Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Developer(s):	Moon Studios
Publisher(s):	Microsoft Studios
Director(s):	Thomas Mahler, Jeremy Gritton
Writer(s):	Jeremy Gritton
Composer(s):	Gareth Coker
Engine:	Unity
Platform:	Xbox One PC Nintendo Switch Xbox Series X
Released:	March 11, 2020 (One, PC) September 17, 2020 (Switch) November 10, 2020 (Xbox Series X)
Genre(s):	Action-adventure platformer

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a 2d platformer.

The game released on March 11, 2020, for Xbox One and PC, and on the Nintendo Switch on September 17th, 2020. It was also optimized for Xbox Series X, released on November 10, 2020. Developed by Moon Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. It's the sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest.

Development history

June 11th, 2017 at E3 during Microsoft's keynote, Ori and the Will of the Wisps was announced via a teaser trailer that showed locations and characters from the game.

In June 2018 at E3, a gameplay trailer was released. Additionally, a playable demo was available at the expo, where players could explore Windswept Wastes.

In June 2019 at E3, the release date was announced to be February 11, 2020, and the game was confirmed to be an Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive. Another trailer was released showing boss fights and chases.

In December 2019 at The Game Awards show, a new trailer was unveiled which also announced that the game would be delayed a month, until March 11, 2020 (exactly 5 years after Ori and the Blind Forest was released).

On January 29, 2020, it was announced that Ori and the Will of the Wisps had gone gold (the final release version was finished, with no more delays).

While Ori and the Blind Forest only had 20 people working on it at most, Moon Studios scaled up to 80 people when developing Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

Plot

The little spirit Ori is no stranger to peril, but when a fateful flight puts the owlet Ku in harm’s way, it will take more than bravery to bring a family back together, heal the broken land of Niwen, and discover Ori’s true destiny.

Characters

Main article: Characters.

The main playable characters are Ori and Ku. Naru and Gumo appear again in the prologue. Many new NPCs are found in the land of Niwen.

Enemies and Bosses

Main article: Enemies.

There are many new enemies, as well as some returning from the previous game. New to Ori and the Will of the Wisps are major boss fights.

Abilities

Main article: Skills.

Passive

Passive abilities do not need to be selected from the ability wheel, instead being available for use immediately after unlocking them.

• Wall Jump allows Ori to jump to climb up walls
• Double Jump allows Ori to jump twice in the air
• Bash allows Ori to push themselves away from various objects and enemies, knocking them in the opposite direction
• Grapple allows Ori to pull themselves in a straight line to various objects and enemies
• Glide allows Ori to slowly drift to the ground
• Dash allows Ori to charge quickly left or right, even in the air.
• Swim Dash allows Ori to Dash underwater, or near the surface of the water to launch into the air.
• Burrow allows Ori to burrow through sand and snow
• Ancestral Light grants Ori a 25% damage boost (x2)
• Water Breath allows Ori to breathe underwater

Active

Active abilities can be chosen from the ability wheel, of which 3 can be active at a time but can be swapped out at will, even during combat.

• Spirit Edge – Attack at close range with a blade of light
• Spirit Arc – Fire an arrow of light (uses energy)
• Spike – Throw a powerful spear of light (uses energy)
• Spirit Smash – Pound foes with a strong, sweeping blow
• Spirit Star – Throw a star that returns to you (uses energy)
• Light Burst – Lob an explosive sphere of light (uses energy)
• Regenerate – Channel Energy to heal (uses energy)
• Flap – Blow objects away with a gust of wind
• Blaze – Set nearby enemies on fire (uses energy)
• Flash – Create an aura of light. Damages enemies (drains energy)
• Sentry – Spawn a spirit orb that attacks for you (uses energy)
• Launch – Turn yourself into a projectile

Features

Ori and the Will of the Wisps features the same painterly graphical style, platforming and exploration from Ori and the Blind Forest.

• The combat system has been completely overhauled, it is now largely based on melee combat with the Spirit Edge and aiming ranged weapons such as the Spirit Arc. The game contains many new enemies and several bosses. Combat Shrines now dot the world, allowing Ori to fight waves of enemies for a reward.

• Quests have been introduced. Many characters in the game are quest-givers or merchants.The world is much larger, being 3 times the size of the first game.

• Spirit Shards replace the first game's Ability Tree. Shards are power-ups which can be found in various ways and swapped out to suit the player. Shard Slot Upgrades allow the player to equip more Shards at once. Spirit Light now functions as a currency to purchase from merchants, rather than experience points.

• Spirit Trials are new race courses found throughout the world, which allow the player to race against the "ghosts" of other players, trying to beat their recorded time.

• Autosaves have replaced Soul Link. Life and Energy Cells return. Players now collect Life Cell Fragments and Energy Cell Fragments to upgrade their life and energy.

Locations

Main articles: Niwen and Category:Locations (Will of the Wisps).

Ori and the Will of the Wisps takes place mostly in the land of Niwen, a "perilous land" which used to have light and spirits, but has fallen victim to a Decay.

In addition to the new locations in Niwen, the prologue takes place in Swallow's Nest in Nibel.

