YMMV / Ori and the Will of the Wisps

• Award Snub: Despite being universally acclaimed and one of the highest rated games of the year, it did not receive a Game of the Year nomination. Many feel that it was more deserving than the games that were nominated such as Ghost of Tsushima and Doom Eternal. The fact that the game that ultimately won was highly controversial did not help.
• Awesome Bosses: The Final Boss battle against Shriek. After being a major thorn in Ori's side for the entire game, it's satisfying to finally repay her in kind and actually fight back this time around.
• Awesome Music: Gareth Coker returns and the results are magical. Even the opening credits theme is awesome, so much so that many new players delayed starting the game just to hear it.
  • Luma Pools just might be Gareth Coker's masterpiece.
  • Gareth's personal favourite theme from the sequel is Ori Embracing the Light.
• Broken Base: The ending. Ori gives up their current form to become the new Spirit Tree for Niwen and to save Ku's life, and their family gets to live out the rest of their days happily until they eventually pass on themselves. Fans were torn on it. Those who liked it found it fit the game's tone and liked how it gave Ori and their family a definitive ending while still leaving it open enough for one of Ori's Spirit children to be the new protagonist of a potential third game. Those who disliked it felt it came completely out of the blue with little to no foreshadowing, and felt it unneeded just so the game could have a Bittersweet Ending, with Ori being unable to physically be with their adoptive family anymore. Not to mention people already starting to hate the potential new protagonist of the series for not being Ori. Thomas Mahler's statement on the matter, calling anyone who didn't like the ending a child who'll appreciate it after obtaining more life experience, really didn't help.
• Even Better Sequel: Critical and fan reception overall has been highly positive, and general consensus says that it improves greatly on its predecessor.
• Porting Disaster: For some inexplicable reason, Nintendo Switch version cannot be played with the Wi-Fi turned on (which it will be by default) lest it be plagued by constant lock ups that can last for several seconds alongside menus taking several seconds to load, to say nothing of the fact that you can enter areas before they load. It does run quite smoothly once the Wi-Fi is turned off, but it makes the online functions in the game pretty much worthless.
• That One Level: As with the first game, the Escape Sequences have a sharp Difficulty Spike compared to the main game and still lack checkpoints. They're generally more forgiving this time around, though... with the exception of the giant Sand Worm chase in the Windtorn Ruins. Where the other chases use relatively simple mechanics, this one relies heavily on the finicky sand burrowing ability. There's a much smaller margin for error than the other chases and it's incredibly easy to make a mistake (such as falling out of the sand or dashing out at the wrong angle) and get killed.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Every. Single. Character.
  • Shriek's motives for hunting Ori are ill-fitted unlike Kuro's. Shriek wasn't born when spirits where still in Niwen, why is she so persistent in this one prey outside of silent woods and feeding grounds? It would much better if Ku was the one she really hated. Shriek had a bad experience with owls as a child, and they would make a nice foil: both are orphaned, disabled owls, but one was accepted, the other rejected. But no. They only have one interaction, and even then Shriek doesn't go for her first, instead she goes for Ori, even though once again, she doesn't know about spirits.
  • Howl makes for a cool-looking Starter Villain with their wolf design, chasing Ori through the tutorial and being barely fended off with a torch. Sadly, despite the brief boss fight being over before you even deplete their health, they vanish from the game before you get to have a rematch with your newfound Laser Blade power, only to turn up petrified by the Decay later.
• Underused Game Mechanic: Ku is playable at the beginning and a midpoint of the game, which may lead to the impression that Ku will play a more important role in the game. But no; Ku is no longer playable after this, and is largely irrelevant to the story until she is revived in the ending cutscene.

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