This review contains spoilers
When I first played Ori and the Blind Forest on my Nintendo Switch in 2016, I repeatedly asked myself why I didn't like it as much as the overwhelmingly positive fandom. I gave the original Ori (not the definitive edition), a 3.5, mostly because it doesn't satisfy in the overall gameplay aspect. However, I loved the story and atmosphere of the game, especially the music.
For multiple reasons, playing Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition enraged me like no other game has ever done. Although I still adore the story and art direction of the game, Ori DE is atrociously designed.
First of all, the 'Hard' and 'One-Life' difficulties are not fun and borderline unfair. There are at LEAST 50 things that can one-shot you, mostly in the early game. What these things are, I could not tell you. Spikes sometimes do 2 damage, or 12, or 16. Not only spikes are inconsistent in damage numbers, but so are enemies. The amount of times I instantly died to something that only did 1 damage a few minutes before is baffling. Enemies are placed in the most frustrating spots, can kill you in spots they should not be able to reach, can kill you while picking up items or going through doors, and their projectiles will stay in the same spot whenever you enter or exit a room, making it possible to get one-shot by enemy attacks whenever returning to that room. How did these elements get into the Definitive Edition? I just can't wrap my head around it.
To make it even more frustrating, the achievement tied to 'One-Life' difficulty is bugged for some reason. Whenever you die, you must delete your save and restart from the main menu, or you will not get the achievement. Some other achievements are also bugged, but they can be earned by uninstalling and reinstalling, thankfully. Again...Definitive Edition, really?
To make matters worse, the beautiful graphics of Ori DE were also ruined for me. The game stutters, making it almost unplayable. I had to play on someone else's PC to be able to get the One-Life achievement, which is a major bummer. I have the original version of Ori on my PC as well, and that one works fine. Do I even need to repeat the question anymore?
Aside from the aforementioned problems, Ori and the Blind Forest just feels much weaker in comparison to Ori and the Will of the Wisps. In my opinion, the latter plays much more like a solid Metroidvania, especially in regards to combat, exploration, reward and boss battles. This was already my opinion when I first played Ori on my Switch, and it hasn't changed since.
If you decide to play Ori DE, make sure you have the right graphics card (has nothing to do with how old it is) and play the game on easy or normal difficulty, because otherwise you will start hating this beautiful piece of art just like I do right now.
For multiple reasons, playing Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition enraged me like no other game has ever done. Although I still adore the story and art direction of the game, Ori DE is atrociously designed.
First of all, the 'Hard' and 'One-Life' difficulties are not fun and borderline unfair. There are at LEAST 50 things that can one-shot you, mostly in the early game. What these things are, I could not tell you. Spikes sometimes do 2 damage, or 12, or 16. Not only spikes are inconsistent in damage numbers, but so are enemies. The amount of times I instantly died to something that only did 1 damage a few minutes before is baffling. Enemies are placed in the most frustrating spots, can kill you in spots they should not be able to reach, can kill you while picking up items or going through doors, and their projectiles will stay in the same spot whenever you enter or exit a room, making it possible to get one-shot by enemy attacks whenever returning to that room. How did these elements get into the Definitive Edition? I just can't wrap my head around it.
To make it even more frustrating, the achievement tied to 'One-Life' difficulty is bugged for some reason. Whenever you die, you must delete your save and restart from the main menu, or you will not get the achievement. Some other achievements are also bugged, but they can be earned by uninstalling and reinstalling, thankfully. Again...Definitive Edition, really?
To make matters worse, the beautiful graphics of Ori DE were also ruined for me. The game stutters, making it almost unplayable. I had to play on someone else's PC to be able to get the One-Life achievement, which is a major bummer. I have the original version of Ori on my PC as well, and that one works fine. Do I even need to repeat the question anymore?
Aside from the aforementioned problems, Ori and the Blind Forest just feels much weaker in comparison to Ori and the Will of the Wisps. In my opinion, the latter plays much more like a solid Metroidvania, especially in regards to combat, exploration, reward and boss battles. This was already my opinion when I first played Ori on my Switch, and it hasn't changed since.
If you decide to play Ori DE, make sure you have the right graphics card (has nothing to do with how old it is) and play the game on easy or normal difficulty, because otherwise you will start hating this beautiful piece of art just like I do right now.