Ori and the Blind Forest has won numerous awards in artistic achievement, music composition and animation. It’s an indy game by Moon Studios and a delight to play.
Ori and the Blind Forest is a bit of a genremix of strong platforming and light RPG elements, all set within an atmospheric world. Ori and the Blind Forest tells the tale of a young orphan destined for heroics, through a visually stunning Action-Platformer crafted by Moon Studios. Featuring hand-painted artwork, meticulously animated character performance, a fully orchestrated score, Ori and the Blind Forest explores a deeply emotional story about love and sacrifice,.
You begin the game as Ori, a small forest spirit who was lost from the Spirit Tree during a storm and forgot who he was. Your heroic task is to bring Ori back to his home and save the forest from dying. You’ll gain more abilities as you go and be able to spend experience points on three different skill trees.
This adventure game is incredibly fun but also challenging. Below you’ll be taken through each of the visually stunning areas and shown how to complete all of the puzzles and find all of the secrets. If you enjoy this game make sure to check out the second in the series, Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
Prologue
Sunken Glades
Hollow Grove
Moon Grotto
Ginso Tree
Thornfelt Swamp
Valley of the Wind
Misty Woods
Return to the Valley
Forlorn Ruins
Sorrow Pass
Road to Mount Horu
Mount Horu
Black Root Burrows (Definitive Edition)
Lost Grove (Definitive Edition)
Core Abilities
Ori learns most of his core abilities through Ancestral Trees except for the Spirit Flame and Kuro’s Feather which are story events.
- Spirit Flame – The Spirit Flame is the first skill that Ori learns. You can use it to attack enemies. It can be upgraded by putting ability points into the Offensive Skill Tree.
- Wall Jump – Ori can climb up walls by jumping repeatedly. It will allow you to get access to areas that are normally inaccessible with a single jump. This skill is passed on by Fil in the Sunken Glades.
- Charge Flame – is an offensive skill that damages units within a certain radius. It can be used to break certain barriers. This skill is found in the Hollow Grove and given by the spirit Ano’s Ancestral Tree.
- Double Jump – Another essential skill that will grant access to new areas. Jump in the air while jumping to perform a double jump. Leru’s Ancestral Tree gives this ability in Gumo’s Hideout.
- Bash – The Bash ability allows Ori to fly through the air by using the momentum of a nearby lantern, creature or projectile. This ability also stops time for a while, allowing you time to choose a direction. The object you bash against is flung in the opposite direction. This skill is found in the Ginso Tree.
- Stomp – With this skill you can smash the ground, breaking barriers underneath you and damaging nearby enemies. Ori learns this skill in the Thornfelt Swamp.
- Kuro’s Feather – After distracting Kuro on the way to the Misty Woods you’ll pick up one of Kuro’s feathers. With the feather you’ll be able to glide to the ground or use it to be lifted up if you’re in a wind tunnel.
- Climb – With this skill Ori will be able to hang onto walls and shimmy up and down without the need to do a wall jump. Hold ‘shift’ or ‘RT’ to hold onto a wall.
- Charge Jump – Hold onto a directional key to charge up the Charge Jump and then let go to propel Ori in that direction. You can charge straight up or hang onto a wall and charge left or right. This skill is found in the Sorrow Pass.
- Light Burst – Cast spheres of light into the air to light lanterns. It’s found in the Black Root Burrows.
- Dash – Is also found in the Black Root Burrows. It allows Ori to move quickly in one direction for about half a second. It can be upgraded in the skill tree.
Skill Tree
You have 3 skill branches to invest Ori’s ability points in, Survival, Exploration and the Offensive line. You should note that none of the additional skills are required to beat the game. In fact there is an achievement for winning the game without using a single ability point.
Ori And The Blind Forest 2
What is the best skill point build? This really depends on your gameplay. Investing ability points in the survival branch makes the game much easier, especially once you get to the triple jump. The offensive capabilities are handy but not essential as most deaths will be due to environmental damage. The exploration line is great for finding secret areas and extra pickups but you can look online for this information as well.
Cached
Ori and the Blind Forest was designed by indy developer Moon Studies and release on the 11th of March 2015 for Windows, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It’s a platform adventure game that takes place in the forest of Nibel. The developers worked on the game for four years before it was acquired by Microsoft and the game takes its inspirition from Rayman and Metroid.
Ori And The Blind Forest Review - IGN
Ori and the Blind Forest received high praise from reviewers who gave it top marks in all areas, including storyline, gameplay, graphics, music and level design. It’s been hinted that the game may have a sequel in the near future. If you liked Ori and the Blind Forest you may want to try Trine: Enchanted Edition and Trine 2.