![]() ![]() However, I enjoy fair difficulty, not difficulty based on learning in advance where the obstacle comes from so I know where to stir before it’s even on the screen. I am not one to complain about difficulty, those that know me are fully aware that I am a masochist when it comes to difficult platformers. Finally, reaching the ending of some areas triggers an escape sequence in which the player has to quickly reach an exit and survive a ton of obstacles without checkpoints. Even worse, walking on ceilings suddenly meant that if you moved to the right the character would move to the left and vice versa, and it can be very very very confusing. A level with burning platforms? You have to carry a little protection with you, which restricts your movement abilities. A level in the dark? You have to carry a little light with you, which restricts your movement abilities. ![]() The following levels did not really have new movement abilities to throw at you, so they started to twist the challenge in unwanted directions. I would say that until half-way or three-fourths, Ori was pure undistilled platforming pleasure. The brilliance of this is that from then on, the player can bait enemies to shoot in a certain direction so they can provide an incredibly useful step to jump higher and reach a new area. When in range, time slows down to give the player just enough time to aim the dash in any direction. The one originality is the ability to dash from projectiles and enemies. ![]() Those familiar with platformers will find the usual toolset here, with wall climbing, double jumps, and stomps. Ori responds magnificently to every command, there is a lot of great platforming with good level design and new abilities regularly come to boost the movement set and increase the pleasure. The movements are instantly a pure joy right from the beginning of the game. In any case, it means that the focus of Ori is rather on movements than on fights, which is sort of the opposite of Hollow Knight. #Ori the blind forest dash upgrade#Ability points allow to upgrade this fighting system, but I never found it necessary. It feels a bit strange at first, but then it becomes natural and does not necessarily mean that the fights are easy. It constantly hovers around Ori, and at the press of a button, it sends electric arcs towards enemies in range. Ori does not wield a sword or maul enemies, there is a little spirit that does the fighting for us. I should start by mentioning the fighting system. That rampaging owl had a very compelling reason to become the antagonist and steal the light that our hero Ori is tasked to recover… My only gripe was with the Tree’s narration, a sort of unintelligible mumbling that I found particularly irritating. I did not find Ori’s story very engaging (it’s on me, it takes a lot for the story of a video game to catch my interest), but it was well presented with beautifully animated cutscenes and there was, surprisingly, a lot of sadness at every corner. Which is not exactly difficult, since stories are usually nothing more than serviceable. The story is perhaps a strong point in favor of O ri relative to its Metroidvania competitors. Yes, sure, they represent corruption, but they lack character and they are not visually pleasing or interesting. Most enemies are shapeless blobs with a few spikes here and there. ![]() And if we look at the enemies on display, then it’s abysmally worse. Ori is pretty, but it does not show anything remotely interesting except for a few rare areas. Ori’s forest is… a forest? In a similar style of 2.5D, Trine was much more gorgeous at every turn. The backgrounds can be hit or miss, but they are beautifully colored and they have a strong personality. There are tons of cool monsters to behold and cute critters to encounter. While Rayman’s art can be hit and miss, it oozes creativity and originality. Ori’s greatest sin is its bland universe and lack of a ‘wow’ factor in its artistic direction. However… however… I must say that despite how pretty and smooth it feels, I was never in awe at what I was seeing. Ori’s dev team mentioned that they were inspired by Rayman, and it shows in the way the animation is seamless, the graphics are very sharp and the levels have been handcrafted in a way that the usual building blocks do not permit. The setting for Ori and The Blind Forest is a gorgeously animated forest and a little character that looks like a spirit version of Stitch from Lilo & Stitch. ![]()
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