Ori and the Will of the Wisps Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 2/7/2024)

[Image from glitchwave.com]

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Developer: Moon Studios

Publisher: Xbox Game Studios

Genre(s): Metroidvania

Platforms: PC, Xbox One, Switch

Release Date: March 11, 2020

With a title like Ori and the Will of the Wisps, one can infer that Ori and the Blind Forest was greenlit for a sequel. All referential jokes to the introduction of my review of Ori’s first game aside, I’m quite pleased as punch for this opportunity to see the luminous forest nymph once again. Ori and the Blind Forest was an exemplary title in the new wave of indie Metroidvania games, presenting a captivating wooded world for the player to explore under the guise of the niche 2D platformer’s particular progression methods. The game was undeniably gorgeous, and the silky smooth controls made hopping around the several shades of wild foliage wonderfully accessible. However, many of the accessible aspects in Ori and the Blind Forest besides the remarkable mechanics rendered the game rather sparse compared to its Metroidvania peers. Opting for frantic chase sequences from natural disasters and apex predators as opposed to duking it out with them in epic boss fight fashion was an especially unorthodox decision. I understand that Ori is intended to be lighthearted and more whimsical than the existential sci-fi horror of Metroid and the bloody, gothic glory of Castlevania. Still, the general ease of Ori’s gameplay with the added factor of zero boss battles seemed like the developer’s directive was to create a Metroidvania experience for an extremely young demographic, easing them into the realm of gaming with a title that wouldn’t obtrude on their impressionably vulnerable sensibilities. I’m not one to judge the intentions of an artist as long as they’re honest, but diluting a few gameplay attributes ostensibly for the sake of making your game digestible for children undermined Ori and the Blind Forest’s full potential. This is why Ori and the Will of the Wisps are in an ideal position as a sequel: another opportunity for the Ori IP to fill in the blanks that the first game either omitted or regrettably came to the developers as staircase thoughts. The final product of Ori and the Will of the Wisps suggests that they ultimately wanted Ori to kick ass, but wait till you hear about the source of inspiration the developers took to enable this initiative.

I suppose the resolution of Ori and the assorted group of destitute misfits around the forest banding together to live in one space is open to expanding on. The developers didn’t slap a “happily ever after” on this tender ending like one would expect from something that resembles a fairy tale, so there can be plenty more strife in the lives of these adorable folk of the forest. For now, all they are concerned with is raising the sole surviving offspring of the dark indigo owl Sein who stalked Ori with impassioned ferocity in the previous game. Hence, the little owlet is the reason why the non-nuclear family unit was formed in the first place. Everything is as content and tranquil as the opening events of Blind Forest, except for the fact that Ku, the owlet, is pitifully failing in her attempts to fly when Ori and the others are teaching her due to having a lame wing. Considering the colossal size of her birth mother, Ori should be wary about inadvertently creating a monster down the line, but I suppose this could divert into a nature versus nurture debate. One day, Ku manages to soar a little TOO high using Kuro’s Feather, and a violent storm separates Ku from her glowing guardian Ori. Because Ku is frightened and fragile, Ori must scour the uncharted Niwen forest to find her lost little lamb. This premise establishes exactly what I had wished for Ori after the events of the first game. Ori’s growth after ascending past her role as a helpless critter through her perilous venture was reduced greatly when Naru rose from the dead completely unscathed to continue his role as her furry protector. Now, putting Ori in a position of daunting responsibility to save someone as weak as she was, if not even more at the beginning of her first adventure proves that her acute physical prowess is dynamic.

