Indie-boom in recent years changed the game industry. Today everyone has already understood that working without a publisher is not always a good solution. Nobody needs rubbish made on the knee, only because it is independent and pixel. The hype around Greenlight was tired, and everything returned to a more or less stable state. But during this time the main thing happened-the big publishers saw a huge demand that exists on beautiful, magical and atmospheric games that focus on art director. And therefore, we are increasingly delighted by independent sincerely, but very professionally made blockbusters. They were like that Child of Light And Valiant Hearts, This turned out to be Ori and the Blind Forest.
Tales of the peoples of the world
The story is as simple and unpretentious as possible. Not because the authors were chewed, but because the mood is a mystical, mysterious and as if from another world. The legend is presented accordingly: behind the frame the story leads a thousand -year -old tree standing in the middle of a blind forest.
The luminous sheet of this tree broke off during a storm and turned into a small, similar to a squirrel. He was immediately found and saved from bad weather, some strange creature, similar to a sweet bear. The spirit did not return back to the tree, but preferred to live with the Savior – to run through the forest, look for fruits and enjoy life. Of course, a huge evil immediately appeared on the horizon, the glorious days ended, and Ori had to go on a trip to save the forest.
This introductory takes only a few minutes, but manages to arrange an emotional attraction to the player, from emotion to tears with a stream. In two scenes you manage to fall in love with the heroes and worry about them: they are so well animated, their images were so alive and understandable. The level of platform graphics level is simply unprecedented, striving for level Pixar. Each decoration is drawn in detail, and no one saved on the quantity and quality of animations, so each movement is smooth and soft.
Another entertaining moment: the authors fundamentally refused loading screens and made the game completely seamless. The camera from the main menu immediately goes to the introductory video, and in it the control is transferred to the player. There will never be later downloads: neither when traveling to the other edge of the world, nor with sudden rollers, nor even after death – Ori simply teleports to the control point.
A thin line of development marked by a dotted line is still. The hero needs to do several things in different parts of the forest: insert the runes into the locks, melt ice, clean water and so on. In parallel, dodging a huge sharp -cluster bird, personifying all the bad. And establishing a relationship with some four-legged spider, periodically falling on the way. Everything else is only a journey through the spacious world of the game.
Great Epicity comes with great strength
At the beginning of the way, Ori does not know how almost nothing but a low and very uncomfortable jump. Soon a small flying ball joins him, which can attack enemies. He explains what is happening and sends to free swimming.
If you have not yet learned the word “metroidovenia”, then it means the genre of games where new levels open simultaneously with the new character forces. You see at the very beginning a crack in the wall, but you can’t do anything with it. And only after some time the hero will get the opportunity to destroy such walls-it will be necessary to return and see what was hidden from you. Thus, there are no familiar division into levels, but the sequence of actions when passing is always one. But there are more than enough adventures and research, because a bonus or secret can be hidden behind each bush.
This is how the game is arranged. The animal under your leadership is sequentially learning double jumping, racing from enemy shells, breathing under water and other entertaining things. Each new area in which it is possible to climb is a unique corner of the forest: a icy fortress in which the ancient artifact is alive with gravity;beautiful sea lagoon, where the action is transferred to water;Wind valley where … winds blow. Everything has been worked out amazing, each level offers new gameplay tasks.
You can reproach the game for the fact that the experts of the platformers will not see a lot of new things here: one way or another, similar
topics and techniques were exploited somewhere. But the question is not in the originality of elements, but as their implementation – here it is at the highest level.
Ori speaks perfectly to the commands, moves rapidly and does not cause the slightest discomfort. A small ball flying around the hero can only attack in a certain radius, which forces to stay close to enemies. Close, but not in contact. Opponents, by the way, are very different – from evil birds to incomprehensible jelly -like creatures. And individual representatives, for example, skitting-angry green balls, have to be used to solve problems.
From the defeated enemies, experience is falling out, which allows you to open symbolic improvements (see secrets on the map, increase protection). New forces cannot be developed – they become available only in the plot. Classical scheme for any game of this kind.
The only truly unique moment in all this – Ori, at the expense of mana, should create “checkpoints” for himself. Sometimes this is a big problem, if you completely forget it with habit and not persist for about thirty minutes. But a successful conservation point can be used several times.
Finally, the main thing is that distinguishes Ori and the Blind Forest from analogues – a high level of complexity. Some episodes have to be replayed 20-30 times. Sometimes you have to turn long and complex combinations of actions without the ability to survive, sometimes fights become truly difficult, and the final level generally requires an almost two-minute entry without errors and delay. The issue of complexity, of course, is very subjective, but with confidence we can say that everything is more severe here than, for example, in the final episodes Rayman Legends.
It is impossible to talk about this game for a long time, because there is really nothing to talk about: the story is simple and fits in five videos, there is no need to describe the gaming process of the platformer, and everyone has seen the “metroidovenia” more than once. And the game is very beautiful.
But simplicity and conciseness are not something bad. On the contrary – in each of the listed aspects The Blind Forest Strives for the ideal. Magic music, a huge scope for imagination, a feeling of adventure and a perfectly worked out mechanics put a game on a par with the best representatives of the genre. You rarely find a “simple” game, behind which you can spend six hours in a row.
Pros: excellent graphics;Magic music;classic gameplay;Touching story.
Cons: The game behaves poorly on weak PC;For revolutionary ideas – not here.