A beautifully crafted game with outstanding mobility and platforming

I have not played many 2D platformers in my day. Those that I played, I played on my gameboy color a long time ago. This time around, I played on a steam deck, and it was an incredible experience.

I've recently realized how much fantastic music can elevate an already great game. And music isn't all - this game hit the trifecta; fun gameplay, beautiful and cozy visuals that immerse you into the world in no time, and finally truly incredible music.

I got hooked fairly quick, and towards the end of the story I found myself putting off doing story related content in favor of running around and picking up lettuce and shiny orbs, just to stay in the world for a little longer.

It's a fantastic game and I'm glad to have played it.

ori and the blind forest is a platformer/adventure/metroidvania developed by moon studios & published by microsoft that released in march 2015 on PC/xbox, with a switch port coming in september 2019. the biggest thing this game has going for it, especially as someone who isn't the biggest platformer fan is the gorgeous art direction, simple story and majestic sound effects/soundtrack. the gameplay is admittedly pretty damn fluid as well which made the gameplay addictive. the story/plot is simplistic yet extremely beautiful, touching, and very well may make you cry. im a huge fan of the fact that combat isn't really the focus and the game leans heavily toward platforming instead, and the platforming is thankfully top-notch, while the combat can potentially get frustrating at times especially in high stakes difficulties.

after hearing so many good things about this game i came in expecting more, however i'd say it was only like a 7.5 or 8 out of 10 and not the masterpiece i've seen it be mentioned as. maybe the sequel is so much better and might come closer to that status for me, but this was just 'good,' not 'great.'