This Sequel Proved Me Wrong...

Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Moon Studios’ sequel to beloved metroidvania Ori and the Blind Forest might just be the best video game sequel I’ve played. With No Rest for the Wicked coming out soon, I thought it was a good time to look back at Ori and the Will of the Wisps and the state of the video game industry when it comes to video game sequels. After 2023 was full of sequels and remakes with Spider-Man 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, Pikmin 4, Alan Wake 2, Dead Island 2, the Dead Space Remake, Resident Evil 4 Remake, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, I thought I was getting tired of video game sequels. Especially after playing Ori and the Blind Forest, I wasn’t really looking forward to Ori and the Will of the Wisps. I thought I knew what to expect. But I was wrong. Moon Studios took my expectations for with an Ori and the Blind Forest sequel could be and totally surprised me. This sequel proved me wrong. Oh something something Lovecraft!

The Orignal Ori Video Essay:
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⚔ Games Featured ⚔
God of War: Ragnarok
Overwatch 2
Sliksong
Baldur’s Gate 3
Final Fantasy XVI
Resident Evil 4
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Dead Island 2

🎶 Music Featured 🎶
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: Reunification
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: Amelioration
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: Sanctuary in the Glades
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: Ori, Embrace the Light
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: Shriek’s Tale
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: A Snowy Skirmish
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: Luma Pools
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: An Ancient Wellspring
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: Hornbug
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: Ku’s First Flight
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: A Yearning for the Sky
Ori and the Will of the Wisps OST: We Named Her Ku

#Sequels #VideoEssay #Metroidvania

[filmotter]

You'll get shout-outs at the end, sneak peeks at future video essays, and behind the scenes content. Or you can do a one-time donation!

[Imagine]

I want to lean super hard into one of your last statements: "I love being proven wrong." The Internet age has given rise to flame debates, arguments designed to win points with the people who agree with you rather than to be convincing to someone else... But there's beauty in being forced to acknowledge that the world is bigger than your perspective on it. There's wonder in the bugs hiding under rocks that you were certain couldn't be there, or a delightful bounce of a mushroom hiding under some leaf litter. Being wrong is an opportunity to exercise curiosity, and I think your curiosity is what keeps pulling me back to your videos time and again. Excellent work as always!

[HeckveticaGames]

The growth from 1 to 2 is so apparent. As a game studioyou can see the growth too.

This is so well written! Great job!

[Noodlesquire]

Impeccable writing. You hit the nail right on the head with everything.

It’s so strange that this game never seems to come up in discussions about metroidvanias, platformers, or when talking about video game sequels - even though it’s a prime exemplar of how to do just one, or all of those things extremely well. As you mentioned near the end of the video, the amount of factors this game has to balance at once not only to please fans of the previous game and retain the soul of the original, but also to make tons of adjustments and additions in order for the game to establish itself as an excellent sequel - it’s darn remarkable! I find it hard to put into words how many incredible feats this game accomplishes in its platforming, combat, story, visuals, presentation, etc. I’m glad someone was able transcribe what I felt I could not.

If there’s one thing I’m surprised to see not elaborated on though, it was the music. I suppose it’s sort of a given that Ori 2’s soundtrack is just as good as the first game’s, as they share the same composer, but man, the music is like 50% of the experience to me. Something about the overarching *feel* of the ost just hits me in a way the first game didn’t. Like the rest of the game, it retains the soul of the original while somehow also standing on its own.

Note: On the topic of music, it was an interesting choice to have the music turned off for all of the gameplay you captured. I understand it’s for the sake of editing, but to me it placed a bit of a spotlight on the game’s absolutely stellar sound design. I never realized how much character it adds to the environments.

[dunnydunn]

Your first Ori video introduced me to your channel. Even though I disagree with your take on the first game, I enjoyed the video due to its high quality and logical, respectful, civil arguments.

I also enjoyed the many other videos on your channel. You do research, you're willing to hear out the other side, and your content is very entertaining.

I was very happy to see the notification that this video is finally releasing, and even happier to know it left a better impression (at least that's what I assume).

Keep up the great work :)

Tldr:
I disagree with the video that introduced me to the channel, but the content is good and the creator is cool, so I guess I'll stay awhile.

[Septic]

Found you because of your first Ori video and I'm glad the sequel has changed your mind. If I had to define what made Ori one of My favorite franchises it would be how the movement and music makes you feel.
Keep up the good work you come a long way and still have much to go

[captaindanverz]

I bought Will of the Wisps entirely because of the responses to your first Ori video XD

[kirbeeez]

The two ori games are some of my favorites of all time. So happy you loved will of the wisps 😭

[melly]

Thanks for these videos! I couldn't agree more with your assessment of both Ori games. It was encouraging to see that you also had issues with the controls and it reassured me that it was worth continuing to play blind forest because the sequel would make it worth it.

I possibly wouldn't have gotten the second one if I hadn't got them together in a bundle special edition for the Switch.

