Ori and the Will of the Wisps

 Switch
User Score
8.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 482 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 422 out of 482
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 482
  3. Negative: 34 out of 482
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  1. Subject98
    Oct 18, 2020
    7
    A good, fun metroidvania which in many ways is an improvement over the original. It's longer, the combat is much better, there are boss fights now, more uniquely designed characters with their own animations, the environments are even more impressive and diverse. It seems to me they may have taken some inspiration from Hollow Knight when making this game, some of the progression systemsA good, fun metroidvania which in many ways is an improvement over the original. It's longer, the combat is much better, there are boss fights now, more uniquely designed characters with their own animations, the environments are even more impressive and diverse. It seems to me they may have taken some inspiration from Hollow Knight when making this game, some of the progression systems and sidequests feel a bit similar to that like the charms. They are welcome changes as the first one was fun to explore but everything you collected was more straight forward.

    While the game itself is good, there are some things that held it back a bit for me. I'll start with the more minor thing. I didn't care for the story for this one quite as much as the first. Both of these games can be kind of depressing. I think what bothers me about it is these are heart string tugging games for sure but they don't necessarily do so through strong story telling, but by presenting you with ridiculously adorable animal characters and then threatening to kill them right before your eyes. XD The reason I could tolerate that better in the first was how empowering the final act was.

    With Will of the Wisps, by the end I felt like there was a little bit of wasted potential. I don't want to spoil too much of what happens but not much of a relationship was built between Ori and Ku. Again, it feels heavily reliant on the cuteness factor to make you feel for the characters, which does work but it's not quite enough. For example Ku is the best and most expressive character in the series. It just kinda sucks that she barely has any screen time with Ori and not much was done with her in general, save for short scenes at the very beginning and the very middle. There was potential for a better story if she weren't totally gone from it for 95% of the game.

    Now the thing that actually made me have to drop the score is performance. I can forgive the inconsistent resolution because most of the time it's still very beautiful to look at and moments where things look pixelated and muddy are pretty infrequent. But my god, does this game crash. In the 17 hours I spent on this game, it crashed on me roughly 20-25 times. That's not at all an exaggeration, it was pretty frustrating.

    Additionally there is another bug that happened about 6 or 7 times where I accidentally ran off screen into an area that was still loading and got stuck underneath the floor with no way back out. Even reloading from a checkpoint would respawn me under the ground again. Thankfully they implemented a 'backup' save system which keeps a log of 10 saves for you to revert to if you run into some game breaking issue. If not for that bandaid the game would be pretty much broken, but the backup system did successfully keep me from losing any progress so at least they thought of something.    … Expand
  2. Hackattaque
    Dec 13, 2022
    7
    I loved the first game, and this is more of it. That is going to be enough for most. The lush visuals, smooth platforming and tough set-piece obstacle courses are all there and still very well-crafted, as is the urge to explore every nook and cranny. But there’s also nothing really new either. The new combat options feel awkwardly shoehorned into a different game, and the storyline here isI loved the first game, and this is more of it. That is going to be enough for most. The lush visuals, smooth platforming and tough set-piece obstacle courses are all there and still very well-crafted, as is the urge to explore every nook and cranny. But there’s also nothing really new either. The new combat options feel awkwardly shoehorned into a different game, and the storyline here is somehow even more threadbare than the first one. When I reached the end I felt stuffed rather than sad, and i definitely don’t think I could handle a 3rd. 7.5/10… Expand
  3. Grubhead
    Dec 29, 2020
    6
    Such a beautiful game and fairly smooth gameplay. The Switch has a hard time with graphics but it’s still smooth enough to enjoy. Where it falls short for me is the difficulty navigating the large platforming areas (easy to get lost or not know where to go to get to your destination), and some annoying platforming areas that are frustratingly difficult. The controls could have been changedSuch a beautiful game and fairly smooth gameplay. The Switch has a hard time with graphics but it’s still smooth enough to enjoy. Where it falls short for me is the difficulty navigating the large platforming areas (easy to get lost or not know where to go to get to your destination), and some annoying platforming areas that are frustratingly difficult. The controls could have been changed some to help this.

