Ori and the Will of the Wisps Reviews

This doesn't run great on my laptop (nothing wrong with the game at all, just don't have good enough specs), but the intro of the game was fantastic. The first Ori game was great and if the opening hour is any indication, this game will be even better. I've loved Moon Studios' work so far; I'll circle back to this game eventually, when I can properly run it.

I had high hopes from Ori 2, and somehow it far exceeded all of them. Seriously, Ori 2 is not just the most beautiful Metroidvania I've ever played, it's one of the most beautiful games period. I cannot fathom how the devil those wicked magicians at Moon studios were able to make a game so beautiful and so cinematic, while being completely fluid and precise in it's gameplay. This is a seriously impressive work, and the only way this experience could've been elevated further is by playing it on the best possible screen in the market. As for gameplay, this is like the Arkham City to Arkham Asylum; the Halo 2 to Halo 1; the Assassin's Creed 2 to Assassin's Creed 1 i.e. basically an upgrade over Ori and the Blind Forest in almost every aspect. Not to say Ori 1 becomes redundant- you should definitely not skip it, for story reasons. And it is still a great game. So I'm just gushing praises so far- well here's the big issue (not that big actually)- the game is not stable, idk if it's cause of Unity engine or some other issue, but for whatever reason, the game is very prone to crashes- You wanna change graphics setting, change resolution? there's a 75% chance the game will crash.You somehow turned the resolution scale to 200%? too bad- you crash, and not just crash once, you will continue to crash on booting the game until you go to the config file location and delete your saved settings. You wanna fast travel??? there's a 10% chance you'll crash.Just when I was ready to say that must be all- the actual gameplay is crash free....guess what? I get a crash on beating the final boss lmao. But hey- it really sounds worse than it actually is- maybe it's just my h/w. Regardless, I still think these issues should not stop anyone from experiencing this phenomenal sequel. It's like the opposite of playing Playstation games- instead of watching a movie you actually play the movie. It's pretty neat. 9.5/10 Edit- another issue just came to my mind- Bruh I have so many keys on my kb...why am I limited to just 3 keys for abilities in total??? It doesn't make any sense- it just made me not use my other abilities, it actively restricts fun. Those who are very particular about keybindings, beware of this issue.

Beautiful art and music, and fun gameplay that is difficult but not impossible. As for the story... let's just say that if you want to play a game with a happy story, this wouldn't do it for you. Quite the opposite, actually (but the story is still amazing!)

By far the most beautiful looking 2D game I've played. The environmental details, the varied areas with their great use of colors, the animations, the cutscenes - it's like a great animated movie, except you can play it as a metroidvania! Very few games can compare - it's close to the tippy top in terms of production value. It falters in the combat department - not too much variety in the encounters (both normal enemies and bosses). However, it more than makes up for it with the buttery smooth movement and the large variety of options you get to traverse the world. Platforming feels so, so good. Exploration is also very very rewarding and the game is not afraid of letting you get lost and figure your own way out. It's so jam packed I find it unbelievable that the runtime is not longer - I guess the pacing is just way faster than other games. Everyone needs to play this, it's leaps and bounds ahead of the first game in almost every way.

Such an accomplishment of beauty and engagement. Sometimes challenging, always rewarding Some of the best I've ever experienced. A marvellous game, unforgettable and magical It'll stick with you for long

It's so unnecessarily difficult. The first game was awesome and this would be too if it wasn't difficult and complicated for no reason. Perhaps it's just a user error...

By far one of the best games I played for a single player “Hollow Knight” type game. Music, story, characters, bosses, stages - all incredibly well-done, masterpiece of a game, and it could make you mad as it’s tricky and challenging, but for sure worth all the bustle and time spent playing! 10/10

Yeah this game's fantastic. It's best qualities are the visuals and music (of course), and the platforming. The platforming is so silky smooth and when you gain multiple different platforming abilities and use various of them in quick succession in later areas - it just feels amazing. I won't talk much about the visuals or music since there's not much say; of course they're excellent and the character designs as well are so strong and memorable. Keep in mind that, yes, this game is a metroidvania, but it's also significantly more linear than the typical metroidvania. There are the normal nooks and crannies for items and currency you can collect in previous areas with new abilities that you couldn't access before, of course, but whenever you explore one main area, you usually explore it in a mostly linear way. This isn't a bad design choice; it's just prioritizing a more streamlined player experience instead of a more freeform one like Hollow Knight. This general layout makes basically takes away most of the confusion when travelling between areas unlike most metroidvanias, and it does actually make it a really great game to pick up if you want to try out the genre but don't want to go in fully, guns a blazin' for your experience. It defininitely eases you into the structure for future, harder metroidvanias to navigate like Hollow Knight if that's something you're considering (and if you've played Hollow Knight already and are looking into this, you'll be perfectly fine with the difficulty, don't worry :'D). There is also an emotional story here, and the game is thoughtful enough to have an extended segment of cutscenes as the prologue in the beginning for you to learn and potentially grow attached to the characters (although if you don't care for it, you can skip it). Overall, the story's nice and charming, and it does touch on one particular topic that has a bit of nuance and depth to it (it was also really dark) but it's not the greatest story or anything; you won't be playing the game for the story, although you may keep going for your investment in the characters, although most are one-dimensional. The only real weakness I can point out with this game is the combat. It's not bad, but I'd call it decent. You can collect different weapons by purchasing them as you progress (and can even upgrade them) and with all of them, Ori does have a really wide and flexible arsenal that just maybe kind of turns him into a killing machine. That's not my issue with it. Or even that you can only kill enemies one way and the rest are ineffective; in fact, some particular platforming abilities can be used offensively in combination with your primary weapons, which is so cool. At any point in the game you can choose how you want to kill, anything really. That's the problem, though. It's always like that. At no point does the game nudge the player (even subtly) to try out different attacks (aside from the bow for airborne enemies I guess) and you can get by the whole game with largely just one weapon and not have to change it at all. It's also because of a couple of weapons by so versatile that some get completely left in the dust and honestly make no sense to use (for example, is there seriously any situation where anyone's using the damn boomerang or fire attacks 💀). And the really small boss count of this game (there's 8) limits doesn't really help contributing to lessening this issue. It's not bad, and some enemies can be fun to fight, but a lot of the time it's like "oh, right, those dudes, ok I'll clear them real quick and get back to the fun platforming." The game is also really short too for the price you pay. My playtime was 12.7 hours according to Steam (so naturally, due to pause menus being counted it'll be less than that) and, yes, I am a good gamer, but that playtime also includes me getting all the collectibles and items in one save. I'd say the price is a bit too steep and since the regular discounts on this game are so good anyway, I recommend waiting for one. Overall, this game has some weak points, but the strong points go so hard it's ridiculous. If you're a fan of metroidvanias or especially 2D platformers, then this is a must-play. For everyone else, it's still a great time, just maybe not players looking for a hardcore experience (the game has difficulty modes btw, and hard mode sucks, it makes everything way more expensive and forces you to grind for so long please don't do it). 8.5/10 from me :3

Ok, this one is bajillion times better. I really recommened playing this one. They improved everything in the sequel. Everything I didn't like in the first one is done better here. Traversing is really fun and enjoyable, different variety of abillities, better progressing. 10 out 10

A 10/10 near perfect game. Game play and combat are so smooth that it's difficult to imagine how they could be improved. Exploration is fun and rewarding. The music and sound are amazing. I have no complaints other than this seems to be the end of the series and I'd love a 3rd game.