Ori And The Blind Forest Definitive Edition Adds Depth, Beauty

Return to the Spirit Tree next month in a fresh reworking of one of last year’s best games.

Beautiful, moving, challenging, thrilling…there’s little not to love about Ori and the Blind Forest, a title that won hearts and its share of awards last year for its visually-stunning tale of a spirit’s adventures to save an enchanted forest from darkness. Moon Studio knew their audience when they announced the Definitive Edition of Ori last year, and even though its appearance has been delayed to this spring, Microsoft has provided an overview of changes and additions that seem well-worth the wait.

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition includes an expanded theater mode featuring all cut-scenes, plus early game concept art, trailers, and “other really cool content,” as put by Executive Producer Mark Coates in the official posting. Easy, Hard, and a brutal “one-life” mode will add diverse playstyles for those who want an extra challenge, or those for whom the original’s platforming kept them from enjoying Ori’s story to its end.

Most interesting is the addition of a new area called Black Root Burrows, accessible from the early game but not completable until Ori has learned most of his repertoire. This area is the original home of Naru, and playing through this area offers insight into her past and motivations for her motherly love of Ori. Black Root Burrows hides other secrets, too, including two new abilities–a speed burst, and a move called Light Burst that works like a grenade. Both of these abilities have been integrated into the game for use everywhere, so that Black Root Burrows ideally feels like it was part of the game from the start.

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition will be released on the Xbox One and Windows 10 PC on March 11. Our staff loved Ori and the Blind Forest, so if you didn’t get a chance to try its original incarnation, this Definitive Edition sounds like a wonderful way to experience Ori’s adventure.