The game is a direct sequel to Blind Forest and takes part right after it's events. Ori, Naru and Gumo come across Kuro's last egg. Kuro's last act of self sacrifice and also the fact that an egg wouldnt survive on its own where the reasons why the heroes decide on adopting the egg. The newly hatch baby owl was named Ku and it became the fourth member of the family. Ku was born with
a damaged wing that prevented it from taking flights which is something that became an issue for Ku the more mature it got. Gumo came across one of Kuro's feather and decides to use it in order to help Ku fly. His plans seemed successfull and as a result Ku takes Ori and fly to the sky. The two fly around the land of Nibel. During their trip Ku followed some other birds and found themselves
flying above the land of Niwen where the weather was stormy. The wild winds take away Kuro's feather and as a result the two crash to the ground seperated from each other.
Ori wakes up and is immidietly worried about his "young sibling" and embarks on a journey to find it. Ori comes across Moki, the inhabitants of Niwen who lead him to Kwolok, an old Toad who seems to act as the guardian of the area. He informs Ori of Ku's whereabouts. He informs Ori that the only path for him to take to reach Ku will be available if Ori cleans the waters. He also parties Ori with
a wisp which is known as the Voice of the Forest in order to be his guide. He is told that where Ku landed is known as the Owls graveyard and that there lies Shriek, a deformed owl who was unfortunately given birth in a dead place, had noone to interact and was rejected by the world any time it tried to civilised leading her to become aggresive and violent. During all this Naru and Gumo
try their best to find their "kids".
On the second part of the game Ori and Ku encounter Shreik who instantly attacks them killing one in the process. Kwolok(the elder toad) exlains that if the voice of the forest was fully powered up it could create miracles such as bringing someone who just passed back to life. However the voice is now scattered across the land of Niwen and it up to a hero/adventurer to restore the Voice back to its former light.
The hero should not only be aware of Shreik but also the Stink Spirit, a weird formed creature that was given birth simultaneously as the forest was decaying. Will the hero succesfully restore the Voice, will the Wisps reveal the truth? and what is the fate of the beloved Ori family?
The game tells an emotional story between Ori's newly formed falimy and the world they re involved in. Before beggining the actual game, the players are exposed to the Narrator who will explain the plot of the first game in an abridged version making everyone up to date with the universe. The oppening cutscene acts as a nice way to introduce us to Ori's family and depicts their growth as a family. It captures the emotions perfectly.
The plot holds on it's mystery throughoutthe tale even though it constantly answers questions throughout the way new questions spawn. To elaborate:
What happened to the land of Niwel (both in the beginning and after the plot thickens).
Whats with the new villains Shreik and the Stink spirit and what is their goals.
What fate awaits the heroes?
How will the family reunite?
Will the plan to reunite the Voice work as intented? etc.
I personally liked the story alot. The plot is presented with way more cutscenes than the original and with the help of the narrator. It is a great addition that really caprtures the spirit of the original and expands with multiple cast members. The music, imagery and the mystery re fantastick that will keep anyone at the end of their sits. It's worth pointing out that the story is pretty much seperated in two parts, before and after the reunion.
Both equally amazing and well written.
Ori and the will of the wisps is a 2D platforming Metroidvania where the player controls a little spirit guardian named Ori. The game being a metroidvania means that although some areas can be accessed relatively early, the hero will not be able to proceed after a certain point duo to
the fact that they will need an ability which can be found somewhere else. E.g The player reaches a new area where they have to go left or right. By going left the player will reach a dead end which requires dashing to proceed and dashing can only be acquired by heading right. This game being a sequel means that Ori had already experience certain abilities and thus the game does not start the player from scratch.
It also give the players the "standard abilities" very early on as more abilities will be granted soon. Although the game allows the player to move around freely, there are objectives that the player needs to achieve. By checking on the map, the player will notice a giant bubble which represents the location that the player needs to reach one way or another. The game is filled with various locations filled with different
challenges. Ori is very vonurable and thus any spikes, fire or enemy projectile can kill Ori easily.
