![]() ![]() We had a more or less linear skill tree in Blind Forest. "The other thing that's very different is that we've really like sort of levelled the skill tree system. "You're now able to, on the fly, pick a lot of different abilities," says Smith. But when we went to the drawing board we didn't necessarily just want to rehash and make an Ori 1.5 - we wanted to make a really big statement and make a true sequel." ![]() I think the fastest time in the world is around 14 minutes, which is insane. "We were really loved by our speed running community," says Smith. That feeling of movement is integral to Ori's appeal, and it's met by more diversity in your skillset. It's all part of an enhanced physicality to it all - something which played a part in the first Ori, but is now more pronounced as you clamber around gloriously realised environments with your gloriously animated avatar. That's certainly not the case here - within minutes you're introduced to a much more direct form of combat as you wield a melee weapon, and soon after you'll also have a ranged bow and arrow with precision aim (which quickly ties into some deliciously tactile puzzles). "Exploration was definitely high up there, but I'd say combat was a little piece of that pie." "The first Ori was really predominantly a platforming game at its heart," says Microsoft Studio's Dan Smith. Blind Forest's combat was a strangely detached affair, by the producer's own admission. The first - and perhaps most important to those that have played through the original - is to the combat. It's not just about size, though, as the changes in this new Ori run deep. Much, much more - for this preview session we're afforded some five hours to play through what's only the game's first act, which should give you some impression of its size. I can't imagine being more moved by a video game this year, and on the strength of its opening alone Will of the Wisps is going to be every bit as wonderful as its predecessor. It's an entirely wordless opening infused with so much warmth, humanity and that heart-soaring feeling that comes when seeing people come together in the face of adversity. ![]() This time it's all about Ku, the owl that hatches at the climax of Blind Forest and who it soon becomes clear has a disability - one that her new adopted family rally around to assist with. Ori and the Blind Forest pulled that trick first time around the fate of Naru, a character so lovingly realised it was impossible not to be reminded of a loved one. It's still a video game that has the power to have me in tears within the opening five minutes. It's larger, deeper and somehow even more sumptuous, but one thing's exactly the same. Having played a good handful of hours with Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Moon Studio's follow-up to 2015's sumptuous Metroidvania, it's clear that a lot has changed. ![]()
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