I find that some of my best gaming experiences come from the titles I’m wrong about. When I was tasked with playing Ori and the Blind Forest from Moon Studios I was mostly indifferent. These days it’s hard for me to get excited for a platformer and a game that exudes as much influence from Studio Ghibli as this raises an immediate red flag. What I got is a game that completely exceeded and then thrashed my expectations. Ori is a gorgeous, gorgeous piece of work with tight, exciting mechanics that comes together to create one of the most complete and satisfying games I’ve played in a very long time.
Ori and the Blind Forest places you in the role of Ori. Ori is a child of the Spirit Tree, fallen from his father and raised by a gentle creature of the forest of Nibel, Naru. Ori enjoys a happy childhood in Naru’s care and the game begins impressively by conveying a lot of story with only a few words; indeed with the exception of a few pieces of narration from the Spirit Tree itself the rest of the cast is mostly silent. But in a few well-crafted, beautiful scenes we know all we need to set the scene for our protagonist’s adventure. The forest of Nibel has gone dark and as the life drains from it, Ori and Naru’s peaceful lives come into hardship, driving Ori out into the blind forest to heal a damaged world. I don’t want to give up too much of the story, as there isn’t a whole lot to it, but what’s there is surprisingly compelling. I kept coming back to the fact that without much exposition it tells a tale that was emotional and hopeful, and really quite enjoyable. My initial fear that the game would be far too saccharine were entirely unfounded; while the game does indulge is some sweet, Disney-esque moments, it also has a darker side that contrasts perfectly to give it a savory balance.
While there are so many good things I want to say about this game, first I have to give a nod to its incredibly beautiful graphics. This game is just amazing to look at. From the character animations, which are exceptionally fluid and expressive, the scenery which is wonderfully detailed and breathtaking, and to the art effects which add an additional layer of awe and wonder to the action. I may sound like I’m gushing, but the game looks absolutely stunning, and no matter how many times I found myself taken aback by how great it looks, it always seemed to have one more surprise up its sleeve, looking consistently more and more amazing right to the end.
Gameplay in Ori starts out simply, with only the ability to leap and shoot homing blasts of energy at nearby foes thanks to your spirit companion, Sein. As you defeat enemies or find power-ups scattered through the map Ori gains experience; once he accumulates enough points he can level up abilities, gaining more powerful attacks, damage resistance, map markers, etc. Ori also has the ability to create save points at the player’s discretion; this power uses a point of energy, and at the start of the game you’re don’t have a lot to spare. I was originally a little annoyed at this as the game has some difficult areas to clear and sometimes it felt like I could use some additional save points, but as the game proceeds you do get an abundance of energy to work with and the only hindrance was when I would forget to save my progress. The games limited number of automatic save points, and a few particularly difficult scenes where you can’t save at all are sure to frustrate most players at times, though death is usually a minor setback at most, keeping the pace of the game fast and relatively carefree as you progress.
As Ori progresses he will also encounter trees containing the spirits of the forest. Each of these spirits will imbue Ori with new abilities, like a double-jump or wall-climbing. These powers not only make it easier for Ori to navigate as you progress, it also unlocks previously inaccessible parts of the map. I usually find his style of backtracking gameplay to be kind of annoying, but here I actually felt that it hit a pretty perfect sweet spot. I felt like I got new powers at just the right pace to keep things interesting. And while the game map is big, it’s not so gigantic that receiving a new power meant I had to spend a lot of time moving backwards to get at places I couldn’t before. While you will unlock fairly standard platformer abilities, like the double-jump, Ori does learn a few unique tricks; one move has an airborne Ori lock on to enemies and projectiles, freezing time and allowing him to propel himself away, damaging foes and redirecting attacks. There are some great challenges in the game that require you to use this ability to cross large, open spaces without touching the ground, using only enemy projectiles to reach your destination.
In addition to the overall world map Ori also contains several additional levels which have to be unlocked to proceed. These areas generally contain some of the best action and puzzles of the game, throwing in some fun and unique mechanics to break up the normal gameplay. While I wouldn’t call the game a puzzler by any means, sometimes you will need to put some extra thought into how you proceed. I found that some parts actually required me to rack my brain a little bit to figure out how I could get across sections that appeared entirely impassable. Although sometimes I felt a little outmatched, the “Ah ha!” moments when you figure out how to do the seemingly impossible are extremely satisfying. These stages also end with escape scenes which are some of the most difficult and exciting in the whole game, forcing Ori to flee collapsing ruins, flooding corridors and great waves of lava in tense, unforgiving action sequences which are truly stunning to look at and incredibly satisfying to complete (Though you may throw your hands up in frustration once or twice before you do).
The game isn’t entirely perfect, but its flaws are minor and largely forgivable. At times the difficulty can be a little uneven: while most of the time you can traverse through the world loosely, and the occasional bit of damage won’t cause you much setback, some sections can actually be painfully unforgiving, with little healing and lots of perils. As the game has unlimited lives and plays exceptionally tight you can work your way through just about anything with enough tries, but I did find myself getting a little frustrated when I repeated the same area over and over. Another minor gripe is the amount of effects on screen, while gorgeous, could occasionally make it harder to play. Namely, Ori’s spirit flame attack produces quite a bit of light, which looks great, but often covers up enemy projectiles so completely that you have no idea what’s coming at you. This reduced a lot of my strategy to “run up, fire a blast and run away until the monster dies”. Again, these are small grievances in a game that I would say is largely perfect, and the few minor flaws are easily overshadowed.
As I said, I went into Ori and the Blind Forest with largely neutral expectations, and even for that I feel grossly mistaken. A game like this is a true experience, masterfully designed and executed from beginning to end. It is exceptionally exciting and enjoyable, fun and touching and just so goddamn nice to look at. I got about 14 hours for one playthrough (Practically, it was probably a bit less minus some sections where I died endlessly) and for the $19.99 price tag I consider every minute to be a value. This is one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had in a long time and I would recommend it heartily to just about everyone.
