Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Switch) Review

One of the hallmarks of the metroidvania genre is the attention to visuals and design. Much of the recent trend can be pinned on the release of Ori and the Blind Forest, a game that expertly used music, animation, and environmental flourish. When Ori and the Blind Forest surprisingly released for the Nintendo Switch, I took the time to play through it for the first time and I walked away not entirely impressed. I thought the visuals were awesome and the music was incredible but I found the gameplay to be not as well-designed as I had hoped. Much of my issues in Blind Forest have been addressed in the sequel and once again I am playing on the Switch, though I do want to set aside some time to experience the updated 4K version when that releases. Even though there are still some qualms, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a strong continuation of the ideas coursing through the first game. 

Before diving into the specifics on Ori and the Will of the Wisps, I want to acknowledge how impressive the Switch port is and point out some flaws that I ran into. The finer details were covered perfectly in a video put out by the technical wizards at Digital Foundry and I just want to set expectations by saying I do not have that level of knowledge to truly appreciate the subtle visual and programming tricks but I am more aware of it having seen that video and I recommend it for those interested. That said, the fact that this game runs at a near-constant 60 fps is amazing. Sure the visuals can be a little hazy compared to the Xbox version but it is undeniably a viable way to play this game. Like most of my recent Switch reviews, I played Ori and the Will of the Wisps entirely in handheld mode while using the Hori Split Pad Pro controller. I found the entire experience, especially with headphones, to be a perfect way to curl up in a pile of blankets and just lose myself in the forest. 

Technical marvels aside, I do feel like the farther one gets in the game, the more the Switch struggles to keep up. Progression in Will of the Wisps, as well as Blind Forest, is all about gaining new movement options. One of the last moves allows one to really zip through areas and the camera can get stuck. I also noticed that going through areas quickly and then opening the map, would frequently hard-crash the game. My cleanup of collectibles felt needlessly messy and I’m confident that this wouldn’t be an issue on the Xbox but our producer Joe has also been running into clipping issues so this may not be a Switch-specific problem. I do highly recommend buying the ability to warp between save points early, as it makes traveling that much quicker, even with the long loading screens.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps picks up shortly after the events of Blind Forest. Ori, Naru, and Gumo are spending their days raising Ku, a baby owl who is the offspring of the monstrous Kuro who was the frightening antagonist of Blind Forest. Ku was unfortunately born with a crippled wing and struggles to learn to fly but with Ori’s kindness and resourcefulness, the family is able to reinforce Ku’s wing with a feather. On a triumphant flight, tragedy strikes. Ori and Ku are separated in a new forest that’s dealing with its own problems. Far away from home, Ori must learn new skills and embrace new spiritual powers to reunite with Ku and find a way to destroy the corruption choking these woods. 

One of my favorite aspects of Blind Forest was the way the cutscenes were drenched with emotional weight. The subtle movements of the characters convey a ton of feelings and I was certainly moved by certain events and scenes. In Blind Forest, I considered Kuro to be one of the strongest elements, a terrifying and incredibly powerful entity that felt omnipresent while traversing the forests. Unfortunately, we do get a similar entity in Will of the Wisps and while I like how this character extends what we know about owls in this world, it seems just samey enough that I would have liked this antagonist to be a different creature altogether. 

Shriek is a terrifying monster that always seems hover like a dark cloud over the game’s events.

In Will of the Wisps, Ori quickly learns that this forest is under the rule of the malicious Shriek, an owl sporting extreme deformities that result in it walking on its wings like stilts. The story fleshes out how Shriek came to be so adverse to the world around it and I like those details a lot. There is one moment that solidifies that Shriek is a force that has to be taken down and it’s a moment that had me in disbelief for a while. Even the game’s ending goes into areas that I just would not have expected. We won’t go into those details in this review but know that Ori and the Will of the Wisps has moments designed to impact the player with extreme force. 

Speaking of the story, I think that Ori and the Will of the Wisps has a much better plot than Blind Forest. I think this is mostly because there are far more dialogue scenes and a lot more characters to talk with. My favorites were the larger creatures like Kwolok, a wise toad who grants wisdom early on in the adventure. The animation detail on these larger creatures is amazing and the lighting system elevates the mood substantially. This can most be felt on a large spider boss that is found in a dark cave as it's a creature covered in glowing blobs that wiggle perfectly to the movement of the spider. I also loved steadily developing a little town of the squirrel-like Moki and the various store vendors. Seeing how the area is covered in thorns and then through effort is made more liveable helped foster care for these side characters that I just didn’t have in the first game. It also helps that the shops offer useful upgrades and weapons. 

Finding various collectibles improves the little village.

Gameplay, especially combat, has improved a lot in this sequel. The way moves can be chained together to get around the various obstacle courses is so much fun and, through mastery, some areas can even be reached early. There are plenty of little rewards to find throughout the world, creating plenty of incentive to explore every nook and cranny. It never reached the clever application of moves found in most of the Metroid games but it was fun to poke around the map and be rewarded for doing so. There were a few tricky moves to reach a place here and there but by and large getting all of the items was a pretty simple task, at least for me. That said, some platforming sections need just a bit more precision than I thought was necessary. The bombastic chase scenes, which were some of the best parts of Blind Forest, are still more trial and error than I would have liked. I think some extra visual cues could’ve gone a long way as the constant resets that force the player to start the chase from the beginning really kills the momentum these scenes establish so well. 

