Recent reviews by origami_bird

The first two and a half hours of this game are an utterly mediocre metroidvania wrapped in particularly nice aesthetics. It's nothing you won't have seen before--jumping puzzles, blocks to be pushed, a double jump and later a wall jump to be unlocked. If you can get by on looks alone, you should probably buy the game.

After those two and a half hours, however, you get the "Bash" ability, which is an innovative, compelling, and satisfying mechanic that opens up the entire remainder of the game. I'd go so far as to call it what makes Ori--art direction aside--a truly unique experience. 80% of the rest of the game is a whirlwind delight, focusing prominently on the use of this projectile-flipping, momentum-swapping, time-dilating cornerstone.

There are still some rocky moments. All but one of the remaining abilities are mundane, to the tune of ground pounds, dashes, and charged-up launches, and at times there will be platforming sequences that reduce you to a single jump and seal away the remainder of your mobility suite. This was unfun to me. Some of the escape sequences feel tedious rather than impelling, where those with reaction speeds below a certain threshold are confined to the realm of incremental trial-and-error, being reset to the start of these sequences should they slip up and fall slightly behind the curve. The final sequence is especially guilty of this, requiring foreknowledge rather than skillful play, and I'm left without as strong a reaction to the ending cutscene as I might have had.

Ultimately though, thinking back on the game, there are a lot of stand-out moments to be had if you are willing to sit through the first two and a half hours of run-of-the mill platforming and have either the patience or the sheer reflexes required to power through the fast-paced getaways. My time as of this writing is marked for 11 hours, but removing time spent with the game running idly I'd say there's a solid 8-9 hours of game to be had after the slow start. The aesthetic alone could very well carry you through a playthrough as well, as it is truly sublime.

Took me 9.9 hours to clear it on normal. Everything is great fun up until the last mission, which is an hour-long slog through a gauntlet of foes. I cannot stress enough how emotionally harrowing this gauntlet is:
-only your combat stats will matter. don't bring a deck, don't bring a shaman (for anything other than utility casting), don't hope to benefit from your etiquette dips, don't expect anything but fight after fight after fight.
-roughly two-thirds of the enemies you'll face will revive! into ghostly forms that need to be put down in a single round. fail that, and those ghosts will revive, in turn, into the original enemies, back up to 40 hp. this cycle can repeat endlessly.
-those ghostly foes also have 40 hp. they take damage 15 hp at a time, from a "weapon" that can hurt these things.
-remember that bit about combat stats mattering? this weapon is a special weapon. it cannot crit. it cannot become more accurate than 80%--it cannot scale with any of your combat stats. you're looking at a 60-80% chance to hit depending on how far you are. also, it's only got two shots.
-those enemies need three shots to go down.
-you do have two or three guns (if you pay for the third) split amongst your party, sure, but a lot of your action points will still get tied up in reloading, repositioning, and missing
-oh my god is the last mission a slog
-you're probably best off playing up until you realize you're heading into/playing the last mission, and then looking up the ending
-seriously though, everything up until that point is pretty fun.
I recommend this game if you can stomach skipping the last mission, playing the last mission despite its cruelty, or enjoy building character concepts in a fairly flexible system and taking them partway through a game before restarting to try a new build
I make the assumption that most people fit at least one of the above criteria, so I recommend the game overall, but you really shouldn't go into the final chapter with anything but the most miserable of expectations.

It's really fun to play with your friends. It's pretty fun to play online, and it can be really nice to build rapport in a lobby with a few other people you'll never meet. I've had issues with hosting and connecting to my friends when they host, but it's nothing that'll ruin the experience and it could have been the wifi on our ends.

Took about 1.8 hours from start to finish! I think I might've lucked out, getting to travel the entire way with the same person who also happened to have 1.8 hours of freedom.
Experience all the affective connection of falling in love with none of the mess! I recommend it highly.

It's really cute and it's really well-written. The puzzles are fun, too.

It's very good if you've got at least one friend to play with! Can't speak much to the single-player experience.

It's atmospheric and well-written. The prose is fantastic and the pacing well-calculated. The game heavily emphasizes exploration. It's not a bulk-trading simulator, and those who hope to play one will likely be disappointed. Mostly this game is about progressing through interconnected stories in an absurd and eldritch setting. You have a boat and a high chance of dying. It's very good.