• Played on: Xbox One S
• Available on: Xbox and PC
• Developed by: Moon Studios
• Published by: Xbox Game Studios
• Genre: Metroidvania/Platformer

Five years since the launch of the critically acclaimed, award-winning (including a BAFTA for Artistic Achievement) 2015 Xbox exclusive title, Ori and the Blind Forest, developer Moon Studios released the much-anticipated sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, on 11 March.

I played the former, which was developed over four years by a remote team of 20 across different countries and continents, in September 2016 for the first time. Back then, I had just bought a gaming console as a way to pass the time on weekends at home, after some six or so years since I’d last owned a gaming console.

Weekend gaming turned into nightly gaming after work as I lost myself in the adventure that was Ori and the Blind Forest. According to the in-game statistics, over those weeks I played a combined total of 30 hours. That’s not to say it should take that long to complete. According to gameplay tracking website, HowLongToBeat, the game takes an average of 10 hours to complete and 20 hours for the leisurely gamer. So, 30 hours reeks of underachievement. But the game is such a joy, I’d be willing to bet that slower players stand to get much more out of the experience.

Ori, a somewhat genderqueer small glowing guardian spirit that looks as though it is made of bright white light, exists in the beautifully realised and detailed Nibel forest. Without crossing over into spoiler territory – and at the risk of oversimplifying one of the most captivating storylines in recent gaming history, I can say that through a series of events, darkness has overcome Nibel forest and many of its creatures; fruit no longer grows on the trees; forest creatures are dying; our protagonist is orphaned.

It is up to the player to solve puzzles, jump, climb, shoot and use many other abilities to play through the game and reveal its emotional storyline. Empathy runs through the story and it is especially visible in how key characters are portrayed. Even its antagonist is not simply demonised as a malicious villain and as the story develops and the antagonist’s motives are revealed, we are reminded that even some of the direst consequences can come as a result of poor decisions made in moments of panic and difficult circumstances by those with good intentions.

Work on the 2020 sequel began in 2017. This time, Moon Studio’s remote team of 20 had grown to 80, spread over 43 countries.

“It wasn’t something we necessarily planned. But in the end, it became a really successful strategy for us, because we could hire the most talented people out there. We hired people away from Blizzard, from Riot, from Disney and so on… and the pitch that we made was simply: ‘Hey, we have a good salary, but the nice thing is that you can work from home.’ People didn’t have to relocate or uproot their family. Doing that really helped us be able to attract this talent pool,” says game director and Moon Studio CEO Thomas Malher in an interview with gamesindustry.biz about building the company’s pool of remote talent.

As technology has advanced, so have game mechanics. While 80s and 90s platformer titles like the Super Mario games locked the player into a two-dimensional world of left, right, up and down movements, the most popular titles of the 21st century are increasingly built-in open worlds, where players can go in any direction they want, and play in a non-linear fashion that allows them to choose when and how to explore the story.

That is not to say the two-dimensional console-level platformers have been absolutely non-existent. In fact, the Ori series builds and excels on innovations that come from quite a few titles in the genre. However, Ori and the Blind Forest’s incredible world development through a combination of a touching storyline, game art, an emotive soundtrack, and expertly timed game mechanics, was a significant moment that launched an avalanche of fawning reviews. Mahler announced that the game had turned a profit within a week after launch, enough to cover the years of development.

The sequel begins immediately after the events of the first game. And although it begins in Nibel forest, it takes players far beyond. A new member has been born into Ori’s unlikely family, Ku, an owl with a damaged wing. Once again, without any spoilers: with Ori’s help Ku learns to fly. While in flight, Ori on Ku’s back, a storm causes them to be separated, and so begins the adventure as Ori searches the woods for Ku. However, the story that will unfold is not quite so straightforward and to share it here would be to ruin the gameplay experience.

The premise of evil over good, light over darkness, is nothing new. In fact, it is the standard premise for a lot of fictional work. What often separates the great from the good is the balance of imagination, innovation, execution and relevance. This Ori does in ways that achieve a resonance that few games have been able to.

While games have been a part of my life on and off for three decades, I can’t say many storylines have managed to make me feel as emotionally invested as I might be in a book or a really good series.

The difference with gaming as a mode of consuming fiction is that due to its interactive nature, the player’s actions are integral to how the story unfolds, and Ori and Will of the Wisps has no shortage of action. There’s much more combat than before as Ori slashes enemies using his sword of light and a much bigger arsenal of weapons.  It is at times a challenging experience, especially when it comes to the timed jumping mechanics. A player can be about to give up, wondering what they’re doing wrong. But once you figure out that split-second difference in the jump or attack, the feeling of achievement is that much more special.

The new title also has several side quests, which although not necessary in order to complete the game and reveal the main story, are also worthwhile in the way they encourage the player to explore the game’s universe. The particular in-game rewards, such as new abilities as a result of these quests, also greatly improve the main storyline’s gameplay. They also drastically transform the way a player might interact with the game’s levels. A level that you might have thought you completed earlier can reveal crucial secrets when revisited with improved combat, climbing, grappling and jumping abilities, making world exploration especially gratifying.

Another new addition is just how much richer the world is made by new characters that Ori interacts with along the way, in both the main story as well as the side quests.

I’ve yet to finish. I’m at a point in the game where Ori is surrounded by darkness, literally, and with only one little light. If they move out of the light, they die; still, they have to figure out how to proceed into the darkness, but somehow never move out of the light.

Fast gamers say the game should take 15 hours to complete. I am certain I’ve put in more, but according to the game’s stats, I’m only 40% of the way. I don’t feel rushed at all. In these days, when circumstances that feel beyond our control sometimes result in bouts of mass anxiety, and occasionally reveal fissures in the delicate fabric of society, the challenges of Ori’s world, the empathy with which the story approaches even the seemingly worst among us, and the many moments of victory for the persistent spirit of light in moments of darkness, make for the perfect interactive escape. ML

If you would like to share your ideas or suggestions of games we should try out, please leave a comment below or email us at [email protected] and [email protected].

Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of Maverick Life delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning.