Ori and the Blind Forest is a 2D Metroidvania game starring Ori, a ridiculously cute glowing animal with big eyes and long ears. Heavy on style, this game has a very strong visual style to it, with excellent-looking environments and enemies and allies that fit into the style of the world very well.
The gameplay works great. The controls are tight, the abilities you acquire over the course of the game are mostly used in interesting ways (with one kind of lame exception), and the gameplay brings together all your abilities in natural-feeling ways to make exploring the environment of the game-world a fun and enjoyable experience. The environment are interesting, both visually and technically, and there are a reasonable range of challenges, including offbeat gameplay elements in the first two “dungeons” in the game, with the third and final dungeon being sort of a recap dungeon that tests your ability to use your abilities to the fullest.
The overall progression in the game feels mostly natural, and the dungeons have interesting effects on the world itself which follow from their nature and reinforce your quest of cleansing the forest. The enemies, too, feel natural enough, though they do start to feel kind of repetitive towards the end of the game, as you stop seeing new enemy types partway through the game - and may indeed see every enemy type before the first dungeon if you actively explore.
There are minor design oversights here and there - lost forevers, achievements that just plain old don't work, and some of the secrets are just lame backtracking instead of being at the end of cool challenges like the others.
The game is quite challenging, though, with a lot of interesting sequences, including several sequences escaping from dangerous environments in real time. These parts of the game, along with the final dungeon, test your abilities to their limit.
On the whole, Ori and the Blind Forest is a good game, but not a great one. It has some flaws, but its overall quality makes you want to forgive it for them. You generally have fun going through the game, and the platforming challenges feel fresh and challenging. At about ten hours long to get 100% completion, it isn’t so long that it wears out its welcome, but isn’t so short that you are left wanting, even if you never do find out why it is called the "blind" forest.
Good but not great
Ori and the Blind Forest is a 2D Metroidvania game starring Ori, a ridiculously cute glowing animal with big eyes and long ears. Heavy on style, this game has a very strong visual style to it, with excellent-looking environments and enemies and allies that fit into the style of the world very well.
The gameplay works great. The controls are tight, the abilities you acquire over the course of the game are mostly used in interesting ways (with one kind of lame exception), and the gameplay brings together all your abilities in natural-feeling ways to make exploring the environment of the game-world a fun and enjoyable experience. The environment are interesting, both visually and technically, and there are a reasonable range of challenges, including offbeat gameplay elements in the first two “dungeons” in the game, with the third and final dungeon being sort of a recap dungeon that tests your ability to use your abilities to the fullest.
The overall progression in the game feels mostly natural, and the dungeons have interesting effects on the world itself which follow from their nature and reinforce your quest of cleansing the forest. The enemies, too, feel natural enough, though they do start to feel kind of repetitive towards the end of the game, as you stop seeing new enemy types partway through the game - and may indeed see every enemy type before the first dungeon if you actively explore.
There are minor design oversights here and there - lost forevers, achievements that just plain old don't work, and some of the secrets are just lame backtracking instead of being at the end of cool challenges like the others.
The game is quite challenging, though, with a lot of interesting sequences, including several sequences escaping from dangerous environments in real time. These parts of the game, along with the final dungeon, test your abilities to their limit.
On the whole, Ori and the Blind Forest is a good game, but not a great one. It has some flaws, but its overall quality makes you want to forgive it for them. You generally have fun going through the game, and the platforming challenges feel fresh and challenging. At about ten hours long to get 100% completion, it isn’t so long that it wears out its welcome, but isn’t so short that you are left wanting, even if you never do find out why it is called the "blind" forest.