So what is the extent of Ori’s ability to combat what lies in the hostile wilderness? On top of the valuable experience gathered from hiking through Nibel, Ori’s tactical enhancements in the sequel are the prime differentiating factor of the game, and where its source of inspiration I alluded to in the opening paragraph is most apparent. Let’s just say that the title of “Ori and the Will of the Wisps'' is a mirage. An honest title to Ori’s sequel is “Ori and the Hollow Knight.” Between the release of the two Ori games in 2015 and 2020, a dinky cobble of a studio in Australia surprisingly cemented its 2017 title Hollow Knight as what is quite possibly the zenith point of its genre. If the indie Metroidvania boom could be comparable to the classical period of music, Hollow Knight is clearly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, practically eclipsing the contributions of its equally worthy peers with sensational amounts of approbation, and (almost) rightfully so. I cannot cite whether or not Hollow Knight’s accolades had Moon Studios seething with palpable envy like Salieri, but Team Cherry’s gold-medal game evidently affected Will of the Wisps without question. Instead of using the projectile fireworks of the flickering light spirit Sein as a bodyguard, Ori will stumble upon the “spirit edge” for a more personal, manual method of offense. This sharp, glowing, icicle-like weapon is eerily similar to The Knight’s nail art, even if Ori flails this thing around with less rhythmic grace than Hollow Knight’s protagonist does with his weapon of choice. As the game progresses, Ori will acquire the familiar attributes that allowed her to unlock more of Nibel’s grounds by absorbing the light of the ancestral trees, and familiar moves like the spirit smash and the light burst are now selected through a weapon wheel and are assigned to a button. Even though the spirit edge is grouped in with the roulette of Ori’s secondary abilities, the combative dexterity and inherent inexhaustible energy as a melee weapon will guarantee that it will be used as routinely as the nail art. Sure, the similarities between the primary weapons of both games aren’t enough to decry acts of plagiarism. Still, other frequent elements in Will of the Wisps also conjured too many clear memories of Hollow Knight for comfort, so I insist that everyone keep the comparisons in mind. I even encourage a drinking game whenever close similarities arise throughout this review because I’m so confident of how commonplace they are (but drink responsibly).

This isn't to say that Will of the Wisps implemented all of its new features by peering over at Hollow Knight and taking notes. Plenty of elements newly introduced to Will of the Wisps are uniquely Ori, or at least they don’t readily remind me of something from another IP. For instance, the spirit smash move isn’t merely a rebranding of the downward bash from the previous game. Using this move in any other cardinal direction that isn’t south will see Ori fling what looks like a hefty mallet that inflicts a massive amount of damage to enemies. To hit a series of out-of-reach switches, Ori channels her inner Robin Hood and shoots a spirit arrow to activate them. The instances of using the spirit arrows for this purpose are surprisingly confined to one space, so the most utility of this tool will be used for those pesky airborne enemies. Ori can torpedo herself through and out of a body of water like a leaping dolphin with a “swim dash,” and the same practical move is extended to thick banks of sand with the “burrow” ability. Ori can coat herself in a traveling radius of light that protects her from being consumed by crushing darkness with “flash,” although how darkness can be so pitch black that it can kill someone is beyond me. Other skills can be purchased with the spirit light currency by the white-haired simian Opher, which include the “blaze” move that naturally engulfs enemies with flames and a sentry that serves as a surrogate attacker in Sein’s absence. The ability to breathe underwater is available to purchase here instead of gaining it through natural progression like in Blind Forest. I think this is an incorrect shift considering how essential it is to progress in some spots. Overall, the additions to Ori’s array of abilities are further proof that she’s no sitting duck anymore and that she’s got plenty of ways to protect herself.

On the surface, Niwen’s vast plains of untapped wilderness look to be about as formidable as Nibel’s forest. Will of the Wisps was developed through the same engine as Blind Forest, so the vivid, picturesque depiction of an arboreal setting fit for a prestigious gallery showcasing the finest of video game graphics is still retained here. To further instill a sense of perceived uncanniness, Niwen’s districts even reuse the level tropes seen in Blind Forest with such areas as the snowy mountain peak of Baur’s Reach mirroring the icy elevation of the Forlorn Ruins, and the blindingly dim catacombs of Mouldwood Depths practically serving as a deadlier version of the Black Root Burrows. One can argue that the Inkwater Marsh and Kwolok’s Hollow districts situated at the center of Niwen are appropriately moody and somewhat tranquil as starting areas. Still, I can’t help but be bothered by how similar they are to Nibel’s Sunken Glades and Hollow Grove in their geographical placement, tone, and general aesthetic. Because Ori’s areas are conceptually confined to natural, dendriform places, the developers discern the ones from their previous output with some clever new mechanics. For instance, Baur’s Reach doesn’t continue the anti-gravitational gimmick from the Forlorn Ruins, rather implementing an elemental contrast between frost and fire with the new properties of the light burst maneuver. Luma Pools expands upon the pristinely crisp waters of Thornfelt Swamp into an entire area, whose vibrant purplish-pink trees all around the perimeter resemble the Lorax’s wondrous landscape before it was corrupted by the Onceler’s capitalist endeavors. The aquatic land is so effervescent that bubbles consistently emerge from its sparkling waters, and Ori uses them as springy platforms to aid in her traversal of the area. Similarly, the grim, lugubrious Silent Woods looks as if it’s drowned a number of horses in its days (that’s a Neverending Story reference) in its murky, sludgy streams, and Ori will be another victim to their gripping depths if she doesn’t plant herself precisely on the buoyant bubbles that catapult her upward. Progression through these areas will automatically fill in step by step as the case was for Blind Forest, but the cardinal difference is how the entirety of the map is revealed before Ori explores 100% of it. Instead of stumbling upon a stone basin that vaguely resembles a save mechanism on the field, the missing patches of land that haven’t been cleared on the map yet are half-filled in by Ludo. This merry gentleman sells maps to Ori for a marginal price, and he’s found around the muddy corridors for every area of the game. Drink up, everyone, and if Ludo hummed a jaunty tune to signal his nearby presence, I’d make you all drink straight whiskey with no chaser.

