32 reviews liked by doo78
A Short Hike
2019
Just lovely. The world is gorgeous and charming, the dialogue is fun, and movement feels great. I loved figuring out how to get myself places and explore. I like that there's no list of tasks to do or things to find either. It's all at your own pace, and you can do as much or as little as you want. A Short Hike is indeed short, but what a great little experience. Makes me wanna go for a hike right now.
Blasphemous
2019
Part of Spooky Season 2023.
Blasphemous is a Metroidvania that borrows many elements from the Dark Souls series. Coming to this game with primarily Metroid experience makes it easy to see the impact the Soulslike influence has on the Metroidvania genre. This combination of genres is one that definitely works, though as someone with far more experience with Metroidvanias than Soulslikes, certain issues I have with Blasphemous mainly boil down to my preferences regarding how a Metroidvania should be structured rather than problems Blasphemous actually has (though the game does have some problems). Blasphemous as a whole is very good, but it’s also very demanding of the player in a way that may turn people off. In fact, “demanding” is the key word to approach this game with. It can be cryptic, cruel, and extremely frustrating at times, but it’s also a challenge that’s immensely satisfying to conquer.
The world of Blasphemous is far more open compared to the other Metroidvanias I’ve played. Aside from a portion of the map that’s only accessible in the later half of the game once you’ve completed certain objectives, the entire world is open for you to explore from the get go. The only problem with this is that certain areas can be rather difficult to traverse early in the game without upgrades. You may wander into an area where the enemies are particularly difficult to kill and also kill you very quickly. This can make the early hours of the game very frustrating, and it makes the world feel more linear than it actually is. Once you’ve gotten some upgrades, the world opens up more and more and becomes very satisfying to explore.
There is one major thing about exploration that I greatly dislike however: the game has instant kill bottomless pits/spikes. Most Metroidvanias I’ve played don’t have these. You can fall into hazards that can be difficult to escape from and can potentially shave a huge amount of your health off very quickly, but nothing is an instant death. I don’t think hazards like this suit a Metroidvania. It makes platforming and backtracking through certain locations an absolute chore, especially if you happen to die and you need to go through an area with a lot of these instant kill spots over and over again.
Nothing in Blasphemous is given to you for free. Nothing. The game really makes you work for any and all items and upgrades you can acquire. Whereas some Metroidvanias titles would throw you a bone and leave some upgrades in easy to reach places along the primary path you need to take, Blasphemous is almost always placing items beyond either tricky platforming sections, strong enemy encounters, or just completely out of the way in spots that are difficult to get to or easy to miss. You need to be extremely thorough when exploring the world, as items and upgrades are vital to your survival. Given how open the world is and how easy it is to wander into areas where you can die frequently and easily, I do wish that the game was just a little bit more generous with upgrade distribution. Not too generous, just a couple of upgrades that you don’t necessarily have to work super hard for.
Whereas other Metroidvanias usually provide you with new weapons or powers that can dramatically affect your ability to traverse and explore the world, Blasphemous instead primarily provides you with upgrades to base stats such as health or damage. You do get unique magic attacks you can perform, but they’re mostly used during boss fights or to give yourself some space if you’re in a room with a large amount of enemies. There’s no Shinespark or Screw Attack or Soul of Bat or anything like that. You don’t even get the ability to double jump. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but if you have experience with other Metroidvanias, it’s noticeable and can make platforming feel a little stale the more you play the game.
I really enjoyed the game’s boss fights. They’re surprisingly easier than I had anticipated them to be. Given the nature of the Dark Souls influence, I expected them to be intensely challenging gauntlets that I’d have to constantly throw myself at over and over again. While that was the case for certain bosses, there were some I was actually able to beat on my first try, albeit by the skin of my teeth. Every fight managed to be fun, nail biting tests of my reflexes and execution.
