You may come across an enemy just hanging around, but then discover that there is a hard to reach side area in your immediate vicinity. You can either avoid the enemy and not risk losing any of your precious health, take the enemy out, or figure out a way to use the enemy as a stepping stone to find some much needed secrets. Ori and the Blind Forest is rife with such opportunities. Whether it’s using enemies in different ways or combining your traversal skills in order to take a quicker (but sometimes less safe) route through some deadly environments.
Even resource management plays a major role in Ori and the Blind Forest. Energy is one of your resources that powers some of your attacks , can open up secret paths, and is also required to make Spirit Links (temporary save points) as long as there are no enemies around. Deciding to use an orb to save now may mean not being able to defeat a powerful foe a minute later. That constant voice in the back of your mind that tells you to push on at the risk of having to repeat everything you just did just to ensure that you can face the unknown will be one you will find yourself reasoning with several times throughout the campaign.
Strategy also comes in the form of a decently sized skill tree. There are three branches; Combat, Utility and Efficiency. Each of these help to improve your combat skills, your resource management, traversal, and other useful perks. You earn experience by defeating enemies, destroying certain items, or by finding light orbs scattered throughout the world. Once you gather enough you will gain an ability point which can then be spent in either of the three trees. While it is fully possible to take your time and max out all three skill trees, for those who want to just get through the game choices will have to be made.
Do you increase the damage of your Spirit Flame? Or, perhaps you’d like to add healing to every Spirit Link you create? It all comes down to your play style and how you want Ori to interact with the world. Every tiny component adds to the strategy and subsequently to the overall experience Ori and the Blind Forest builds for you.
This is all seen best during one of the few huge set pieces you will find yourself a part of after completing certain areas. These events, which usually play out like a chase of sorts, will force you to use everything you’ve learned and acquired up to that point as you fight against the environment, enemies and time. Most of Ori and the Blind Forest is a relaxing affair full of puzzles and exploration, but these few occurrences will set your heart racing as navigate some truly ornate obstacle courses.
Unfortunately, it’s during these carefully orchestrated set pieces that some of Ori and the Blind Forest’s cracks begin to show. While it doesn’t happen always, when everything reaches a fever pitch during gameplay you will notice a bit of chugging. Normally this isn’t too big of an issue, but this game is rather unforgiving in it’s requirements for precision. More often than not, one small misstep will spell death for Ori so when the framerate starts acting sporadically, your timing can be thrown off in usually fatal ways.
These framerate issues were only noticed during some of the huge chase sequences. But, considering the fact that these sections of the game have no check point this may cause quite a bit of frustration for those less than excited to constantly replay the same minute of gameplay over and over. It’s the only flaw that seems to show through the almost perfect sheen, but it is one that definitely calls itself to attention when you players find themselves in a difficult situation.
Still, with that one issue, Ori and the Blind Forest manages to achieve the goal Moon Studios set out to achieve. A story that takes you through notions of love, hate, anger, discovery, regret, and forgiveness; and gameplay that is both precise, strategic, and engaging. Every single element of the game lends itself to all that surrounds it in order to make one well thought out, cohesive experience. Nothing ever feels out of place and that shows the extreme dedication the developers had while creating this truly splendid title.
Ori and the Blind Forest is proof that those who want a game with a deep story and top-notch gameplay can have their cake and eat it too.
