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Game profile

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

2020 Platformer / Metroidvania / Adventure approx. 13 hrs. Mid price 91/100

The sequel sends Ori into an even bigger world with new abilities, a combat system and a touching farewell. Visually and musically it ranks among the very best the genre has to offer.

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What kind of game this is

At its core this is Platformer / Metroidvania, set in a fantasy world. Visually it is deliberately stylised rather than photorealistic, and the overall tone stays somewhere between light and heavy. The structure is guided rather than open, so you are moved along instead of dropped into a map. Sessions of an hour or two sit at the sweet spot here.

The difficulty is moderate and fair, demanding attention without punishing you for it. The story matters and gives the mechanics a frame, without taking over. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It runs on 3 platforms. It sits in the mid price bracket.

What stands out

  • Bigger world
  • New combat system
  • Great soundtrack

This fits you if

  • you want to live through a story, not just play a system
  • exploring for its own sake is the point for you
  • you play alone and want a complete experience without other people

Look elsewhere if

  • you specifically want an open world to roam
  • you want to play it side by side with someone
  • you want either a pure challenge or pure relaxation, not the middle

What it costs you in time

About 13 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 2 weeks, or 7 sessions.

How the rating ranks

Critics settled on 91 out of 100, which puts it above 90 percent of the 1206 games here and at rank 107 overall. That is a strong score, comfortably above what most releases manage.

For comparison, Platformer averages 84 points across the database, so this one sits 7 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 578 collected ratings.

Released in 2020, so it has 6 years behind it. Usually cheap by now and the rough edges are long fixed.

The facts

Release year
2020
Genres
Platformer, Metroidvania, Adventure
Playtime
approx. 13 hrs.
Difficulty
Moderate, fair
Story weight
Present and relevant
Play with
Solo
Setting
Fantasy
Visual style
Stylised
Price bracket
Mid price
Platforms
PC, Xbox, Switch
Critic rating
91 / 100

Direct comparison

Genres Release year Playtime Critic rating Price bracket
Ori and the Will of the Wisps 2020 approx. 13 hrs. 91 Mid price
Ori and the Blind Forest 2015 approx. 10 hrs. 88 Budget
Owlboy 2016 approx. 10 hrs. 89 Mid price
Mio: Memories in Orbit 2026 approx. 25 hrs. 79 Mid price

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