The most unique of Niwen’s areas is the Wellspring Glades, a relaxed hub of sorts where the game’s NPCs reside to sell Ori their various wares. Dare I say, it’s similar to Dirtmouth from Hollow Knight (bottoms up)? Whether or not the comparisons are a fit once again, this treetop grove is an excellent respite area situated in a pocket of rare, glowing sunshine in Niwen. The temporary residents here in Wellspring Glades are all familiar faces seen all across Niwen’s spacious land. The nomadic Tokk leans on the bark of the area’s foundational support beam asking Ori to find esoteric areas of interest and lost items. The former cartographer would do it himself, but those days for the grizzled blue bird are behind him. The Final Fantasy mage-like Twillen is a purveyor of “shards,” enhancements to Ori’s skills with specific conditions that are assigned in the menu with a limited maximum (glug glug). A few NPCs use the fertile grounds of the glades to make Ori perform extraneous labor efforts. A common item called “gorlek ore” is given to a burly creature named Grom whose species shares the namesake of the material, and he uses it to build architectures around the hub to make it more hospitable. Turtle-bear hybrid creature Turley will plant seeds that Ori finds on the field to grow vegetation that makes higher reaches of the glades accessible. A nameless tribe of lemur-like Mokoi can also be spotted here, and they certainly make the hub friendlier because they’re so innocuous. Even though Niwen is a strange land that Ori is forced to excavate, this particular area makes this parallel forest homier thanks to the NPCs strewn about the locale.

Having a hub situated somewhere in Niwen is especially vital because Will of the Wisps is surprisingly more difficult than the previous games. I stated that one of the primary aspects of Blind Forest that made the overall experience somewhat lacking was the general ease of its difficulty, minus a few tense moments regarding platforming later in the game. While Will of the Wisps does not match the steep difficulty standard of that other Metroidvania game I keep comparing it to, stiff obstacles will occur more frequently throughout. Namely, the player might struggle a bit with this game’s bosses. Yes, another wish that Blind Forest didn’t quite deliver on has been fulfilled in its sequel, and the select few bosses across the game’s playtime are mighty foes with screen-spanning health bars. A giant wolf with the same shaded fur complexion as Kuro’s feathers will lull the player into the familiarity of a high-stakes chase until his health bar appears and Ori gets the chance to defend herself by smacking it in the face repeatedly. The giant Beetle Ori fights next starts without a misleading precedent, as Ori will jump over the ferocious armored bug to hit its vulnerable backside. Unlike Howl who was in a compromising position throughout his encounter, the varied attack patterns of the Beetle showcases that this game’s bosses need considerable patience and a slight awareness of each of their offensive actions against Ori (I guess that’s another shot). A methodical approach to defeating the bosses is especially crucial with Mora and Kwolok, two gigantic foes whose fights are the climactic peak of two of the game’s main quests. Mora’s status as a queen and mother spider should indicate her physical enormity, and the second phase of the poor possessed toad sage (who has the same voice as the narrator of both games, but supposedly isn’t) takes place underwater before Ori has the chance to purchase her gills from the merchant in the glades. I am not ashamed to admit that these bosses took me more than a minute to triumph over, as the developers have done such a fantastic job implementing their encounters that it’s hard to believe that this is the first time that these kinds of substantial duels have been factored into an Ori game.

