I loved Ori and the Blind Forest, so logically this game should be better with all of its additions, right? Well, no. To me, the game's additions only serve to highlight how unfocused it really is.

I'll quickly go over the positives. The game looks incredible and the level design is great, sometimes brilliant. Ori feels great to control when platforming. These are very important in a platformer, so everything checks out there. Everything else, not so much.

The bosses were not fun at all. The excessive visual flourishes and 2.5D art style make it difficult to see and determine where the hitboxes are, which makes contact damage extremely annoying. The floaty platforming physics also do not pair well with these bosses, especially since the preceding enemies are never complex enough to prepare players for the multi-phased bosses.

Enemy variety is also disappointing. The first game admittedly only had a handful of enemies, but the combat was never emphasized as much as in Will of the Wisps. The new combat isn't much deeper than its predecessor (mash a button and occasionally evade) and yet you still fight a lot of the same enemies. Attacking enemies also stops Ori in place, a downgrade from Blind Forest letting you weave through enemy bullets while attacking.

The story was extremely disappointing. It was essentially a weaker version of the first game's story (save the forest). I did not feel for Ku when she died because the game barely gave me time to spend with her. Shriek is a weaker version of Kuro from Blind Forest because she has no redemption arc. Why did the game feel the need to have more dialogue too? The first game barely had any and its story was still very well-told.

Remember how Sein in Blind Forest would attack enemies for Ori? That was because Ori was peaceful by nature. As such, he only attacked when absolutely necessary. In Will of the Wisps, Ori shreds through enemies all the time because it's what you do in an action-adventure game. That sums up Will of the Wisps very well. Gorgeous at times, but ultimately feels like it was made to cater to the masses instead of being a unique work of art.