Ori and the Blind Forest was released 11 March 2015 on Xbox One and Microsoft Windows and within a week it had gained a profit, deservedly. It then released on Nintendo Switch on 27 September 2019. This is a 2-D metroidvania platformer, which for those of us that don’t speak ‘gamer’ means that it is a side scrolling game with a non-linear map to explore top to bottom, side to side. More bits of the map unlock as the game goes on and Ori, our protagonist and alter ego for the game, unlocks new skills to move around the world. It was developed by Moon Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. This game has a beautifully woven story around it that is said to be inspired by the Iron Giant and The Lion King, so get those tissues out.
You play as Ori, a little white guardian spirit with enough spirit to go on a quest to restore the forest after a cataclysmic event leaves it withering and dying. There are platforms to navigate and puzzles to be solved, and the game uses an interesting manual save system which they call a ‘soul link’. Ori needs enough resources to create a soul link and that along with some nasty monsters and prickly plants creates challenging but rewarding gameplay. As my boyfriend reports, this game is no walk in the park, even though its visuals are a cosmically captivating cascade of bright glowing plants and soft, starry nights. The soundtrack is immersive, appropriate, and a treasure for the ears to behold. It reminds one how important audio is to a game, and Ori and the Blind Forest certainly knows how to create an atmosphere with the audio. The composer of this masterpiece, Gareth Coker, also provided some music for Minecraft, you may have heard of it, as well as several other smaller games.
This game was reviewed very well and to prove it, it has a nice shiny ‘overwhelmingly positive’ tag on its Steam store page. It was also given a score of 90% from Metacritic and 87% from PC Gamer. Trusted Reviews gave them a 4 out of 5, saying that their only cons were a bit of slowdown here and there and that some of the dangerously spiky plants were just too spiky. They suggested that some areas were a little too challenging, and I think that’s no overstatement. After seeing some of the gameplay I can say I would be a little frustrated myself, as I think all gamers might feel in this difficult game. Despite this, Trusted Reviews still says that this is a small price to pay for the splendour of the Ori and his forest.
Fans of the game can get excited because a sequel has just been released called Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It was released on 11 March 2020 for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows, and already has had very positive reviews. The visuals have been beautifully remodelled into 3-D, making backgrounds and foregrounds as fantastic as they can be with modern animation, and the music is a continuation of Gareth Coker’s masterpiece of a soundtrack.
Ori and the Blind Forest set a new standard for 2-D metroidvania games, and a challenge for other game developers. A challenge to catch up that’s about as difficult as those really spiky plants.
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