Ori and the Will of the Wisps (NSW) Review

Earlier this year, SPC took a look at the Nintendo Switch version of Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition. Now, we're deeper into the nightmare that is 2020, but we have some brightness shining through in an excellent sequel to the original Ori with Ori and the Will of the Wisps. (Hey, we'll take whatever brightness we can get this year, right?) Here's the SPC review.

When there's a will, there's a wisp 

September 2019 saw a game announcement quite surprising to a lot of the gaming world: An Xbox Game Studios title that wasn't associated with the Minecraft brand was going to launch on the Nintendo Switch. This game title was none other than Ori and the Blind Forest from Moon Studios. Now, a year later, the game's sequel is available on Nintendo's hybrid platform, less than a year after the original Xbox One release. Ori and the Will of the Wisps offers multiple improvements over its predecessor, and is just as much of a worthwhile game to play--perhaps even more so!

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is just as heartfelt and emotional of a journey as its predecessor, Ori and the Blind Forest. The story sees Ori and his family assisting with raising Ku, a baby owl, in its formative years. We see them teaching Ku how to forage for food and things like that throughout the seasons, with Ku's most desired lesson to learn being flight. One day, Ku finally is able to fly, and Ori, riding on Ku's back, take an extended flight over a new land. When a thunderstorm strikes, the two are suddenly separated, and now it's up to Ori to reunite with Ku before anything bad happens. The story is touching, but it's the minute-to-minute moments that truly shine and tug at the heart.

Compared to Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition, the indomitable spirit Ori has plenty of new tools in his bag of tricks on his new adventure in parts unknown. One such trick is a blade of spirit energy that he can use as a sword to attack enemies much more directly than in his previous game. As the game progresses, Ori discovers several new abilities from various spirit trees sprinkled throughout the land that bestow him several powers old and new. 

Ori leaps into action for this spirit's second adventure!

One of the coolest means of traversal in Ori and the Blind Forest that carries over to Ori and the Will of the Wisps is that of the Bash attack. It allows Ori to sling into enemies directly, or to bounce off of their bodies to reach new areas. In addition to enemies, Ori can also bash directly off enemy projectiles, either sending them flying back into foes or using them to reach higher heights and new portions of the map as well. 

Ori has more offensive capabilities this time around in Will of the Wisps.
It's a good thing, too, because Ori will definitely need them to survive!

New to this Ori sequel is that of Shards. Shards serve similarly to the Charms of Hollow Knight, where they can be equipped in one of a handful of slots in Ori's possession, which can be upgraded by visiting and completing Combat Shrines. The latter are short endurance battles with multiple rounds where the goal is to defeat every enemy in sight at your leisure while surviving the onslaught. Regardless, back to Shards, they have numerous effects to them--some grant Ori the ability to collect Spirit Light from half a screen away instead of needing to be nearby to pick them up, while others boost his damage output while also lowering his defense. Unlike the aforementioned Charms of Hollow Knight, however, Shards in Ori and the Will of the Wisps can be upgraded with the game's main currency, bestowing even bigger bonuses when they're equipped.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps features ample opportunities for good old fashioned platforming fun.

Shards aren't the only thing new to Ori and the Will of the Wisps when compared to its predecessor. There are an abundance of side quests to take on in the game, with a major one being restoring a town to not just its former glory, but bigger and better than ever before. This is done by collecting special ore around the game's map, and returning it to an NPC in the town to start construction work. Alongside the town, there is one particularly enjoyable trading sequence a la The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (no, that game didn't hardly invent the trading quest, but it's my go-to game example) that unlocks an incredibly helpful item to assist players who wish to fully complete Will of the Wisps at 100%.

The final new addition to freshen the experience over Ori and the Blind Forest is that of Spirit Trials. These are time trial races against the AI that reward Spirit Light currency for completing them. They demand repetition and multiple attempts usually to master the routes required and complete them fast enough to beat the ghosts in time. After you clear a Spirit Trial, you can upload your own time to a leaderboard and compete against other players this way. The reward of Spirit Light for clearing a trial is very much a nice one, as otherwise the process to grind to upgrade Shards would be a more tedious one. 

So, I've spoken about what is new to Ori and the Will of the Wisps--and these additions to the familiar Metroidvania formula are mostly well executed and welcomed--but there are some parts of the game that followed the old adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it". However, in some cases like Will of the Wisps' chase sequences, a part of the original Ori that I took issue with, this adage doesn't quite hold up.

