VideoGame Gameplay Review for Ori and the Blind Forest, the Game That Almost made me Instantly Regret buying a Desktop to Play it on.
To preface this review a bit, I'm an avid platform and RPG gamer. I've played nearly all of the most famous platformers, even stuff like Kid Chameleon and never have I ever broke a sweat trying to beat them all the way through. Therefore, I do think I know a little bit of what I'm talking about, when I tell you that Ori and the Blind Forest is the game that breaks spirits. Sure, the story is nice and the music and artwork are beautiful. But as of this writing, my wrist is now throbbing from a solid three hours of trying to finish the last part of the second level, and even then, I still don't know how I did it.
Never before has a platformer about a cute little forest sprite been so misleading. This game is going to make me cry literal tears. Not just from the story alone, but from the sheer, relentless difficulty of it all. I thought I was good. I thought I was a pro. But then I played Ori and the Blind Forest. This game is not hard. It's not even challenging. It's like staring at a sheer brick wall looming over you with a clear path to the top, but that path is on fire, radioactive, covered in arsenic and the ladder itself is made of deadly venomous snakes. This is the game that will kill your family in front of you, then punch you in the face until you cry tears of blood. And then it will kick you in the balls and suplex you into the ground.
VideoGame 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.
VideoGame A stunner in presentation and gameplay
Ori and the Blind Forest is a real treat. Perhaps the most striking thing about this game at first glance is the presentation. It is gorgeous, like a painting in motion. Ori and the other characters move very fluidly, and the visual effects, from the various explosions of sparks to the projectiles, are striking. The music is dramatic and moving, giving the game the feel of a high-quality animated film. The plot, as simple and sparse as it is, helps to keep you moving to restore the forest.
If you're worried that Ori and the Blind Forest is merely riding on its graphics alone, fear not - there's plenty of challenging platforming to be had here. You'll gain your traversal abilities as you progress through the game, and by the end of the game, you'll be tasked with bouncing off walls, enemies, and projectiles through cramped areas where spikes and lava surround you on every side. Mercifully, you have the ability to create a checkpoint on any solid ground, so if there's a section you're having trouble with, you don't have to replay long stretches of the game just to get another shot at it. Just remember to actually use the ability - I know I've lost significant progress a few times because I forgot.
In short, Ori and the Blind Forest is an incredible product in every aspect. It hits it home with the presentation, and it'll put your platforming skills to the test. If you like beautiful games with challenging gameplay, this comes highly recommended.
VideoGame I got gud and it was worth it.
Playing games in any genre requires some kind of literacy for that genre. When my brother played Half-Life 2 at a pretty young age he simply couldn't "get it." He'd get lost in the simplest maps for an hour simply because the map design was a little nuanced. He was used to something like Gears of War where, after a battle, you get a music cue and someone saying, "Great job! Now go over here and let's keep moving." He simply didn't have the skill of parsing a map without being told what to do.
My problem with Ori initially? I didn't have the literacy for platformers. I've played very few platformers ever. I got stuck several times in parts of the game that I'm confident weren't even supposed to be challenging. For example I once backtracked for like an hour because I didn't realize that some obstacles weren't impassible, but rather you just have to jump right and you're good. I was wandering if platformers just weren't for me.
Then I heard some discussion about how nearly all kinds of art require some kind of effort to "get it." I can read books now that would've confused me three years ago. If you've read literature but have never seen a film you won't parse the film in the same way a film buff would. Some music is more enjoyable after you've expended effort to get into the genre.
I said, "Snap, I'm going to keep playing Ori. I'm going to add platformers to my repertoire of stuff I can enjoy."
I've just finished Ori a few minutes ago and I loved it.
"Git gud" is usually a terrible phrase. It often means, "If you don't like the games I enjoy, then you're automatically just bad." C'mon, maybe we just have different tastes.
But git gud has a positive side. Expending effort is necessary to "get" something. I'm glad I kept playing Ori until I got good and enjoyed it.