Fighting to live the next day

As the game's name implies, Ori, a nature spirit, is trapped in a forest. The game begins by telling the story from the point of view of the narrator, Naru, a large animal that walks slowly through places always in search of something, and has Ori as a great friend.

Before I started playing, I had heard that this game was about love and friendship, that it was very visually beautiful, and that the story was very good. Right from the start, I understood why the reviews were positive.

Nothing is explained directly, some scenes are played and they are the ones that lead the game's narrative initially. When Naru is wandering with Ori through the forest, a phenomenon occurs that causes the natural reserves of that place to become scarce and ends up causing the death of Naru (who did everything to leave Ori safe).



With this, Ori finds himself alone and must leave in search of survival. At the very beginning, I was already very excited (and crying) that the game started in such a sad way, something I was not really expecting.

I felt as if something very bad had just happened to me and I was feeling the character's pain, so much immersion that Ori and the Blind Forest can provide.

So I was motivated to start this trajectory and the new phase of Ori. With hope, encouragement, fear, and care we began our adventure in this enchanted and very mysterious forest.



The flames rekindle

After understanding the story of the game, I realized that it is very focused on illustrating everything with art. Cutscenes, striking animations, and well-crafted drawings are things you will see all the time when playing this game.

The issue of the game having animated scenes is something I like a lot and I always comment that it adds a lot to the story of the game. Here, the scenes are very short, not disturbing at the rhythm of the gameplay, being an excellent addition to the work.

When something sad or bad happens, the predominant colors are dark, the whole scene is set in shades of blue, and when a good memory comes up, the scenario is green, alive, and full of light.



Throughout the game, very bright and flashy colors are used, very warm when happy, and very tense when illustrating a sad passage in the story.

So I say: this game is to be felt and played with emotion. I don't remember crying with any game before, and it happened with Ori and the Blind Forest. In the scene where Naru dies and Ori is trying to revive him, I was sad along with the character and burst into tears.

I spent the rest of the gameplay feeling sorry for this event, but as soon as I realized that there was hope and a chance to "save" Naru, I pulled myself together and wanted to play to fulfill my goal.

Ori and the Blind Forest is a sad game, loaded with sentimentality, but it teaches a lot about various aspects of life. It is a lesson about maturing, overcoming, and love.



During this stage, the feeling of mourning is very explicit, as Ori shows that he is very down and without the strength to continue. But it is from this point on that his strength shows itself, as he meets Sein, another spirit who helps him, guiding him and serving as his first weapon in the game.

With this, the best mechanic of the game (in my opinion) emerges from the skill tree. By collecting spirit light, we can upgrade our skills and become stronger to face more dangerous creatures and places. Only we need to know which skill to upgrade and what we need at the moment. More damage? More life? More agility? Everything is possible, you just have to know how to dose and upgrade powers that match each other.

With this, the skill tree is extensive and is linked to the progress of the game all the time. The more orbs of spiritual light you get, the higher your skill level and power. It is a complete system that cooperates a lot in combat, while at the same time being a direct part of the game's story and plot development.



I found the dynamic of the game very interesting, where we level up based on the monsters we kill and poisonous plants we destroy, collecting spiritual light skill points. We can also find energy cells, which create a soul link and function as a save of the game, an interesting and not very common form of a checkpoint.

Ori and the Blind Forest has a very simple gameplay, few controls (which is a positive factor in my opinion), and great combat, with easy execution of skills and different creatures to defeat, harmful plants that we can destroy with a few blows and earn rewards for it.

In all moments of the game I was admiring the art and the melody that were present in their entirety, two factors very well worked here and rich in details. It really is a very impressive and beautiful game, with a good story and no difficulties to play.



An enchanting artwork

What captivated me most about Ori and the Blind Forest was certainly the soundtrack. It is purely excellent, with songs that are always on point, bringing an exacerbated sentimentality to the plot.

Happy songs, sad songs, and always touching songs. This is basically what you will hear and feel throughout the game. The soundtrack cooperates a lot with the game's objective, which leaves you immersed in countless moments and brings a different experience from games of its kind.

The ambient sounds are wonderful: the sound of nature spirits, leaves, insects, and the sound of water are very good to listen to and very relaxing. I really appreciate this aspect in games, and even though Ori and the Blind Forest is not such a current game, you can see that the work was quite whimsical, even more so for the year it was released.

In this sense, I must also praise the image graphics. It is a fact that Ori and the Blind Forest has a unique art style that combines well-crafted, detailed strokes and beautiful colors that convey strong emotions and emotion.



The game's scenery and backgrounds are very beautiful. This is a factor that I always talk about in my reviews and I usually notice a lot in games focused on the story, and Ori and the Blind Forest is no different. The animals, the rocks, the nature spirits, all the flora present in the game, and even the mushrooms are very well drawn and strategically placed in the background, matching the gameplay.

With that, the video graphics are also admirable, as the animation is very fluid, the character is good to control, and all of Ori's movements are very cool. Climbing, jumping, running, and attacking are simple animations, but I felt that everything here was well-detailed and aligned with the game's theme.

Taking into account that the game asks as minimum requirements 4GB RAM, a processor Intel Core 2 Duo E4500, and GeForce 240 GT video card and I played on a PC with 16GB RAM, an Intel Core i5-9400F processor, and GTX 1050 Ti video card, I did not suffer any bug or glitch, the game ran perfectly.