Ori and the Blind forest is the best game I've played from 2015.
It's also the only game I've played from 2015 (So I guess it could also be the worst, but I'm a positive guy).
But with the game finished (and it locking me out from going back), I decided that I'd like to post my thoughts on the game. And I will apologize in advance because my thought process is a bit all over the place... so buckle up and say your prayers, 'cause we're going to Nibel!
Ori and the Blind Forest is a 2D Platform Adventure game. You may know the genre by a different name: the MetroidVania genre. A Metroidvania is described as a 2D game in which you use your platform and combat abilities to explore an open ended world and find power upgrades to further explore said world. Ori and the Blind Forest continues the proud tradition of following over classics such as Super Metroid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Guacamelee, and an ever growing amount of quality MetroidVanias that have been surfacing recently (Still want to have a go at Teslagrad and Axiom Verge). With the genre being one of my favorites in all of gaming, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I got my hands on Ori. For the record, I played the Xbox One version of the game.
Oh, and as a head's up, there might be some slight spoilers in my ramblings. I'll try to spoiler tag when I can.
The Beginning
Ori starts off with setting the story up, and it does an good job of doing so. The characters are introduced, Naru (the mother like figure to the protagonist) adopts Ori, we're given a glimpse of the world as it should be (awww!), things start go wrong, and Naru dies as the world around them dies as well. This is really the big emotional push in the game, and I'm fine with that. It gives the player something to jump off from going into the big world of Nibel. It gives you some investment in saving the world around you. I thought that was great! But I think that emotional punch could have been even more affective by using that time less as a pseudo-cinematic piece and more as a tutorial. The whole time during this sequence, movement and player interaction is diminished ensuring that Moon Studios could do what they want in establishing Ori and Naru's relationship. And that's fine, but they could have *also* treated that portion as a full fledged tutorial (inbetween these cinematic parts) to flesh out the time we have with the two characters. The more time we have to experience this beautiful and caring relationship, the harder it hits when that is ultimately taken away.
The Graphics
Before I begin talking about the game, I kinda want to talk about the aspect of this game that grabs you from the get go: the game's incredible art style. Boy, this game is really something to look at. That art house style is just exudes expert craftmanship and is a joy to play through. My only complaint is that the game's plot hinders how much the developers could push this beautiful world. Being that the forest is dying, we've shown... dying landscapes. It's effective in telling the story that the developers want to tell, but there's also snippets of areas are are truly beautiful, and give you a hunger for more vibrant and diverse locations. Instead, we're given a lot of corrupted looking landscapes. Very pretty corrupted landscapes, to be sure, but landscapes that leave you with a "what if" as you trek through them.
The Music
In the same vein, the game's musical score is effective as well. Listening to the opening theme, I had very high hopes for the rest of the soundtrack. If you haven't listened to it, I would advise you to do so. It really is a introspective and beautiful piece. Perfect for this sort of game. The rest of the soundtrack though, more or less goes into the atmospheric style of music, which is perfectly fine. All the musical pieces suit the area that you're in, and some can be truly haunting and meloncholic. But they're just there to serve the area you're in, and can't necessarily stand on their own. Still, there's a few tracks that deserve to be in your music player of choice, but they're by and large different takes on the main theme.
The Exploration and Movement
Back to the game, we find Ori in the middle of a sprawling world full of danger. Now, the goal of every MetroidVania is to explore. And that exploration is done though both movement/platforming and combat. Some games have a bigger focus on one part over the other. Guacamelee had a bigger combat focus, for example. Ori, on the other hand, has a bigger focus on movement as the method to explore the world around him. Combat is still a big factor in how you interact with the world, but the focus is definitely on Ori's acrobatic abilities. And Ori is definitely a spry fellow, with very quick and precise movements allowing him to traverse Nibel quickly and (seemingly) effortlessly. Such quick movement does take some getting used to, however, especially in situations that require almost flawless execution. Being so quick and so small, and having so much movement control while in the air, it can be easy to over/under shoot specific jumps. With such low health and only one jump at the beginning of the game, I was surprised at just how unforgiving the game was when it came to easing players into the game's mechanics (So many instant death traps...) . Although you do have the ability to create checkpoints at amost any part of the game, so it's less frustrating in that regard. An hour or so into the game, you do start to gain abilities that help support your movement, so interestingly enough the platforming becomes more forgiving the further you get into the game. I just want to say that the triple jump is a beautiful thing.
Ori also gains an ability that is very much unique to this game. Ori can "bounce" off of bad guys and their attacks. If you get close enough to an enemy or a projectile you can hold a button to freeze time and stick to that enemy. That's when you issue a direction. When you're finished (or time runs out), you fly off into the direction you were pointing at while the enemy or projectile flies off into the opposite direction. This can help in reaching previously uncreachable areas, avoiding enemy attack, hurting enemies with their projectiles, or getting objects to move so that you can complete a puzzle. The time slowdown is crucial, and when you string together these bounces it feels incredibly satisfying. So all in all Ori moves extraordinarily well, it's just that everything else wants to kill you with extreme prejudice.
