Ori and the Blind Forest

Ori and the Blind Forest
Developer(s)	Moon Studios
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Studios
Director(s)	Thomas Mahler
Composer(s)	Gareth Coker[1]
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox 360
Release date(s)	Microsoft Windows & Xbox One March 11, 2015 Xbox 360 TBA 2015
Genre(s)	Platform adventure, metroidvania[2]
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	Download

Ori and the Blind Forest is a platform adventure video game designed by Moon Studios, an independent developer, and published by Microsoft Studios. The game was released on March 11, 2015 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One. An Xbox 360 version is scheduled to be released later in 2015.

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot showing Ori and Sein (blue orb above Ori's head)

Set as a 2D open world, platform game, the player controls Ori, a white guardian spirit.^[3] It has the ability to shoot Spirit Flames and wall run. Ori is required to interact with its environment as it jumps from platforms and solves puzzles. It's faced with enemies as it makes its way to restoring the forest. The player helps Ori collect health shards, energy shards, new abilities, and upgrades. Beside Ori is Sein who is the light and eyes of the Spirit Tree.^[4]

In addition to save points scattered in the game, players can create "soul links" at any time they choose to serve as checkpoints.^[5][6] However, soul links can only be created using special resources collected during gameplay; the needed resources are not in abundant supply, forcing players to create them only when necessary.^[6]

Plot

Ori fell from the Spirit Tree in the forest of Nibel during a storm and was adopted by a bear-like creature named Naru, who raised Ori as her own.^[7] A cataclysmic event soon makes the forest wither, and Naru dies. Newly orphaned Ori was left to explore the forest on its own.^[5][7][8] After collapsing near the Spirit Tree of the forest and being restored to life by it, Ori later meets Sein /saɪn/, a being who both guides Ori on its adventure and attacks enemies.^[6] In order to restore the forest, Sein guides Ori to recover the light of three main elements supporting the balance of Nibel: Waters, Winds and Warmth.

Ori and Sein come across two beings in their quest: Gumo, the last survivor of the spider-like Gumon clan and whose home supports the element of Wind, and Kuro, a large female owl who is hostile towards Ori. Her hostility and the forest's cataclysm are explained in flashbacks: when Ori was lost, the Spirit Tree released a flash of light in order to look for it, which killed all but one of Kuro's offspring. To protect the egg with her remaining unborn child, Kuro took away the core on top of the Spirit Tree, which is actually Sein. Without the Spirit Tree's support, the three elements cannot be sustained and thus Nibel lost its balance. As the element of Winds is rekindled, Gumo, realizing what Ori and Sein intend to do, uses his clan treasure which stores the light from the Spirit Tree to revive Naru, and takes her to where Ori is.

After the final element, Warmth, is restored in the volcano Mount Horu, Kuro captures Ori and Sein as the fire from Horu starts to spread. Naru arrives to find Ori unconscious and is heartbroken, which makes Kuro remember how she also was struck by the pain of losing her offspring. As the fire spreads and is about to reach her remaining egg, Kuro takes Sein back to the Spirit Tree, which emits a flash of bright light restoring the forest, but Kuro is destroyed by the light. As the forest flourishes again, Ori stays with the Spirit Tree and its kind, Gumo and Naru stay together, and Kuro's remaining egg is moved to Naru's home and hatches.

Development

Ori and the Blind Forest was developed by Moon Studios, a worldwide collaboration of designers and programmers who have been working on the game for the past four years, with Microsoft acquiring the game about a year after development started.^[6][9] One of the lead team members is Thomas Mahler, an artist formerly working with Blizzard Entertainment.^[7] According to Microsoft producer Daniel Smith, Moon Studios is not located in any one location, but instead staffers can be found throughout the world, from Austria to Australia and Israel to the United States.^[10] Gameplay programmer David Clark described the team as being inspired by current and classic adventure games, notably the Rayman and Metroid franchises, and that Ori is intended as a "love letter" to those games.^[8]

The designers say they were guided by works such as The Lion King and The Iron Giant and that it is a "coming-of-age story".^[8] The art style is meant to appear hand-drawn, similar to the more recent Rayman titles that utilize Ubisoft's "UbiArt" graphics engine; the game instead uses the Unity engine.^[5][8] The game takes place in one large map, and is planned to be rendered at 1080P and 60 frames per second with no visible loading time as the player explores.^[5][10] According to Mahler, the game's backgrounds are all individual components, with none duplicated as in other similar titles. As an example, Mahler explained, "You see this tree in the background and this mushroom and this rock? That's the one and only place you'll ever see those assets."^[9]

The game was first unveiled at E3 2014 during Microsoft's pre-show press conference at the Galen Center;^[7] E3 was also the first time a number of Moon Studios employees had actually met face-to-face.^[9] Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi, in charge of marketing for Xbox One, stated that they considered opening the conference with Ori, but instead chose Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.^[7] During E3, attendees waited in long lines in order to play a demo version of the game, often waiting in queues 7-8 people deep for each of the four consoles featuring the game.^[7]

