5/5 ★ – ItsBujy's review of Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a sequel to Moon Studios first title Ori and the Blind Forest. The original was a very well received modern Metroidvania the focuses primarily on precise platforming and an amazing story. The sequel still has the great platforming from the first game, continues the thrilling story and now has a major focus on developing the combat. In Ori and the Will of the Wisps you once again take on the role of Ori. At the beginning of the game you are introduced into the little family that was created towards the end of the original game, however you’ve adopted the original games antagonist’s child. This baby owl named Ku ends up learning how to fly and Ori and her end up flying to a new land that is plagued by a sickness throughout the land. This land has had its light stolen similar to the previous games blind forest. After being separated Ku is injured and Ori must go on a journey of acquiring the wisps needed to bring the light back to the land. In typical Metroidvania fashion, along the way you will acquire powers, upgrades, new weapons, and Ori’s bread and butter, traversal mechanics. This can vary from a simple double jump, into a cool new burrowing technique that allows you to dash to dirt and launch yourself higher. After collecting the wisps, and getting all of the upgrades you need, you head to a final area and take on the final boss and all of this tests the mechanics you learned perfectly. First let’s talk about the story. It’s a very feel good story that also tugs at your heart strings similar to a Pixar movie. All and all this is a very similar story to the first game with a minor twist at the end. Second let’s talk about the visuals. This. Game. Is. BEAUTIFUL. I do not know how to describe this art style rather than breathtaking. The colors pop and everything has such a beautiful contrast. I can not thing of a game that even comes close to looking this good. The artists that worked on this project should be damn proud of what they have created. Finally the gameplay. These two games are not easy by any means. Between my two playthroughs I nearly had 1000 deaths. This is with full intent and not because of shitty mechanics or design. The tight platforming has only gotten better since the first game, as it introduced so amazing new traversal mechanics. They added a Spider-Man like grapple that allows you to connect to certain pieces of environment, as well as the previously mentioned burrowing mechanic. The biggest thing that has changed since from the previous title is the combat. Ori is no longer limited to a small orb of light that sends out sparks to do damage, he’s got a full on arsenal of light based weapons. These include: swords, hammers, bows, spears, and shuriken. This gives the combat a completely open approach for each combat encounter. The also added a charm system to reflect your play style and buff certain types of combat. The conclusion is that I completely adore this game and would highly, HIGHLY recommend it to anyone. I have completed it on both Xbox Series X and my Nintendo Switch. Both surprisingly handled great but if you have the capability, the Xbox does have the better performance. Pros: -Beautiful Art-style with an amazing world that does not get boring to explore -Amazing Sound Track -Upgraded platforming and combat from original game -Touching Story that could fit in with any Pixar movie -Charm system is fun and makes playthroughs feel different Cons: -Waiting for another game from Moon Studio -Original playthrough on Xbox (Achievements were bugged and didn’t pop all the time) -Longer load times on Nintendo Switch