I picked up Ori and the Blind Forest on a Steam sale. Despite the astonishingly beautiful intro, three minutes into the gameplay I thought, "Oh. This." The obvious rhythm of the abused metroidvania design. I stopped playing, disappointed.
Two years later I decided on a whim to give it another go...and I'm glad I did.
The layout was still uninspired, as was the default attack and the internal story logic, but partway through I unlocked the highly expressive (though confusingly named) "Bash" mechanic. It recontextualized the game by turning obstacles into opportunities and transforming the already agile Ori into a trapeze artist.
And the Ginso Tree escape sequence -- the best of the game's faux-boss-battles -- should go down in history as a top-tenner VG set-piece.
Two years later I decided on a whim to give it another go...and I'm glad I did.
The layout was still uninspired, as was the default attack and the internal story logic, but partway through I unlocked the highly expressive (though confusingly named) "Bash" mechanic. It recontextualized the game by turning obstacles into opportunities and transforming the already agile Ori into a trapeze artist.
And the Ginso Tree escape sequence -- the best of the game's faux-boss-battles -- should go down in history as a top-tenner VG set-piece.