Ori and the Will of the Wisps

ori 1 was a really magical experience for me. when i played it, i had been looking forward to it for a few years at that point, and it still exceeded my expectations. that alone may be why ori 2 felt off to me--i expected it to hit me as hard as the first game did, which it frankly never could. however, while playing it, i still noticed things that put me off from the game that were more than just it being a sequel, and some things genuinely ruined the game for me.

Beautiful game, can't believe it runs so well on the Switch with some of the atmospheric lighting effects. I didn't play the first one so I can't compare, but it scratched my metroidvania itch waiting for Silksong a lot better than Metroid Dread did.

Map design and interconnectivity is great, character and environment design is top notch. I like the variation in boss design between chases and battles, though I thought the chases were much easier (this might just be because I play a lot of platformers). I guess my only major gripe, and why it doesn't have a higher rating, is that the difficulty seems very inconsistent. One minute you're breezing through and the next you're stuck on what really doesn't seem like it's meant to be a roadblock. It also isn't quite as obvious as other metroidvania games when you've reached an area that's meant to be ability-locked, especially because of how many abilities essentially provide different ways to jump higher. I suppose this could be remedied by playing with a guide, though I didn't ever feel like I needed one until I started going back for 100%. Mission and level design was a lot more intuitive than Blasphemous, and didn't have time- or sequence-gated content either.

“Ori and the Will of the Wisps” obviously lacks the impact of the first game, but at the same time, it’s an improvement in most aspects and on a bigger scale. There are more abilities, better combat dynamics, and even a few side missions and challenges that reward upgrades for an easier experience. My only complaint is that I preferred the manual checkpoint system of the first game over the cozy autosave features of “Will of the Wisps”. I always thought that saving up your energy for creating checkpoints and managing the risks was part of the fun. Some of the bosses were also a little too hard if encountered too early in the game.

The graphics, art direction, story, and music are in line with the first game. Very simple but always manage to make me cry somehow.

Having just finished it yesterday it's a top 10 MV for me. Besides great platforming and movement options you have backtracking to progress, non-linear progression, and various sequence breaking opportunities meaning, so exploration is rather satisfying. Combat is also more prominent, something that's more give or take for me as I think the prequel's approach suited the player character better and made you think differently about taking on enemies while also making you feel more vulnerable. But this game also creates that vibe in the beginning, the chases and in mouldwood in particular. And the bosses were also good, if somewhat few, with some challenging ones but the forgiving checkpoint system let it avoid the frustration of Hollow Knight (except for the chases ironically as they didn't have them and also killed you in one hit). I mention HK as it's an obvious inspiration for certain aspects such as the shard slot system and how healing works, though the game also borrows from games like Guacamelee and Sonic Colors. I mostly didn't mind as it's generally done well.

I do wish the optional dark cave was more fleshed out, and maybe the sand area "dungeon" as well. Some other things could be tweaked like the seed rewards (mostly pointless to me), and being able to trade in unwanted shards for something else, among some other minor things like some shards working better as permanent abilities. I also liked having a teleporter beacon in the first, and being able to change difficulty on the fly, so those features were missed.

I guess there could've also been an optional battle arena gauntlet like in Darksiders 2, for those who really wanted a combat challenge.

If you're into the sequence breaking aspect of MVs I would recommend looking up sentry jump/super jump and skipping buying the maps from the map maker, it makes the exploration (even) more satisfying. You can also get Launch early but that pretty much breaks the game.

8/10 or 8.5/10 on a better PC and with all bugs fixed. Which is between great and amazing on my scale.

Combat is good but the enemies aren't interesting at all. Otherwise very solid. Areas are good now.

The second game by Moon Studios manages to surpass everything done in the game prior. With continued effort and passion from all ranges of its crew, extending out to the designer of AM2R, to Gareth Coker's continued musical excellence, all the way to the head designers, Ori and the Will of the Wisps offers an amazing cohesive action platformer experience that to me, has no conceivable equal in the ways it excels.

The combat is practically DMC meets platforming, with similar gravity and a whole customizable moveset that extends and prioritizes air time, spacing, and bashing enemies to and fro. You're able to play both defensively and offensively at any moment, and all these options have their own costs and benefits. Each of the enemies are well done in terms of moveset and forcing you to be wary of their movements and danger zones. To extend this further, the combat also supplements the already amazing movement taken straight from Ori 1 (minus bash momentum no longer being conserved, which is really the only negative I have here). Using enemies to construct more air time gives you several ways to sequence break the game at any point. And finally, the bosses are spectacular, every single one having perfectly speedy ways to kill them and their movesets themselves being worthy challenges to master and fight around. Even if you're tired of those, the overworld has several combat trials for you to bash your head on, of which can be retried even after completion.

The level design itself is nothing short of exceptional, with challenges in spades and atmospheric delights at each doorstep. While I wish there was a more path of pain-esque area to fully utilize what you can do with moveset swaps, what's here is still excellent. The escape sequences are also way better now, with most of the trial/error bullshit taken out and keeping the grueling challenge and one-shot nature that is a perfect encapsulation of Ori's speed systems.

I can't talk about the levels of course without acknowledging how absolutely beautiful the art is, with each area having a wonderful color palette and distinct tone. The story and music is just as well supplemented , with what I believe to be Gareth Coker's best work as he makes exceptional emotional moments with Luma Pools and every escape sequence and boss battle. I was brought to tears more than once by just how well executed each moment was.

There are a few miscellaneous things to discuss, I really enjoy the "dungeons" of Ori 2 over the original, I like how upgrades and collectibles work with clear benefits to the latter and each upgrade being very distinct for the former. The Hollow Knight charms system is a worthy thing to grab to utilize here. Lastly, I want to cover my one and only issue, of which might date this review (since there's a patch forthcoming) but needs to be said. The performance bugs as well as optimization is almost awful. For a cohesive artistic experience like this, having sound buzzing if you're not running on a SSD and complete stuttering in a couple areas can really just break the whole thing at times. It's a tightrope you don't want to fall off of, so I hope the patch comes as soon as possible.

Either way, I can't wait to go back and 100% this game several times over, and start speedrunning this game to hell and back. I'm already practicing the boss times to fight as fast as possible. Despite the current issues, I'm giving this one of my best scores.