Skills are unlocked by default by progressing through the story and other skills are unlocked by simply finding them around, completing tasks or by purchasing them through Various NPCs. Abilities unlocked through the story are manuver abilities such as swimming, dashing, "spider webbing" and others. Combat being a new focus of the game means that Ori is also granted attacks. Very early on He is given a spirit blade which can be used for fast mellee attacks.
Again by progressing through the story Ori receives other weapons such as Bow, Hammer, Spear, Bombs etc. All these "Spirit weapns" can also be used outside combat to open/reveal paths. All abilities can be unlocked by purchasing them from NPCs. For
example, ground smash can cause bigger AoE or can send waves through the ground. Some of the skills found around are more or less passives that can increase the efficiency of a certain weapon or used to better the heroes movement. All these charms are placed in the charm board and each skills relating to exploration or combat based on their description. For example, see secret locations that are hidden behind walls, hold on the wall instead of sliding etc. In
combat it can have the form or through multiple arrows by simply holding the button down, deal more damage with the risk or receiving more etc. Last but not least there are abilities that can allow Ori to restore more health when saving the game, restore
more energy when killing enemies and magnetise items when dropped. The skill board can be accessed at any point through the game, no need to be somewhere specific.
The sequel is not as heavily focused on platforming as its predecessor was. Some would argue that because combat was the new thing that platforming took second place. This cannot be further from the truth. In blind forest the players were receiving new abilities and thus the game was trying to make use of them where as now, the abilities do not need to be flexed out. Challenge is always there and especially for those who
wish to find all the secret locations. Abilities are given though out the game which keeps exploration still interesting and fun to look around. Alternative routes are always found in previously found areas as new skills are unlocked. For example comming back to the village the second time can be further explored with the ground smash attack and even further more on the third visit with the drilling ability. This is the core of Metroidvania games.
With Combat being the new "hot" thing in the Ori formula, Moon studio had alot to live up to. Hollow knight being the success it became it put "some" pressure to the them despite not being voiced. The two lead developers Thomas Mahler and Chris McEntee explain how they wanted to work on Combat since the original Ori but they couldnt do it before releasing it, however early concepts were made back then. Ori is now given new sets of spirits weapons which he can summon.
The hero starts with a standard blade that has a straight up combo. The player cannot change the animations nor combine attacks. Each weapon has a standard combo, an up attack and a down attack. These weapons seperate themselves in two catefories: Long and Short range weapons. Sword and hammer being the closed ones whilst bombs, bow and spear the long range ones. Some attacks require MP which is the blue set crystals. Long range abilities cannot be used
when Ori doesnt have any energy where as the close range ones can be used at any time. Sword is focused on quick attacks with light damage whilst the hammer does slow great damage hits. The weapons can also be used in exploration. The hammer can break the ground, the sword cut vines and the bow can hit and activate triggers.
The game does feature a couple of Boss Fights. The bosses come in two forms. Straight fight or running away from them. Running sections usually have the boss chasing you whilst the world is being destroyed and you have to escape. During these moments the player is usually one shot and dying means restart from the very beginning of the run section. Fight is a standard boss fight where you see the enemies HP and you have to reduce it down to zero. Some of the bosses also use
system mechanicks found only at that point. For example using the swinging mechanick to prevent touching the ground whilst dealing damage.
Unlike it's predessecor the game does feature austosave that keeps track of the players progress. There is also the giant stone from before that do a massive save but its also the place that can be used as fast travel. The players can die if they run out of HP. This can happen by being hit by an enemy NPC all the time or by simply failing their parkour and landing in a dangerous area. Life can be regenerated through a skill, killing opponents or stepping on a green plant.
