Ori and the Wills Will: Raising Beauty

(Editor's note: We stopped releasing this update due to technical difficulties with the pre-release version of the game. The update below shows the time spent on the last version, released now available to players.)

Ori and the will of Wisps inviting you to dance within the beautiful world. There are fights, assurances, and there are threats, but the dance and the beauty of the neighborhood, remains deeply entrenched.

The first game of Moon Studios, Ori and the Blind Forest, was significant for the same reason. Here's a 2D-looking platform that found a visual middle ground between a short Pstrong and an image of an exotic forest. The will of the Wisps it is so relevant and so different in its beauty, it is full of exciting details that make many frames look more like paint than a video game. Screenshots and jealousies don't do it justice.

I found myself immersed in the beautiful brightly colored Inkwater Marsh during my first hour with the game, watching the flash of lightning play out over the plump leaves littered beneath the forest floor. Later I was intrigued as the lights of the sun illuminated the huge gears that had been providing the greatest water pressure. The pool below was a hot tub, but, by making a series of vertical jumps of the clock structure and removing obstacles, I was able to make the wheel turn again. The purified water below turns deep, inviting and clear.

The will of the Wisps& # 39; The world is constantly evolving. It leaves dancing in the air, sinks under the rain, and lights up as Ori's bright body passes. Ori and the Wills & # 39; places go about their lives constantly, more often; rising and falling as if the lungs were large and breathing under the surface. But it is not limited to what a game looks like, especially when you play it all right.

The will of the WispsThe story, like its artistic style, takes its course The Blind Forest he resigned. In the first game, cat-like spirits appeared to save the forest from corruption. The incoming darkness killed his mother, Naru, and Ori who was now an orphan began to seek his home. I do not think it is a robbery to say goodbye.

Ori now lives with his hift family The will of the Wisps it starts, lifting the threatening owl left by Kuro, the supreme bird that wakes Ori the last great game.

Life is good in a quiet forest, in other words. However, the hatchling, with one small wing, struggles to learn to fly. Ori gives the owl's feathers the feathers to help, making them stick to the wing. This is what allowed Ori to jump in the first game, after all. Ori and hatchling take a trip to the test room – well illustrated in a bizarre cinema – but hey they are struck by a powerful storm, created by the same corruption that Ori has conquered in his own country. That darkness still exists somewhere, it seems, so Ori's work doesn't. The couple is separated when there is a riot and Ori begins to find the tower, and returns to the forest in its natural state of peace and beauty.

It is a clever setup, designed to bring Ori into an unfamiliar, powerful opening setting, new opening secrets and a new world to keep. The Blind Forest it kept its characters very quiet, allowing the captions of history – delivered through the growing voice of the Spirit tree – to drive the story. Money Studios keeps that route here, but introduces unforgettable characters for the Orient as it passes.

I really liked the map manager, Lupo, who said he had ruined the fine skin by taking the Inkwater Marsh name with him literally. Dozens of other NPCs are waiting to talk to you at the game's hubworld, Wellspring Glade. Some are there to chat, like Moki-like lemur, who approach Ori in groups, completing each other's sentences.

Others provide functionality, such as Twilen, an opportunity trader who sells Ori shards, tailored gems that provide our hero with practical skills or useless buffs. You don't have to interact much with the citizens of Wells Glade to end this story, but you'll find traces of private and private interests by dedicating time to the valley. Strongly grounded, yet intelligent, conversations with these new characters add an extra layer of interaction to the game world.

I spent a lot of the game watching this new area of ​​the game world, and the most important energy was tied to that investigation. I find an air bush where Ori can pull a new skill almost somewhere in the middle of a new area, constantly changing how to interact with the world, and adding in places I can visit.

Finding the strength of the water at the same time, being able to turn me over a couple of blocks ago and killing me in the sandy Windswept Wastes, I found a movement that allowed me to walk on the sand wall. Each environment I reveal feels different, and I love how the new skills blend into the world around me. Sometimes I find glittering orbs that serve as a currency for the game, which I can bring back to the town to buy the skills of choice.

These skills are essential for expanding your options in battle, which you play a major role in The will of the Wisps rather than the last one around it. Attack options The Blind Forest they were small, designed primarily as a way to keep your breath. The options I have will be greatly expanded on this at this time. I can do block-on bash by using the enemy, hitting them on the head with a hammer, with a dash, double jump, hitting an opponent with a fireball, etc., all without touching the ground.

Fighting reaches movement and movement is played in combat; It is hard to distinguish both when we discuss how the game feels to be playing. This works well, but unfortunately, to play with this power, The will of the Wisps

The will of the Wisps lost a bit The Blind ForestImplicit specification by adding too many programs. The first game of Money Studios got in the right place of the platform and focused on using that idea almost completely. But the sequences have a lot more to do: acrobatic outings, solid fights, lots of development plans and lots of guilt. Each aspect of the game is well done, but at one point I missed the focused, beautiful composition of the first game.

Image source: Moon Studios / Xbox Game Studios

It doesn't help that the performance of the game often sounds like it's happening under the weight of all content. In its pre-release condition, Ori and the will of Wisps had persistent, crippling technical problems when played on the Xbox One S. Those issues affected the game to such an extent that we didn't feel comfortable exploring it until the one-day deadline. The good news is that, usually, those problems no longer exist.

Last night, as I recaptured the hours I lost while playing bugger, the pre-release game, I never lost my saved games. There were some brief objections to the moment, and the crash came at extraordinary times – not during the invasion of the invading sisters, but, rather, among the slowest parts of the world. There are some, minor issues with loading times, but the game is now much more playable than the version I was trying to update earlier.

Ori and the will of Wisps offers a wonderful world to explore and diversity, a creative series of skills and activities that guide my exploration and help me see more of this beautiful place. It broadens my options in combat and gives me as much as I can, and the many benefits of this being an added complexity, while losing some of the focus of the process. Overall, however, it is a fair trade.

Ori and the will of Wisps is an effective platformer, and I'm very happy that the technical issues from the pre-release version continue to be resolved so that more people can enjoy its idea.

Ori and Will of Wisps are now out for Xbox One and Windows PC. The game was updated on the Xbox One S using the download code provided by Microsoft. You can find more details about Polygon's ethics policy here.