November Assassination #4 (Backlog)

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Having just beaten Ori, it's easy to see why this game is so beloved. It is an incredibly beautiful and well-paced game that does most things right, but I think it suffers a bit when put under the microscope in a few aspects. Not enough to make it bad, not enough to warranting a thumbs down or not recommending it, but enough to prevent it from being a masterpiece.

First, praise where praise is due. Let's start with the visuals, which, for the most part, are absolutely top-notch. It's been a while since I've seen a 2D game look that good. The parallax and depth of field is insane, always gorgeous and making you feel you're actually inhabiting a real world, not a 2D slice of one. The environments are varied, and the animation for all characters (but in particular for Ori) is mindblowing. The gracefulness of its movements is something you don't see every day. Effects overall are also really well done. My only criticism in regards to visuals is also a criticism I'll come back to when talking about combat - there's a bit too much visual noise at times to allow for effective combat/platforming. This was mostly an issue when enemies shot projectiles at me, and I either couldn't see them against the background or against all the visual effects already on the screen. While this is not game-breaking in regular gameplay, I can see that being a MAJOR issue if you're going for the no-kill achievement.

When it comes to sounds, there's nothing groundbreaking here, but what's on display absolutely delivers. Ori mostly features an orchestral score that dictates the mood of each scene and action sequence without being too intrusive. It's beautiful, it's haunting, it can get your heart pumping in the right moments, and in summary, works. It does what it has to, but is not a soundtrack you'll be remembering for ages, I guess. Could be good background music for studying or meditation, but hardly rises above that.

The lore is partially delivered via short sentences and long visual storytelling. The devs excel at 'show, don't tell', and it's pretty easy to follow what's happening and get invested in the world and its characters. I was still a bit confused about what really set all the events in the game in motion and I'm not sure I know the answer to that, having beaten the game, but that never prevented me from enjoying the story or getting excited about its developments. Personally I don't think Kuro works as a great villain / antagonist, but that's probably more a matter of personal preference. Last but not least, I thought the endign was a bit abrupt - I was sure there would be a final dungeon after you beat the three legacy ones, but no, credits rolled when I was still craving for more. The pacing towards the end is a bit unclear and I think the tension doesn't build as high as it could if you're expecting that kind of final challenge gauntlet, so the whole endgame experience was a bit jarring for me, but I can also see that being an issue for how conditioned I am with Metroidvanias pulling the point-of-no-return-last-dungeon trick over and over.

And finally, the area where I reserved most of my criticism - gameplay. I always review Metroidvanias saying they have three jobs that MUST be done right - combat, movement, and exploration. Exploration is the easiest so I'll start there - Ori is fine. There is a lot to find around the world, and most of it is not super hidden, so you immediately know there'll be backtracking. The map is really useful in keeping track of it for you, but the abilities that you get to unlock further exploration feel a bit tacked on - it's like, you know there's a breakable wall as soon as you start the game, and eventually you get the breakable wall ability, so it's a key fitting a hole and not an eureka moment. It works, but is not incredible.

Movement is 8 or 80: moving around with Ori is a blast for most of the time, in particular as you start to combo abilities. Bash is one of the most incredible moves ever created, and combined with double jump and hovering, it's a lot of fun. What brings movement down for me is that some areas (in particular chase sequences) don't communicate really well what they want from you, requiring prior knowledge of the obstacles in order to avoid them. I hate when you get to a point and die to an unfair obstacle without any chance to avoiding it, and I hate when the game uses that as a way to teach you what to do in the next attempt. A fair game will always let a skilled player clear a challenge like that in the first go, and Ori refuses to do that in pretty much all escape sequences. It's a bit frustrating that such a good moveset is hampered by somewhat obtuse level design, but it's not enough to abandon the game.

And finally, combat. Which is the weakest link. Combat is just not satisfying here, and I'm glad it's not a bigger part of the game. What you do is spam the attack button, since enemies are spongy from the beginning to the end of the journey and you don't get significant improvement on your combat options outside of Bash. To make matters worse, there's not a huge variety of enemies. There's the guy that jumps and you run under, the armored guys that rush you, the guys that rush you and explode, the slugs that don't move and shoot bullets you can bash, and the slugs that move but which bullets you cannot bash, the frogs and the owls. And they just keep repeating over and over and over with different palettes but the same strategies. To make things worse, some projectiles are bashable and others aren't, so even bash is not dependable throughout the game. Combat is at its best when you're taking full advantage of your moveset to avoid enemies mid-air and hitting them with their own projectiles, but very often you'll be on ground having to hold on to ledges to take poke shots at enemies while barely seeing their attacks. Again, it works fine for a regular gameplay, but I can see that being infuriating in a one-kill playthrough.

Overall, Ori does many things right and while hard, can be a good first Metroidvania for people getting into the genre. It's beautiful to look at and to listen to, there's an engaging and well told story, exploration is fine, movement is quite expressive although level design frequently plays against it, and if you can endure combat here, it mostly only gets better in other games of the genre. It's a great game that stops a few steps away from being a timeless classic.