Credits

Crew

Thomas Mahler	Creative Director
Gennadiy Korol	Lead Programmer, Project Manager, Lead Writer, Trailer Editing
Chris McEntee	Lead Designer, Story, Cinematic Animation
Daniel van Leewen	Technical Art Lead
Arie Barsky	QA lead, senior engineer
Frans Kasper	Technical Producer
Ander Goenaga Iriondo	Gameplay, Programming Lead
Warren Goff	Gameplay Animation lead
Jim Donovan	Cinematic animation lead
Tyler Hunter	3D Art Lead
Blażej Żywiczynski	Producer
Milton Guasti	Level Design
Michael Gagno	Level Design
Florian Herold	Senior Level Artist
Oleg Shehovtsov	Senior Level Artist
Till Ashwanden	Level Art
Matteo Bassini	Level Art
Bożenka Chądzyńska	Level Art
Alina Filatova	Level Art
Anna Jasinski	Level Art
Lina Kit	Level Art
Pavel Maysymenko	Level Art
Iris Muddy	Level Art
Paul Poffenbarger	Level Art
Oliver Ryan	Level Art
Vadim Shchepilow	Level Art
Leroy Van Vliet	Level Art
Alexey Yakovlev	Level Art
Juliano Yi	Level Art
Nilo Varela	Senior Programmer
Gavin Hayler	Senior Programmer
Tomas Blaho	Senior Programmer
Nikita Silin	Senior Programmer
Patrick Williams	Senior Programmer
Robin Hub	Senior Programmer
Danial Branicki	Programming
David Mondelore	Programming
Guillermp Monfort	Programming
Torin Stepan	Programming
Tamosz Urbański	Programming
Ofer Kapota	Graphics Programming
Benoit Fouletier	Graphics Programming
Alexey Abramenko	Physics Programming
Terry Magnus Drever	System Intergration
Raul Ibarra	Gameplay Animation
Kim Nguyen	Gameplay Animation
Andrey Tan	Gameplay Animation
Boris Hiestand	Cinematic Animation
Jason Martinsen	Cinematic Animation
Alexander O. Smith	Cinematic Animation
Jeremy Gritton	Cinematic Animation
Boris Hiestand	Cinematic Animation
Franciska Csongrady	Cinematic Animation
Mikhail Rakhmatullin	Concept art
Csaba Baity	3D Art
Miki Bencz	3D Art
Alina Ivanchenko	3D Art
Marat Latypov	3D Art
Paolp Dominici	Rigging
Aviv Schechter	Rigging
Mickaelle Ruckert	VFX
Etienne Pov	VFX
Alexander Brazie	UI
Anna Jasinski	UI
Alexey Yakolev	UI
Gareth Coker	Music, Additional Mixing and Production
Kelsey Mira	Vocals
Kristin Naigus	Vocals
Laurent Ben Slimane	Vocals
Philharmonia Orchestra	Orchestra
Pinewood Voices	Choir
Alexander Rudd	Orchestra Conductor
Allan Wilson	Choir Conductor
Synchon Stage Orchestra	Custom string designs
Zach Lemmon	Supervising Orchestrator
David Peacock	Orchestrator and String Designs
Eric Buchholz	Orchestrator
Justin Bell	String Designs
Eric Buchholz	Orchestrator
Allan Wilson	Orchestra
Jake Jackson	Tracking Engineer
Alex Ferguson	Pro Tools Recordist
Ashley Andrew-Jones	Assistant Engineer
Rebecca Hordern	Assistant Engineer
Gianluca Massimo	Assistant Engineer
Steve Kempster	Mix Engineer
John Kurlander	Mix Engineer
Matt Friedman	Music Editing & Mix Assistant
Slate & Ash	Digital Instrument Design & Sampling
Umlaut Audio	Digital Instrument Design & Sampling
Paul Talkington	Contractor
Alison Burton	Air Studioa Bookings
Jessica Kelly	Score Co-ordination
Paulina “vera” Szmidt	Quaility Assurance
Maik Biekart	Quaility Assurance
Mariusz Jaworowski	Quaility Assurance
Marcin Rzeckowski	Quaility Assurance
Dan Labute	Additional Quality Assurance
Sebastian Huzik	Additional Quality Assurance
Rok Zupan	Additional Quality Assurance
Franciska Csongrady	Additional Quality Assurance
Gerald Müller	Finance
Cassie Brooksbank	Additional Editing
Jean-brice Dugait	Additional Art
Leonoid Koliagin	Additional Art

Reception

On Metacritic, Ori and the Will of the Wisps received "generally favorable" reviews on PC getting a metascore of 88/100 based on 43 critic reviews. It also received "universal acclaim" reviews and was tagged as a "must-play" game on Xbox One holding a metascore of 90/100 based on 71 critic reviews.

Media

Images

Spirit Trials

Screenshots

Mora

Shriek

Giant Sandworm

Videos

Ori and the Will of the Wisps - E3 2019 - Gameplay Trailer

Ori and the Will of the Wisps - E3 2018 - Gameplay Trailer

Ori and the Will of the Wisps - E3 2017 - 4K Teaser Trailer

Ori and the Will of the Wisps - E3 2017 Reveal Trailer HD-0

Trivia

• It is not uncommon for large-scale production games to use aliases to maintain secrecy in the case of a potential leak. The internal name for Ori and the Will of the Wisps was Patagonia. This name can still be seen on the product ID of the Windows 10 copy of the game, and appears in the program's namespace.