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.

'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)

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

Assim como qualquer jogo com menos de 10 horas, ja tem minha atenção, mas não como qualquer jogo metroidvania, além da atenção, ori ganhou meu interesse, eu não vou parar aqui e decorrer por linhas e linhas sobre como metroidvania é um gênero que ja chegou a ficar até saturado de tantos jogos só reusando a logica base sem novas adições, e também não acho que no fim do dia ori tenha alguma mecânica super inovadora, é um jogo interessante de 2016, com um combate bem ruim, e uma trilha sonora bonita.

Se metroidvania é a pizza dos videojogos, ori é uma de calabresa, com uns pedaços chatos de cebola em cima

Ori is a beautiful and brilliant Metroidvania platformer that unfortunately falls short for me in the execution of many of its wonderful ideas.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of great mechanic and level design here. However, I found every so often there would be enemies or encounters that were a bit more frustrating than they should be. The mechanics wouldn't quite work ever time, add in a couple shoddy hitboxes, and it results in a few sections that frustratingly took more tries than they should because I'd be doing the right thing and get screwed by a slip up not my own. Nowhere was this more prevalent than the big setpieces after each "dungeon" so to say.

These were fun at first and brought great spectacle. However, there are no checkpoints at all, and they can get very long. Not to mention the little hiccups, exacerbated by some performance issues on Xbox One X (like really?), and you get sections that ended up dragging on instead of being the bombastic highlights they were meant to be. Side note on the performance, I had to beat the final setpiece a second time because the final cutscene crashed the game. How is this running so poorly on the upgraded Xbox One X?

To be completely fair though, the frustrating parts were in minority to the times I died through my own fault. Ori is a tough little bugger, and my own mistakes earned me the most of my 291 deaths. I enjoyed the challenge really and learned to use the custom checkpoint feature generously.

Add in a gorgeous soundtrack, engaging if simple story, and beautiful artwork, and you get a wonderful little title held back from true greatness by some kinks in the execution. That being said, I'm glad I finally played this as it is a unique little gem. I'm very excited to play the sequel which from what I hear is a pretty great improvement on where they started here.

Ori and the blind forest is a beautiful game. I quickly fell in love with the characters, enviroment, and story. The stories of Ori, Naru, Kuro, and Gumo were so fun to watch play out. but tbh sein is just kinda there I dont really feel like sein was all that neccesary. As far as gameplay goes, the mainline adventure is really fun. the challenges feel like they are just the right level of difficulty. Theres a wide range of combat, platforming, and some puzzle challenges that are really enjoyable to tackle. The escape sequences are where the game really shines though. each one of them are a blast to play and are similarly at a great level of difficulty. However, I do feel the ending is a bit anti-climatic gameplay wise. It is the worst escape sequences (just feels clunky and awkward at times) and doesnt even feel like the end. However, the actual cut scenes at the end are so great and really ties the story up well. The progression of the game is another high point. As you go along and learn new moves the environment feels more and more comfortable to explore. Like at a certain point (I think once you learn charge jump) exploring is just bliss. SO MUCH FUN. like thats the point where I became really invested in the exploration aspect. backtracking didnt even feel like a pain due to just how great Ori's movement started to feel. Speaking of movement, at its peak, Ori's movement is so good. you just have so many options it makes for a really fun time. the skill tree is okay, its a little annoying at times due to the fact that upgrades may not alline with the moves you have learned and the choices between upgrades aren't as engaging as I wish they were. My main complaint with the game is that in the early stages exploration seems like its being actively discouraged and I feel like I am wasting my time for trying new things. Overall though, it was a joy to play especially after the halfway point and was a great entry into metroidvanias for me.

I originally didn't like this game. I went into it expecting Hollow Knight, and you can guess what happened.

After revisiting this game, my opinions had almost completely changed. The combat still sucks, but it's not the games main focus and it takes a backseat for the majority of the time. I also undersold the games movement which was unfair. Bash is one of the coolest mechanics in a platformer and the level design in this game is top notch.

I also played through the additional content this time around. Once again, the puzzles and upgrades are all spectacular. The second area in the 'DLC' is jaw-droppingly stunning. It even rivals some of the sequels areas in terms of beauty. Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of the added content. It's great as a post game thing however you can access this early on. The new abilities completely break the rest of the game and you can cheese all of the challenges that took the developers years to make. The story also didn't add anything. It basically just flips the message of the story on the spirits rather than Naru.

Comparing this game to Hollow knight is like comparing GTA and Cyberpunk 2077. Sure they are both the same genre, however they are completely different games. Hollow knight may have more content, but Ori is more fast paced, better structured, and more consistent. The two games are going for two completely different things and I love them both.

84

Honestly super mixed on this game in a lot of respects, a feeling that's probably exacerbated by the fact that the good things in this are really, REALLY good. It's another of the bigger examples of the influx of indie metroidvanias that came out within the last decade or so and in quite a few ways it's extremely easy to see why it's gotten as much praise as it has. Not only is the game visually stunning and emotionally gut wrenching at points, but from a mechanical standpoint, the movement side of things is absolutely top notch and is able to give a certain sense of appeal to even the most basic of interactions. With that said, I can't say I really love the game as a whole either and feel that it has a few pretty glaring weaknesses that drag it down to the point where there were points I could barely even say I was enjoying myself on any level, which is a pretty rough place to be.

