Xbox One

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

PlatformAdventure

Time to beat: about 12.1 hours
Plays offline: Yes

Overview

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a 2020 Metroidvania video game developed by Moon Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. Announced during E3 2017, the title is a direct sequel to 2015's Ori and the Blind Forest, and was released in March 2020 for Windows and Xbox One. A Nintendo Switch version was released in September 2020 by Iam8bit, and a version optimized for Xbox Series X/S was released as its launch title in November 2020. The game maintains narrative continuity with Blind Forest, and follows the journey of series' main character Ori in a new region called Niwen.

The game was developed by Moon Studios, a studio based in Vienna with contributors worldwide. The game introduces new melee combat, and its visuals were given an overhaul from the two-dimensional artwork in Blind Forest, to the three-dimensional models played in multilayered backgrounds in Will of the Wisps.

Upon release, Ori and the Will of the Wisps received critical acclaim. Praise directed to the game included the story, characters, visuals, combat, elements of exploration, environments, chase sequences, and soundtrack. It is considered an example of art forms in the video game medium. However, criticism was aimed at technical issues such as frame rate issues and visual bugs, which were largely resolved with a day-one patch.