My biggest issue with Blasphemous is how cryptic the requirements for completing both primary and secondary objectives are, especially when it comes to figuring out how to get the good and true endings of the game. Completing certain side quests, as well as unlocking the alternate endings all require their own specific series of steps that are barely communicated to the player. I can’t imagine most people would ever figure out the steps for either the side quests or the endings playing the game naturally, and it can lead to you missing out on pretty significant items, upgrades, and even entire sections of the map, in addition to defaulting to the bad ending. I myself got the bad ending, and while it does make me want to eventually replay the game in New Game Plus, after looking it up, I don’t feel like I would’ve ever figured out how to get the alternate endings without using a guide. The steps for the true ending (which was added as post launch DLC) are particularly specific, and not properly following those steps can lead to you getting locked out of significant amounts of content. I don’t typically mind when a game has alternate endings that require you to do very specific things to unlock them when the most you miss out on is just the endings. It's easy to look those up on YouTube if you really want to, but missing out on big chunks of content really rubs me the wrong way.
Finally, it’s almost impossible to talk about Blasphemous without mentioning its hauntingly gorgeous presentation. The game has easily the best pixel art I’ve seen in the past decade, maybe even longer than that. Its art direction is also extremely unique and executed perfectly. I don’t typically see Spanish culture represented in media very frequently. I have very little knowledge of it, and I think that allowed the game to frequently surprise, terrify and fascinate me with the design of just about every npc and enemy in the game. The art is complemented by the somber and eerie soundtrack, which you can hear the Spanish influence in as well.
Blasphemous can be a very taxing game. In order to see all that it has to offer, it expects a lot out of the player, and in some ways, it can be a bit unreasonable with those expectations. I honestly recommend using a guide if you want to play this game, simply because of how easy it can be to miss out on factors that quite frankly are crucial to enjoying this game. As a Metroidvania, I wouldn’t say I prefer it to the majority of other titles in the genre that I’ve played, but the game is still a truly one-of-a-kind experience that really sticks with you. It has its problems, but I still recommend it. Looking forward to getting around to New Game Plus as well as the sequel.
Blasphemous is a Metroidvania that borrows many elements from the Dark Souls series. Coming to this game with primarily Metroid experience makes it easy to see the impact the Soulslike influence has on the Metroidvania genre. This combination of genres is one that definitely works, though as someone with far more experience with Metroidvanias than Soulslikes, certain issues I have with Blasphemous mainly boil down to my preferences regarding how a Metroidvania should be structured rather than problems Blasphemous actually has (though the game does have some problems). Blasphemous as a whole is very good, but it’s also very demanding of the player in a way that may turn people off. In fact, “demanding” is the key word to approach this game with. It can be cryptic, cruel, and extremely frustrating at times, but it’s also a challenge that’s immensely satisfying to conquer.
The world of Blasphemous is far more open compared to the other Metroidvanias I’ve played. Aside from a portion of the map that’s only accessible in the later half of the game once you’ve completed certain objectives, the entire world is open for you to explore from the get go. The only problem with this is that certain areas can be rather difficult to traverse early in the game without upgrades. You may wander into an area where the enemies are particularly difficult to kill and also kill you very quickly. This can make the early hours of the game very frustrating, and it makes the world feel more linear than it actually is. Once you’ve gotten some upgrades, the world opens up more and more and becomes very satisfying to explore.
There is one major thing about exploration that I greatly dislike however: the game has instant kill bottomless pits/spikes. Most Metroidvanias I’ve played don’t have these. You can fall into hazards that can be difficult to escape from and can potentially shave a huge amount of your health off very quickly, but nothing is an instant death. I don’t think hazards like this suit a Metroidvania. It makes platforming and backtracking through certain locations an absolute chore, especially if you happen to die and you need to go through an area with a lot of these instant kill spots over and over again.
Nothing in Blasphemous is given to you for free. Nothing. The game really makes you work for any and all items and upgrades you can acquire. Whereas some Metroidvanias titles would throw you a bone and leave some upgrades in easy to reach places along the primary path you need to take, Blasphemous is almost always placing items beyond either tricky platforming sections, strong enemy encounters, or just completely out of the way in spots that are difficult to get to or easy to miss. You need to be extremely thorough when exploring the world, as items and upgrades are vital to your survival. Given how open the world is and how easy it is to wander into areas where you can die frequently and easily, I do wish that the game was just a little bit more generous with upgrade distribution. Not too generous, just a couple of upgrades that you don’t necessarily have to work super hard for.
