Game review: Ori and the Blind Forest

A scene from Ori and the Blind Forest.

We know what you're thinking, because everyone's thinking it: platform games are so over. With the razzle dazzle of most triple-A titles these days -- from the gangster sprawl of Grand Theft Auto V to the first-person space fracas Destiny -- it's easy to forget the humble joys a simple platformer can deliver.

Who has time for a childish side-scroller when there are zombies to take out in Dying Light and dynasties to destroy in Far Cry 4? Ori and the Blind Forest will change your mind. The debut from Moon Studios has been four years in the making, and that work has paid off with a startlingly original reinvention of what a platform game can be.

If you've vowed to never play a platformer again, it's time to break that promise. Right from the moment you push play, you'll be amazed by the beautiful and immersive scenery on offer. Multi-legged monsters leap around in the foreground, while volcanoes pulsate in the background. Dark trees drop bright fruit, and bridges unfurl over lakes. Ori is like an art gallery that comes alive, and a serious contender for the best-looking game this year.

In the centre of this adventure is Ori, an orphaned forest spirit. On paper, it sounds like mystical mumbo jumbo, something about a magical spirit let loose in a forest populated by shadowy trees and lumbering bears. But with a controller in your hand, it's an effective storytelling technique for an enchanting journey.

Like Ori himself, gameplay starts out simple, with basic tasks like unlocking doors and climbing walls. But things get more and more complex, and soon you'll be racing around over fires and under logs, zapping spiders, clearing paths and working your way through increasingly complex maps that go side to side, and up and down.

It's a bewitching mix that reminds of old-school platformers like Zelda and threatens recent similar standouts like Tearaway.

A scene from Ori and the Blind Forest.

But Ori also comes with some dark spots. If you're playing with younger children around, be warned: the game's PG rating is worth honouring when you venture into darker corners of the forest, or take on some of the game's scarier enemies. And Ori is a game that grows as you do, with increasingly complex tasks to complete and levels to finish. It's incredibly easy to die, so you'll want to ration your save games so you don't have to keep repeating the more difficult moments.

But even if you do have to replay scenes, you'll savour them, because there's hardly a bad bit in Ori and the Blind Forest. Yes, this humble platformer might just be one of the best gaming experiences you have this year.

Platform: Xbox One
Rating: PG

- TimeOut