A little late to the party on this one but man, what a game! Just finished first play through of it on normal and Ori might just be a perfect platform game. Clearly it was crafted with a lot of love. From the artwork and music which are top notch, to the game-play, the challenge, and the story, the entire thing is wonderful from start to finish. That is exactly what a video game should be. It creates a world, pulls you in, challenges you, compels you to go forward. The gameplay never gets stale because it continues to add in new abilities and yet none of them feel redundant or just 'thrown in'. You start out feeling pretty nimble but by the end you're just flying. The little set pieces are incredibly suspenseful, and yet there are many quite peaceful moments. It reminded me a lot of some of the classic platformers from the early 90's on the Amiga. The set pieces, animation and art felt like Flashback or Another World for the smoothness and challenge. Other areas felt like other more action based platformers like a more mobile Turrican maybe. Other elements felt like something from Psygnosis. I don't know what the best comparison is but it's been a long time that I felt really happy playing a game like that. Instant all-time classic. Going to have to play the sequel now. Beautiful work of gaming art.
