Date played: February 25th
Platform: PC
Ori continued his quest to restore life to the forest. As I dove deeper into the lush environment, I fought various creatures, found a bunch of ability points, some health and energy upgrades and even a couple of new abilities.
I followed a long legged creature deeper and deeper into the forest in the hopes of getting a sort of "water ball" that he stole from the Ginso tree. It turns out, this creature is named Gumo, and it seems like an innocent creature trying to protect his little treasure. After tons of exploration, I found a huge upgrade, the double jump.
If there's one thing that's clear about Ori and the Blind Forest, it's that the game is challenging. Even the most mundane of enemies is very dangerous. There are fucking spikes of death everywhere. A missed jump is usually a death sentence. So the double jump opens up lots of new opportunities, but it also creates some much more difficult sequences.
Eventually, I caught up with Gumo when he got trapped. Ori then showed how nice and innocent he is by grabbing the water ball, then helping Gumo get up. Now that I had the ball, I headed back to the Ginso tree to heal it.
When I got inside, I was surprised to see that this thing is fucking gigantic! I literally climbed through dozens of rooms as I reached it's peak. Along the way, there were many difficult sections, but all of it felt fair, and with the addition of the double jump, it was also very fast.
That's why I was very surprised when I got my next ability... I don't know what it's called, and I find it hard to describe, but it's basically a move that lets me propel Ori by using enemy projectiles. What makes it work is that time stops for a moment when doing it, so that I can aim in the direction where I want to be launched. It also spits out the enemy projectile in the other direction, creating some very very cool sequences and puzzles. I can't really explain it well, but let's just say that it is incredibly fun to use and adds a whole new dimension to the game!
After going through a few rooms that taught me how to use the ability, I finally reached the heart of the tree. It was rotten and filled with thorns and branches. I cleared all that up and restored the tree's heart! My triumph was short lived though, as a powerful torrent of water started rising through the inside of the trunk. I had to get out of there, fast!
The climb up the last portion of the Ginso tree was easily the most difficult part of this game so far. I had to use every skill at my disposal to succeed. The focus was on using the launching ability, but there was a lot of regular platforming too, requiring fast and precise movement. It took me 19 attempts and 14 minutes to reach the top safely... I really enjoyed this sequence, it reminded me of the best moments of Rayman Legends and Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze.
When I got out, the tree was healed and I was ready to find the second one. However, the big menacing owl from before, Kuro, crept up on me and knocked me down the tree. When I landed, the waters of the forest had been cleaned up and the owl was nowhere to be seen...
Platform: PC
Ori continued his quest to restore life to the forest. As I dove deeper into the lush environment, I fought various creatures, found a bunch of ability points, some health and energy upgrades and even a couple of new abilities.
I followed a long legged creature deeper and deeper into the forest in the hopes of getting a sort of "water ball" that he stole from the Ginso tree. It turns out, this creature is named Gumo, and it seems like an innocent creature trying to protect his little treasure. After tons of exploration, I found a huge upgrade, the double jump.
If there's one thing that's clear about Ori and the Blind Forest, it's that the game is challenging. Even the most mundane of enemies is very dangerous. There are fucking spikes of death everywhere. A missed jump is usually a death sentence. So the double jump opens up lots of new opportunities, but it also creates some much more difficult sequences.
Eventually, I caught up with Gumo when he got trapped. Ori then showed how nice and innocent he is by grabbing the water ball, then helping Gumo get up. Now that I had the ball, I headed back to the Ginso tree to heal it.
When I got inside, I was surprised to see that this thing is fucking gigantic! I literally climbed through dozens of rooms as I reached it's peak. Along the way, there were many difficult sections, but all of it felt fair, and with the addition of the double jump, it was also very fast.
That's why I was very surprised when I got my next ability... I don't know what it's called, and I find it hard to describe, but it's basically a move that lets me propel Ori by using enemy projectiles. What makes it work is that time stops for a moment when doing it, so that I can aim in the direction where I want to be launched. It also spits out the enemy projectile in the other direction, creating some very very cool sequences and puzzles. I can't really explain it well, but let's just say that it is incredibly fun to use and adds a whole new dimension to the game!
After going through a few rooms that taught me how to use the ability, I finally reached the heart of the tree. It was rotten and filled with thorns and branches. I cleared all that up and restored the tree's heart! My triumph was short lived though, as a powerful torrent of water started rising through the inside of the trunk. I had to get out of there, fast!
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| Kuro ambushes Ori at the peak of the Ginso tree |
When I got out, the tree was healed and I was ready to find the second one. However, the big menacing owl from before, Kuro, crept up on me and knocked me down the tree. When I landed, the waters of the forest had been cleaned up and the owl was nowhere to be seen...
