Ori and the Blind Forest

Ori and the Blind Forest sets a new standard for the platform/adventure genre, by managing to handily surpass the games that inspired it in terms of storytelling, gameplay, and presentation.

91%Game Brain Score

story, music

grinding, stability

96% User Score Based on 29,408 reviews

Critic Score 87%Based on 31 reviews

Platforms

Buy Nowfrom $4.36

Buy NowGet on Steam

About

In Ori and the Blind Forest, players control Ori, a white spirit, as they navigate through a metroidvania-style world to save the forest of Nibel from a dark energy known as the Blind Forest's decay. Using platforming and puzzle-solving mechanics, Ori gains new abilities and upgrades to explore the open environment and restore light to the forest. The game features a touching narrative and beautiful hand-painted visuals, accompanied by a sweeping orchestral score.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

+25

96%

Audience ScoreBased on 29,439 reviews

story6.7k positive mentions

grinding188 negative mentions

The stunning hand-drawn art style and vibrant colors create a breathtaking visual experience that captivates players.
The emotional depth of the story, combined with a beautiful soundtrack, enhances the overall gameplay and leaves a lasting impression.
The fluid mechanics and engaging platforming challenges provide a rewarding experience, making it a standout title in the metroidvania genre.

Performance issues and poor optimization can detract from the visual experience, forcing players to lower graphics settings significantly.
Some gameplay mechanics can feel punishing and tedious, leading to frustration during intense sequences.
The lack of replayability and limited value after the initial playthrough may deter players from returning to the game.

