If you like long sections of "make one mistake and then restart the entire level" this is the game is for you. each one of these run away sections is designed to make you fail until you memorize 30-40 obstacles that will all force a restart without any checkpoints. it results in spending hours to grind out one 10 minute level by forcing you to die hundreds of times until you do all 30-40 things perfect in a row.

This game is extremely frustrating to play, not even because of difficulty, but going past tens of collectibles just feels wrong. I get the whole metroidvania stuff that you need to unlock certain abilities to progress, but going back just for them makes no sense to me and I personally don't like this approach. It's very easy to get lost on the map, I feel like I am forced to go through one path while going past 10 different ones I'd like to go through first. At some point I started to somehow connect where am I and where was I already, but then a spider dropped me like 10 storeys down and I had no idea what to do again. The game itself is good, graphics are great, it's very atmospheric, story is great, I just don't enjoy metroidvanias and I didn't realise this game was one before buying.

Simply beautiful. Loved it!!

its fine i guess

I hate to give this game a negative review because I really want to like this game. I tried on Switch and gave up, then I tried again on PC but ultimately gave up again. The game has a gorgeous artstyle and a beautiful soundtrack. The opening scene does a better job at evoking emotions than any AAA game with a multitude of the budget that Ori had.

With all that said I don't like the gameplay and that's the most important part of any game. The game focuses way too much on trial and error with a lot of cheap one-hit kills. And the game fully embraces this by having a mobile checkpoint system that gives the player control over when and where they want to respawn ... that is as long as you got the energy for that. If you don't, then tough luck. And since you don't know which sections will be troublesome on your first playthrough it's mostly guessing when and where to place those checkpoints.
Aside from the frustrating platforming the combat is really ... not that good. You basically only have a medium range homing missile attack and a close range blast attack but there is no range indicator so you have to guess if your attacks will hit or not which leads to a lot of hit and run. Hardly engaging ....

After playing this for long enough i can guarantee you that the "dont die" achievement is really something in this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ constant path of pain game

I don't know what is up with nearly every platformer game having the worst controls imaginable.. in a game that is all about precise movement.
But this one might take the cake as the absolute worst of all of them.

The map is basically designed for you to "barely make it". Ori's jump height is absurdly low, even many simple traversal jumps require you to time it because you will only reach the ledge if you jump exactly at the last possible frame.
You also then have to hold space to jump higher. Which basically means if you press space you barely move at all. And holding space makes you jump the normal height which again is barely enough.

And soon you will encounter wall jumping which either has the most unforgiving timing or is straight up random on whether Ori will actually jump on the wall or will fall to his death. His grip on the wall just seems to be so inconsistent and there will be MANY wall jumping puzzles you need to solve. Each of them filled with spikes and fireballs which will kill you in 1 or 2 hits.

You should not make a game about precise movement and not provide that precise movement to the player. It's unbearable and infuriating.

the graphics are visually stunning, with decent platforming. The character's movement feels slippery that makes you fails at several challenges (prob input lag on my hardware, but eh). Story feels underwhelming, probably because your only objective is to revive a dying magical forest and nothing else.

unenjoyable gameplay

Might legitimately be the worst game I have ever played, it might not be for me but I do really enjoy this genre because I love Hollow Knight and I've tried others in this style, but the combat kinda sucks and I really hate how literally everything one shots you and if you don't save, then you pay the price. If you're a masochist like me then this is the game for you but if enjoy your sanity then don't play this game.
I'm still probably gonna try and beat it, but so far, I really am not enjoying it and its just really making me crash out, I really like giving games a chance, but this is the first game that I've actively decided to write a bad review about.
Hey if you like a good story then you might like it but I really don't care about this games story compared to others because this is trying to be too emotional.
I'll probably play the sequel and I really hope it gets better.
P.S. (I really hate how literally EVERYTHING one shots you.)