Rating of
3/5
Blindingly Beautiful, Blindingly Frustrating
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 12/12/16
“Ori and the Blind Forest” (“OBF”), of which I played the Definitive Edition, was started by Austrian Indie dev team, Moon Studios, before being snapped up by Microsoft for publication (hence the game’s availability only on MS-backed platforms). Despite their numbers on PC, any new 2D game in the ‘Metroidvania’ style tends to attract a lot of attention from gamers and the gaming press. “OBF” is no different in that regard, though it managed to garner further interest due to the striking nature of its visuals. I really didn’t know what to expect going in, but what I found was an uneasy mix of good and bad that left me feeling rather ambiguous about the whole experience.
Presentation
To be blunt, “OBF” is a breathtakingly beautiful game. It is entirely 2D and entirely hand-drawn, with numerous background layers and ambient animations that build on each other to create one of the most eye-catching games I’ve ever played. The only other development team that has managed to produce visuals even close to what “OBF” brings to the table is Vanillaware. Ultimately, there are a lot of similarities in color, style, and animation between what Moon Studios has done with “OBF” and what Vanillaware does with all of their games, so any fan of George Kamitani’s outfit should at least give “OBF” a chance for the graphics alone.
Unfortunately, with all the blinding beauty it holds in its visuals, “OBF” actually suffers a bit for its art. Foreground layers frequently obscure enemies and projectiles from the player, while the camera is so zoomed out and the main character so small that it’s very easy to lose track of what’s happening on-screen. I’m no graphics whore, and while I would love to give “OBF” a ridiculously high rating for presentation based solely on how pretty everything is, the fact of the matter is that it’s a little too pretty, with visual flare and fluff that actually interferes with gameplay.
Sound-wise, “OBF” is a further triump, with gloriously orchestrated music underpinning both the gameplay and story-centric cutscenes. There is voiceacting, of a sort, with characters that speak a surreal gibberish language. The narration is, thankfully, subtitled, and the vocal choices are spot on.
“OBF” has no technical issues to speak of… unless you want to get into the whole Definitive/Standard argument. “OBF” originally released in 2015. A scant year later, a Definitive Edition, with an expanded map and extra cutscenes was released to replace the Standard Edition. Unfortunately, unlike many publishers, Microsoft decided NOT to give away the Definitive update for free. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to play the Standard Edition, even though I own it, as I was one of those fools who bought the Standard Edition on a Steam sale, then needed to ‘upgrade’ it during the next Steam sale. I ended up paying twice as much for the same game… though still less than the non-sale price, so I can’t complain… too much.
Story
“OFB” is a masterful work of visual storytelling. While there is some spoken/subtitled narrative to explain what’s going on, the vast majority of the game’s story is portrayed through visual cues. These cues push gobs of intense emotion during every cutscene.
At its core, “OBF” feels like a Japanese game, rather than a Western title. There are strong environmentalist/naturalist themes running through it, as well as an overwhelming emphasis on the love between parents and children.
Ori, the titular character, is a forest spirit who becomes separated from the Great Spirit Tree during a massive storm one night. Lost and alone, Ori is adopted by the obese, bear-like Naru, and the two live together happily until the forest begins to die and ‘go blind.’
As Ori and Naru slowly starve to death, Ori sets out into the blind forest, hopelessly wandering, before a predestined meeting with Sein, another spirit, sets the two on the path of reigniting the three elements (Water, Wind, and Warmth), and freeing the blind forest from the shadowy influence of a gigantic owl.
“OBF” is creative in its storytelling, poignant in its use of emotion, and an incredibly beautiful experience… that can apparently be completed in 3 hours (according to the achievements). I personally took 10 hours for a single playthrough.
Gameplay
“OBF’s” gorgeous presentation and emotional story bely the game’s unimpressive and aggravating gameplay. “OBF” is a fairly bog-standard ‘Metroidvania,’ yes, in that the player must guide Ori and Sein around a large, interconnected map in search of various doo-dads that unlock the three elemental dungeons, then the doo-dads that actually reactivate the elements in the forest. What could possibly be wrong with that?
The controls are a little bit slippery, for starters. Ori gains a number of navigational abilities throughout the game, starting with the ability to climb walls by repeatedly jumping against them, then spreading to a predictable double-jump and a charge jump/dash. The only truly unique ability Ori gains is awkwardly called ‘Bash,’ and it allows Ori to grab projectiles (and some enemies) mid-air and propel himself off of them (or, alternatively, fling them in a specific direction). Bash can be very picky about how close Ori is to a Bash-able object, which can result in a lot of deaths. Also, like other ‘Metroidvania’ games, Ori can shoot projectiles (actually, his companion Sein does that), but the player has no real say in how they are aimed. Furthermore, Sein lights up a LOT when firing off projectiles, which can make it difficult to tell exactly where Ori is standing… which, again, can result in a lot of deaths.
“OBF” also seems to take a perverse ‘Dark Souls’-like joy in killing the player cheaply and with no way to recover. “OBF’s” save system is almost entirely dependent upon the player spending some of Ori’s magic energy to set Soul Links every now and then. Without Soul Links, mandatory checkpoints are almost nonexistent in the game. Forgetting to set a Soul Link is a guaranteed source of repetition, as the game will gladly crush Ori with boulders, drop him into inescapable spike-filled pits, incinerate him with death beams and/or lava, and surround him with barely visible enemies that shoot barely visible projectiles. The result is a game that feels very trial-and-error. There isn’t a whole lot the player can do when a surprise trap springs besides die and try again once they know the trap is there. This awful trial-and-error gameplay comes to a head at the end of each elemental dungeon, in the form of an original “Metroid”-style escape sequence, filled with insta-death, vagueness, and NO checkpoints (and NO Soul Links allowed). I would have been more accepting of “OBF’s” love of trial-and-error if the game wasn’t so obtrusive about keeping track of player deaths and rubbing its hard-core-ness in players’ faces by featuring an optional One Life difficulty mode (which means what it says).
Overall
“Ori and the Blind Forest” is really the saddest type of game. While it is fantastic in both presentation and storytelling, the focus on trial-and-error gameplay, slippery controls, and common insta-death makes it a far more frustrating experience than its surface belies. Unlike most other ‘Metroidvania’-style games, I can’t ever see myself revisiting this one.
Presentation: 4.5/5
Story: 5/5
Gameplay: 2/5
Overall (not an average): 3/5