The chase sequences in Ori and the Blind Forest featured Ori being chased by some kind of environmental danger, whether it was a flood or rising lava. In Will of the Wisps, Ori gets chased by more than just the environment, including huge, hulking bosses. This isn't so bad. What is less than satisfying is that just like Blind Forest, the chase sequences demand split-second precision and timing, little-to-no room for player error, and sometimes it just feels like you need luck to get through them issue-free if you wish to be successful on your first run. These are just as trial-and-error as in the original game, and without checkpoints in many of these sequences, they become quite annoying, despite how epic and amazing they are to play most of the time.

"I spy with my eight eyes, something in my den that doesn't belong."

Ori and the Will of the Wisps had a difficult time running on the Nintendo Switch at launch. It was plagued with reported hard crashes, which put me off from playing the game until they were addressed. Fortunately, they have been addressed and addressed well. In my nearly 15 hours of playing the game, I never encountered a crash at all. (Of course, I'm knocking on wood that I didn't just jinx myself if I were ever to return to the game anytime soon.) That said, I did encounter a loading issue with Will of the Wisps on multiple occasions. It would happen when moving Ori at a speed that was apparently too fast for the game to handle. Ori would get caught on the edge of the screen, and I'd have to wait a few seconds for the game to load the next "screen" of sorts. Very off-putting. Furthermore, speaking of loading, the initial loading time for Ori and the Will of the Wisps is also off-putting, taking at least a minute to load the title screen. I was reminded of the early PlayStation 2 days here, and these were not happy, nostalgic memories for me, either.

The Luma Pools was visually my favorite section of Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

All that notwithstanding, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a gorgeous game with so much vibrant color, insanely detailed backdrops and foregrounds, amazing set pieces, and jaw-dropping destinations and locales that it's easy to forgive a lot of these aforementioned technical problems. Plus, if the Nintendo Switch version's crashes can be properly addressed, then no doubt the issues I encountered will eventually also be ironed out. Then, there's Gareth Coker's sensational symphonic score, somehow surpassing his work in the previous Ori. That's no small task, to be sure, and the music accentuated my joy playing this astounding game.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps suffers from some small technical issues on the Nintendo Switch version, and my issues with the series' chase sequences continues with this sequel. However, building off the strong foundation of the original Ori, Moon Studios has managed to craft an even bigger, better, and bolder sequel with Ori and the Will of the Wisps, telling a touching tale while making a marvelous Metroidvania in the process. 

[SPC Says: A-]

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (NSW) Review

With January's month of reviews all over and done with (and you can see all of those reviews conveniently listed in the Review Round-Up), let's make haste to our first review for the month of February, Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition for the Nintendo Switch.

Light up the darkness in one captivating, heartfelt tale

It seems like the gaming world has gone a bit insane recently. Up is down, left is right, Nintendo's The Wonderful 101 is bound for other platforms, Sony is rumored to put Horizon: Zero Dawn on PC, and Microsoft now has Ori and the Blind Forest: Definition Edition available on the Nintendo Switch. What else is on its way? At any rate, I'm pleased as well as amazed beyond belief to see the award-winning game arrive on the Switch with everything intact and looking as gorgeous as ever. Of course, beauty is only skin deep, but fortunately, Moon Studios' game has more than enough substance with its strong gameplay and hard-hitting story to back up its phenomenal good looks.

Without a doubt, Ori and the Blind Forest is a superbly crafted experience in its presentation. The hauntingly beautiful and gorgeous world of Ori and the Blind Forest is accompanied and by an oftentimes understated soundtrack. This soundtrack's subdued nature makes it so when the music does swell up during particularly emotional moments in the story, the effect is even more profound.

You'd need to have a heart of stone to not to feel anything during this opening.

Speaking of the story, it features many muted moments where on several occasions there is little to no dialogue to speak of, only that of an omniscient narrator. Mostly though, the story is told through the environment and through text-less scenes, such as the roller coaster highs and lows that are the opening scenes. These show off a mother/child-like relationship that ends with Ori winding up as an orphan when a storm makes all of the plant-life and vegetation within the forest of Nibel wither and decay, starving their one true friend. All alone and without much power to their name, Ori goes off on a mystical journey to revive the forest alongside a helper character named Sein, who not only serves as a beacon to provide the player with helpful quest information but grants Ori unique abilities as well.

Ori and the Blind Forest has a Metroid-like structure to it, offering a wide open world to explore, though most of it is locked away from the player at first. As the player and Ori gain new abilities from remnant trees throughout the world, gained through a linear path, more and more of the forest of Nibel opens up and becomes accessible. The abilities Ori learns and obtains have both offensive and mobility purposes to them. For instance, the Charge Flame can not only attack enemies with a concussive blast, but it can also detonate and blow open specific walls. Then, there's the Bash that allows Ori to launch themselves off enemy projectiles, launching them back into enemies with proper aiming, as well as also to gain altitude to reach otherwise inaccessible places.

