izigame.me

TLDR: A visually stunning game marred by mediocre gameplay and a forgettable narrative. I played through the game on Hard, and some of my feedback may not be as applicable on easier difficulties.
PROS: The art and soundtrack are top notch. The opening sequence is fantastic and is very effective at engaging the player emotionally early on. The movement is fluid and satisfying, and the cinematic 'escape' sequences are exhilarating, at least for the first five or so attempts. Among an otherwise basic kit of skills (wall jumping, double jumps, dashes), a few of them felt innovative and refreshing, like the Bash move that allows you to catapult yourself off of enemies and redirect projectiles, which they utilize to great effect in the platforming.
CONS: Ori lacks the subtlety and ambiguity of its counterparts in the Metroidvania genre. Hollow Knight is a prime example, a game where you slowly unravel the mysteries of what happened to the broken world around you, and each new discovery spurs the player onward in search of more answers. Ori places you in a similarly shattered world, but by contrast, every time you happen upon something new or interesting, your Great Value brand Navi companion tells you exactly what took place and why, sucking all mystique and wonder out of it immediately. Good Metroidvanias make you feel like an explorer, and give you the satisfaction of piecing things together as you go along. Ori and the Blind Forest makes you feel more like a tourist:
"Here you'll see the abandoned mountain home of a dead race. They were trying to (spoiler), but then (spoiler) happened and they all died. Here's a half baked gravity puzzle, and then it's on to the next attraction."
"This is the main antagonist. Watch this short cutscene, which will show you their entire backstory and plainly spell out their motivations. Yes, I know we're only 1/3 through the game, but we're on a tight schedule and still have at least three more biomes to herd you through."
The cinematic 'escape' sequences mentioned above could have been really cool moments, but quickly lose their charm. They are littered with obstacles that insta-kill you, and are almost impossible to anticipate until they've already caused you to restart. This turns what would be really cool and memorable moments into exercises of frustration that require you to brute force your way through with trial and error, hitting every snag along the way at least once.
Ori uses insta-kill spike pits as a crutch, and while it offsets this by allowing you to spend energy to create your own save points virtually anywhere you want, it really stifles the movement-centric mechanics of the game. Slightly mis-timing a jump or getting the wrong angle on a Bash often sends you straight back to your last save point, and because the onus of placing them intelligently is left to the player, this can sometimes erase so much progress it made me want to turn the game off. It also forces you to sit through any cutscenes or dialogue you went through since your last save (because nothing says "fun" like re-watching the same unskippable gameplay interruption over and over).
Before anyone dismisses these criticisms with "git gud", I completed the path of pain in HK. I don't say this to brag or claim I'm some god gamer, only to communicate that these complaints are at least in part due to poor game design, and not just a skill issue.
If you're still waiting on Silksong and need something to tide you over, there are certainly worse options out there. Ori isn't a bad game, and if you enjoy the genre you should check it out while its on sale. It certainly has its flaws, but none of them are game breaking.