Review:
Symphony of the Night changed everything. As gamers started demanding longer, larger games, the old 2D action platformers of old could no longer be short, linear affairs. SotN took the old foundation, and stretched it out across one massive area. By looking at games like Zelda and Metroid, Konami was able to involve more back-tracking and exploration, greatly extending the playtime. This formula proved to extraordinarily popular, to the point that its become the default mode if you're selling 2D action games in the 21[SUP]st[/SUP] century. With such an overcrowded marketplace, developers have their work cut out trying to stand out.
One such stand out was 2015's Ori and the Blind Forest. Developed by Moon Studios, Blind Forest built on the foundations of games like Metroid and Rayman, but given a unique lush, Studio Ghibli design. It was challenging and beautiful, and a big success for everyone involved. It took five long years, but a sequel in Will of the Wisps has finally arrived, with the mandate of it being the "Super Mario Bros 3 to Blind Forest's Super Mario Bros 1". Its quite a boast, but hands-on with the game backs up that claim.
With remarkable storytelling economy inspired by Disney, the Iron Giant, and Hayao Miyazaki, Moon Studios quickly grabs you with a moving tale about life and death. The cycle of existence, even for some of the ancient spirits in this game, is ultimately finite. The young are taught by the old, who grow up to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. Everything has an end, but is then replaced by something new. Will of the Wisps mines this theme about how all our stories are passed down, and about how our legacies outlive us in the things that are to come.
The world of Ori is rich in detail. There's isn't another Metroidvania with this many lush, vibrant, varied level design. Life teems in the backgrounds and foregrounds of every area, giving the game an huge depth of field. Everything dynamically reacts to Ori's movement, with very natural lighting giving life to the environments. Any single second could basically be a screenshot and picture perfect for desktop wallpaper. This is aided by a frankly extraordinary soundtrack, where every hand designed area gets its own sonic signature, and dynamically shifts to fit the intended tone of every sequence in a cohesive way. There's several hours of songs, each one layered and distinctive, giving the world a ton of atmosphere.
The world is also populated by a lot of NPCs, a far cry from the lonely adventure of the Blind Forest. Each is written with distinctive characterization and Zelda-style "voices". They have a lot of side quests and interactions that build on the main themes of rebirth and storytelling. NPCs pass on knowledge, Ori passes on side quest objectives, and the world of Will of the Wisps slowly regrows over time. There are many types of collectibles to barter with. Not just the usual currency to upgrade moves and powers, but to rebuild the world that had been destroyed by darkness.
Will of the Wisps isn't just a pretty face, of course. Ori is an absolute joy to control, fluid yet precise. Over the course of the game, you gain new abilities that open up previously unattainable areas, mostly helping your movement. It just feels so good to chain together double jumps and dashes, launching yourself in slow-mo off enemy projectiles to grab a hidden collectible. Backtracking and exploration can often seem like filler or tedium in other games, but Will of the Wisps makes the act of navigation itself as a chief pleasure, to the point it never feels boring to retrace your steps.
Combat was one of the main areas of criticisms from Blind Forest. One got the impression the developers were so focused on making the platforming so good, the combat was a secondary concern. The main attacks all seemed balanced around your movement, which makes sense in theory, but it in execution often made combat seem imprecise and mashy. That's been thoroughly overhauled in Will of the Wisps, with dozens of tools and powers to fight with. It starts off simple enough, with light swords and hammers, but eventually you start chaining together air combos, dashes, and projectiles like Bayonetta. It feels tactile and even strategic, as you manage your health/magic systems in both offensive and defensive ways on the fly. New combat also gives Moon Studios the chance to do some very big and very impressive boss fights in addition to their challenging escape sequences. They're giant spectacular climaxes to each area, but they all have distinct visual and audio cues to make them satisfying to figure out and overcome.
The extended development time is apparent everywhere you look. Will of the Wisps is packed with hand designed content, from time trial races, to combat arenas, and even a Zelda-style NPC trading side quest that covers the length of the game. There's been a lot of love poured into this, perfecting and expanding the original Blind Forest several times over, in big and small ways. You could argue Will of the Wisps isn't doing anything particularly "new", rather remixing a lot of great games and movies in one polished package, and I suppose that's true. Doesn't change the fact there isn't another Metroidvania that looks, sounds, or feels as good as this one does on a moment-to-moment basis. All that, on top of a sincere, deeply humane story, and it feels churlish to complain about a lack of originality.
Any way you slice it, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a colossal achievement. It's not just a frontrunner for Game of the Year; it's a high watermark for the Metroidvania sub-genre Symphony of the Night popularized so long ago.
(edit: I told you I was gonna write about games this year
Papercuts Nocturnowl )
