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I took a week of vacation lately and was mindful enough to put the Nintendo Switch in my bag, so I got some gaming time™ and managed to finally play through _Ori and the Blind Forest - Definitive Edition_. Here are some thoughts and critics. Not too spoiler-y, I won't talk about the narration in any details, because it's definitely not the focus of this game.
First of all, the game is gorgeous, which I totally did not expect. I saw some screenshots, of course, maybe even a trailer, but none of those made the game justice. The animations are exquisitely detailed and perfectly integrated in somptuous scenery and painting-like background. The OST is very adequate too and helps feeling the magic exuding each region of the forest.
Awesome stuff.
To put things in perspective, for a lot of 2D games these days I can't help but think "I could make something like that—with enough time on my hands". It's probably delusion on my part more often than not, of course, but still. The thoughts keep lingering.
Well, not this time.
I would had no idea where to begin to create such delicate artworks, everything moving and breathing, creatures boucing and reacting. Even the slow-paced prologue that should have bored me did not, since I was gawking at all the details in Naru's animations and the environment she oh-so-slowly traverses.
Having those beautiful and intricate visuals, managing to give them life through subtile movements and making then work from a gameplay and level-design perspective all at once is an *incredible* achievement, I can't stress this enough. Visually this game is jewel. Which makes the few critics I had about its gameplay all the more frustrating.
Gameplay-wise, I felt disappointed at first.
I was vaguely expecting a metroidvania, and the last I played was _Hollow Knight_ which sets the bar *a bit* high. But unlike _Hollow Knight_, _Ori_ is mostly platform-oriented, and the combat part feels plain bad through and through. Enemies are very resistant until late game, usually attack from a distance, and deal a lot of damage. Hence the slow, boring and optimal strategy consisting in :
- deal a few hits
- fall back to evade incoming projectiles
- rince and repeat.
Plus your attack options generally lack "juice" (screen shake, particles, feeling of impact, …), which contributes to make the combat part really unattractive.
Fortunately, the game is, as I noticed, more platform oriented. Unforunately that it still wants to be a metroidvania. And following the precepts of the genre, almost all abilities gate new areas and are to be unlocked one by one. At what felt like an excruciatingly slow pace.
Let me elaborate.
In the platformers huge family tree, I like to distinguish between two big branches. On one hand, the "plan" platformers, such as _Super Meat Boy_ or _Celeste_. Levels are condensed, often reduced to one screen only. You'll first mentally plan the route to your goal, then try to execute it as best as you can until you finally succeed. On the other hand, there are the "react" platformers, such as the _Mario_ or _Rayman_ games (_Ori_ owing a lot to the latter franchise both in art direction and gameplay in my opinion). In those you have a lot more of leaway to redirect your trajectory mid-air, should you miss a move or should an unexpected hazard appear. While in "plan"-type games missing a platform (usually) means you'll have to restart the level to get it right, in "react" game you (usually) can get back on your feet through a palette of different and chainable moves at your disposal.
_Ori_ is definitely a "react" game: the levels are vast and interconnected, getting touched by an enemy or hazard rarely means an instant death, and you have a lot of useful chainable moves always at your disposal.
Except… do you really?
Among the moves at your disposal, four are in my opinion crucial for the platformer to work: the double-jump, the wall jump, the parachute, and the awesome and original "bash" ability. Two are also very useful for platforming, albeit not as essential: the dash (which is optionnal and apparently an addition for the _Definitive Edition_) and the charged jump. None of these abilities are available when starting the game. This leads to very uncomfortable gameplay until you get enough of them.
_Ori_ *loves* throwing curved balls at you, which is an excellent thing to do for a "react" platformer. Rocks suddenly falls from the roof, or the floor starts crumbling under your feet, or an enemy appears where you did not expect one and start shelling you, or an exhilarating pursuit begins and you must dodge all sort of things while climbing on top of others to get to safety. Adding to these unpredictable challenges, the exceptionnal—and complex—artwork does not always make the perils you face very discernables. I died more than once because some pointy vegetation I was not meant to touch was blending too well with the rest of the ground, or because a projectile was too small for my tired eyes to pick up among all other particles.
When you face such dangers, having a double jump to correct your trajectory, or a wall jump to get back on top of things after falling down a hole, or a way to slow down your fall to sort where you can and cannot land, is absolutely required to avoid frustration. But in at least half of the game you miss some of those options.
Now, let's be fair: once most abilities are unlocked, the game is an absolute blast to play.
I replayed through all regions with the entire moveset to unlock missing collectables and optional stuff, and I felt like a real magical forest guardian, blazing through the trees, avoiding traps at the last second, bouncing off enemies, slowing my fall waiting for someone to target me so I can bash the bullet to get higher, barely touching ground... That's where the enemies, shine by the way. Avoiding them gracefully, using them or what they throw at you as platform elements, sometimes even having them hurt each other or fall into traps in your place feels *so much better* than the clunky dedicated combat mechanics!
But once all abilities are unlocked and you are finally chaining them all at will, as they were so obviously designed for, the game ends.
A bit abruptly, because I kinda expected one more dungeon. But with what is, in retrospect, a worthy finale, both in terms of gameplay, visuals and narration. Still, the game ends and I'm left wanting for more, wishing for an Igarashi-esque inverted forest so I could use the full extent of my powers a bit longer. Of course this feeling of frustration is rather a good point for the game. A better point, at least, than the feeling of relief I often get when finally reaching the end of a game that dragged on for too long.
This will be my conclusion, despite (and in part because of) the imperfections I just took the time to write about, this is an excellent game and I want more.
And fortunately I will get more : it looks like _Ori and the Will of the Wisp_ is even better, and I will definitely play it. Now I just need to find some gaming time™…