This review contains spoilers
Two days ago I completed a game animated by Don Bluth, Dragon's Lair, but if I'm sincere something that has the vibe and QUALITY of a dark Bluth work ala Secret of Nimh is this one, Ori and the Blind Forest
A simple but dark fairytale where the survival of a forest of light depends on casting outside the dark, and with that, the creatures made of it, so the entire game is trying to restore the capacity to survive while going against one of those creatures, whose newborns were anhiliated by their opposite element just for being made of darkness. It's a sad set up with a rather bittersweet ending to the antagonist which comes together pretty nicely under some very adrenalinic and intense moments
The reason this isn't a 7/10 however is because the whole finale is built up around the adoptive mother of the protagonist reviving with a certain mcguffin which wasn't specified to have this property. This feels rather cheap especially because of the beautifully directed opening "montage" of the lives of mother and son. Imagine if Ellie was revived around the finale of Disney Pixar's Up (another work with a great montage at the beginning that visually comunicates all the warmth that across time faded), that's how I felt. If it didn't have that, the finale would have hit a lot harder than just having her show up to remind the owl of the sacrifice that is motherhood
I also want to say, regarding my brother's hypes that this was better than Hollow Knight, I think that Team Cherry's posterior effort is a game that's much more in depht, gameplay wise (seriously, Ori is a baby's first metroidvania for how easy it is) and lore wise (a children's animated movie vs the deciphering of a kingdom in ruins), and the marrying of these two together ala Dark Souls, and as such it would still be a better all around game compared to the more simpler beauty of Ori as a whole even if the faults on the story were solved (though I still think the more concise visual information and limited color pallete of HK is easier to read than Ori's attention to detail in the environments, particularly noticeable when climbing the tree and teleporting around the screen), which is not a bad thing, Ori is still an adequate work of art and both have their charm.
A simple but dark fairytale where the survival of a forest of light depends on casting outside the dark, and with that, the creatures made of it, so the entire game is trying to restore the capacity to survive while going against one of those creatures, whose newborns were anhiliated by their opposite element just for being made of darkness. It's a sad set up with a rather bittersweet ending to the antagonist which comes together pretty nicely under some very adrenalinic and intense moments
The reason this isn't a 7/10 however is because the whole finale is built up around the adoptive mother of the protagonist reviving with a certain mcguffin which wasn't specified to have this property. This feels rather cheap especially because of the beautifully directed opening "montage" of the lives of mother and son. Imagine if Ellie was revived around the finale of Disney Pixar's Up (another work with a great montage at the beginning that visually comunicates all the warmth that across time faded), that's how I felt. If it didn't have that, the finale would have hit a lot harder than just having her show up to remind the owl of the sacrifice that is motherhood
I also want to say, regarding my brother's hypes that this was better than Hollow Knight, I think that Team Cherry's posterior effort is a game that's much more in depht, gameplay wise (seriously, Ori is a baby's first metroidvania for how easy it is) and lore wise (a children's animated movie vs the deciphering of a kingdom in ruins), and the marrying of these two together ala Dark Souls, and as such it would still be a better all around game compared to the more simpler beauty of Ori as a whole even if the faults on the story were solved (though I still think the more concise visual information and limited color pallete of HK is easier to read than Ori's attention to detail in the environments, particularly noticeable when climbing the tree and teleporting around the screen), which is not a bad thing, Ori is still an adequate work of art and both have their charm.
2 Comments
@fancyynancyy Como me voy a frustrar si podés hacer checkpoint dos segundos antes de cualquier obstáculo? Es como Celeste el plataformeo de precisión acá pero si no murieras en una sola vida XD
Que sinvergüenza el diseñador jajajajs
Que sinvergüenza el diseñador jajajajs
fancyynancyy
10 months ago
Y lol a Thomas Mahler (director/diseñador/escritor), poniéndose defensivo cuando la gente prefiere a HK, y después termino adaptando mecánicas de HK en la secuela de Ori. 😁