izigame.me

Ori and the Will of the Wisps, from a pure video game experience, is my favorite video game of all time. Gameplay is magnificent, the visuals are stunning, the story is emotional and heartfelt; it literally has it all! In my opinion, it is the most complete gameplay experience that I've ever had.
This all may sound hyperbolic to most people, and I'll admit, these claims are very extreme. But I would not state my opinions this way if I didn't believe them. Let me break down the reasons why I love this game so much a bit further. I will note that this review is mostly spoiler free, so if you want to experience the game yourself--which I obviously highly recommend--you should still be able to read this review to get a good picture for what you would be getting into.
Gameplay Design: The gameplay is that of any typical 2D metroidvania title. You explore a large world and come across upgrades and discover secrets along the way to make traversal easier throughout the game. It also encourages you to backtrack to old areas by sprinkling in hints of knowledge of where certain items are so you can return later with the appropriate upgrade. This also allows more skilled players a chance to test their skills and try and get certain items faster if they are creative enough with their current repertoire. The way you upgrade Ori is also wildly fun and flexible. In a respectful nod to the medtroidvania juggernaut "Hollow Knight," "Ori and the Will of the Wisps" adopts a similar upgrade system to the "charms" in Hollow Knight with the "shard" system. Hidden throughout the map are different shards you can equip to made your gameplay experience more dynamic, and you can equip or unequip shards at any time you want. It is a system that is extremely fun to play with to fit whatever situation you find yourself in, and the shards are fun to find too!
Combat System: One of the major criticisms of this games predecessor, "Ori and the Blind Forest," was that the combat was very limited, and that there were no boss fights. This aspect of the game has been markedly improved. There are a variety of combat options for Ori to choose from in this game, and they all have their own unique advantages and disadvantages in certain situations. You can choose up to three at a time to have on your face buttons, and this gives combat a much larger part of the experience this time around. Plus, the game also has multiple dynamic boss fights that will put your skills to the test!
Platforming: On the other hand, one of the aspects of gameplay that the predecessor was most famous for was the platforming sections, as well as some unique movement abilities. I am pleased to say that this game has all of these elements as well! The platforming is probably even better than in its predecessor, with more variety of ways to move Ori around throughout the map. Needless to say, it is even more fun to move around as Ori in this game.
Map Design: The game flows seamlessly, and the reason that is the case is because of the masterful map design. The way the map is laid out makes going from one area to the next intuitive. Sometimes the game feels linear, only for you to realize that its just because the map is designed in a way that gently pushes you in a specific direction using visual cues. Its actually quite clever. The areas all fit together in a way that makes sense, and this game actually does something that is very difficult; it fits a wide range of different environments in relative proximity to each other with it actually making sense in the world!
Story: No story spoilers here, but just know that the if you played the first Ori game, that the story will probably move you just as much, if not even more than that game. It is definitely something that should be experiences at least once.
Art Direction: The Ori series has always been well known for its gorgeous visuals. This game uses a combination of hand painted backgrounds with 3D character models that works immaculately. The game is masterful at using both the foreground and background to its advantage, with both characters and enemies jumping out of the foreground into the playable plane, which makes the game more immersive. The animations for the characters are fluid, with Ori in particular being a joy to watch; the way he jumps, the way he runs, the way he climbs, all the say down to the small details like Ori doing a handstand on top of a pole. This all makes the game that much more endearing to experience.
Sound: I will say this right now; this OST is my favorite of any video game I've played. I have a moderate music background, so I'm particular about my music. This OST makes fantastic uses of leitmotifs to let you musically understand what's going on in the game at that moment. At the same time, it uses a vareity of melody modulation and mode mixture to give a bit of spice to certain tracks. Not to mention that every area does have a unique sound of its own, and every cinematic moment in the story is enhanced by the OST to an insane degree. The sound design is also superb, with certain actions feeling extremely powerful and satisfying. There are also the little details like the little grunts Ori makes while swinging weapons, to gasps when he emerges from water.
Technical Performance: Heavy criticism was given to this game upon launch for its many technical hiccups, and rightfully so. People have complained of stuttering, screen tearing, frame rate drops glitches where characters disappear, music glitches, to not even saving achievements. That being said, I want to emphasize that if that is your main reason for not getting this game, that these issues are (for the most part) resolved. There have been multiple patches to the game, and the developers have ironed out ALL of these issues. In my experience playing the game, I haven't experienced a SINGLE ONE of these issues. The game flowed seamlessly, no stuttering, minimal load times, and runs at a butter smooth FPS (mine was not capped so ran at 200+ FPS), all in 4K resolution. As far as technical performance, this game really doesn't have any issues, at least with my experience.
Conclusions: Overall, this game as a lot of love put into it. You can tell the developers took their time with this game and came out with the best product that they could produce! This game is an absolute masterpiece, and is the new gold standard in which future metroidvania titles should be compared to.