2015 Gaming Odds & Ends Awards | GameSided Recap

2015 Gaming Odds & Ends Awards – “Muh Feels” Award: Ori and the Blind Forest

When Microsoft dropped a trailer for Ori and the Blind Forest in the middle of their E3 2014 conference, the game world stopped and stared. Could this be a kind-hearted, adventurous, antiquated game from the publishing studio that brings us a new Forza game every year, Gears of War, Halo and Killer Instinct? The expectation of a projectile-powered alien creature in a gorgeously drawn, multi-layered world was a mystery.

Little did players know, they were in for a rollercoaster of emotions.

Ori and the Blind Forest subverts expectations with gusto. Within minutes of starting a new save file, the player is rushed with a plethora of emotions, ranging from happy charm all the way to a refined, depressed mope. Without spoiling anything, don’t be surprised if you shed a tear before you even get to run around the Blind Forest freely. The stakes only rise from there, crescendoing to a twist of fate right at the story’s dramatic narrative climax.

Bless your heart if you didn’t feel something when playing Ori and the Blind Forest in its entirety.

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