84 PCWorld APRIL 2020REVIEWS ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS
speed, and can also yank him towards
airborne enemies from a distance—a cousin
to Blind Forest’s celebrated “Bash” ability,
which still allows you to use enemies as a
springboard up close.
And then there’s the...I don’t know.
Tunneling? Burrowing? Shown in our E3 2018
demo (go.pcworld.com/e318), Ori has the
ability to dive into sand dunes and explode
out the other side, flying high into the air. This
ability also works with snow drifts and—
eventually—underwater, and it is a hell of a lot
of fun. Easily the standout addition to Will of
the Wisps, I’d say. The Windswept Wastes in
particular revolve around burrowing through
one sand dune, bursting out the far side,
leaping over a gap, and then diving straight
into the next one, a series of actions that
never wore out its welcome no longer how
many times I did it.
Not that I did it much. My main complaint
about Ori and the Will of the Wisps is that ittakes a long time to get going, and then it’s
over. When I demoed Will of the Wisps last
month I was told it’s two to three times the
size of Blind Forest, and in terms of land mass?
That might be true. You move through it so
damn fast though, and when credits rolled I
found I’d finished Will of the Wisps with a 99
percent completion rate (I’m missing a few
collectibles) in just under 10 hours.
That’s precisely the same length as Blind
Forest—which is fine. I don’t mind a 10-hour
runtime. I dreamed of an Ori the length of
Hollow Knight, but honestly 10 hours is more
than enough. It doesn’t overstay its welcome.
The pacing is strange though. Will of the
Wisps is more open-ended than Blind Forest,
especially the middle chapter. You’re given
the option to visit three areas central to the
story, plus two or three ancillaries filled with
collectibles. Problem is, each zone tends to
revolve around a single ability or gimmick.
Some of these are entertaining, as I said.
The Windswept
Wastes introduces
that sand-dash,
while the snow-
capped mountain of
Baur’s Reach teaches
Ori to melt and
freeze the local flora
and fauna, and
there’s a darkened
underground area
(similar to Hollow