Ori and the Blind Forest (Platformer/Adventure)
Options include Resolution (640x480 up to 1920x1080); Windowed or Full-screen; Damage Values, and VSynch on/off; language, and separate sliders for Music and Sound Effects, Vibration (if you're using a controller), Brightness, and Contrast. Controls CANNOT be re-mapped, which is a shame... I'm so used to the Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo Tooie-type of controls that some of the actions would have made more sense to me if I could have changed them. FYI, I played the game on a controller, but it can be played with mouse/keyboard.
Ori is a platformer with puzzles and RPG elements. There are three skill trees, which you expand by finding power orbs and taking out enemies. For those not familiar with the idea, basically you have sets of skills that you can upgrade as you progress through the game. Maybe you'd like your attack to be more powerful, your map skills to be expanded, or you'd like to be able to re-use your "Soul Link" (save points) without having to use up your valuable power points. You can have all of this and more, and you get to decide the basic order of the improvements. Some upgrades you cannot "buy" with your skill points, as they are triggered by in-game events. Want that uber-useful double-jump? Sorry, you'll have to wait 'til you get to the appropriate part of the story! There are many achievements to be had, places to re-explore once you have new abilities, and plenty of hidden areas to find. There are no portals for fast-travel, which is a shame, but to be fair, once you have all (or most) of your abilities, it doesn't take all that long to go from one end of the map to the other.
Something you absolutely need to remember to do is to SAVE THE GAME! I had to replay quite a few scenes early on in the game because I kept forgetting that I needed to save :p There ARE some automatic save points, but they're not spaced very closely together! You have been warned!
You've probably heard about how full of "feels" this title is, and it's completely true -- This game could make even the most stoic of players teary-eyed. The graphics are gorgeous, the imagery evocative, and the music simply breathtaking. The way the devs combine all of these elements makes for a moving and emotional experience. This is not to say that the game does not have flaws, for it certainly does, but the good outweighs its shortcomings in my opinion.
That being said, I love this game and I hate this game. It's addictive, it's frustrating, it's fabulous, and it's quasi rage-inducing. Sometimes I just couldn't stop playing, and at others, I just had to walk away. I've seen some reviews which say that it's not overly-hard, but I have to say that for me, it IS overly-hard at times. Sure, most of the gameplay is set at a very doable difficulty level, but then there are also those times where you just want to hurl your controller across the room and scream expletives at the screen.
There are two elements that cause this extreme flare-up of emotion:
The first would be the puzzles that require perfect timing and lightning reflexes. This first shows up when you learn one of those story-triggered upgrades I mentioned. It's an element I've not seen in a game before; one that allows you to hurl an enemy's projectile (or the enemy itself, in some cases) in any direction you choose, whilst simultaneously jumping in the opposite direction. Hard to explain and harder to master, and you MUST get a firm grasp of this mechanic in order to progress in the game.
Second are the running sequences... Those
blasted running sequences!
It's certainly an interesting plot device, but hard as heck, and no save points along the way. This is one of those instances where the game auto-saves right before you start, and you're going
nowhere until you complete the sequence. Period. Die and start over again from where you began running.
The game suffers both from moments of game-halting frustration and lack of important information (aka plot holes.) For instance (not a spoiler) I completely did not catch that the forest was actually *dying* until talking to someone about the game... I thought that the seasons were simply changing and that winter was approaching. There are little things like this scattered throughout the game that make you go "Huh?" but are not so in-your-face as to completely disrupt the immersiveness.
Overall, I have to say that
Ori and the Blind Forest is an absolute must-have and a must-play, but if you're a less-experienced player, you might wait to see if the developer will update the game to add difficulty choices... Lest you end up with a hole in your wall the size of your controller
