History VideoGame / OriAndTheBlindForest

* LastOfHisKind: Gumo, the last Gumon, explicitly called that by Sein. It's also probable that Ori is the only surviving forest spirit [[spoiler:up until the ending]] — you certainly find a lot of their remains.

** The Immortal achievement requires you to perform one.

* OwlBeDamned: Kuro resembles a giant owl. [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted as she's not evil by nature, she's reacting how any mother would to the killer of her children.]]
* OxygenMeter: While swimming. A later upgrade removes it.

* RuleOfThree: The three Elements required to bring life back to Nibel.

* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: The final escape sequence rapidly changes zone to zone.

* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: The game plays around with this; initially playing to our traditional Christian expectations of Light vs Darkness, only to subvert them midway through and reveal that their take is actually a bit more Daoist.

* ThePowerOfLove: At the very end, [[spoiler:Naru's love for Ori saves Ori from Kuro's wrath. Not in any magical way, mind — it causes Kuro to pause, realizing that Naru is a mother who loves her child [[NotSoDifferent the same way she loves her own chicks]]. This also causes her to realize that the burning forest is now a danger to her last chick, prompting her HeroicSacrifice.]]

* DifficultyLevels: Not present in the original version of the game, but the ''Definitive Edition'' adds four difficulty settings: Easy, Normal (the default setting from the original), Hard, and One-Life.

* DeadlyDodging: It’s possible to position yourself in a way that makes enemies launch projectiles at other enemies or parts of the environment that you otherwise couldn’t destroy yourself. There’s even an achievement with the same name.

** One Life mode in the Definitive Edition enforces this; when you die, you have to start the entire game again.

* NintendoHard: Oh boy is it ever. This game will make even masters of platform games cry. Advancing in some of the later areas requires slingshotting yourself off ''projectiles'' launched at you, in real time. In the ''Definitive Edition'', at least one section requires you to do this ''with your own projectiles''!

* PermanentlyMissableContent: The Ginso Tree, Forlorn Ruins, and portions of the Misty Wood all contain the occasional [[HeartContainer life cell]], [[ManaMeter energy cell]], or [[ExperiencePoints spirit light]], as well as the map exploration and map stones needed for achievements, all of which become inaccessible once they're completed. This is fixed in the ''Definitive Edition'', as all of those areas can be re-visited freely.

* SceneryPorn: The game consists entirely of beautiful, hand-drawn scenery and is a wonder to look at. the moment when you reach the top of the sorrow pass is especially stunning.

* PointOfNoReturn: Sein warns you of this before you enter Mount Horu. Sure enough, the entrance collapses behind you. Averted in the ''Definitive Edition'', though.
* PoorCommunicationKills: [[spoiler: The primary cause and theme of the plot.]]

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Once she realizes that her actions have put her last surviving child in danger, Kuro flies to the Spirit Tree and delivers Sein herself, restoring the forest at the cost of her own life. The cutscene where this is shown is aptly named "The Sacrifice"]]

* TheLostWoods: Nibel Forest, so vast the game never leaves it.
** A more specific example INSIDE the forest is Misty Woods, which literally [[ChaosArchicecture changes its layout when you move inside of it]].

* AdultFear: Naru hurrying Ori into their cave when the sky is alight. [[spoiler:And even more heartbreaking, Kuro hurrying back to her nest to protect her children from the same. She doesn't make it.]]

* BonusLevelOfHeaven: The Lost Grove, a secret area added in the ''Definitive Edition'' is a variant. While the rest of Nibel is slowly dying, the Lost Grove is surprisingly bright and vibrant and full of flourishing plant life. [[spoiler: It's also where Naru lived with her father until his death.]]

* SceneryPorn: The game consists entirely of beautiful, hand-drawn scenery and is a wonder to look at.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Kuro brings Sein back to the husk of the Spirit Tree, fully aware that reigniting the tree may well kill her. It does. The cutscene is even called "The Sacrifice". The ending shows that Ori's family [[Forgiveness honored Kuro]] by including her in the family painting and looking after her egg.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Kuro brings Sein back to the husk of the Spirit Tree, fully aware that reigniting the tree may well kill her. It does. The cutscene is even called "The Sacrifice". The ending shows that Ori's family honored Kuro by including her in the family painting and looking after her egg.]]

* DarkIsNotEvil: The kind, motherly Naru is a creature without light, which would also explain [[spoiler:why she ran to the safety of her house when the Spirit Tree emitted the light to call Ori, and in the Definitive Edition, why her father objected to her childhood friendship with the light spirits Eki and Sol]].

* DisneyDeath: In the ending cutscene, [[spoiler:Ori is snatched out of the air by Kuro and flung violently to the ground. While it's never explicitly ''said'' that another character thinks he's dead, Naru's reaction certainly makes it seem like he is. And he doesn't get back up, or open his eyes, or show any other sign of life, until the very ending shots after the forest has recovered, which shows Ori watching the next generation of Spirits be born]].

