Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition

I've played Ori on Switch but I'm sure it's great on every platform. There is so much love in this outstanding 2D platformer: Meaningful story, beautyful rich detailed GFX, very fitting sound. The developers of ORI want you to progess. Well, there are some key paths where it's tricky and partially hard (normal mode). In such a case you can (temporarily) reduce the difficulty level to pass such key positions. With every new ability you see the game and some areas with a new perspective. With those it makes sense to return some areas in order to reach previously unreachable levels. The controls are smooth and fair in every way. If you fail it was you not the game. All over a very well designed 2D platformer with some new features and some tricky riddles. For full or reduced price: You will miss something in your gamer life if you haven't played Ori.

From start to finish, it's an immersive game with its music and graphics. The story will grip you and perhaps awaken some emotions with its bitter sweet ending. It can be very frustrating on harder difficulties, especially if you want to unlock the achievements (XBOX One version). But in the end, it's a must for every platformer enthusiast.

I played this amazing game with my daughter when it was first released, although she was far too young to control Ori she constantly asked to see more of the game. Such is the attachment she had with the game, it's story and it's characters. The gameplay is superb. I understand lots of people complained about the difficulty but if a game isn't challenging then it's at risk of being boring and repetitive, who Ori is definitely not. One of our favourite games, with one of the best sound tracks of any game ever. Currently working through it's sequel.

This game is truly a masterpiece when it comes to visuals and story. The game part is a bit weaker though, since this game is very difficult, especially towards the end. To the point that the player's frequent deaths are distracting. Took me a bit over 8 hours and exactly 362 deaths to see the outro.

I hate narrators. They ruined Bastion and Aquaria for me and it certainly didn't help Ori. This Deku Tree wannabe will excruciatingly exposit every detail that's happening on screen. Stop dictating to me how i'm supposed to feel. Had the game taken a silent approach like Limbo or Botanicula it would have been far more effective. I realize that my dislike for narration is a very personal nitpick. What is not a nitpick is the game trying deperately to be a tearjerker from its very start and failing miserably at it. I simply didn't care for the story. It's the old light VS dark creatures setup who don't get along for...reasons. By the end it turns out that the owl antagonist had a grudge against the light tree because its hatchlings were killed by it. How or why is not really clear. One minute the owlets are fine then a big flash happens and...dead. Maybe it's because darkness creatures react allergic to light but in that case i have to question why the owl built its nest RIGHT NEXT TO A TREE MADE OF FREAKING LIGHT. Stupid, stupid owl. With that all out of the way, how does the gameplay hold up? It's decent. The controls are a bit too loose for the precision platforming required. In more open environments though you get a good feeling of flow and speed, which is then promptly ruined by making you push blocks or carry orbs which heavily restricts your movement. Sigh. One interesting aspect is that there are no boss fights. Instead the game will give you a chase scene where you have to outrun rising water or lava. The detailed graphics are beautiful but also a detriment. Far too many particle effects on screen make it hard to discern your own attack from enemy projectiles, you're gonna get hit and not even notice. However, probably the best thing about Ori is that it let's you set your own save points almost anywhere any time. So dying becomes pretty much a non-issue. All in all Ori is a flawed but still worthwhile game. I give it a low recommendation.