Ori and the Will of the Wisps Review

You against the world

Ori and the Will of the Wisps often reminded me of a fairy tale while playing. Looking back, it’s not hard to see why!

Fairy tales and many classic epics follow what Joseph Campbell has called “The Hero’s Journey”. And part of that journey involves the hero being pushed out of his comfort zone and into a larger, more dangerous world. This applies whether you’re talking about Bilbo Baggins, Luke Skywalker or even Simba The Lion King.

At first glance, Ori looks very small and childish. But eventually he takes on the role of Ku’s mentor. When the two are separated by the storm and pushed to an unknown land, Ori must grow up very quickly to become the hero Ku needs. His “hero’s journey” has begun.

And Will of the Wisps bolsters that with spacious level design and the occasional giant foe. Everything underlines that Ori is small and confronts the whole world. This makes each threat more intimidating … and, after winning the challenge, makes your triumph a lot sweeter.

Nice balance of difficulties

Although the Metroidvania genre is great, many of its games are very difficult. One reason is that it is difficult to find a balance between “easy and accessible” and genuinely rewarding difficulty. Surprisingly, Ori and the Will of the Wisps seem to have found that sweet spot.

The basic gameplay can be quite difficult at times. It is easy enough to die for environmental obstacles and even easier to die for bosses. Especially that first encounter with Howl where you are armed only with a flashlight. At the same time, the game has a generous checkpoint system linked to its autosave mechanism.

This means that if you run into a real challenge, you can quickly regenerate next to it and try again. Or turn off and try again the next day.