Whereas other Metroidvanias usually provide you with new weapons or powers that can dramatically affect your ability to traverse and explore the world, Blasphemous instead primarily provides you with upgrades to base stats such as health or damage. You do get unique magic attacks you can perform, but they’re mostly used during boss fights or to give yourself some space if you’re in a room with a large amount of enemies. There’s no Shinespark or Screw Attack or Soul of Bat or anything like that. You don’t even get the ability to double jump. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but if you have experience with other Metroidvanias, it’s noticeable and can make platforming feel a little stale the more you play the game.
I really enjoyed the game’s boss fights. They’re surprisingly easier than I had anticipated them to be. Given the nature of the Dark Souls influence, I expected them to be intensely challenging gauntlets that I’d have to constantly throw myself at over and over again. While that was the case for certain bosses, there were some I was actually able to beat on my first try, albeit by the skin of my teeth. Every fight managed to be fun, nail biting tests of my reflexes and execution.
My biggest issue with Blasphemous is how cryptic the requirements for completing both primary and secondary objectives are, especially when it comes to figuring out how to get the good and true endings of the game. Completing certain side quests, as well as unlocking the alternate endings all require their own specific series of steps that are barely communicated to the player. I can’t imagine most people would ever figure out the steps for either the side quests or the endings playing the game naturally, and it can lead to you missing out on pretty significant items, upgrades, and even entire sections of the map, in addition to defaulting to the bad ending. I myself got the bad ending, and while it does make me want to eventually replay the game in New Game Plus, after looking it up, I don’t feel like I would’ve ever figured out how to get the alternate endings without using a guide. The steps for the true ending (which was added as post launch DLC) are particularly specific, and not properly following those steps can lead to you getting locked out of significant amounts of content. I don’t typically mind when a game has alternate endings that require you to do very specific things to unlock them when the most you miss out on is just the endings. It's easy to look those up on YouTube if you really want to, but missing out on big chunks of content really rubs me the wrong way.
Finally, it’s almost impossible to talk about Blasphemous without mentioning its hauntingly gorgeous presentation. The game has easily the best pixel art I’ve seen in the past decade, maybe even longer than that. Its art direction is also extremely unique and executed perfectly. I don’t typically see Spanish culture represented in media very frequently. I have very little knowledge of it, and I think that allowed the game to frequently surprise, terrify and fascinate me with the design of just about every npc and enemy in the game. The art is complemented by the somber and eerie soundtrack, which you can hear the Spanish influence in as well.
Blasphemous can be a very taxing game. In order to see all that it has to offer, it expects a lot out of the player, and in some ways, it can be a bit unreasonable with those expectations. I honestly recommend using a guide if you want to play this game, simply because of how easy it can be to miss out on factors that quite frankly are crucial to enjoying this game. As a Metroidvania, I wouldn’t say I prefer it to the majority of other titles in the genre that I’ve played, but the game is still a truly one-of-a-kind experience that really sticks with you. It has its problems, but I still recommend it. Looking forward to getting around to New Game Plus as well as the sequel.
Outer Wilds
2019
This review contains spoilers
This is going to be a bit different from my usual reviews. Nowadays when I review games, I prefer to do so while my most recent experience with it is fresh in my mind. Sadly, when I first played Outer Wilds a few years ago, I didn’t write a review for it, and as you likely know by now, the game is a once in a lifetime experience. That’s not just me being hyperbolic for the sake of gassing the game up as much as I possibly can. The game is designed in a way that you can really only ever get the most out of it a single time. Sure you could go through the motions of filling out the ship’s log again, but the entire ethos of Outer Wilds hinges on discovery. Once you’ve figured out the answers to its mysteries and you learn what you need to do to clear the game, you can never enjoy it the same way again. As such, nothing I write will be able to accurately capture those feelings I experienced when I first played the game. However, after recently finishing the Echoes of the Eye DLC and realizing I’m not especially satisfied with my non-spoiler review of the game, I’ve decided to make an effort to at least try.