Of these grievances, the biggest one is the one that a lot of others mark as the biggest flaw of the game as well, and that's that the combat is very unsatisfying and barebones for the most part, with it mostly boiling down to hanging around the general vicinity of an enemy and spamming attack for your homing shots to go at them. It doesn't really lead to any situations where the idea of raw combat is actually interesting due to this, and feels so lacking that I could make a genuine argument for just removing this altogether and losing absolutely nothing of value, with the way they currently work feeling more like minor nuisances than anything to bring any sort of thought to the table. It's just fortunate that the game itself seems to know this to an extent, because as time goes on, a lot of these types of encounters feel overtly pushed to the side in favour of the other ways in which combat it used in the game. While raw combat encounters might be the worst part of this game by a landslide, I really appreciate some of ways in which combat mechanics end up being used to further bolster the platforming elements, often placing enemies in such a way to utilise more as tools to continue exploring, as opposed to an obstacle. This not only succeeds at bringing in a natural sense of hostility to the player's environment, but makes for even more avenues of crafting unique movement challenges that make most of the more structured sections feel rather exciting.

With that said however, I also found the exploration of the game to be pretty hit or miss due to the level and world design, they got half of this so spot on with how Ori actually moves around, but what you move around on tends to lack a certain something. I feel that the map feels more like a set of linear areas with a couple of tiny branching areas that lead to a collectible rather than a more compelling, interconnected landscape that truly benefits from its Metroidvania design philosophies. What ends up happening because of this is that I rarely ever feel like I'm exploring for the sake of exploring, I'm either moving along to the spot on the map that I'm told to move to, or going about 10 seconds out of the way to pick up an item that I can now reach. The extrinsic rewards are all in place for sure, but there's rarely anything that feels intrinsically rewarding about exploring most of the map, especially given how most areas lack a sense of individual identity or variety, with the bulk of the landscapes just being different shades of forest, and while I know that the game is literally called Ori and the Blind FOREST, it still mostly just blends together is largely unsatisfying way with the few moments of variety not really being enough to offset this fact.

Funnily enough, the additional content added in the definitive edition was my favourite section of the game for the way that it was entirely detached from everything else, no objective markers leading to it, nothing at all like that, just a giant, labyrinthine cave system hidden beneath the rest of the world that continued to open up and morph as it went on. I wholeheartedly believe that the game would have benefitted from more areas like this that kinda just branched off and drastically changed as they went on, which would not only make for a more compelling gameplay experience, but would have been amazing at strengthening the more mysterious, whimsical elements of the forest to truly breathe life into the place. I also feel like I absolutely need to mention the fact that while I've complained a fair bit, I cannot praise Ori's mobility enough, especially once the dash move is unlocked and makes for some of the coolest stuff I've seen in one of these games because of how damn versatile it is. The game keeps giving you mew abilities that expand upon your existing capabilities in new, surprising ways, almost always adding some extra flair to things and rarely just being a basic ability that you could find anywhere else. As such, this ends up giving a lot of personality to your mobility.

Overall I think that this game has some really, really big flaws that stop it from being one that I truly love. With that said, I also don't think it's a game that can really be written off either because of the fact that while it's inconsistent, it gets some things so monumentally right that it's kinda impressive. This is also definitely a case of this being a game that I could easily see other people enjoying more than me, so yeah, while this wouldn't be my first choice of game to replay, I'd still heavily recommend it, especially with stuff like the incredibly emotional prologue showing that this game had the potential to be a masterpiece. I've heard that the sequel manages to improve upon this on almost every front as well, which makes me very excited to eventually get around to playing that in the future.

Just barely misses perfection

This is a 4-4.5 star game, objectively. Gorgeous visuals, a simple story with heart, stunning music, and tight, clever gameplay all work together to create a challenging experience but one that immerses you in a sense of wonder. But at some point, the challenge overwhelms the wonder.

I'm not a veteran of platformers but I'm not a rookie either, growing up on Super Mario, Megaman Zero as a kid, Super Meat Boy as a teen, Celeste as an adult, etc. But some areas, from the gravity sections onward, were not intuitive or the puzzle solutions telegraphed well--or they got so difficult that the only enjoyment I got was purely a mixture of cerebral finessing and a sigh of relief. Enjoyable, but not joyful, not the sense of wonder and cleverness that induced so much greening for the game's first three quarters.

Mount Haru in particular was joyless for me and that feather ass avian motherfucker killed me so many times with no opportunity to save that I simply changed the difficulty to easy to finish the game. There were a few times in the game where climactic momentum was stalled because of that. Who knows, maybe I just suck but even on a normal playthrough I felt that there wasn't quite something right with the level design, sometimes.

I still appreciate my time with this game, especially its first three quarters, and I'm definitely playing the sequel...once my carpal tunnel subsides and my hands stop sweating.