Combat this time is less about projectiles and more about simple slashes and positioning. Ori’s first weapon is a sword and as the game progresses a bow, spear, hammer, and more are unlocked to provide more options. These attacks and tools are set to any of the three face buttons, which is great for those that like to map their controls a specific way; I usually had melee on Y, ranged weapons on X, and utility on A. These weapons can feel a bit weak compared to the larger health pools of even smaller monsters but there are several ways to increase attack power. My favorite weapon was the spear because the wind-up animation feels amazing; Ori flips back and readies the spear with such grace that it was my preferred way to attack from a distance. Most of the moves do require spirit energy, so there is a balance to find in minor resource management. 

Ori’s abilities improve throughout the adventure.

Throughout the game, Ori finds shards that alter abilities such as granting more attack or a triple jump. Some of these can be purchased, while others are found in hidden places. I think the triple jump is essential and it definitely makes some of the more awkward jumps of the late-game way easier to pull off. These shards are fun to find and tinker with and more slots can be added by completing combat challenges.

Related to those challenges are Spirit Trials that set up a racecourse and then puts Ori against a ghost to reach a goal first. I wish the rewards were more substantial than more currency but they are a fun way to test one’s skill. Spirit Trials do also use the ghosts of other players online which is something I hadn’t even noticed while playing. I usually avoided them but if there had been cosmetics or a super cool weapon to unlock I would have done them all. 

There are still achievements to pursue despite being on the Switch and these really push players to the extreme. I don’t see a need to do this personally, again if there was an in-game reward for doing these I would consider it, as I just do not need the frustration ingrained into a no-hit run of the game. 

I think the issues I have most with Ori and the Will of the Wisps that keeps it from being a perfect game is still some of the level design. There are lots of frustrating moments to be found depending on one’s skill level and it often felt like if the level been tweaked in a few ways I wouldn’t have been steered wrong. Again, the chase sequences gave me the most trouble but I also didn’t like the player feedback on combat as enemies would constantly shrug off attacks and leave me to be hit anyways. In most instances, this didn’t matter so much because I was on easy and had a ton of health upgrades but I never felt like my hits were doing anything substantial, except for when I was using the spear which hits hard and feels amazing to use.

Enemies often take more hits than anticipated.

I was glad to see that Ori and the Will of the Wisps has several awesome boss fights. I wasn’t a huge fan of the final one and I even glitched the game after a victory and had to start all over. I’m not sure what it is with me and the final moments of a metroidvania but I always break something; this has happened in Blasphemous and The Mummy Demastered. The last fight is also just full of awkward moments and it’s easy to end a run and not remotely know what went wrong. However, most of the other battles were full of grandeur, excellent music, and were challenging in mostly fair ways. 

While I found several moments to be finicky, I was carried through this journey through the stupendous musical score. I cannot stress enough how magical the music makes this game feel and I’m really looking forward to another playthrough for the 4K update. The visuals pair with the sounds incredibly well and playing feels like taking part in an epic animated story. The main theme shines through on keys and strings like a bright flicker of flame in the shadows of the intimidating, deeper brass tones. This will definitely be a game soundtrack that will be celebrated among the greats and I hope to one day see a live orchestra perform it. 

Boss battles in Ori and the Will of the Wisps are mostly epic clashes combined with incredible music.

I think my enjoyment of Ori and the Will of the Wisps gives me more appreciation for Blind Forest. I still find the gameplay to be lacking in certain areas but overall these games have masterclass visuals and mood-setting. I have no idea how Moon Studios could follow up Will of the Wisps and a part of me hopes they try something entirely new in their next game. Regardless, I will henceforth support whatever creative endeavors this studio pursues. 

From a games industry standpoint, having both Ori games on the Switch is a delightful pairing between Microsoft and Nintendo. Both companies are arguably rivals but more and more they are happy to work together. We’ve seen this recently with the addition of Steve and the gang from Minecraft coming to Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Additionally, having the Xbox exclusive Cuphead in more places has to be good for the game overall. I think we will see more collaborations from these two companies going forward and we could even see something extreme like xCloud being usable on Switch or something. Regardless, I probably would have continued to ignore the Ori games had they not been ported to Switch.  

All in all, Ori and the Will of the Wisps on Nintendo Switch is not the best way to play this emotional, magical adventure but it is an impressive feat of engineering that mostly works well. 

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 8/10

VISUALS - 8/10

SOUND - 10/10

CONTROLS - 8/10

REPLAY VALUE - 6/10

OVERALL - 8/10

Find more about Ori and the Will of the Wisps on the official website. A beautiful Collector’s Edition from Iam8bit is available for pre-order. A digital Switch copy was provided for the purpose of review. Screenshots were captured using the Switch’s native features.

For more insight into how a metroidvania is built, check out our interview regarding Metroid II: Return of Samus and the ways remakes interpret games, featuring Milton Guasti who was one of the level designers on Ori and the Will of the Wisps. For another beautiful exploration of a magical world, read Zach’s review of Hollow Knight. Lastly, for more animation-driven approaches to the genre, read my take on Shantae and the Seven Sirens.