* FreezeFrameBonus: At the beginning of the game when Ori is carrying fruit back to Naru [[spoiler: before realizing she has starved to death,]] Gumo can be seen for a split second in the foreground watching Ori, showing how he knew [[spoiler: of Naru's fate and where to find her to revive her.]]
* {{Foil}}: Naru to [[spoiler: Kuro. Both are mothers who care dearly for their children, and both are creatures of the dark that can be harmed by light. Where Kuro lost her children, Ori lost their mother (although this is not [[DeathIsCheap permanent]]). The events of the game are ultimately driven by the actions of both characters as influenced by their love for their children, for where Kuro destroys the spirit tree and the balance of the forest out of grief for the death of her chicks, Naru raised the child that would ultimately undo the blight. And finally, the final confrontation occurs not between Ori and Kuro, but Naru and Kuro. Ultimately the forest is saved when Naru's motherly love for Ori reminds Kuro of how she loves her own chicks and she rushes to undo her own damage before it kills her last child.]]

* GreenAesop: The entire game is about half focused on restoring the forest to its former, green, vibrant self.

* HarderThanHard: Above Hard difficulty in the Definitive Edition is One Life mode. It's exactly what the label suggests — you can't die ''at all'', and if you do, your save is erased and you have to start all over. You can't copy any saves in this mode either.

* HopelessBossFight: Not only can Ori not defeat Kuro, there's only one point in the game when Kuro can even be injured. Whenever Kuro confronts Ori, the only real option is to run. [[spoiler:Ultimately Kuro is beaten not by fighting, but by convincing her to stop attacking.]]

* LongLived: Both Ori's and Naru's kinds, implied in Definitive Edition. [[spoiler:Naru has lived long enough to have taken care of a sapling Spirit Tree in her youth, while the tree spirits she played with during the same timeframe, namely Eki and Sol, apparently lived till the time of Kuro's attack and perished while trying to find Naru.]]

* NintendoHard: Oh boy is it ever. This game will make even masters of platform games cry. Advancing in some of the later areas requires slingshotting yourself off ''projectiles'' launched at you, in real time. In the Definitive Edition, at least one section requires you to do this ''with your own projectiles''!

* PermanentlyMissableContent: The Ginso Tree, Forlorn Ruins, and portions of the Misty Wood all contain the occasional [[HeartContainer life cell]], [[ManaMeter energy cell]], or [[ExperiencePoints spirit light]], as well as the map exploration and map stones needed for achievements, all of which become inaccessible once they're completed. This is fixed in the Definitive Edition, as all of those areas can be re-visited freely.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Once she realizes that her actions have put her last surviving child in danger, Kuro flies to the Spirit Tree and delivers Sein helrself, restoring the forest at the cost of her own life. The cutscene where this is shown is aptly named "The Sacrifice"]]

** The Definitive Edition gives Ori the ability to throw balls of light that can be used to propel yourself like one would off enemy projectiles. While full-blown sequence breaking is avoided, you can use that to take a ''lot'' of shortcuts and bypass quite a few puzzles that would normally require other skills.
** A few parts of varying sizes can be skipped by using some abilities and/or local enemies. For instance, in Moon Grotto you can use the double jump ability to reach a life cell without going past enemies and spikes on the other side and to skip the section to the left of Gumo's Hideout (both via some precise jumping), in Valley of the Wind you can reach Sorrow Pass without ever even entering Misty Woods (via the abuse of the bash ability to avoid dying on the spikes that would prevent entering without an updraft), and in Sorrow Pass you can break walls that would otherwise require the stomp ability by directing the projectiles shot by green frogs into them.

* VideogameDashing: In the Definitive Edition, Ori can gain a dash ability, which lets them cover a large amount of ground very quickly. Additionally, an air dash can be unlocked through the ability tree.

* ZipMode: In the Definitive Edition you can warp between any Spirit Well you've discovered.

* DarkIsEvil: Kuro, the giant black owl[=/=]crow who doomed the forest and is out to kill you. [[spoiler:Subverted in that she's not evil, merely driven mad by grief after the Spirit Tree accidentally killed her children. She believes (not without merit) that Ori is a threat to her sole surviving unhatched egg.]]

* ThePowerOfLove: At the very end, [[spoiler:Naru's love for Ori from Kuro's wrath. Not in any magical way, mind — it causes Kuro to pause, realizing that Naru is a mother who loves her child [[NotSoDifferent the same way she loves her own chicks]]. This also causes her to realize that the burning forest is now a danger to her last chick, prompting her HeroicSacrifice.]]

** As the forest decays, Naru and Ori run out of food. Ori leaves the cave and climbs a tree containing some more fruit Naru couldn't reach, then brings them back. [[spoiler:By the time Ori gets back, however, Naru has already starved to death.]]

In 2017, Moon Studios announced that they're developing a sequel called ''VideoGame/OriAndTheWillOfTheWisps''. The teaser trailer was released in June 2017, and the game is set to release on March 11, 2020.

** By inputting the KonamiCode very fast in a specific spot (namely, under the one waterfall where [[spoiler:Gumo takes you after cleansing the Ginso Tree]]), Ori will gain a rainbow trail that shows up when using the dash ability. Ori literally gets a [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Rainbow]] [[VisualPun Dash]].