Like I said, discovery is the ethos of Outer Wilds, and that’s what makes this game so euphoric. Each planet is so much fun to explore. They’re all layered with so many elements that make them intriguing. They’ll either have unique physics like the more intense gravity of Giant’s Deep or the pocket dimension seeds that can be found in the Dark Bramble, or they drastically change over the course of the loop like the Ash Twins and Brittle Hollow. All planets also feature logs of the Nomai people, pointing you in the direction of the Eye of the Universe, as well as allowing you to learn more about their history, culture, and legacy. As you play the game more and more, you constantly learn new things about this fascinating galaxy, which feels incredible and appeals to your sense of curiosity to make you want to play the game more.
The developers have frequently cited The Legend of Zelda - my personal favorite video game franchise, as a major influence on the game, and it definitely shows. I remember all throughout my playthrough feeling a very similar sense of childlike wonder that I feel whenever I play a Zelda game. That feeling, that sense of adventure, is one that I greatly cherish. It reminds me of more innocent times, and it makes me very excited and joyful when games I play manage to evoke it. I love it when games encourage me to want to visit every nook and cranny of it’s world (or in Outer Wilds’ case, its universe) by making everything you can find all worthwhile instead of filling the game with fluff for the sake of making it seem bigger than it is. Every planet, and everything you can find on those planets, ties into the game’s overall goals of figuring out what you can do to keep the sun from exploding, as well as tracking down the Eye of the Universe. Finding everything there is to discover, as well as figuring out how all of those things you discover are connected not just with one another, but your main goals as well, is indescribably satisfying.
The game’s core controls can definitely take some getting used to, and is a common point where I see a lot of people struggle. The “tutorial” with the remote control ship on Timber Hearth does not do a very good job at simulating the controls of flying the actual spaceship you use throughout the game, but at the same time, you do get the gist of it, and it’s not too dissimilar from controlling your own playable character in zero gravity. The more you play the game, the more you get used to them, as you do with any other game that has competent controls, and beating the game does require a fundamental understanding of them.
The time loop itself is a constant source of anxiety all throughout the game. In some ways, it can cause you to make mistakes, since there are so many instances where you need to be in a specific location at a certain point in time over the course of the loop, and you can accidentally kill yourself or destroy your ship trying to get somewhere in a hurry because you’re rushing. It can also be a bit annoying at times. You could be in the middle of making some kind of important discovery right as the sun is exploding. At the same time though, the time loop also pushes the player to get better at the game. The concept of an open-ended exploration game requiring a level of skill may sound strange, but it’s true. The time loop pushes you to not only get better at handling your character and ship, but to also memorize the planets and the locations within them, as well as how to get to them as quickly and easily as possible.
Its storytelling is excellent. Normally, I’m not a fan of when games tell their story through extensive log entries. It feels like homework that you need to do in order to get the context for the plot which the game itself doesn’t really provide. Games like Transistor and DOOM Eternal are two examples that immediately come to mind. Outer Wilds manages to make storytelling through logs fun by writing them in a way that tells a story as it unfolds. They not only provide context to the current state of the location you're exploring as well as the Nomai’s actions, but they also serve as pieces of the game’s overall puzzle. The Nomai logs are actually a reward, rather than homework. Another storytelling element the game does masterfully well is how it ties in its narrative themes with its gameplay. You need to make the best use of what time you have in your life. That’s both one of the key themes of the game as well as what you literally do over the course of each time loop you go through. Then there’s the finale. No words can really capture the sheer wonder and the overwhelming multitude of emotions you experience over the course of it. Thematically and cinematically it’s one of, if not the most concise and impactful endings in any video game I’ve ever played.
