Ori and the Blind Forest

By: Robert Murphy

Ori and the Blind Forest plunges you into a world of deep color and design right from the get go. It's styling was something that immediately caught my eye when I saw the very first screenshots for the title back in 2014 and I eagerly awaited it's release. Players take on the role of Ori, a tiny spiritual being who during a terrible storm is separated from her home and ends up in the hands of a friendly being named Naru, you're far from home and lost in this immense forest world but safe with your new friend and foster parent. Of course, a game like this is bound to hit you with the feels even after you have been separated from your home, the forest you live in starts to die. Food runs low and in a last stitch effort, your new adoptive mother gives her last to save your life. Now you set out to find out what happened to the forest, to find out where you come from and hopefully make things right for your world again.

Saving the world would be a big task for anyone but I would think it would be especially hard for little Ori. In this massive world, you appear to be so small by comparison to everything around you, trees tower over you and even walking through the dark and eerie forest looks like a daunting task. The game is a 2D platformer but creates a spectacular 3D effect by layering different levels of the world together, one point you could be walking along and have vines appear in the foreground with creatures walking around on them while little Ori runs along in the background. It's a wonderful effect to the gameplay that makes things not feel so flat on the screen. Add to this the fact that the world of Ori is just so darn pretty to look at, everything on screen pops with a delightful array of colors and design. At first though you may not see what I am talking about due to the forest being dark and miserable as it slowly starts to die. But, as you progress in the story you will be bringing back three key elements to the nature of the world, after I returned the water to it's natural clear state for instance, the forest sprang to life. The water and all the woods became bright and colorful and it will leave a lasting impression with you. 

As you progress in the game, you will face many different puzzles and challenges. Ori plays a lot like Guacamelee where you won't be able to access different areas of the map without a certain skill or ability. Ori will come across random tree like statues throughout the story, these were beings just like you who have now passed on. Approaching these statues gives you a new skill that that being was particularly skillful at such as wall climbing, double jumping, ground pounding and many others. My particular favorite was the interesting dash move, this ability can be activated when you're near an enemy projectile or any enemy and allows you to slingshot that particular object and propel yourself forward. This comes in handy with some of the more difficult climbing challenges or reaching areas you couldn't before. You can also direct yourself wherever you choose, an arrow prompt shows you which way you will be going and you can even send enemies attacks back at them with it. It's a deadly move and after I received the ability I was soaring around the screen like a bat out of hell and chaining it together with all my other abilities.

As for the combat, things are fairly straight forward. The first being you come into contact with is a little fairy type ball that made me cringe at first due to it's resemblance to another, more annoying little ball creature from the Zelda series. It does pop in to talk every so often but it has relevant things to say and won't pester you with pointless information. The creature is also your main source of attack throughout the story, it will fire itself toward enemies like a barrage of tiny missiles and take down most of the games simple enemies. It can also be upgraded, along with Ori's other abilities, through skill orbs and energy taken from defeated enemies. Upgrading is straight forward and gives you great little perks such as a triple jump or the ability to breathe underwater which comes in handy. 

Just make sure you're careful with these abilities and follow the path you're set on. It doesn't happen entirely too often but you can end up sending Ori to a place that she was not meant to go yet on the map. There are all sorts of different paths and avenues to follow in the story and you really are not set on any particular one or restricted to go a certain way once you start opening up the map. This is because there are puzzle you may have come across that you couldn't do at the time and need to back track and due later on. It's something that I've loved to do in video games before, finding that secret path I couldn't find earlier or getting through a tricky puzzle with my new abilities. It's a kind of "screw you" mentality where you can be smug about how you can now beat anything the game has in store for you. But, as I said, just be careful because I found myself entering an area I wasn't ready for yet and had to turn around. You will be able to pick up on the difficulty of a particular zone and turn around in this case most likely though.

Perhaps the most interesting feature for Ori and the Blind Forest is it's saving function. I mentioned earlier that you receive skill orbs from defeated enemies, well you also receive a blue energy source that you use for saving your game and a few other aspect. Any safe location that you will find yourself in can be used as a save point, you can save before a difficult puzzle and do it over and over again till you get it right. I thought this was a wonderful feature as it skips over pointless cut scenes or infuriating save points that set you insanely far back that I've come across in puzzle games before. It is a double edged sword though as you must remember to save often to avoid dying and being sent so far back that you want to throw your controller. This happened to me on a few occasions where I was too cocky and ended up dying, not remembering where my last save file was. There are moments where the game does save itself too, mainly after completing story events but you will hopefully not rely on this. Also, you have to replenish and recharge your blue meter in order to save so watch out for how you use it or you will end up in hot water. 

All in all, Ori and the Blind Forest takes the platforming style and makes it fun again with it's beautiful design layout, story and abilities. I never would have expected this charming game to end up being so difficult at points but I hardly had time to notice with the pleasant music and environments moving me along. It did not stop me from raging from time to time over the fact that I didn't save but that was my own fault ultimately and I can't fault the game for my lack of saving. With so many spectacular features to it, the game is definitely a must for any platforming fan to try out.

Good:

- A wonderful story

- Huge and beautiful worlds to explore

- Abilities are all fun and make you wonder what the next will bring

Bad:

- Some very difficult dungeons

Scully Rating: 8.9 out of 10