The blue MP bars can be regenerated by breaking blue crystals and killing enemies. Both MP and HP can be extended by fighting the green/blue half orbs. Each time 2 half pairs are gather the player receives a new extension. If a player fully dies and returns to life they only receive half the bars, not the entire area.
The original Ori was very good, it knew what it was and thats why we got a successfull amazing platformer. The sequel also knew what it wanted to change, and thus combat was added. Did it work? In my opinion the game did a very good job. The platforming its very good very similar to its prequel with challenging areas here and there, especially reaching areas with secrets. The combat is very good addition and the fact that abilities change on the fly is amazing. The enemies can easily be killed but can also deal significant damage. The main issue is the quality. Despite the great ammount of enemies encountered through out the journey most of them have the same attack patterns that take away from the challenge and uniqueness. They re also not as interactive as other games. For example you usually attack them normally, or attack them from the area of weakness(top, back). The only "good interactive enemy" is the heavy with the shield. Defend is only done with dodge using dash or jump. The same glowing mechanic from Blind forest is back and once again allows the player to bounce of enemies, jump on white glowing areas and to even deflect enemy projectiles. Boss fights are fun and creative, however they lack in quantity. Overall alot of great additions but slightly away from pure perfection.
The game has plenty of collectables but they re in the form of collecting green, orange and blue orbs. Green Orbs represent the life orbs and the blue re used in order to use Ori's abilities. The orange orbs are the currency the player can spent throughout the game. Around the areas there are hidden Map makers that when talked to will reward the player with a map that unlocks the map.
Moreover the player can find the Challenger Stones. When the player interacts with them, a new location will appear on the map. When interacted with the new location the player will have to do a race where him and a fade out version of their hero will try to reach the other side. The goal is to get from point A to B before the other. Additionally any completionist should try and obtain/ master
all of the skills passive and active. These are hidden around the world or obtained from NPCs. Last but not least, with the addition of multiple NPCs, Side quest were inevitable. Interacting with Npcs can be usefull for lore building but also for side questing. The majority of the quests fall into tasks like explore the area or discover certain items and return them to them.
The music of the game as mentioned before is very good and really suits the games atmosphere. Throughout the game the music sets the mood for the current map, events and cutscenes. The sequel does not differ much from it's prequel in terms of music. The melodies are sweet and intense and even the voice acting is spot on.
The animation combines 3D models rendered in 2D which allows from more expressive characters and well detailed models. The backgrounds are more detailed and more interactive than before. The new areas re very different than before. There's a world that is stormy with petrified statues and a gloomy atmosphere, the other one looks green with weird exotic pink flora etc. Very similar to before, the
game added alot of cutscenes that look really amazing. Unlike before where the quantity wasnt enough, this time around Moon studios took their time and newly founded budget anf took advantage of how good they can make their game.
The Amiibo do not have any use in Ori.
Overall Ori and the Will of the Wisp is an excellent example of a sequel to an outstanding game. The developers succesfully combined challenging yet rewarding platforming of the orginal with a very good combat system. When the player succesfully passes a challenging platforming area it feels very satisfying. The combat is also included through out the game with various NPCs scattered around. Ori has multiple ways of dealing damage and each weapon/ability can be upgraded and swap and on the fly. The game includes a variaty of passive abilities that can enchance both the manuvering and the combat abilities. The maps and locations are all well designed and re escorted with nice melodies and unique NPC designs. The enemy variety is not that different than others but the quantity is enough. The platforming feels very smooth as Ori receives more abilities which further expands upon all the maps. The combat of the game is interesting and reactive. Ori receives both close and long range attacks that can be used at any moment. Some require MP and cannot be used when there's none. The plot of the game is very interesting and keep things like that throughout the 10 hours experience. It is also escorted with beautiful cinematics with dynamic music. Upon completing the game, the players can spent alot of time collecting various collectables that will empower Ori and theres multiple NPCs who will entrust Ori with side quests. Overall great game with cool additions whilst keeping the spirit of the original the same.