Ori and the Blind Forest was suggested to me because of my love of “Metroidvania” games. I put off buying it because, you know… poor. But when I finally got it, It was completely worth it.
The game is simple at its core: a forest spirit, Ori, is searching for a being that took care of it and was basically a parent to them – and that’s pretty much all I can say about the plot. It throws you in immediately and sets the tone for the rest of the story.
The game is absolutely stunning, and at times I lost lives because I was distracted by the amazing backgrounds or boss designs.
As I said before, this is a metroidvania and I LOVE a good exploration, get xp, get powerups, MORE exploration type game. The powers, skills, and abilities you find throughout your journey through the forest are fun and useful. There are some times when I didn’t know how to defeat a certain enemy, but for the most part the level design is well done. You get an ability and the game gives you a gradually increasing difficulty using them. I used a controller while playing, so I cannot speak to the keyboard setup.
It was wonderful to play this, and just writing about it makes me want to play it again. A note to anyone who is looking for a fun/silly exploration game… this story can get pretty real. I suggest HELL YEAH! for something like that, which hopefully will be my next review.
On a personal note, I sometimes suffer from bouts of depression. The weekend I bought this was one of those times – there were things going on in the midwest that really got to me, and I was thinking I would just get some game on my wishlist to distract me. Playing this, going through such an emotional story with moments of pure catharsis got me through that dark time.
That may not be the case for you, everyone is different. But I would tell anyone to try playing through this game when your soul just feels run down. I think it would help.
GAMEPLAY –
The story and visuals combine into a wonderful experience. As the developer’s website says “..We tried to make every single screen in Ori look like a painting come to life while making sure that the controls are still pixel-perfect.”
VISUALS –
STORYLINE –
Wonderful and heartbreaking.
MUSIC/SOUND –
ENTERTAINMENT –
I could not put this game down.
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Check out the full review and more at basedgamer.com/@Morlock