Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition

When I first learned about Ori, I was thoroughly impressed by its art style, but was actively disinterested in playing it for a couple of reasons. First, it was only on Xbox, a platform I had no access to at the time. Second, I knew it was a Metroidvania and my only experience with the genre thus far was a frustrating DNF of the NES original Metroid. Neither of those original roadblocks persist today, and I suddenly found myself very excited to give this series a try. After talking about it with my brother, he scrounged up a copy of the two-game collection for me to borrow, and I ended up buying both games within the next few days. While I wasn't head over heels for it like I was with other big-name Metroidvanias, I had a lot of fun with Ori and the Blind Forest and I was a big fan of its unique approach to genre staples like upgrading your character.

Starting with a semi-interactive cinematic, Ori and the Blind Forest puts you in control of a little light spirit named Ori as he grapples with the death of the forest he lives in and the loss of his only parental figure. I started the game just as confused as Ori, wandering blindly through the hostile woods as we tried to figure out our next steps. With a little exploring, we encountered another light spirit that was able to explain both why the forest died and how we could bring it back. Joining up with Ori to help revive the forest, the little spirit also revealed that it could provide offensive support, finally allowing Ori to stand up to the growing numbers of monsters and truly cracking the game open.

Ori isn't capable of exploring the whole world at the start of his adventure and requires a variety of upgrades that he can unlock in one of two ways. This is something I really enjoyed about this game because I haven't seen it done like this in a Metroidvania before. The usual approach to major upgrades that one would expect from the genre remains here, with Ori unlocking new spells and movement abilities by exploring deep into new areas. What really excited me though was the ability to get new, smaller upgrades via an ability tree at any time. Defeating enemies and finding collectibles will earn Ori spirit light. Collecting enough spirit light will earn an ability point that can be used on upgrades that flesh out the map, increase the number of targets an attack can hit, allow Ori to triple jump, and more. The game made most of those abilities feel like they held similar weight to the big story-propelling upgrades, making it feel very rewarding to unlock them. This wasn't the only way Ori circumvented my expectations to forge its own identity, though. 

Admittedly, my experience in the genre is still somewhat small, but I was pretty excited when I learned Ori and the Blind Forest allows you to save anytime. Coming off of Hollow Knight and its benches, or Metroid and its save rooms, this was a welcome surprise. Using one of Ori's spells, you can create a temporary save point almost anywhere in the map, and you can reuse that save point for free until you replace it with a new one. As I was playing, I quickly understood why it was made that way. With plenty of one-shot death traps and challenging platforming segments scattered throughout the world, anything other than an immediate retry would have been immensely frustrating. I thought it was handled very well though, reflecting the whole game's impressive synergy within its design.

While I wasn't as starstruck by Ori and the Blind Forest as I had expected to be, I was excited by its deviations from genre norms and the art direction remained impressive from start to finish. I'm not even sure what the game could improve to have made my experience better, but as it stands, I had fun with it, and I'd recommend it to any of my friends who enjoy Metroidvanias, especially Hollow Knight. My journey through the world of search action games is still in its infancy, and my understanding of the genre could change a lot as I get more titles under my belt, but I think Ori and the Blind Forest was a great option to play this early on.

The game is available for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S here (as of 4/20/24): https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/ori-and-the-blind-forest-definitive-edition/BW85KQB8Q31M

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