The Combat
And just to go back and talk about Ori's combat, because it still needs to be talked about. The game's combat is very simple. Mash the button to shoot light beams. It looks pretty darn incredible, but unfortunately the combat system is very underwhelming. There's really no thought or nuance to the combat. Just get close and start mashing that button. Even additional combat abilities such as the butt stomp and the light explosion (I made these names up because I'm too lazy to look up the actual names) don't add much to combat strategy. Get in close, deal as much damage as you can, run away if still alive, repeat. it works, but it's nothing special.
The Ability Chart
I now want to talk about what I think is the game's most brilliant idea. Whenever you level up (through defeating enemies or finding secret areas), you can enter into a menu that charts three seperate ability charts. Each chart focuses on one aspect of any great metroidvania: Combat, Finding Secrets, and Special Abilities. The game gives you the choice on how to upgrade Ori. If you're someone who is all about the combat, then start putting your ability points into the Combat chart. Or maybe you're the type of person who enjoys getting that 100% and finding every secret (although I do have some bad news for you, but that's later), put your eggs in that basket. Or maybe you're someone who wants to upgrade Ori's unique abilites, like breathing underwater or even adding a triple jump (this was my focus)? Go for it! Or... you can do all three evenly... the choice is yours! I thought this was a brilliant addition to the MetroidVania genre, as it makes such perfect sense. Play the game how you want to play it. The choice is yours.
The Temples
Ori needs to find three sacred stone thingys to restory the spirit tree and bring back life to Nibel. These are found in the three temples. What these three enclosed areas offer are specific puzzle solving/platforming based on either the newest abilites you've earned or unique obstacles (gravity/fire/ice/etc.). That makes sense. Have Ori find new abilities and then test the player to see if they've mastered these abilities. For the most part I enjoyed these temples, especially the fire temple (where each room served as a different challenge to solve). However, the main issues I had with these games stem from the temples. Let's take a look.
First off. YOU CANNOT LOCK PLAYERS OUT OF AREAS IN A METROIDVANIA. Especially if there's collectables. It's just contrary to the whole point of this sort of genre. The point of a Metroidvania is exploration. So to purposely lock a player out of an area after you complete it is just poor game design. For many in this genre, you're finished not when you see the credits, but when you see that 100% by the save file. You've explored every area, found every collectable, and searched out all the secrets. So when you purposely lock a player out of an area, you're deriving them of actually completing the game. And no, the game autosaves once you (knowingly or unknowingly) reach the escape sequences. So there's no chance to load a previous save. That's it. You goofed. Try again.
So after you get to a certain point of the temple, the game autosaves and you find yourself in an escape sequence. As the game has a bigger focus on movement rather than combat, the game naturally foregoes combat style bosses and instead makes the enviornment one. Whether it be rising rapids, crumbling ruins, or a giant bird... each esacpe sequence gives you a limited time to avoid obstacles and reach the end. Unfortunately, all three sequences forego fun for frustration. Ori's already nuanced movement mixed with no-time-to-think enviornments equate to mistakes. Mistakes in escape sequences are met with instant death. Instant death means you go back to the beginning of the escape sequence. So you're stuck with finales based on trial-and-error and mastery through repitition. That isn't fun. That's frustrating. That goes against how you approach the rest of the game (survey your surroundings and then intelligently use Ori's movement to cross that speicific segment). And I have to say that it was a let down in how the 3rd escape sequence was the ending of the game. I was hoping that the third time was the charm, but I guess I was wrong.
Oh, and when you finish the game you see the credits and are then locked out from ever playing on that file ever again. Want to go back and just enjoy going through the world and find leftover collectables? Too bad. Start another game.
That left a bad taste in my mouth.
The Conclusion
There's a few other things I could talk about, such as how I wish save areas could warp you to other save areas (ala Casltevania), but those are really nitpicks in an otherwise great game. I've talked about the points I've wanted to talk about, and at the end of the day I'm very happy I played this game (clocked in at about 8.5 hours. Not bad for twenty bucks).
Ori and the Blind forest is a unique and distinct take on the MetroidVania genre, and adds to the genre that I hope other developers take notice of (especially the Ability Chart). While Ori takes new bold steps with the genre, it unfortunately stumbles when it comes to a few genre standards (again, you never lock out players from areas... or even the entire game. Learn from this Moon Studios). And while the game excells when it comes to how Ori nimbly flows through the world of Nibel, his combat could use a bit more to keep it engaging and not an afterthought.
All in all, Ori is a great game worth playing for all those who call themselves a Metroidvania fan. So I give this game...
8/10 (8 rhymes with Great! Which is what this game is!)
TLDR
Pros:
+Beautiful art style and wonderful animations!
+Music is stunning at points!
+Ori's movement is expressive, fluid, and fun!
+The ability chart lets you play how you want to play!
+The game, its world, and its story is simple yet effective!
Cons:
-Combat is uninspiring and eventually lackluster.
-Unforgiving difficulty, especially at the beginning.
-Escape sequences trade fun for frustration. In some cases extreme frustration.
-The game locks you out of areas to explore, and eventually locks you out of your file. (Don't enter the fire temple until you're ready to be done with the game!)