I think playing blind forest on the switch made the controls even more fickle and infuriating. I got through it and beat the game but put it down IMMEDIATELY after beating it, never to return (which is a shame). I didn't bother doing anything optional. It's so frustrating when for each 10 times you watch this cute adorable Ori die, 9 times it was because of the controls. I craved to be the one "guilty" of my shortcomings in the game. Instead I found myself constantly challenged by the controls, when I wanted to feel challenged by puzzles, or by the action sequences themselves. For most of it, I didn't get the feeling that I'd done everything right and failed because the game had been carefully designed to require reflection and ability. The lack of real combat didn't bother me that much, it was only later, by playing the will of the wisps, that I realised that I wanted good combat (since it didn't bother me while playing blind forest, I don't feel like this is such a big problem). My biggest issue with blind forest is that I rarely got a sense of being challenged by design, but because of whatever technical issue that wasn't supposed to be there (maybe even problems caused by the switch port - that's the only version I played). It surprised me to see that blind forest had actually not that many actual puzzles and that most of the game was a matter of being persistent and lucky when it came to its controls (that made me constantly think of Douglas Adam's term "improbability generator"). Yes yes there were sequences that were supposed to be challenging, like escaping the tree, but even then the sheer amount of times I had to watch adorable Ori get crushed or drowned for bogus reasons was disproportionate and took the fun out of it. I wanted to fail and say "I get that, I'll improve it next time". When the game takes that from you, even your victories don't feel as earned as they should. Instead of getting that amazing feeling of accomplishment, I just thought "thank god that's dealt with".

So I picked up will of the wisps desperately hoping they'd fixed the controls. I wanted to love these games. I loved Gris and ever since I played it several years ago I had been searching for something as beautiful as Gris. While I played some good games in this style since Gris, possibly none are in the same level as will of the wisps (though "Arise - a simple story" was more touching for me). I got a bit frustrated at the controls in the worm escape sequence but managed to beat it after a reasonable amount of attempts (I figured that I needed to put dry shampoo in my palms because the whole thing was so intense it made my hands sweat and it made it impossible to control Ori with the required precision to succeed the escape). I love the fact that the player can succeed in the boss fights with completely different tactics.

Will of the wisps is great and its challenges feel rewarding. It made me want to continue playing after beating the game, so this time I got the completionist trophy. About the plot: I was way more touched by the story than I was in the first game (which was filled with "mother" tropes that are just getting old). However, the story didn't feel as poignant as Gris, Arise - a simple story or even Journey.

Will of the wisps is a huge improvement in every single possible aspect. And that made me so happy, because I really want this series to succeed.

If anyone read all this, thank you!

OBS. I played in normal difficulty in the switch, with the original controllers attached to the screen.

[DauntlssFake]

Yo! Awesome vid, as always. Watched it live too. I do have one question though: have you tried pacing these videos slightly faster? I love them how they are right now, but that might be the reason why the views have been kinda lackluster despite these being really well-made and thought-out. Wish you the best :D!

[cheeto]

8:51 cool detail, it’s a snowman of Naruto’s deceased father

[nyannyanexpress]

love when I can have a change of heart on a game/movie/whatever and feel the same enjoyment others get from it tbh

[dashmaster_sav]

Will of the Wisps is absolutely insane as a sequel. I love how it's one of those situations where one started small and continued growing as time went on.

Glad you enjoyed your time with my favorite game ever!


(P.S. I hope you try some of the glitches someday :D)

[dmnoodle]

While i'm glad you loved the sequel i'm still having a hard time understanding how you could not enjoy the first one. Lackluster combat, fine it's not really the focus of the game like the platforming is. However the platforming was anything but floaty, it was the smoothest and most enjoyable platformer untill WotW came along. It is indeed also relatively guided for a metroidvania but it is still relatively open. This makes it an ideal first metroidvania like it was for me. And finally story, well, you must know that the reason naru came back was because gumo used that light from his home, the last legacy of his people and his only heritage, to bring back a loved one of someone else. If you realize the weight of this descision, it adds a lot more gravity to it all. Also it allows naru to make kuro come full circle in terms of motherhood and unconditional love. While basic the story is quite beautiful imo, even if it can look cheap at first glance. I think blind forest definitive edition is to this date still the second best game ever made, only beat out by its sequel. if you don't feel this way that's fine, but i hope you had some enjoyment at least with it, and with wotw under your belt hope you can look back with a smile on your time spent with it.

ps: ginso tree skill issue, + L, + ratio, ROFLMAO

[thelifesampler]

Ori and the blind forest story is difficult tonget even when it is simple. You said that Naru revives out of nowhere. Well i wouldnt say that. Gumo knew Ori and Naru since the very begginign when Ori return to the cave you can see a shadow moving it was gumo. He follows in the fore screen until you properly met him and then he helps you as the story progresses and he mever really stop following you. When you reach his home at the ruins he is convinced of the good intentions. And knowing that he wouldnt be able to revive all his people he deciced to took the light his civilization collected to provided energy for the place to work and give up his people and home in order to use the spirit tree light to revive Naru. Which also let to the final moment when Naru met with Kuro first and last time but enought to make Kuro realize that she is a mother too and stop hating light because the accident killed her babies.
Most people.agree that first game story is better composed but both stories are bittersweet.

[The-EJ-Factor]

I wish more games had escape sequences like ori, they are so cool.

Loved the video! Ori is one of my favorite series of games.

[TurtleKun]

Would have loved to be able to catch the premiere! Theres a reason its not called Ori:2 and I think you captured it perfectly!

Also love bash

[shifting_tides]

Great video as always!
Sorry, to hear about your job

[PsychoBackflip]

This is a beautiful video and I love how you make everything come even more alive with your detailed storytelling! 🥰

I didn't even know how much of the video had passed, until you suddenly said something that took me out of it all..
I'm currently 15:22 in and you did it again! 😄

What makes you "remember" that you could *hold a button* to attack in the first Ori ? 😝
To my knowledge, that has never been possible.
I would personally love for it to be like that, compared to how it actually is in having to press a button for each attack.