitely not. The platforming can be brutally hard in certain places and it's more frustrating than fun. I never got comfortable with the "floaty" controls of Ori, which made some of the pin point precision timing on jumps incredible hard. The game is also quite hard on the mechanical side of the controller, since Ori has a lot of moves, which sometimes needs to be chained together very rapidly in order to progress. I wanted to love this game, but when the credits rolled I was just glad to be finished with it.

I'm definitely in the minority here, but this game is just...fine. I found the gameplay prior to getting the double jump infuriating. I thought the dash was too quick and hard to control. The save mechanic is cool, but forgetting to save once and dying unexpectedly caused me to lose like 20 minutes of progress. The game gets better nearer to the end, but I feel like it would have been good throughout with slightly less slippery controls and less metroidvania type gameplay. Bash should be in every game from now on.