You’d think I’d have hopped on this earlier, what with it being a Metroidvania and having a great reputation and stuff, but for some reason it took until I saw it for about £6 on the Switch eShop before I bought it.
And oh boy is it pretty. Sure, so it’s a 2.5D game and not the next Call of Duty, but it’s still very impressive for a Switch game. The lighting and colouring effects are amazing, and there are a few areas where your surroundings change if you carry a certain item and the effect is very clever. It sounds just as good too.
The story is probably deep and meaningful but to be honest I got confused as to whether the tree, who might be your parent, was good or bad. Because it seemed to destroy the forest but then also wanted you to repair it? I dunno. It doesn’t matter.
The gameplay reminded me a lot of Guacamelee, mainly because of the tricky platforming. There are a number of sections where you have to perform perfect sequences of moves with precise timing, which Guacamelee threw at you a lot. The combat, however, is completely different as your little spark wisp thing acts like a short-range homing missile, so you don’t need to aim or get especially close to fight.
The combat sections are also incredibly easy, whereas although obviously doable, the “chase” platforming sections are quite the opposite. It makes the game feel a bit imbalanced, but not damagingly so. The exploration and gaining new abilities to explore further is the core fun of Ori, like all good Metroidvanias, and it nails that perfectly with some unique powers (like the sort of grapple move) and lots to find.
Being a Microsoft game, it was really odd to sign in with my Xbox account, on my Switch, and gain Xbox achievements as I played. Of course, it doesn’t change the game at all, it just felt weird. Like when Sega started making Nintendo games.
Anyway, with that completed I just need to wait for the sequel to drop in price…
