What to Play: Ori and the Blind Forest

by The Opaque Senator, GGR Contributor

Greetings one and all! The Opaque Senator returns for a look at 2015's Ori and the Blind Forest. Haven't done a video game article in a bit, but I've been working on several games all at once so hopefully I'll have a few out to you guys in succession. This is one I've had on back log for awhile. It was one of those games I bought, jumped into and fell in love with, but life and other things kept me from playing a ton and it fell by the wayside for awhile.

You see, for a long time now I have been a social gamer. For years when I picked up a game, it was typically because it was something truly nostalgic (Kingdom Hearts 3, Megaman 11) or something I could join friends in (Starcraft 2, League of Legends, WoW). It had actually been quite awhile since I had played a game not in one of those two categories.

Then came a recommendation from my brother. We have difficulty finding games we both like, but he and his friend were heavily into Dark Souls 3. I picked it up and created a character (Emiya, which if you know that reference, you can guess what build and style of character I chose for him, haha). It got my gears grinding for more games styled of old.

Then came the announcement of Ori and the Will of the Wisps; the sequel to the game I'm talking about today. The reviews it was garnering were ridiculous (all the reviews were 4/5, 9.5/10, etc etc.). Then COVID 19 happened. The stars aligned and the time was now to get through my backlog of games, and Ori had to be where I started.

Why did I buy this game initially? It started with one thing; the soundtrack. As I've mentioned in other articles, I was moved by the soundtrack to the PS3 game Journey. While working on some stuff one night, on a random playlist, Ori's soundtrack followed it one time. Where Journey's soundtrack felt isolating, immense, hopeful but melancholic and empty, Ori and the Blind Forest's soundtrack was full of mystery, depth, loneliness, but also intense, driving moments. I had to play the game that contained this music (YouTube link below to listen to the full soundtrack, truly do it. It is beautiful).

So now I've finished it. I've played through the game after all of these years. How was it really? Well, I just picked up Will of the Wisps, if that is any indication. Haha! This game moved me. It begins with a narrator and beautiful visuals giving us the gist of what's going on. Though there is a narrator, the game relies heavily on visual storytelling. I've shown several people the beginning of this game, and let me tell you, most of them cried. It's heartbreaking, but effective in reeling you into what is happening. I'll save the recap for the end of the article so those of you interested in playing spoiler free have an avenue for that. Then the real game play gets going.

The style is that of a Metroidvania. For those unaware, Metroidvania is a common combination of the classic Metroid series and Castlevania series of games, where you are a character in a platformer navigating complex maps of varying areas, with the goal of completing a story of course, but also finding additional power ups to become more and more capable as a player, and a set up filled with areas you can/will have to back track to when you have said new abilities to reach areas earlier in the game you could not.

Ori follows in those games' footsteps. To start, you can't do much, but quickly learn the ability of the spirit flame (a means to attack enemies) and a wall jump to climb to higher areas. This opens up more places to go, and this type of pattern continues as you gain more and more abilities, such as a ground pound. The abilities of this game complement the map well, and get extremely creative with the addition of the skill “Bash.” This move puts you almost into a type of Matrix style “bullet-time” where things basically freeze in place and Ori can use a projectile or enemy to bash off of and gain new heights. This creates a game play format like I've not experienced before.

It makes the action fun, frenetic, exciting, and drives me to keep working for the next phase of the game and the next challenge. The game also does brilliantly in helping a player understand how to use these abilities; even the ones that are more complex. In one of the first major “dungeon” areas of the game, a place called the Ginso Tree where you first obtain this ability, the tree area starts with you completing some more complex platforming  and warp spots to get there. Then after receiving “Bash,” it gives you an easy section or two to get used to the move. Then you work your way to how you can use this for Ori's benefit to gain new heights, then how it can redirect projectiles, then how you can do both of these things in rapid succession warping a projectile's path several times by using “bash” to redirect it, then to get ahead of it, then to redirect it again, until it hits the intended target and unlocks the next section.

Once you complete the main task of the dungeon, there's a rapid escape as is customary in most Metroidvania style games, where you need to combine all of your now known and practiced abilities in a timed section to get out before the tree floods and kills you. But don't worry, this game is similar to Super Meat Boy in that if you do die (and I promise you will, I had 394 deaths in my first run) you start immediately where you left off in that event. Along the way in the game there are save areas but as long as you have a bit of mana, you can save basically any time.

My favorite area was the “Home of the Gumon,” an ice style dungeon with interesting yet challenging puzzle dynamics, an important story section in the game that also proves to be sad, but uplifting later, and just the most beautiful piece to accompany it...

What a delightful game. As I mentioned at the beginning, I cannot wait to play its sequel. The game is available still on Steam, where I played it, as well as the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One. If you like platform adventures at all, even if your not into Metroidvanias, I would recommend making an exception for this title. You will not be disappointed.

Thanks everyone for reading along! I now have Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Bloodstained; Ritual of the Night, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice all in the future for me for gaming, plus who knows what else out there on the docket. In this rather opaque world, I hope this part is now more clear. Until next time!