However, they are only the requisite challenges that Will of the Wisps has implanted. Off the beaten paths of Niwen are optional challenges that Ori can humor for an extra amount of spirit light or another notch where an additional shard can be used. Earning more currency comes in the shape of spirit trials, where Ori races against a wispy doppelganger of herself to the basin where the trial was initially activated. Ori’s shadow has evidently practiced navigating through the tough terrain, so every victory against it sprinting to the goal will always come down to the wire. The other auxiliary challenge the game provides is the spirit shrines, which will lock Ori into defeating waves of assorted enemies in combat. Without Ori’s new ability to regenerate her health using energy (without placing a checkpoint like in the last game), these horde matches can amount to overwhelming tests of endurance. The game is practically compensating for Blind Forest’s breeziness at this point.

Even though the bosses in this game certainly stick out as memorable, threatening instances of improvement in Will of the Wisps, they ultimately stand aside as secondary pawns to the game’s primary antagonist Shriek. While Shriek is admittedly another dark purple bird of prey constantly looming over Ori, she is not a replica of Koru. We can immediately distinguish this from a design standpoint as Shriek’s body is supported by calcified exterior ligaments that Shriek uses to hoist herself into a walk position like a pair of stilts. She’s carried this strange affliction her entire life, which is what caused her to be shunned by the rest of the bird community she was born into. No wonder she’s now a menace that casts a blanket of tension overhead as she soars through Niwen’s skies. A section that highlights how harrowing Shriek is as a force of evil despite her handicap is a stealth section between the Silent Woods and the Windswept Wastes, annihilating Ori in a second if Ori is in her line of sight for too long. Shriek is a bird that has been scorned by her own kind, so it’s no wonder she harbors a grudge against all of Niwen’s denizens. It especially isn’t surprising that she literally stomps out Ku’s life (don’t worry, the screen fades to black as it’s happening) once she and Ori finally reconvene in the shady Silent Woods. An NPC laments that it’s unfair that the big and strong can prey on the meek and the pitiable, but the situation obviously stems from the storied history of dejection Shriek experienced as a young owl that looked exactly like Ku.

The titular wisps in the title refer to the main quest of retrieving three of them at Niwen’s different districts to restore the fractured Spirit Willow. Doing so will also erase the noxious decay that Niwen has been experiencing, which is so prevalent across the land that it’s affected even the prestigious sages. Mora was fortunate to have the effects of the decay smacked out her, but Kwolok wasn’t so lucky after the “stink spirit” wrapped him up in its infectious arms. The behemoth brown bear Baur who resides in the mountain range of his namesake was rather lucky, so the game resorts back to running away from Shriek as the pinnacle point of this section. Once the misplaced wisps are accounted for, Ori brings them to the cliffs of the Windswept Wastes to the entrance of the Willow’s End. The final section of Will of the Wisps resembles that of the erupting Mount Huro that finished off the first game. Ori is tasked with completing a series of platforming challenges that mainly involve a teleportation mechanic only utilized in the optional Midnight Burrows area to strike another stem of the whole pulpy, orange decay surrounding the core of the forest (chugalug). Seir, the spiritual embodiment of the great Willow’s lifeforce, is then snatched up by Shriek, finally giving Ori a chance to beat the blackened bird in a final boss that manages to be satisfyingly epic. To ensure that Ku is given another chance at life and that Niwen ceases atrophying, Ori has to merge with Seir to fully restore balance to this marvelous, beautiful land, meaning that her physical state as a nimble little nymph has to be sacrificed. Ultimately, she makes the right decision as Ku wakes up from her deep slumber to rejoin the custody of Gumo and Naru, as they make tributes to the new spirit willow that was once an integral member of their makeshift family. As tragic, intimidating, and fairly complex as Shriek is as the game’s antagonist, I’m not sure she’s really the focal point of the game’s story. Every point where she makes an appearance seems like a series of circumstantial conveniences made to complicate the plot, but the pervasiveness of the decay seems substantial enough of a conflict to carry the game’s narrative given the harrowing examples of its effects. Perhaps she could’ve been a stronger narrative force if her motives to specifically burden Ori were more defined like Kuro’s were.

