![]() ![]() And while the level of overall challenge does increase as your skills grow and get deeper into the game, there is just enough of a thumb on the scale in your favor such that you are confident you can conquer anything the game throws at you. The environments are still full of obstacles and hostile creatures, but the tools you have available to deal with those threats and overcome them are more than adequate to give you the advantage relatively early in the game. The result is that in relatively short order, you’re jumping, air-dashing, and grappling your way through complex platforming puzzles with relative speed and ease, and world traversal becomes incredibly fun much sooner than even in the first game. The flip side of this is that Will of the Wisps also ramps up Ori’s access to abilities extremely quickly, such that within the first hour and a half you have the majority of Ori’s core move-set available to you, and a host of options to further customize and extend what Ori can do. Ori will need all the help they can get, given that the difficulty curve of Will of the Wisps ramps up relatively fast, and the enemies and environments in Niwel are not pulling any punches. The Moki, local wildlife resembling the cutest aspects of lemurs and common house cats, are everywhere, and act as a shy but helpful chorus that follow Ori and guide them on their adventure. It feels like a richly populated place, even for somewhere struggling to fight off the evil forces threatening to overtake everything. Niwen is huge and chock full of danger, challenge, and wonder alike, and each diverse location is dense with challenges, power ups, and quests. Crepuscular rays seep through tree branches in the background, pools of water ripple and react to events in the environment, plants sway in the breeze, and creatures move fluidly and organically with a realism that defies their cartoony portrayal. The impact of this collective effect is immediate, and it continues to amaze throughout the game with each new environment you explore. The beautiful illustrative visual style of Blind Forest has been revamped and really pushed to its limit, trading out mostly two-dimensional sprites for a cleverly employed 3D engine that can render the characters and environments with intricate detail, movement, and rich lighting that imbue everything on screen with vibrancy and life to an amazing degree. These early moments of the game are truly breathtaking from a visual standpoint. Ku and Ori quickly become separated upon arriving in Niwen, and as Ori, your quest to purge the Decay that has taken over much of its lands begins with reuniting these two friends. Shortly, Ori and Ku are off on a new adventure beyond the forest of Nibel to discover and ultimately rescue another land that has fallen victim to forces of darkness. The sequence cleverly and deliberately rhymes with some of Blind Forest ‘s early stanzas, leveraging familiar notes to weave a new tune for this game. In the introductory sequence, we’re introduced to Ku, a young owl who is raised by Ori and Naru to be a part of their family. That not-so-secret ingredient is still very present in Will of the Wisps, and it is used to great effect from the outset. ![]() One of the hallmarks of the original game was the touching narrative crafted by Moon Studios that the player could connect with easily and meaningfully, granting the scenario a weight you could feel almost tangibly. The entire experience is thoroughly immersive in every possible way visually, aurally, mechanically, and emotionally. Every system has been refined and improved, and playing the game feels like a natural, fluid extension of your intent. In the five years since Blind Forest debuted, Moon Studios has done some truly amazing work to make the world of Nibel come alive in ways the original title could only have dreamed. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is that rare chance to return to a place you thought might only live in memories, and it is a grand return at that. It wasn’t a perfect game, but it was damn close to it, and the world created in that game was unlike anything else I had seen in a video game before, and I have longed to go back and see more of it ever since completing that game. In many ways, that was Ori and the Blind Forest for me. You know those special experiences in life that change you? Those trips to new and exciting places, or small discoveries in your own back yard that completely alter your perspective? The one-of-a-kind memories you cling to and spend hours marinating in, longing to relive, hoping one day for a chance to recreate that magic. ![]()
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