Outer Wilds is the game that I feel like is the closest to being perfect that I have ever played. While I do prefer other games for reasons such as their gameplay or aesthetics, I can ultimately find flaws in them that can detract from the experience, even in minor ways. For Outer Wilds, it’s very difficult to find anything wrong with it without doing the most egregious nitpicking imaginable. The closest thing to a flaw that I could think of was that the planets themselves aren’t constructed in a way where they actually feel like they’re planets. They’re way too small to be a planet, as evidenced by the single teeny-tiny villages and settlements you can find on most of them. Despite this, the game still manages to capture the feeling of traveling to distinct planets thanks to each world’s unique characteristics and how they change over the course of each loop. Even if the planets aren’t big enough to feel like actual planets, they are the perfect size for the game’s core gameplay.
The one single game that I choose to recommend to anyone is Outer Wilds. It may not appeal to everyone per se, especially if they don’t have a natural sense of curiosity and aren’t especially fond of doing a lot of reading in their games, but I still think it’s worth it for everyone to at the very least give the game a shot. Despite taking clear inspiration from specific pieces of media, the developers managed to create something wholly unique and original. There’s nothing out there right now at the time of writing this that’s like Outer Wilds. It is a true, honest to god, once in a lifetime experience that can’t easily be replicated. Sure, there might be other games out there that I prefer to Outer Wilds despite their flaws, but in all honesty, this is the greatest game I’ve ever played. It is a nearly flawless masterpiece and one of the most genuine, sincere, and beautiful works of art I have ever experienced.
Like I said, discovery is the ethos of Outer Wilds, and that’s what makes this game so euphoric. Each planet is so much fun to explore. They’re all layered with so many elements that make them intriguing. They’ll either have unique physics like the more intense gravity of Giant’s Deep or the pocket dimension seeds that can be found in the Dark Bramble, or they drastically change over the course of the loop like the Ash Twins and Brittle Hollow. All planets also feature logs of the Nomai people, pointing you in the direction of the Eye of the Universe, as well as allowing you to learn more about their history, culture, and legacy. As you play the game more and more, you constantly learn new things about this fascinating galaxy, which feels incredible and appeals to your sense of curiosity to make you want to play the game more.
The developers have frequently cited The Legend of Zelda - my personal favorite video game franchise, as a major influence on the game, and it definitely shows. I remember all throughout my playthrough feeling a very similar sense of childlike wonder that I feel whenever I play a Zelda game. That feeling, that sense of adventure, is one that I greatly cherish. It reminds me of more innocent times, and it makes me very excited and joyful when games I play manage to evoke it. I love it when games encourage me to want to visit every nook and cranny of it’s world (or in Outer Wilds’ case, its universe) by making everything you can find all worthwhile instead of filling the game with fluff for the sake of making it seem bigger than it is. Every planet, and everything you can find on those planets, ties into the game’s overall goals of figuring out what you can do to keep the sun from exploding, as well as tracking down the Eye of the Universe. Finding everything there is to discover, as well as figuring out how all of those things you discover are connected not just with one another, but your main goals as well, is indescribably satisfying.
The game’s core controls can definitely take some getting used to, and is a common point where I see a lot of people struggle. The “tutorial” with the remote control ship on Timber Hearth does not do a very good job at simulating the controls of flying the actual spaceship you use throughout the game, but at the same time, you do get the gist of it, and it’s not too dissimilar from controlling your own playable character in zero gravity. The more you play the game, the more you get used to them, as you do with any other game that has competent controls, and beating the game does require a fundamental understanding of them.
The time loop itself is a constant source of anxiety all throughout the game. In some ways, it can cause you to make mistakes, since there are so many instances where you need to be in a specific location at a certain point in time over the course of the loop, and you can accidentally kill yourself or destroy your ship trying to get somewhere in a hurry because you’re rushing. It can also be a bit annoying at times. You could be in the middle of making some kind of important discovery right as the sun is exploding. At the same time though, the time loop also pushes the player to get better at the game. The concept of an open-ended exploration game requiring a level of skill may sound strange, but it’s true. The time loop pushes you to not only get better at handling your character and ship, but to also memorize the planets and the locations within them, as well as how to get to them as quickly and easily as possible.
