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Gorgeous Metroidvania-Platformer set in a colourful Disney like world. I remember having a strong interest in Ori and the Blind Forest in the lead up to its release in 2015.
As an Xbox exclusive, it passed me by until it was surprisingly ported to the switch a few years back. Recently, I finally gave the acclaimed Metroidvania a chance, given its often lauded as one of the best of the genre. Does it deserve such praise, or is it overshadowed by the likes of Metroid, Castlevania and Hollow Knight?
Owl’s About That
Despite cutscenes not containing voiced dialogue, on screen text during cutscenes and gameplay tells an intriguing story. Ori, a young guardian spirit, witnesses the decline of their forest home and other tragic events. These play out similar to the first twenty, childhood ending, minutes of certain Disney Pixar movies. Guided by another spirit, they embark to restore the Spirit Tree, and thus the entire forest.
Soon after, they are pursued by a gigantic owl, Kuro, who’s vendetta against Ori is told in an equally gut punching cutscene. Kuro, relentlessly chases Ori throughout their adventure, usually as a ‘boss escape’ type sequence. These function as a way of testing your use of recently acquired skills all at once.
Key traversal skills such as a ground pound and glide are unlocked through story progression. Optional skills such as faster attacks and underwater breathing, as well as improving the map, are tied to a skill tree. Skill points are either hidden in the overworld, or gained by defeating enemies.
Tree Hugger
Two elements in Ori and The Blind Forest, set Ori apart from its influences. The most immediate is the art style, which is truly unique. To equate it to anything, it has the warm glow and fluidity of a Disney Pixar film. The setting, character design and plot also evoke a westernised Studio Ghibli vibe, for me anyway. Ori’s pudgy companion Naru gives off some seriously cuddly, Baymax from Big Hero 6 vibes.
The glow of bioluminescent plants and enemies illuminates nearby surfaces, highlighting objects of interest and danger. Irritatingly, various spiky surface are not as well telegraphed and did lead to many accidental deaths.
As a Metroidvania, the main tenets of the game are traversing and backtracking across a 2D landscape, and combatting enemies in real time on this same plane. More so than its peers, Ori puts a greater emphasis on platforming and stringing together actions into seamless traversal. This is the second element that sets the game apart from its contemporaries for me.
At the beginning of the game your movement options are limited. Within a few hours you will be wall jumping, ricocheting and gliding through increasingly challenging terrains. Ori’s most unique ability is the ability to bounce off of an enemy’s projectile. This enables them to reach higher ground, deflect back to cause damage, or destroy walls to access additional areas.
Time is slowed when performing this action, allowing you to choose which direction to send Ori, who always travels directly away from the projectile. This element separates Ori from other Metroidvanias, with levels feeling much more expansive, contrasting the claustrophobia of Metroid titles especially.
Hardwood
The difficulty curve does shoot up quite rapidly and a few segments saw me getting quite frustrated. For example, despite many 2D platformers incorporating gravity switching mechanics, it took me a while to get my head around how to use changing gravitational momentum to navigate lava covered platforms in one aggravating segment. I would want to float down in one direction but go in an unexpected one instead.
The aforementioned escape sequences also raise the difficulty sharply. Whilst infrequent, and restarting attempts are quick, the final one did take me upwards of 20 attempts to complete. Despite clear telegraphing throughout the game, in these frantic moments, it can be difficult to know what to do, even upon multiple deaths. They do however exhilarating and exciting to play thanks to their musical scores and fast pace.
Even some generic sections can be difficult if you find yourself between enemy heavy checkpoints without much health or stamina. If you choose to allocate skill points to the combat skill tree, enemy encounters are made more manageable, but never completely safe. Likewise, other skills allow you to heal when placing a checkpoint, circumventing some difficult areas. This ability to place a checkpoint wherever you wish also differentiates the game, adding further strategy to exploration and traversal.
Leave It Out
The game’s skill tree is indicative of my main minor issue with it, which is the absence of motivation to explore. A genre staple, secret areas and diverting off of the main path do lead to skill points and health/stamina upgrades. These are complementary to progression, via powering up Ori’s attacks and helping them last longer in battle… but only up to a point.
I finished the game with all three skill trees roughly half completed, and plenty of empty health and stamina slots. Granted, these could have perhaps reduced the difficulty in some scenarios, though most deaths were due to platforming errors. In earlier Metroid games, exploration rewards were also largely minor upgrades, but Blasphemous and Hollow Knight, for example, now reward exploration much better, through unique skills and buffs, offering more customisation.
Once the credits had rolled, I had no desire to delve back in. The map didn’t entice me with any new post-game areas, from what I could tell.
Final Thoughts
Whilst it may sound like the difficulty and changes to the formulas mean that I dislike Ori and The Blind Forest, I really don’t.
Whilst I don’t think it sits at the top of the genre, it’s still a great game, whilst it lasts. I was taken aback at how quickly I reached the credits, despite the difficulty, but the roughly 10 hour experience was largely enjoyable. So much so that I can’t wait to try out the sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps. The flow of movement, art direction and checkpoint system set Ori’s first game apart from other entries in the genre.