It’s so thrilling to have your wishes granted. I wrote my review of Ori and the Blind Forest in early 2023 after its sequel had already been released, but it’s as if the developers read my review and decided to craft the next title in the series based on the critiques I gave. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is, by definition, a perfect sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest. Every single gripe I had feeling unfulfilled by Blind Forest’s pensions for subduing aspects of the Metroidvania gameplay for some odd, unclear reasons were totally amended here, regarding the titanic boss battles, Ori’s combat shrewdness, and competent evolution of the two game’s eponymous protagonist. However, what slightly deters me is that all of Ori’s improvements here is that a large quantity of them seem to be borrowed from Hollow Knight, a “if you can’t beat them, join them” type of scenario that makes me question Will of the Wisps true quality. In saying that, I now realize how much I compared the gameplay aspects of Hollow Knight to Dark Souls, and will emphasize this to humble Team Cherry’s magnum opus a bit. If I proposed a drinking game for every time something Soulsy came up in Hollow Knight, I'd be responsible for so many stomach pumpings. There is a classic quote from Picasso where he claims that good artists borrow and great artists steal, and if Hollow Knight’s attributes are what Ori and the Will of the Wisps needed to fill in the blanks to elevate it up to the high Metroidvania echelons, so be it.

Ori and the Blind Forest Review

 (Originally published to Glitchwave on 1/30/2023)

[Image from glitchwave.com]

Ori and the Blind Forest

Developer: Moon Studios

Publisher: Microsoft Studios

Genre(s): Metroidvania

Platforms: PC, Xbox One, Switch

Release Date: March 11, 2015

With a name like Ori and the Blind Forest, one can infer that the game is filled with a grand sense of whimsy and adventure. It’s a title for an unpublished C.S. Lewis book or the album title of a progressive rock band. It alludes to the promise of an epic journey that can only exist in the realm of a fantasy world. Austrian indie developer Moon Studios thought it wise to design their fanciful creation in the Metroidvania genre, a prevalent trend among many indie titles in the mid to late 2010s. Typically, games in this niche sub-sector of 2D platformers are fairly confined to claustrophobic spaces consisting of walls that hinder the player’s freedom to progress as they please. At least, this is the design philosophy Nintendo spurred for their immortal Metroid series, the undisputed godfather of the Metroidvania subgenre. The “blind forest” part of the game’s title may connote a blinding darkness that could appropriately convey the same sense of tension and dread similar to Metroid. However, the developers of Ori and the Blind Forest wanted to present a sprawling untapped landscape for the player to marvel at. While one could argue that Metroid achieves this through its wearisome “stranger in a strange land” initiative, that doesn’t seem to be the direction Ori’s developers wished to take with their approach to the Metroidvania game. Given that the genre’s gameplay tropes are rooted in Metroid’s oppressive weight, aren’t all Metroidvania games inherently limited to the scope that Metroid laid out? Wouldn’t Ori and the Blind Forest be more suitable for the open-world genre with more liberal boundaries? By 2015, the Metroidvania genre hit a conceptual peak, and the genre’s evolution transcended the cramped atmosphere associated with its inception. As early as Symphony of the Night, Metroidvania games proved to be expansive as an open-world game, even with the choice parameters these kinds of games uphold. In fact, Ori and the Blind Forest is a Metroidvania game that challenges the preconceived limitations of the Metroidvania genre. Ori and the Blind Forest presents a world that demands to be explored thoroughly, and the Metroidvania genre is the perfect venue for the developers to implore the player to absorb the full extent of the game’s artistic achievements.

As par for the course, the narrative of a fantasy tale needs to be opulent to accommodate the realm. The eponymous Ori is a luminescent, simian/feline forest nymph adopted by the fuzzy, rotund Naru, who resembles a bear if a bear had an unnaturally friendly demeanor and wore a mask. A booming omniscient narrator details these two's simple, happy life in a montage consisting of picking berries, cuddly cat naps, and Naru flinging Ori up and down like an infant child. The opening sequence of the game is reminiscent of the beginning of the acclaimed Pixar film Up, a highlight reel that condenses the storied relationship between two people over a lengthy period. Also, like Up, the sequence ends in tragedy as Ori returns from her daily berry retrieval to find that her wooly guardian has died. Naru’s death was a premature occurrence as the forest they reside in is in a destitute state of decay and it's the dearth of natural resources had caused it to die of starvation. The feeble Ori is alone and helpless, passing out from exhaustion. Even though things look grim, Ori is resuscitated by the fabled Spirit Tree and is set on a quest to restore the prosperous state of the forest by collecting the three elements located on opposite corners of the land. Ori’s introduction wonderfully sets the scene by juxtaposing the humdrum happiness of life before the disastrous event and the severity of the situation Ori is left with afterward. If the opening was paced a little more languidly, the scene could’ve been as devastating to the player as the infamous opening sequence to the Pixar film that was previously mentioned.