Its storytelling is excellent. Normally, I’m not a fan of when games tell their story through extensive log entries. It feels like homework that you need to do in order to get the context for the plot which the game itself doesn’t really provide. Games like Transistor and DOOM Eternal are two examples that immediately come to mind. Outer Wilds manages to make storytelling through logs fun by writing them in a way that tells a story as it unfolds. They not only provide context to the current state of the location you're exploring as well as the Nomai’s actions, but they also serve as pieces of the game’s overall puzzle. The Nomai logs are actually a reward, rather than homework. Another storytelling element the game does masterfully well is how it ties in its narrative themes with its gameplay. You need to make the best use of what time you have in your life. That’s both one of the key themes of the game as well as what you literally do over the course of each time loop you go through. Then there’s the finale. No words can really capture the sheer wonder and the overwhelming multitude of emotions you experience over the course of it. Thematically and cinematically it’s one of, if not the most concise and impactful endings in any video game I’ve ever played.
Outer Wilds is the game that I feel like is the closest to being perfect that I have ever played. While I do prefer other games for reasons such as their gameplay or aesthetics, I can ultimately find flaws in them that can detract from the experience, even in minor ways. For Outer Wilds, it’s very difficult to find anything wrong with it without doing the most egregious nitpicking imaginable. The closest thing to a flaw that I could think of was that the planets themselves aren’t constructed in a way where they actually feel like they’re planets. They’re way too small to be a planet, as evidenced by the single teeny-tiny villages and settlements you can find on most of them. Despite this, the game still manages to capture the feeling of traveling to distinct planets thanks to each world’s unique characteristics and how they change over the course of each loop. Even if the planets aren’t big enough to feel like actual planets, they are the perfect size for the game’s core gameplay.
The one single game that I choose to recommend to anyone is Outer Wilds. It may not appeal to everyone per se, especially if they don’t have a natural sense of curiosity and aren’t especially fond of doing a lot of reading in their games, but I still think it’s worth it for everyone to at the very least give the game a shot. Despite taking clear inspiration from specific pieces of media, the developers managed to create something wholly unique and original. There’s nothing out there right now at the time of writing this that’s like Outer Wilds. It is a true, honest to god, once in a lifetime experience that can’t easily be replicated. Sure, there might be other games out there that I prefer to Outer Wilds despite their flaws, but in all honesty, this is the greatest game I’ve ever played. It is a nearly flawless masterpiece and one of the most genuine, sincere, and beautiful works of art I have ever experienced.
I have heard a ton of great things about the Ori games and since I needed a short game to fill some time in my backlog schedule and was recommended this one, I thought I'd give it a go. It's clear to me now that that was a mistake. While Ori and the Blind Forest was a short experience it was a very miserable and frustrating one.
Lets start out with the good, the game is drop-dead gorgeous to look at. The artstyle and world just look stunning, even with the blurrier graphics of the Switch the game just looks great. The music is also very good and matches the tone of the beautiful environments it plays in. And to give the gameplay a slight compliment, the basic metroidvania elements of getting new powers and exploring the interconnected world were fun and I never once got lost which is a huge plus for me here. And the story, though a bit lacking, is pretty sweet and has good themes.