story
12,586 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54%
44%
2%
The story of "Ori and the Blind Forest" is widely praised for its emotional depth and beautiful presentation, often described as heartwarming and poignant. Players appreciate the minimal dialogue, relying instead on visuals and music to convey a touching narrative about love, sacrifice, and the struggle to restore a dying forest. While some find the story simple or predictable, many agree that it effectively engages players and enhances the overall experience, making it a standout element of the game.
- “This heartwarming yet tragic story of friendship, loss, and hope is told with minimal dialogue, relying on visuals and music to convey powerful emotions.”
- “The storytelling is elegantly woven into the gameplay, making Ori's journey an impactful experience that stays with you long after playing.”
- “The story is beautiful and full of emotion, with almost no dialogue, which is an incredible show of the creators' brilliance in constructing this work of art.”
- “The story on the other hand was something I had no connection to.”
- “The story is simplistic.”
- “The story is a bit confusing, but is well written (just my opinion).”
music
11,841 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
32%
1%
The music in "Ori and the Blind Forest" is widely praised for its emotional depth and orchestral quality, enhancing the game's beautiful visuals and storytelling. Many players highlight the soundtrack as a standout feature, often describing it as one of the best they've encountered in video games, capable of evoking strong feelings and complementing the gameplay perfectly. Overall, the combination of stunning graphics and a captivating score creates an immersive experience that resonates with players long after they finish the game.
- “The soundtrack by Gareth Coker is exceptional and elevates the game’s emotional impact.”
- “The music adds a layer of immersion that makes Ori’s journey through Nibel feel even more meaningful.”
- “The combination of visuals, storytelling, and music forms a harmonious trifecta that elevates Ori and the Blind Forest to a level of artistic brilliance rarely seen in video games.”
- “The music didn't restart with each attempt but flowed continuously, giving me the push to keep trying.”
- “The soundtrack deserves a special mention for how it complements every aspect of the game, enhancing both the emotional depth of the story and the intensity of the gameplay.”
- “The tension disappears after so many tries, turning the game into a slog with the same bland repetitive music playing throughout (I found the music to be forgettable).”
gameplay
9,312 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
42%
2%
The gameplay of "Ori and the Blind Forest" is widely praised for its fluid mechanics, engaging platforming, and beautiful visuals, creating a captivating experience that combines exploration and puzzle-solving. While many players appreciate the challenge and depth of the gameplay, some express frustration with certain mechanics, particularly during intense sequences that can feel punishing. Overall, the game is celebrated for its artistic presentation and emotional storytelling, making it a standout title in the metroidvania genre.
- “Beautiful art style, great music, challenging but mostly fun gameplay and fun exploration.”
- “The gameplay is fluid and precise, demanding mastery over its challenging mechanics.”
- “The gameplay is equally impressive, featuring a combination of platforming challenges, puzzle-solving, and combat that is both engaging and rewarding.”
- “The game also fails to explain new mechanics well and leaves a lot to the player to figure out.”
- “This game is not fun when you get into the mechanics.”
- “The gameplay itself is quite tedious.”
graphics
9,254 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
72%
27%
1%
The graphics of "Ori and the Blind Forest" are widely praised for their stunning hand-drawn art style, vibrant colors, and intricate animations, creating a visually captivating experience that many players describe as breathtaking. The game's visuals are complemented by a beautiful soundtrack, enhancing the emotional depth of the story and immersing players in its enchanting world. While some players note that the graphics can occasionally obscure gameplay elements, the overall aesthetic is considered a masterpiece, making it a standout title in the platforming genre.
- “Ori and the Blind Forest is a beautifully crafted game that combines challenging platforming, a heartfelt story, and breathtaking visuals.”
- “The hand-drawn art style is nothing short of spectacular, creating a picturesque environment that feels alive with every pixel.”
- “The combination of visuals, storytelling, and music forms a harmonious trifecta that elevates Ori and the Blind Forest to a level of artistic brilliance rarely seen in video games.”
- “The game maxes out at graphics so old we don't even use them anymore but it has the option to change to them.”
- “To start with the biggest problem of all: even though the game looks beautiful, the performance is atrocious so you have to turn down your graphics to the point where it looks like a blocky pixel game from the 90s, thus making one of its good values irrelevant.”
- “The visual clutter makes the character hard to see and due to the bright graphics, makes my eyes hurt to play for a long time.”
emotional
3,689 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of "Ori and the Blind Forest" is widely praised, with many players noting that the game's touching story, stunning visuals, and exceptional soundtrack evoke strong feelings, often leading to tears. The narrative, which revolves around themes of love, loss, and hope, is conveyed with minimal dialogue, allowing players to connect deeply with the characters and their journeys. Overall, the game is described as an emotional rollercoaster that leaves a lasting impression, making it a must-play for those who appreciate heartfelt storytelling in video games.
- “This heartwarming yet tragic story of friendship, loss, and hope is told with minimal dialogue, relying on visuals and music to convey powerful emotions.”
- “Ori and the blind forest is a beautifully crafted game that combines challenging platforming, a heartfelt story, and breathtaking visuals.”
- “The emotional weight of the story is conveyed through minimalistic yet powerful storytelling, making it easy for players to connect with the characters on a deep level.”
atmosphere
1,232 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
72%
28%
The atmosphere of "Ori and the Blind Forest" is widely praised for its breathtaking visuals, enchanting soundtrack, and immersive storytelling, creating a vivid and emotional experience that captivates players. Reviewers highlight the game's unique art style and the seamless integration of music with gameplay, which enhances the overall mood and emotional depth. While some mention gameplay frustrations, the overwhelming consensus is that the game's atmosphere is its standout feature, making it a must-play for fans of atmospheric and story-driven games.
- “The game's breathtaking visuals and gorgeous soundtrack create a serene and mesmerizing atmosphere that immerses you in the game's universe.”
- “Ori has excellent audiovisual design making for a stunning atmosphere, which has arguably led to its overwhelmingly positive reviews.”
- “The atmosphere of this game is something to marvel at times.”
- “The atmosphere is so emotional that even after the 20th try on a hard part I can't just quit and let little Ori alone.”
- “The soundtrack just brings the game to life and creates an amazing contrast of a chaotic but also sweet/calming atmosphere.”
- “Maybe if the game had drawn me in with its story or atmosphere I would have been able to overlook these flaws, but these two things made it for a very frustrating experience.”
replayability
377 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
55%
14%
The replayability of "Ori and the Blind Forest" is a mixed bag, with many players noting its limited value after the initial playthrough, primarily due to the linear nature of the game and the locking of save files upon completion. While some enjoy revisiting the game for achievements, speedruns, or to explore missed secrets, others feel that the lack of a "New Game+" option and the short length diminish its overall replay potential. Overall, it offers a satisfying experience but may not entice players to return frequently.
