Ori and the Realm of the Underrated 2D Games
Ori and the Will of the Wisps. The name itself fills my head brimming with emotions. Its not only the rich soundtrack, the memorable characters and set pieces that make this game special, but also the fact that I never ever imagined myself loving it so much.
For me 2D games were just that, two dimensional. They lacked the character of 3D games, which can be in third or first person view. The 2D games were far from a life like experience, so boring and uninteresting to look at.
This was because I essentially started playing video games in the PS1 era, which was the sunset years for 2D games. And that meant I thought of them as very linear, simple and dated. I never took them seriously, because you can basically just go two ways, right?
Left! I mean its not right, its totally wrong. Ori was the first game that made me realise this. Its extremely rich in detail, with a complex structure which cannot quite be imagined in most games out there.
I’ll tell you why I’ve hardly ever seen such detail. In 3D games, the most eye-catching cinematic parts end up as cutscenes, if not quick time events where you mash a button at the right time to move out of a projectiles trajectory or jump out of a trap’s way. Even most of Uncharted’s loud Die Hard-like sequences feel like an on-rails shooter, where your participation is kept at a minimum.
However, in Ori, these parts are where the game really gives you full control. The devs offer you abilities one after the other, train you in them, and then to test your metal, throw in an epic boss battle or chase sequence to gauge how good you’ve become. And this is when you look on in awe as you magically press the right buttons and see Ori swaying every which way like a perfect dance routine, only its not a cutscene, you’re doing all of it.
Challenging as they may be, these parts are what really made a huge impact on my mind. The difficulty is not unreasonable, although you try every sequence around 10 or so times before you hit the right moves at the right time. The music, meanwhile, gets louder, and the beats — matching your movements — start to race as the fight or the escape sequence gets intense.
This is when all the elements of the game come together in perfect harmony, and the sum of all the parts touch a peak.
But not many would know this game, even though its popular, it lacks the fame of the biggest AAA titles, which I feel it rightfully deserves. Why do I think it deserves this and why won’t it ever get it? Let’s start with…
The Beginning — gets you right into the action without wasting time
The journey starts off where the first one — Ori and the Blind Forest — concludes. I only finished the first part after the second, so I didn’t really know what to expect. However, the game’s 2–3 minutes short opening cutscene gets the job done to get you invested.
A small group (or a family) of mystical forest creatures living together in peace. But tragedy strikes when two of the four members of the family are swept away by strong winds during a storm. The two who get separated, one a flegdling owl which they recently adopted, named Ku, and the other, the titular Ori, a white guardian spirit, wind up in another forest, named Niwen.
Once the storm settles, they both realise that they cannot locate each other. Young anf frail Ku decides to hide from danger, while our protagonist Ori, worried, starts in desperate search across the trecherous landscapes of wilderness, covered in moss, thorns and poisonous waters that instantly kill.
The first thing that you realise when you get control of Ori is that the game looks as beautiful as the starting cutscenes, soaked in nature and its myriad colours. Even better, is the orchestral soundtrack that plays in the background.
Having never played a MetroidVania before, the game looks daunting, with the labrynthian branching paths and hidden or unreachable areas. But somehow, I realised that wherever I went, I was progressing further into the forest, albeit getting lost too. Some dead ends or unaccessible areas proved to be quite frustrating at first, because I’d keep trying to cross the obstacles but to no avail.
But this is not really a limitation of the game, but of my brain to comprehend how such games really function.
I also understood quite early that the main focus was on platforming, and precision landing in most situations. This was the aspect I enjoyed the most.
Ori is extremely fluid, and working a jump with the Xbox controller is solid fun, because sometimes the stakes are very high. Miss a jump by an inch, and you have to begin the entire routine again.
This never steered into the frustration lane, however. On the contrary, every jump or a collection of platforms that I tried again and again, I started getting better, and so I was never annoyed. I saw myself learning how to reach the next platform more cleanly, and hence the addiction to perfection began.
Once you get used to the movment, you want to travel every where, look at every crevice for the world’s details, and for the secrets they hold. There is not much of storytelling in the side quests, given by characters who don’t mean much. But the sum of them come to start feeling like living breathing creatures, who become a part of Niwen, a world you want to save for all of them.
If I may compare…
This would be most controversial to gamers, but here is something I would like to do — pit God of War (2018) against Ori and the Will of the Wisps. It sounds unreasonable, but having played both the games, here is what I feel.
Both have MetroidVania and RPG elements in them, while Ori is more platforming and God of War is more action.
The biggest difference between the two games, I feel, is that GoW is 3D and Ori is 2D. On first glance, as an average gamer, I’d wish to play GoW over Ori. Why? Mainly because its 3D, and the perspective gives the gamer a sense of more control. Besides, the action looks kick-ass, and we have fan service by way of Kratos.
However, having finally played both the games, I would today chose Ori over GoW. I have quite a few reasons for this. Let’s get done with the first thing which I already mentioned, which is the cutscenes against actually playing the parts. GoW has a lot of quick time event like moments, which are just incredible, but the player can’t really control Kratos during these scenes. Even if there is control, its just superficial and almost illusionary.
Another reason for my dislike is that GoW is actually just a big budget game that’s quite a cinch to play and win. As much as I remember, the last boss battle was one of the easiest boss battles in the history of gaming. On the other hand, Ori’s final boss is so bloody memorable, not only as a character, but also as a final boss. It took me a whole lot of effort, with all my knowledge of the game and its mechanics put to test.
The difficulty and the pacing were just right in Ori, while GoW’s all over the place. There are random burts of slow and fast moments, leading to jarring transitions, whereas Ori has a very equally distanced pace, it knows how to juggle the slow and the fast and the intense.
Another thing I want to bring up is how diverse every area in Ori is. One area is covered in snow, and has some of the hardest battles, while another area is filled with darkness and your only way to light the path are some bugs. Meanwhile in GoW, there are some different areas, but its never as exciting that you have to completely change your strategy, so replayablility also takes a dip.
But going back to why I wanted to bring this up — GoW is still a widely recognised masterpiece, some even calling it the best game of the last decade. But in such a list of top 100, you’ll find Ori somewhere between 60–70. Only because its a 2D perspective game. Ultimately, Moon Studios, the makers of Ori, will never get the limelight quite like Santa Monica, the devs of GoW.
But playing Ori today, I realise the error of my ways. It feels as big budget as the biggest games of all time. The set pieces are some of the best, the music will stick with you forever, the sparse but impactful story, the characters (even the bad guys) and the vast open world. They all come together to tightly pack a 12–15 hour experience which you need to take, irrespective of the perspective of the camera.
We need to play more 2D games, and should support the devs in fact, for bringing worlds to life in just two rather than three dimensions.
