 One of the most highly praised games of last year was Ori and the Blind Forest. It's an extremely well made game with consistent and reliable platforming mechanics, intuitive design and controls. And of course, as you can see, it is a beautiful looking game. You can't help but do a double take when you take one glance at the action here. But I kind of felt disappointed in Ori and the Blind Forest, and it didn't live up to the hype for me. First though, I want to address the game's strength, which is of course the visual presentation. Yeah. Don't even really need to say much. It's pretty friggin' cool looking. Straight from the same vein as games like Okami and Shadow of the Colossus. If you're the type of person who values the experience of playing a game and the atmosphere that fills a room as you're playing, then you are the target audience for this game because Ori excels at those aspects as you can plainly see. This game was made for that, first and foremost. So if you like stuff like Journey or Flower or the unfinished Swan, then you'll love Ori. I will point out another strength of this game is that there is a lot of it. I've come to find with a lot of modern platformers who finish them very quickly. With Ori, this is a long game, so you'll get your money's worth. But I have to say, I was a little disappointed in this game. I know I'm getting into Ori kind of late. Everybody and their dog has reviewed this game, but based on how much love Ori and the Blind Forest has received, I was expecting a game that was going to bring something new to the table and shake things up from a gameplay standpoint. Maybe a new take on the platforming genre, sort of like what Braid or Fez did. Or maybe some clever puzzle solving stuff like The Swapper. But if falls short of those games I mentioned, instead it's more comparable to a game like Shovel Knight. A fine game on its own, but very derivative. Now I know what some of you are thinking, you don't like it just because other people like it. No, I'm disappointed that the gameplay, the level layout, and the story are all kind of the same old same old. Granted this time, the same old same old looks freaking incredible here. And sometimes that's all you need. But I can't help but feel like I've played this game a thousand times already. Only this time it's wearing really expensive looking clothes. I mean at least a game like The Swapper has that cloning mechanism, that stands out as something truly different. But Ori is entirely style over substance. There's nothing wrong with that obviously, I just wanted more substance. Anyway, in Ori you jump, double jump, wall jump, and you can use these lights to slingshot your way around levels, briefly pausing the game so you can aim. I guess that's supposed to be the big selling point of the gameplay, but stuff like this has existed since games like Twinbee, Rainbow Bell Adventure, and Ristar are more modern games like Super Meat Boy and They Bleed Pixels. You collect energy that you have to allocate to use for upgrades, or for creating your own checkpoints, whatever you deem more important. The puzzles are okay, but the game does reach an absurd level of difficulty where some of the puzzles just leave your mind blank. You can also bash enemies or platforms to open new areas, which means of course that the game encourages you to explore a bit. Again, not unlike games going all the way back to Donkey Kong Country 2 and Super Metroid. Of course, if you like all those games you'll like Ori, as like I said, it's very derivative. Whether you see that as a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. I see it as kind of a disappointing thing. But yeah, you can shoot flames, you can wall run, you can float, and you can do other stuff, but it didn't really do a whole lot for me. I will say I enjoyed using the level surroundings to kill enemies, that's well done. The story is a coming of age sort of thing, and if you've seen the Lion King or Iron Giant you get the idea. Ori is an orphaned guardian spirit that must restore balance to the forest using the elements of waters, winds, and warmth, and just once I want the quote-unquote elements in a story like this to be like waffles, walruses, and waterboarding. I don't know, I guess I'm just burnt out on this sort of stuff. Anyway, Ori grows bigger and stronger and more confident as you progress further in the game, and there's flashbacks explaining why this evil owl is screwing up the forest. As a story it's fine, I guess, but again, the big appeal here is the atmosphere and the visual design. So yeah, if that's what you're looking for, then you're practically guaranteed to enjoy Ori and the Blind Forest. If you're looking for substance over style, I would say look elsewhere. Not that the platforming is bad at all, it's perfectly fine, it's just like I said I feel like I've played this game a thousand times before. And don't listen to my stupid prattling, if this game looks good to you then go get it. It's on Steam and it's on Xbox One as well.