One of the earliest new moves Ori becomes bestowed with, the Wall Jump.

Though this leads into one of the lesser parts of Ori and the Blind Forest, and that's the game's combat. While there are plenty of moves to utilize to thwart enemies eventually, starting off in Ori's journey, the best means to dispatch foes is to just jam on the Spirit Flame button to launch fiery shots that home in direction on enemies to slowly but surely take them out.

Danger? Danger is Ori's middle name. Though, Ori would need to have a last name
 to have a middle name to begin with. Technicalities and all that.

Moving around as Ori feels wonderfully fluid, offering a great degree of control and a simultaneous lightness and tightness. Though Ori has a limited selection of moves when it pertains to mobility at the beginning of the game, they're quickly given new means to move around areas, including a wall jump and double jump. Both of these are invaluable for getting around the expansive forest of Nibel, and as you can expect, they set up more taxing and enjoyable platforming challenges. The aforementioned Bash attack also brings even more set pieces of platforming goodness into the mix as well. New abilities are introduced at a steady enough pace that you're not bored with Ori's current arsenal of abilities, nor are you overwhelmed by all of the different buttons to use them. That's because you get plenty of time to grow accustomed to new abilities before new ones are introduced.

An example of Ori using the Bash attack to launch themself over these prickly thorns.

The environments in Ori and the Blind Forest are abundant with details and full of unique sights. Each zone is drastically different from one another, lush, dense, full of bountiful beauty and exquisite nature, and offers mazes of pathways and rooms to get lost in. Thankfully, a helpful and easy-to-read map system clearly marks Ori's location and the location of quests showing where Ori needs to go to next. Through finding map markers and placing them in specific statues, pieces of the map reveal themselves automatically. It helps to get a better grasp of Ori's surroundings and how to reach certain destinations in this interconnected wonderland. Perhaps my only issue with the environmental and level design in Ori and the Blind Forest is how the environments could mask what is safe terrain to land on and what isn't, occasionally resulting in taking damage or worse, death at times.

Even still, death isn't too much of a drawback in Ori and the Blind Forest, thanks to a smart save system. Not only are there specific points on the map where Ori can warp and save your data, but Ori can summon save points--one at a time--called "soul links", as long as they have enough energy cells, one of the major collectibles in the game. Soul links not only require spending energy cells, but they also can't be summoned immediately one after the other. It takes a little while for a soul link to charge up so a new one can be summoned again. Generally, like I imagine most players will do or have done, I summoned a soul link before and after a particularly harrowing platforming challenge or section of area so I wouldn't have to redo too much of my progress if (and let's face it--when) I died again.

As a Metroid game in structure, Ori and the Blind Forest has a multitude of optional collectibles to hunt that greatly assist in completing the game. These range from health-increasing orbs, energy cells, and ability orbs, which can be used in a basic but effective skill tree to increase Ori's effectiveness in combat, in exploring, in mobility, and in just staying alive.

Enemies, puzzles, and hazards await Ori in their grand adventure to revitalize the forest of Nibel.

And there are times when staying alive is indeed a challenge, as you'll die a lot in your initial run through the game. This is especially so during chase sequences, where Ori must outrun some form of environmental danger before it overtakes them. This results in some breakneck, fast, and frenetic platforming, but it also results in a lot of trial and error. Deaths come often from not being aware a platforming hazard was coming before it's too late. Still, the game's ample checkpoints and makeshift save points ensure that you won't be replaying lengthy stretches of the game, so it never feels overly cheap or frustrating.

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition on the Nintendo Switch includes several difficulties to choose from. I played on the Normal difficulty and felt challenged enough, but there are Easy, Hard, and the *gulp* one-life modes to try out. Achievements are available both in-game and via linking your Microsoft Account, and these add to the 8-10 hour initial run-through you'll have with the game.

I don't think there are enough to synonyms for "beautiful" to describe this game.

Now, Nintendo Switch owners without an Xbox can see for themselves what the gaming world has known for over four years now: that Ori and the Blind Forest is a breathtaking game, most definitely worthy of playing. Seriously, you owe it to yourself if you have any semblance of a fandom for platformers or Metroid-style games to check Moon Studios' stellar outing out. What it lacks in super-satisfying combat, Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition more than makes up for in basically everything else--sensational, jaw-dropping visuals; a muted, ambient soundtrack that knows when to pack a punch when it's absolutely necessary; a heart-tugging, emotional journey; and immensely rewarding and great-feeling gameplay.

[SPC Says: B+]