Ori and the Blind Forest Part 1 begins a brand-new Metroidvania Wednesday adventure after finishing Hollow Knight. BeepBoopJim filed the opening shift under “new forest, new problems, and one VSync setting quietly bending space-time.”
First, Jim met Ori and Naru and became far too invested in their peaceful fruit-gathering life. Then the game immediately demonstrated that it had other plans.
After surviving the emotional opening, Jim began exploring the forest of Nibel. Along the way, he met Sein and started learning Ori’s movement, combat, Soul Links, and ability tree.
Of course, there was one technical problem. VSync had quietly turned the entire game into slow motion. Fortunately, chat caught the issue before Jim completed the whole adventure at half speed.
Once time began functioning properly, the actual Metroidvania progress started. Jim unlocked Spirit Flame, learned Wall Jump, and explored the Sunken Glades and Spirit Caverns. Meanwhile, Spirit Light, Energy Cells, Life Cells, keystones, and a Map Stone Fragment began filling the inventory.
The main challenge was replacing eight months of Hollow Knight muscle memory with Ori controls. As a result, Jim occasionally attempted to solve problems using abilities from an entirely different little forest creature.
Then Black Root Burrows entered the file.
The dark optional area introduced moving-light puzzles, spikes, platforming, and glimpses into Naru’s past. Eventually, Jim also unlocked Dash, giving him another movement ability to misuse with confidence.
Naturally, every suspicious route now required investigation. Gate stones became map stones. Map stones became gate stones. Enemies occasionally received attempted Mario stomps before Jim remembered that jumping on them does not solve the problem.
This ain’t Super Mario, Jim.
By the end of Ori and the Blind Forest Part 1, the new forest already felt full of secrets. Jim had several important movement abilities, a growing understanding of Soul Links, and plenty of unexplored Nibel ahead.
Huge thanks to DailyRip for recommending exactly the kind of game Jim wanted after Hollow Knight. Also, thanks to chat for preventing the world’s first accidental slow-motion Ori playthrough.
Next up: keep exploring Nibel, test the new Dash ability, find more upgrades, and discover what fresh emotional damage this extremely pretty forest has prepared.
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