Sometime after E3, Moon Studios announced on the game website that an Xbox 360 version of Ori and the Blind Forest was in development and planned for release sometime in early 2015.^[11] In November 2014, Moon Studios updated the status of the game and announced plans to push back the launch of the title into "early 2015" for Xbox One and PC, but no further mention of the Xbox 360 version was made at the time.^[12] Asked to clarify the status of the Xbox 360 edition, Moon Studios confirmed it was still in development and would be released later in 2015.^[13]

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (PC) 89.20%[14] (XONE) 89.13%[15] Metacritic (PC) 89/100[16] (XONE) 89/100[17] Review scores Publication Score Destructoid 9.5/10[18] Electronic Gaming Monthly 9/10[19] Game Informer 9.5/10[20] Game Revolution [21] GameSpot 9/10[22] GamesRadar [23] GameTrailers 8.6/10[24] IGN 8.5/10[25] Official Xbox Magazine (UK) [26] PC Gamer (US) 87/100[27] Polygon 9/10[28] VideoGamer.com 9/10[29] The Financial Post 9/10[30] Metro.co.uk 8/10[31] Paste Magazine 8/10[32] Trusted Reviews 8/10[33] USgamer [34] VentureBeat 95/100[35]

Ori and the Blind Forest received critical acclaim from critics, with praise particularly directed to the game's story, visual, gameplay, music, exploration and environmental design. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 89.20% based on 5 reviews and 89/100 based on 11 reviews.^[14][16] and the Xbox One version 89.13% based on 45 reviews and 89/100 based on 67 reviews^[15][17]

Writing for Game Informer, Andrew Reiner gave the game a 9.5/10, praising its accessible yet challenging gameplay, well-designed controls, strong storytelling, surprising plot twists, rewarding exploration, orchestrated music, breathtaking and mesmerizing environmental design, as well as the wonderfully scripted challenges, which requires players to utilize creative thinking. However, he stated that the combat system in the game is not as refined as the platforming. He named the game "one of the best games of the year" and claimed that "There isn’t a bad moment in Ori and the Blind Forest".^[20] Chris Carter from Destructoid gave the game a 9.5/10, praising its well-executed and light narrative, satisfying upgrades as well as the visuals, which he compared to the Rayman series but he stated that "[Ori] easily surpass them in quality". He also praised the game for allowing players to set their own checkpoints anytime. He summarized the review by saying that "It succeeds in being both a great introduction to the genre and a rewarding experience for the hardcore audience" and called the game "a new classic [as a metroidvania]"^[18]

Ray Carsillo from Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the huge variety of environments, the delicate hand-drawn art style, remarkable and memorable story and the quick save system, which has effectively avoid annoyance and frustration. He also praised the game for putting emphasis on platforming, puzzle-solving and exploration instead of combat as it allows players to fully appreciate the level design. He also praised the game for successfully capturing the balance between too forgiving and too punishing. However, he criticized the framerate issue and well as the game for forbidding players to enter re-enter certain areas. He stated that "[Ori and the Blind Forest] is polished enough to rarely break the immersion it inspires. It’s one of my favorite titles of 2015 so far and an unforgettable debut for indie developer Moon Studios."^[19] Kevin VanOrd from GameSpot gave the game a 9/10, praising its vibrant visuals, carefully-designed level, thrilling and exciting escape sequence, terrific pacing, rewarding challenges, as well as the narrative, which he compared to Okami and Panzer Dragoon Orta. He also praised the opening sequence of the game, calling it "the best story sequences of any game". However, he criticized the occasionally frustrating levels.^[22]

Lucas Sullivan from GamesRadar gave the game a 8/10, praising its exquisite animation, phenomenal atmosphere, uplifiting music and intuitive gameplay, which he stated "has conveyed a real sense of lightweight agility". However, he criticized the save system, which may lead to constant death, the difficulty spike as well as the unforgiving difficulty in the escape sequence. He summarized the game by saying that "Completing Ori's six-to-nine-hour journey will certainly leave you feeling warm, fuzzy, and accomplished - just be ready to dig in for some particularly trying segments."^[23] Nick Tan from Game Revolution gave the game a 4/5, criticizing the short length, meaningless health bar, low replay value, as well as the game for not providing direction and guidelines to players in escape sequences.^[21]

According to Moon Studios' Thomas Mahler, Ori and the Blind Forest became profitable for Microsoft within one week of the game's launch on Xbox One and PC, and Gennadiy Korol, co-founder of Moon Studios, said the game was profitable for the studio itself within "a couple of weeks".^[36] Mahler described Microsoft as being "super-happy" with Ori and hinted that the franchise may see a future installment; he also stated that the Xbox 360 version of the game was still in development and was expected to launch later in the spring (Q2) of 2015.^[36]

References

External links

• Official site