Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (Europe)
Nintendo Switch
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Reviewed in 2019
88
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✪ Reviewed on July 10, 2025
88
A breathtakingly beautiful metroidvania, carried by a moving score and platforming of millimetric precision. The timed escape sequences stay seared in memory, and the Definitive Edition enriches the map without diluting the emotion.
Your verdict
Category
Platformer1 player7+
Description
The spirit Ori sets out to save a dying forest and reunite a scattered family. Published by Xbox Game Studios, released worldwide in 2019. Interconnected exploration, abilities to unlock, memorable escape sequences and a moving painterly art style.
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
Ori's first outing, already dazzling: the forest of Nibel bathed in glows, translucent roots and suspended particles lend every nook a fairy-tale aura. This melancholy beauty, carried by impeccable animation, has lost none of its power to enchant.
Gareth Coker crafts an orchestral setting of rare delicacy, where crystalline piano, ethereal strings and a soprano voice trace the fragility of Nibel forest. The score converses with the wordless tale, receding into contemplation, then blazing up during the breathless escapes. That melancholy beauty carries emotion where words fail, and it remains one of the high points of independent game music.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Movement, fluid and exhilarating, is the real engine: chained jumps, grabs and slides peak in timed escapes that stay burned in memory. Pinpoint platforming converses with a painted art direction that never dates. Some passages frustrate and the story stays more emotional than deep, but the feeling still lands. A visual and sensory peak that holds up remarkably.
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Leap from branch to branch, glide through the light, drift across a hand-painted backdrop: movement marries emotion. Escape sequences quicken the pulse while exploration soothes. The fluid control and the poignant beauty of the places weave an adventure where every move is savored like a perfectly judged gesture.
Praised for its painterly beauty, it's sometimes reduced to a moving postcard, which hides the finesse of its interconnected level design and chainable abilities. Released the same year as heavyweights of the genre, it spent a while in the shadow of its thematic big brother. Its escape sequences, staged like set pieces, stay burned in memory. Perfect for anyone who wants a metroidvania that moves you as much as it tests you.
Is Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition still worth playing in 2026?
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition remains a showcase of art direction. Its painted backdrops, lighting and moving score compose a Metroidvania whose beauty does not date. Movement, fluid and exhilarating, peaks in escape sequences etched in memory. This edition enriches the game with extra zones and abilities. The difficulty of some passages can frustrate, and the narrative stays more emotional than deep. But the emotion still lands fully. For anyone discovering the genre or seeking a visual peak, the experience holds up remarkably well and rewards a fresh playthrough.