Immediately, the player can easily see that Ori and the Blind Forest is a gorgeous game. No matter where Ori is on the map, the individual districts that makeup Nibel Forest are as immaculate as an impressionistic painting. Ori’s forest is a lush, splendorous wooded world whose beauty can be attributed to the meticulous effort of visual fidelity and detail from the developers. Each shot from every angle displays a lavish background that shows the scope of the setting, supporting its overwhelming magnificence. Even in more cramped spaces like caves where the outside world is obscured by walls of earth, the looping area is spacious enough to still retain that resplendent scope. Foreground settings are so intricate that the player can ascertain every wrinkle in the wood, every crag on a cliffside, and every buoyant bubble in the various bodies of water. Color and lighting choices are consistently lurid and never clash with Ori’s bright, white presence, so the player never has trouble seeing her. Impressive as the visuals might be superficial, what interests me more is how the game uses its presentation to convey mood. As early as the menu screen, The Spirit Tree, the zenith point of the entire forest, is used as a visual refrain throughout the game, a point of reference for scoping out the breadth of the forest and the land’s state of being. The game’s menu presents the widened scope of the mystical tree with the looming mountain tops in the background supported by the aura of a tangerine-colored sunset, a scene suitable for the subject of a work from Degas. Once the player pushes start, the shift of tranquil end of the day turns to a frightening, blustery night that illustrates Naru’s adoption of little Ori as a valiant rescue mission. The joyous comradery between Ori and Naru during their time together is illustrated by a clear, sunny afternoon atmosphere. Naru’s death scene is blanketed by a sheet of blue melancholy. The opening sequence exudes a strong enough impression with its color choices that, for the rest of the game, any scene or environment that faintly shares the same shade triggers a particular emotion in the player.

The game’s eye-catching visuals are enough to entice the player to explore every crevice of the map. Still, the inherent design of a Metroidvania game will foster this anyways, especially if it's a selling point for fans of the genre. Ori’s world is separated into various districts like most Metroidvania titles, and each of these areas has a myriad of distinguishable topographical features. The starting point of the Sunken Glades is a depleted mire that I would describe as dismal if not for the striking purple aura surrounding it. Ascending from the Glades to the grand peak where the Spirit Tree lies is the Spirit Caverns, and a change in elevation marked by steeper terrain and brighter sunlight signals a steady rate of progression. The Moon Grotto is beautifully illuminated by the sparse sunlight that seeps through its sheet of thick foliage, and the Thornfelt Swamp houses a voluminous pool of water so clear that the player would be tempted to drink it (I still wouldn’t). The pea-soup fog surrounding the Misty Woods is thick enough to obscure it on the map, leaving the player to their own devices to navigate this oddity of an area. Forlorn Ruins in the icy mountains is a marriage of the primitive and the futuristic, with anti-gravity platforms serving as a unique gimmick. The two previously mentioned districts show the player that they offer more than video game eye candy. The extended optional areas of Black Root Burrows and Lost Grove are highlights due to their particular inclusion. The Burrows can be accessed even before Ori stands before the Spirit Tree, but the absolute jet-black darkness of the area should give the player the impression that they should be visited at a later date, a tried and true mark of Metroidvania-level progression. Once the player is ready to blindly lead Ori into the darkness, the challenge of liminal sight pays off with the breathtaking beach shore of the Lost Grove at a dead end. The progression of this optional area reminds me of the connection path of The Great Hollow leading into Ash Lake from the first Dark Souls. Their inclusion wasn’t entirely necessary, but the additional venture paid off wonderfully with what seemed like an astounding secret. Nibel Forest is as eclectic as it is attractive, so much so that the developers decided it would be practical to have the player stand in awe of its full glory when they zoom out on the map screen. I think seeing the entirety of the map would be more practical, considering how vast the world is.