    A beautiful game, but after getting a few hours in I can’t bring myself to play anymore. I enjoyed the gameplay of celeste more. Even though it is also frustratingly difficult, I wanted to pick it up and play again. Not so with Ori.    … Expand
  4. TomMonday
    Mar 23, 2023
    7
    A side quest that becomes the full mission. Ori is teaching a baby owl to fly. They get separated in a storm. Then Ori spends the whole game trying to get the owl out of the forest. But in the process (SPOILER) Ori transforms into a mystical tree narrating the game. Huh? The graphics and gameplay and visuals are spectacular. The script? Not so much.
  5. Optimistic
    Dec 29, 2020
    6
    The game overall was decent. Definitely inferior to other metroidvania style games like Hollow Knight but was overall pretty good. My switch did have trouble handling the graphics and there were more bugs and glitches than I expected but on the positive side, the music and graphics are pretty good and some of the bosses were fun.
  6. FunkyBoi
    Sep 26, 2021
    6
    Decent game, but not my thing.
    I didn't really care for the story, it felt a little too Disney for my tastes, and unfortunately there isn't any option to skip cutscenes, so in the cutscene heavy segments I found myself zoning out completely.
    I didn't like the direction they took with the combat, a lot of abilities felt quite lacklustre, and even though swapping between them has been    Decent game, but not my thing.
    I didn't really care for the story, it felt a little too Disney for my tastes, and unfortunately there isn't any option to skip cutscenes, so in the cutscene heavy segments I found myself zoning out completely.
    I didn't like the direction they took with the combat, a lot of abilities felt quite lacklustre, and even though swapping between them has been improved upon greatly from the previous entry, doing so in combat felt pointless, as most enemies put up very little fight (on normal difficulty) and were better suited to be dispatched with my best, most upgraded abilities.
    The devs shifted the focus from platforming-heavy to a balance between combat and platforming, which I didn't appreciate, mainly because I found the strength of Ori's gameplay to lie in its platforming, and despite a wealth of platforming challenges, I wish there were a lot more, especially the exciting boss platforming sequences.
    The visuals are indeed stunning, there are some great environments to explore here, but the wispy, fantasy soundtrack really started to grate on me. Once again, the light fantasy aesthetic has never been my cup of tea, so I acknowledge personal bias here, but I really tired of the overall atmosphere of the game.
    All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the platforming, but I found the rest of the package really didn't click with me. I still congratulate the devs on their creation, and would still recommend others to play it, particularly if you enjoy the lighthearted fantasy theming of the game, just wasn't for me.    … Expand
  7. Sensou
    Jan 26, 2023
    7
    Ori has a beautiful level design, environment and the vibe of each area in general. Ori is all about exploration and platforming. Certain area will be unlock once you clear certain area and obtain that ability which not clearly directed within the game where you should go first which is a good part for me, freedom of choice. Although, it would be appreciated to make an easy access toOri has a beautiful level design, environment and the vibe of each area in general. Ori is all about exploration and platforming. Certain area will be unlock once you clear certain area and obtain that ability which not clearly directed within the game where you should go first which is a good part for me, freedom of choice. Although, it would be appreciated to make an easy access to enable mini map at the edge of the screen.

    Music not clearly distinctive where none of them clearly grab me to search on youtube or other music platform to hear it over and over again. Probably the music just not match the area.

    Combat is mediocre and could be bad for some reasons. There's not much fighting in the game so I truly didn't expect them to be good at it. Most of the fight with bosses feel sluggish, some of them way too repetitive because they only have probably 2-3 move sets. Ori will gain lot of combat ability along the way but I completely never use any of that besides for the purpose of platforming because that other abilities just seems not practical and serve almost 0 purpose in combat.

    Here's come the problem with the game, the performance. It's not FPS drop, its a complete STUCK, like your game froze around 3-5 seconds and that happen so often. Sometime, I also move way too fast that the map is not able to load as fast as my movement and my character just floating at the edge of the screen while suddenly the map just blink into existence which seems rough. This kind of make me mad which indicate Moon Studios is a lazy developer that don't want (they can but they just don't want to) to fix this issues. This 1 point completely ruin my experience within the game. Even when I just want to open the menu to look at the map, the screen goes black and sometime its even can reach to 7-10s before they show the menu. Poor optimization for Switch.    … Expand
  8. theUglyCasan0va
    Oct 29, 2022
    5
    Very overrated. Really nothing special going on here if you've played any Metroidvaniall, you've played this. Looks nice in some places and the music is good. Plays smooth but it's a really average game just over hyped by critics due to "indie team".

Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best Switch Game of 2020
8
#8 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
93

Universal acclaim - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. Nintendo Insider
    Mar 25, 2021
    100
    While the Nintendo Switch has seen its fair share of Metroidvania titles over its four-year run, Ori and the Will of the Wisps stands strong as one of its best. While the original was already a memorable adventure, Ori and the Will of the Wisps manages to make improvements whilst dazzling with a visual look that somehow manages to be even more eye-catching than before.
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  2. Ninty Fresh Magazine
    Dec 21, 2020
    90
    Another world - rich in content - in the palm of your hand. Or is a game that raises the bar for the genre. Absolutely enchanting. [Issue #2, p.64]
  3. Hobby Consolas
    Dec 8, 2020
    93
    If you don't have Xbox or PC, or simply wanna enjoy it in portable mode, Ori and the Will of the Wisps it's one of the greatest adventures of 2020, and now arrives in a neat physical edition that will let you treasure it with other extras like the ost and a bunch of postcards. A great conversion of a superb metroidvania.
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