Ori and the Blind Forest Review | Xbox One

What is it? An emotionally charged, beautiful cartoon-styled 2D “Metroidvania” platformer where you play a small creature named Ori who must can explore and revitalise a once beautiful forest.

Few games are able to truly take your breath away when it comes to a pure audiovisual experience, but Ori did just that when I watched the opening sequence and was dumbfounded by maybe the most beautiful running 2D game I’ve seen to date. It brings in a combination of Disney animation and Studio Ghibli films like Princess Mononoke that, when combined with a sweet but powerful soundtrack really tickles all the senses.

As a platformer, it borrows from the Metroidvania style of games, basically meaning that as you unlock new abilities you will find new paths and options available to you over the +/- 8 hour story. The controls are incredibly tight and responsive but they need to be as the platforming and puzzles are actually way more demanding than the gorgeous art-style may let on, with later abilities also enhancing the gameplay greatly but simultaneously upping the intricacy of the puzzle-platforming. I loved that the game features a unique game-saving system which allows you to save wherever you want, but utilising the same resources used for some other abilities, so you can save more often but its up to you to find the balance between how you want to spend your resources.

Despite it being a little tougher than it lets on, Ori and the Blind Forest is a gorgeous high-quality indie title that celebrates everything great about both old and new platformers, and we loved every moment of it.

Available on Xbox One, PC  |  Metacritic 88