Light finds ways into the crevasse of our soul. Stretching, reaching, and crawling its way into our being so we can be whole again. When darkness consumes who we are, it can be daunting at times to find a reason or a way to continue. But through the tumultuous trials that bring us to our knees, and create obstacles for the light to pass we find ourselves and our strength. Ori and the Will of The Wisps is a perfect example of the soul and how powerful it is.
Whatever it may be that you believe in a god, Buddha, Jesus, or just the trees in your own backyard the soul is something that is the incorporeal essence of a human being. You could say that animals, trees, anything really has a soul. But for the purposes of today’s discussion, we are focusing on humans. The soul is an interesting thing, and not something I usually discuss since it is such a controversial topic that so many have varying opinions on. I have had several theories on what this character, Ori could possibly represent as a protagonist and driving force of the game. Ori is ever-growing, ever-changing, and that to me is what makes this character have human qualities, and quite possibly why we as an audience get so attached to Ori. My theory is that Ori is the personification of the human soul, and the removal of this “darkness,” which in the game is a metaphor for depression, anxiety, and an unwell state of being. In the final part of the game you have to remove these things called “Creep Hearts” from different sections of the Spirit Tree, in essence, removing the things that plague our thoughts and tell us “we can’t, we won’t or we shouldn’t.”
Now, for those who have played Ori and the Blind Forest know it was a tear-jerker, but please prepare yourself with a box of tissues, lots of cat videos, and a good dose of hilarity before you start this game because this will pull at your heart more than the first game. The emotional ups and downs we go through are a roller coaster of thought-provoking sadness and “what just happened’s?” everything in this game will make you think, and it will make you wonder about life in general. This game made me think of different ideas what the game could have been based off on such as “is there life after death? My main thought of, is Ori a personification of the human soul? And are there past lives?” This game brings in a lot of that type of heavy content, and if you’re looking for a happy-go-lucky feel-good game with elves and little snowmen, I’m sorry to say you won’t find that here friends. Here you will find a game that when you put down your controller and rest your weary head on your pillow for the night, it will be there. Pulling, tugging at your thoughts.
The main reason why I felt the game stayed with me, and why I believe it will stay with you, even into the wee hours of the morning is simply because of how human it is, and the way it’s written is what made me cry, it made me question life in all honesty, and it made me fall in love with story writing all over again. The fact that you have different parts of the forest that you have to heal in order for it to be whole again brings things back to the human soul, repairing one’s self and looking within ourselves for our reason to be. Preceding from our conversation of the soul, which we will return to, let’s discuss more of the meat of this game in terms of the graphics, the characters, and combat, and how it ties into the story
Looking at the graphic work and character movement could be an article on its own considering how in-depth a lot of it is, and how many combinations of movements there are in this game alone. There are three different abilities that are just to aid in jumping, and you can jump off of different enemies, you can even utilize an action called the triple jump, after that you will never see the world the same way again. All the abilities you get from the first game transfer over to the second game except for two that you relearn and can add abilities to those already existing ones. You can also enhance your abilities by going to the local merchants; one has a particularly soothing voice that is mildly creepy. All of these abilities make the game a lot of fun, and beating bosses that much more satisfying. And might I add, jumping through the water had me in sheer delight because of how the water animation was designed. Seeing Ori graceful go through the waterfall with ease, made my heart fill with happiness.
Now, let’s discuss certain characters and a boss that ties into the human soul and the main focus of the game. A lot of the characters you meet are a diverse bunch that has their own personalities and inadequacies that set them apart. In games now a day’s character development has jumped leaps and bounds from what it was ten years ago. Companies personifying these 2d creations and bringing them to life so they create meaning in our minds, making us care for them. Such a cruel thing to care for a creature you can never hold. The characters range from passersby to important NPC’s that push the story forward. A lot of the NPC’s you will meet are either there because they want to interact for the sake of interacting, they will give you side quests, or they will be actively aiding you in your search for the Wisps you will need to complete the game. One merchant that, in my opinion, holds a great part in the game is the Grom characters that rebuild things around the areas you are in. They build houses for the Moki, get rid of obstacles that could harm Ori, and rebuild the spirit wells in which you can use to fast travel or save your game. When it comes to the human soul, they are aiding in the renewal of the human system, and how it runs. Other characters such as Motay show you how many deaths you’ve had, how much you’ve jumped, used certain powers etc. It’s essentially a way to do a self-check-in, to see how you are to an extent.
Now, the bosses range from simple to somewhat irritating. The only boss I found irritating was a very large worm that you literally have to burrow away from, and fast in order to escape. Other bosses are fairly easy and quite simple to beat once you know the sequence and order of attacks. Other parts just involve a lot of running away at a fast pace, while leaping over obstacles’ and consequently getting your fingers tied up like a pretzel from trying to keep up. One of the bosses that I found fascinating and essential to the plotline and concept of the human soul is the last boss you fight, our main antagonist, Shriek. Shriek ties into our human soul concept in the sense that one can struggle to find themselves if a person struggles from depression, anxiety, paranoia, the list goes on. Ori in the boss battle is the light fighting the darkness so it doesn’t destroy The Spirit Tree, AKA the soul. In one of the scenes right before the boss battle Shriek takes the light and crushes it in her claw, trying to steal light away from the core. After the boss fight, we see Shriek return to her comfort in the arms of her dead parents. It's all a very twisted, morbid idea that one wants love but isn’t willing to accept it. Shriek made the choice in the game to be evil, just as a human would choose to be good or bad. Since we are going off of the idea that Ori is the soul, Ori is in a sense clearing the body of the negativity and is the only one who can bring Spirit Tree/ the soul to a good place of homeostasis, even if that means killing off things that used to be an integral part.
Once you defeat the boss and become one with the light, Ori then takes the place of the older Spirit Tree, which is one of the reasons why I thought this game was discussing past lives. The older tree dies, so the new can be reborn. And with discovering that Ori, this entire time was the narrator of the game we have to ask the following: will another “Ori” be reborn during the lifetime of the tree, and take its place again when the new tree eventually withers and dies? We also have recognized the fact that Ori is a spirit guardian, tying it back to my thesis of Ori being the soul personified, Ori/the soul is eternal. These creatures in the game that Ori comes from are limitless, which means that the soul is forever, even though the body is not.
This game has the potential to win a game of the year and honestly exceeded my expectations. The Ori series is one of the most vibrant, intellectually sound, well-written games I have seen in a very long time. Taking its time, not wanting you to rush Ori and The Will of The Wisps takes you on an adventure that will leave a lasting imprint on your soul-stretching, reaching, and crawling its way into our being so we can be whole again.
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