As captivating as Nibel Forest is, it’s still the grounds of a hostile wilderness. After the opening cutscene, the primary source of initial conflict is how poor little Ori will survive the uncaring forest elements without Naru's burly, loving arms to protect her. Fortunately for Ori, the game conveniently provides Sein as her new guardian to accompany her on her quest. Sein is a sentient light spirit assigned by the Spirit Tree who is so microscopic that its only discernible feature is its glow like someone is poorly aiming a laser pointer over Ori’s shoulders for the entire game. Sein is the minimal guide and the voice for the mute protagonist. By this description, everyone who played Ocarina of Time and still suffers from Navi PTSD just clicked off this review in a rush. Fear not, for unlike Navi, Sein is a functional tool imperative to Ori’s gameplay. Sein acts as the game’s combat mechanic by spurting blasts of spirit energy at enemies. These bursts can either be administered in rapid-fire spurts or by holding down the ball of energy to engorge Sein and release it as a stronger, loud blast.



One would think that Ori would be doomed as a tasty snack without Sein, but the cute, cherubic creature is capable of more than someone would initially think. Ori’s prime strength is her nimble dexterity. Platformer characters' controls should feel polished, given the accuracy needed to perform acts such as jumping onto platforms, and Ori is so smooth that it seems like her glow is due to being slathered in butter. Most of her full potential is subdued at first because of the cumulative nature of the Metroidvania title, but plenty of her growing pains still show promise. Before climbing up surfaces and other inclines, she can scale up them simply by jumping at a rhythmic pace, which achieves the same effect. She can jump a total of three times at her maximum level, but the single jump ability at the start is breezy enough for a fair range with effortless accuracy. Abilities such as the bash can launch the projectiles from enemies back at them for severe damage, and the ground pound shakes off enemies' defenses and shatters vulnerable openings. Ori still probably can’t fend for herself entirely without Sein, but at least her own offensive moves do enough to diversify the combat. Ori’s extra abilities are unlocked via Ancestral Trees: glowing miniature trees located across the map that grant Ori a different ability with a stream of cleansing water and light. Experience points are earned by defeating enemies and collecting orbs, and the player uses these points to upgrade Ori’s abilities in three separate chains. Unlike Dark Souls, the player doesn’t have to commit to one category as they’ll most likely earn enough experience throughout the game to maximize Ori’s well-roundedness. The game does its duty as a Metroidvania title by making Ori feel impervious by the end of the game, and it’s relieving that Ori is already competent enough at the start.

However, competency isn’t enough to overcome the obstacles presented in Nibel Forest. Even for a Metroidvania title, Ori and the Blind Forest has a strange difficulty curve. Checkpoints earned through achievement in any other game are manually used by the player at any time as long as they have enough energy and are in a spot without any danger in their direct vicinity. The checkpoint is represented by the Spirit Flame, a fiery blue figment that serves as a reference point. Checkpoint wells where the player can warp are also present, but most likely, the player will use the Spirit Flame more often because of its convenience. However, the player always has to remind themselves to save often because one deadly mistake can reverse the player’s progress back to god knows how long. Multiple collectibles have been lost due to not keeping track of saving, which isn’t a concern in most other games. Puzzles in the game are relatively straightforward, but the true tests in proficiency revolve around the player’s skill with Ori’s abilities. Prickly vegetation is an obstacle seen as a dangerous obstacle that depletes Ori’s health, appropriate for a woodland setting. More artificial inhibitors, like the influx of lasers seen around the map, will kill Ori on contact, and both are implemented everywhere. The game also seems to enjoy implementing sections where the player has to endure a series of gymnastics without the privilege of saving at every step as the climax for each element is obtained. Not only do they present blasts of energy and thorns galore, but there is always a special aspect of strain that Ori must race over, like the rising water in the Ginso Tree and the erosion of the Sorrow’s Pass. During these sections, the player must use a combination of the bash, dash, and Kuro’s feather with split precision to escape with Ori intact. For a game where the player can save whenever they please, it still forces the player to prove their might.