Despite all these positives, Ori and the Blind Forest falters with its moment-to-moment gameplay and makes for an incredibly irritating experience rather than a fun one. A lot of the game's problems come from how Ori controls. Ori is incredibly light on her (at least I think it's a her) feet and moves around the world in a really loose and fluid way, the problem is the world is clearly not designed around this control style and it leads to much frustration. The game asks for precision in its platforming and that simply not something that's very easy to do with a character that's so floaty, at times it felt like I was playing Super Meat Boy only that I can tell that that's not what the developers intended it to feel like. On top of that the combat is just incredibly awful here. Because Ori is so light and fragile she can't really take a lot of hits from anything before dying, and unfortunately the enemies in this game are really good at hitting you. This wouldn't be a problem of course if you had substantial means to defend yourself, but of course, you don't. What you get is a little orb that can shoot out three light projectiles before having to take a second to recharge, meaning combat boils down to using these attacks and then dodging the attacks the enemies throw at you but since you control so lightly and there's no shield or dodge button you kinda just have to try and jump away from their attacks which I found most of the time just led to jumping straight into them instead. Now clearly combat is not supposed to be a focus here, as proven by a lack of boss fights or enemy gauntlets but at that point I just have to wonder, why make the game a metroidvania at all? Why not just refine the platforming elements (they clearly need it) and make a pretty good platformer? Was it really part of the developers' vision to make a metroidvania that has unfair and unsatisfying combat, or were they just doing it because its what all the cool games were doing? Anyways moving onto my final gripe with the gameplay, the save system is a mess. Instead of just having a button on the menu or a certain room to go to in order to save progress, Ori's way of saving progress comes from an in game ability that has it's whole meter and everything. By holding a button and using one point from the refillable energy meter, you're allowed to save your spot on any flat surface in the game (as long as it's stable and there's no enemies within eyesight that is) and if you die you will respawn back to this point. Because the game provides you with the materials to refill this energy meter often it becomes a main part of the gameplay, this allows you to save your spot before a particularly tricky set of enemy placements or platforming section to make the best of this, which in my eyes kinda confirms that they knew that both of these main aspects were not great and instead of fixing them they gave the player the equivalent of a save state button to try and remedy it. All these things add up to make a game that is truly frustrating to play and makes me forget about all the good aspects it has while I'm playing it.
I wanted to really like this game, its beautiful artstyle, spectacular music, and touching story cannot be understated, unfortunately though the same goes for its unproportionate and unfun gameplay. The problem with Ori and the Blind Forest is that I can tell there was passion behind it, it just wasn't placed into the right areas unfortunately.
Lets start out with the good, the game is drop-dead gorgeous to look at. The artstyle and world just look stunning, even with the blurrier graphics of the Switch the game just looks great. The music is also very good and matches the tone of the beautiful environments it plays in. And to give the gameplay a slight compliment, the basic metroidvania elements of getting new powers and exploring the interconnected world were fun and I never once got lost which is a huge plus for me here. And the story, though a bit lacking, is pretty sweet and has good themes.
Despite all these positives, Ori and the Blind Forest falters with its moment-to-moment gameplay and makes for an incredibly irritating experience rather than a fun one. A lot of the game's problems come from how Ori controls. Ori is incredibly light on her (at least I think it's a her) feet and moves around the world in a really loose and fluid way, the problem is the world is clearly not designed around this control style and it leads to much frustration. The game asks for precision in its platforming and that simply not something that's very easy to do with a character that's so floaty, at times it felt like I was playing Super Meat Boy only that I can tell that that's not what the developers intended it to feel like. On top of that the combat is just incredibly awful here. Because Ori is so light and fragile she can't really take a lot of hits from anything before dying, and unfortunately the enemies in this game are really good at hitting you. This wouldn't be a problem of course if you had substantial means to defend yourself, but of course, you don't. What you get is a little orb that can shoot out three light projectiles before having to take a second to recharge, meaning combat boils down to using these attacks and then dodging the attacks the enemies throw at you but since you control so lightly and there's no shield or dodge button you kinda just have to try and jump away from their attacks which I found most of the time just led to jumping straight into them instead. Now clearly combat is not supposed to be a focus here, as proven by a lack of boss fights or enemy gauntlets but at that point I just have to wonder, why make the game a metroidvania at all? Why not just refine the platforming elements (they clearly need it) and make a pretty good platformer? Was it really part of the developers' vision to make a metroidvania that has unfair and unsatisfying combat, or were they just doing it because its what all the cool games were doing? Anyways moving onto my final gripe with the gameplay, the save system is a mess. Instead of just having a button on the menu or a certain room to go to in order to save progress, Ori's way of saving progress comes from an in game ability that has it's whole meter and everything. By holding a button and using one point from the refillable energy meter, you're allowed to save your spot on any flat surface in the game (as long as it's stable and there's no enemies within eyesight that is) and if you die you will respawn back to this point. Because the game provides you with the materials to refill this energy meter often it becomes a main part of the gameplay, this allows you to save your spot before a particularly tricky set of enemy placements or platforming section to make the best of this, which in my eyes kinda confirms that they knew that both of these main aspects were not great and instead of fixing them they gave the player the equivalent of a save state button to try and remedy it. All these things add up to make a game that is truly frustrating to play and makes me forget about all the good aspects it has while I'm playing it.