- “An absolutely beautiful game with tons of replayability, trying to catch everything you missed the first time around.”
- “The replayability of this game comes mostly through reliving the story, or speedruns.”
- “I feel like this game has amazing replayability as well and has its own challenge mode to mix it up after you beat it and get a good grasp of the game.”
- “The only huge drawback which massively impacts my opinion of this game is its replayability.”
- “The game does not have much, if any, replay value to speak of.”
- “There is little to no replay value after you finish the game but that's okay.”
grinding
210 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
7%
90%
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed feedback, with many players finding it tedious and frustrating, particularly due to repetitive tasks, backtracking, and challenging mechanics that require multiple attempts to overcome. While some appreciate the exploration and visual beauty, others feel that the grinding detracts from the overall enjoyment, making certain achievements and gameplay sequences feel unnecessarily prolonged. Overall, the game is seen as a blend of enjoyable elements and tedious grinding, with a recommendation to opt for the definitive version for a potentially improved experience.
- “It feels very casual and not too grindy or difficult.”
- “I also liked that you could upgrade your map to reveal secrets and collectables - so no tedious map crawling to get that 100% completion.”
- “Reminds me what it's like to play a game for the fun of actually playing it - not grinding through gameplay just to get to the next droplet of story progression, like most modern games.”
- “However, the gameplay itself is quite tedious.”
- “The graphical beauty of Ori and the Blind Forest and the fabulous storytelling does not make up for the extremely tedious gameplay mechanics.”
- “But where this game falls flat on its face is the absolutely tedious gameplay.”
optimization
178 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
43%
21%
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its ability to run smoothly on low-end PCs, while others report significant performance issues, including lag spikes and crashes. Many users noted that despite the game's beautiful graphics, poor optimization can force them to lower settings drastically, detracting from the visual experience. Overall, while some players experienced flawless performance, others faced frustrating technical problems that the developers are reportedly working to address.
- “The performance of the game is amazing.”
- “Runs smoothly with high visual settings on my potato of a laptop.”
- “One of the best-looking and best-optimized games this year and maybe forever.”
- “Lack of consistency, poor performance, and occasional lag spikes don't help the overall flow.”
- “Even though the game looks stunning, it is really poorly optimized and runs badly on many systems even months after launch.”
- “Only downside to this game is that it seems to be poorly optimized for PC.”
stability
164 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
89%
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting various glitches, particularly related to achievements and freezing issues during gameplay. While some users experienced significant bugs that affected their gaming experience, others reported smooth performance with minimal issues. Overall, it appears that while the game has potential, it may require further patches to address the numerous stability concerns highlighted by players.
- “The art style is beautiful, the game mechanics are fairly smooth and not buggy at all, and the story is well presented.”
- “However, this is a creative, well balanced, relatively bug free (I didn't encounter a single bug in my hours of playing) game and storytelling experience.”
- “-graphics: 10/10, perfect 2D graphics, runs smoothly, no glitches at all/no tearing (so far).”
- “When I start it, it freezes my computer for almost 7 minutes before it starts, and then I cannot even load my save files from before.”
- “However, the game is infested with deadly glitches that might end your journey and force you to start from the beginning.”
- “Given the number of glitches and bugs, odd design decisions, an anti-completionist mentality, and aggravating gameplay, Ori cannot be recommended.”
character development
142 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
39%
3%
Character development in the game is widely praised for its emotional depth and visual storytelling, with many reviewers noting that the character designs are unique, adorable, and memorable. The game effectively conveys character growth and narrative through stunning art, animation, and music, often evoking strong emotional responses from players. While some critiques mention a lack of dialogue-driven development, the overall consensus highlights a satisfying and impactful character journey that enhances the gameplay experience.
- “The fact that they can produce enough character development within the first ten minutes of the game to bring tears to your eyes is a marvel...”
- “Interesting mechanics, satisfying character development (transition from 'oh crap, enemies' to 'oh boy, enemies, I can use them'), overall good and polished gameplay design, great art, music, good attention to detail and a fairy-tale, Disney-like epic story.”
- “Music and sound 10/10, graphics 10/10, history 10/10, challenge 10/10, character development during the game 10/10.”
- “Most of the time cutscenes only tell you what to do next, without there being character development, or foreshadowing or anything.”
- “No character development.”
- “They just flipped on all the character development they built throughout the story.”
humor
76 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is described as a blend of absurdity and dark comedy, with players finding themselves laughing at both the whimsical elements and the stark contrasts in the storyline. Many reviews highlight the game's ability to evoke laughter even in moments of frustration, creating a unique experience that combines humor with emotional depth. Overall, players appreciate the game's funny gameplay mechanics and engaging narrative, making it a memorable and entertaining experience.
- “Funny 2D jump & run with a wholesome story about friendship and saving nature.”
- “In 3 hours, my friend and I had died 275 times, and we just could not stop laughing.”
- “The story in the intro had me laughing and crying.”
monetization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy for the game has drawn mixed reactions, with some players criticizing it as a cash grab, particularly regarding the pricing of the definitive version. However, the absence of in-game advertisements or purchases is seen as a positive aspect, leading some to believe that the game should be more widely promoted. Overall, while the game is celebrated as a masterpiece, its pricing strategy may deter some potential buyers.
- “I don't think I will ever pay full price for the definitive version because of this obvious cash grab unless it was on sale very cheap.”
- “Oh and without in-game advertisements or purchases...”
- “Best indie game of 2015... and it still will be the best for many years to come, people should know and play this game, it should have advertising on TVs and all over the web.”

87%Critics’ scoreBased on 31 critic reviews

Buy Ori and the Blind Forest

10h Median play time

20h Average play time

8h Main story

11h Completionist

7-12h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 216 analyzed playthroughs

Videos

93%30kreviews

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

2020

Platformer

85%4kreviews

Owlboy

2016

Platformer

90%12.1kreviews

Dust: An Elysian Tail

2013

Arcade Hack and Slash

+13

89%9.7kreviews

Hyper Light Drifter

2016

Hack and Slash

+14

86%2.3kreviews

MO:Astray

2019

Casual Platformer

81%4.5kreviews

Valley

2016

Arcade Platformer

83%634reviews

Unbound:Worlds Apart

2021

Role Playing

79%2.3kreviews

Seasons after Fall

2016

Role Playing

90%21kreviews

GRIS

2022

Casual Platformer

+16

83%4.5kreviews

Hob

2017

Open World Action Adventure

Ori and the Blind Forest Tweets

Ori and the Blind Forest

Platforms

About