The environment will most likely be the only substantial hurdle in the game because the enemies can be brushed off. Usually, the most disconcerting aspect of being in the woods is a frightful encounter with the untamed wildlife, but the creatures that reside in Nibel Forest barely have a vicious bone in their bodies. Creatures like the sluggish (no pun intended) crawlers remind me of similar enemies from Metroid, docile cannon fodder usually engaged with for repleting ammo. Hoppers and Darkwings will attack Ori dead-on, but their jumping trajectory is too obvious, leaving themselves vulnerable for too long. Dealing with Spitters is a matter of bashing their constant spit streams, and the other projectile-spewing enemies like Mortar Worms and Arachne feel more like a part of a platforming section rather than a standard enemy. In fact, the only instances where the enemies in the game are a pain to deal with is if they are placed inconveniently in a tight platforming section. Also, the game is lacking in area-specific creatures that fit a specific climate. Does it make sense that Hoppers can live in both the Forlorn Ruins' frigid peaks and the humid Thornfelt Swamp? I think the lackluster roster of enemies is the reason why Ori and the Blind Forest don’t have any boss battles. However, Kuro the Bird is almost imposing enough in the scheme of the narrative to compensate. Kuro is a colossal owl (or perhaps colossal on the small scale of the forest) whose shadowy, deep indigo coloring and giant stature make her utterly terrifying. On top of that, she’s also got malicious intent behind those unnaturally white-hot eyes as she stalks Ori with a vengeance, as her perusal is the subject of many frantic escape sequences. Sein believes that Koru is just a blind, malevolent force, but we learn that her true motive for hunting Ori is because the Spirit Tree killed three out of four of her children during the process of finding Ori in the introduction. Once we learn this, Koru’s intentions are understood, and we give her some leeway with her will to keep the last remaining of her eggs out of harm's way. The sympathetic villain trope is prevalent in Ori and the Blind Forest, as the same can be applied to the gangly, mischievous Gumo, who inconveniences Ori with his tomfoolery because he’s profoundly lonely due to his entire kind being wiped out.

As much as I can appreciate the angle at which the game approaches its villains, I still wanted just one boss fight to satiate my gaming needs. Unfortunately, even in the climax, the game still leaves me unsatisfied. After retrieving the three elements, Ori ascends past the peak of Hollow Grove to Mount Horu. This volcanic ruin screams “final level” from its harrowing summit, with safe ground sparsely placed amongst lava constantly spurting like an everflowing stream. Individual rooms of the ruins offer some of the steepest, puzzling challenges that put all of Ori’s skills to work with only marginal room for error. After draining the lava and reaching the apex point, Koru confronts Ori again, and it’s yet another chase sequence. It’s certainly the tensest and longest of these various sections, but I wish Ori had fought back and made Sein create a wrecking ball-sized orb of energy and blasted it in Kuro's face. As it is, Ori evades the dark bird’s clutches and restores the sacred elements to the Spirit Tree, restoring balance to Nibel Forest and disintegrating Koru with a revitalizing supernova of light. The defeat of the game’s main antagonist is always a satisfactory wrapping point for any fantasy narrative. Still, Ori and the Blind Forest decide to cap off Ori’s grand adventure with a cop-out. Apparently, the restorative energy released by the Spirit Tree resurrected Naru, and Naru, Gumo, and Ori will raise Kuro’s surviving egg as their own. As sweet as some might find this ending to be, it compromises on the emotional weight that served as an effective catalyst when the game began. As a result, the impact of Naru’s death is negated entirely. Ori caring for the creature incubating in the egg herself would’ve been a better resolution. Doing so would’ve illustrated her growth throughout the journey, for once she needed to be protected, and now she’s fulfilling the parental role. For a title whose gameplay emphasizes aggregate character growth, the ending sullies it with a stark regression.

Ori and the Blind Forest is a game that sufficiently exudes all of the awe-inspiring wonders one would associate with its title. Every frame of the game’s arboreal world could be framed and displayed in the Louvre. The exploration initiative found in the Metroidvania genre incentivizes the player to uncover every beautiful inch of it. All the while, the picturesque setting houses a splendidly diverse and challenging environment with one of the most agile and precious video game protagonists to ever hop across a series of platforms. While Ori and the Blind Forest succeeds in offering a solid Metroidvania experience with flying colors, some aspects of the game feel as if the developers were a bit hesitant. I can’t say if they dialed back the combat and narrative weight to appeal to a younger, more impressionable demographic or if the lighthearted fantasy world they created didn’t foster bleak tones or bloody battles. I wholeheartedly disagree if it’s the latter, as they would’ve enhanced the player’s immersion, or at least they would’ve enhanced mine.