I wanted to really like this game, its beautiful artstyle, spectacular music, and touching story cannot be understated, unfortunately though the same goes for its unproportionate and unfun gameplay. The problem with Ori and the Blind Forest is that I can tell there was passion behind it, it just wasn't placed into the right areas unfortunately.
Brawlhalla
2014
Asuri is so hot holy shit
Ultrakill
2020
i have a D rank on every level on the game no joke am i this washed
Celeste
2018
My hands have never been sweatier while holding a controller
This review contains spoilers
The Truman Show but with anime women
I love metroidvanias, and I'd heard a lot of good things about this game, so I assumed it would be a slam dunk for me. Unfortunately, while this is still definitely a good game, I found myself a little disappointed.
One of the core appeals of metroidvanias as a genre is slowly unlocking more and more movement options to allow you to explore your environment and eventually uncover every nook and cranny. For that to work, the movement has to feel good. There really is nothing like playing a metroidvania with fluid, perfect movement. Ori and the Blind Forest just doesn't do it for me. This game isn't mechanically tight enough for my liking, which wouldn't be as big of a deal if the game didn't have some of the demanding segments present here. It should feel much better to play than it does.
Combat is so pointless I wonder if it was just included to tick a box. It's incredibly simplistic and never evolves, aside from bashing projectiles back at enemies, and the enemy variety is paltry. The game already nails tense and climactic finishes to dungeons (the escape sequences) without big boss fights, so I honestly think the whole game would be better if more attention was given to the movement and combat was cut out.
As for something else I feel could have been cut, I wish the story was told completely wordlessly. It's simple, but charming and beautiful, and I think not having narration would just amplify that. Nothing is stated that isn't obvious visually, so the descriptions are just distracting.
I wish I liked this game more, and the pieces are here for something special. As it is right now, it's just a better than average metroidvania, with plenty of better options out there.
One of the core appeals of metroidvanias as a genre is slowly unlocking more and more movement options to allow you to explore your environment and eventually uncover every nook and cranny. For that to work, the movement has to feel good. There really is nothing like playing a metroidvania with fluid, perfect movement. Ori and the Blind Forest just doesn't do it for me. This game isn't mechanically tight enough for my liking, which wouldn't be as big of a deal if the game didn't have some of the demanding segments present here. It should feel much better to play than it does.
Combat is so pointless I wonder if it was just included to tick a box. It's incredibly simplistic and never evolves, aside from bashing projectiles back at enemies, and the enemy variety is paltry. The game already nails tense and climactic finishes to dungeons (the escape sequences) without big boss fights, so I honestly think the whole game would be better if more attention was given to the movement and combat was cut out.
As for something else I feel could have been cut, I wish the story was told completely wordlessly. It's simple, but charming and beautiful, and I think not having narration would just amplify that. Nothing is stated that isn't obvious visually, so the descriptions are just distracting.
I wish I liked this game more, and the pieces are here for something special. As it is right now, it's just a better than average metroidvania, with plenty of better options out there.
The perfect sequel for an already incredible game, the only problem I had with the first game (the poor combat system) is fully fixed and feels incredible in this game. The only thing that this game fails to do is a good hardmode because the hardmode is not that hard and basically just an hp buff to enemies