If you’re holding out hope for another Ori and the Blind Forest sequel after Will of the Wisps, bad news: it’s probably going to be a while. Developers Moon Studios have said they’re all-in on Soulslike action-RPG No Rest for the Wicked, suggesting that their “magnum opus” will be their focus for up to a decade.
]]>Well, I bet you didn't see this coming from Ori And The Blind Forest developers Moon Studios, did you now? Then again, neither did I. Announced during tonight's Game Awards, No Rest For The Wicked is quite a different kettle of cursed fish compared to Moon's previous games, but I'm also quietly intrigued by it at the same time. For starters, this is an online ARPG that combines the top-down combat of games like Diablo 4 with the patient, weighty boss battles of your Elden Soulslikes. Come and watch its reveal trailer below to find out more.
]]>Current and former developers of Moon Studios have alleged that the company is an "oppressive workplace", citing offensive language, harsh feedback and inconsistent direction by its founders. Several developers also alleged that the founders encouraged crunch. Moon Studios are the creators of Ori And The Blind Forest and Ori And The Will Of The Wisps, both critically lauded and commercially successful platformers published by Microsoft.
]]>In the months running up to the release of Ori And The Will Of The Wisps last year, I was gripped by an irrational fear. I'd loved Moon Studio's first Ori adventure, Ori And The Blind Forest, with a fierce and fiery passion. Even now, I still love the bits everyone hates, from its ineffectual combat to its heinous boss escape sequences. But as news struck that its sequel would be taking a slightly different approach to its Metroid-like structure, favouring branching, almost Zelda-style hub worlds, and ditching its unique save system, I was worried that Will Of The Wisps might end up losing what had made Blind Forest such a special game for me. As I said, the fear was irrational, as Will Of The Wisps wasn't just better than Blind Forest; it was probably about as perfect a sequel as I could have possibly hoped for.
]]>Get your speedrunning shoes on and prepare your glitches: Awesome Games Done Quick has arrived for its yearly speedrunning extravaganza. As with previous years, the charity event is raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. It's been live since yesterday evening and runs until this Sunday, and there are already some fab runs in the likes of Mirror's Edge and Dragon Age: Origins to catch up on.
]]>Oh dear, is it that time already? Yes indeed, the Steam Autumn Sale has arrived, bringing the seasonal discounts on thousands of games. Awards season is upon as as well, so they've opened up nominations for the yearly Steam Awards. You can vote and reap the discounts from now until December 1st at 10am PST / 6pm GMT.
]]>Halloo, gentle reader. Since we're half way through the entire year of 2020 (yet somehow it is also still March?), we decided to run down, lasso and tie up some of our favourite games from the last six months, and force them into a nice list for you.
2020 still has plenty of new PC games to come, of course, but these are the ones closest to our little hearts so far. We've got strategy, we've got card games, we've got systematic reclamation of scraped spaceships. And, since Nate Crowley is one of the contributors to this list, we've got fish. Statistically speaking, there's bound to be at least one game on here that you'll ruddy bloody love too!
]]>You've done everything you can in Ori And The Will Of The Wisps except bringing the Spirits collected up to this point to the Spirit Willow. But there's a nasty surprise waiting for you when you get there. The giant owl that hurt your friend and who has been hunting you the entire game is now here to stop you from reaching the Spirit Willow.
]]>Since Ori And The Will Of The Wisps has a lot more focus on combat, there are now proper boss battles in addition to the memorable chase sequences. On the rare occasion, a boss fight will combine both for an epic encounter.
]]>Ori And The Will Of The Wisps feels so good to play. The fluidity of Ori’s movement; his quickness and agility; the sense of his weight and presence in the world – he’s a product of both traditional animation and leading graphics technology which developer Moon Studios has built up over years to make a sequel that surpasses the already beautiful Ori And The Blind Forest.
]]>Over here in PC land we normally wouldn't get to write about Nintendo's cutesy island life sim, Animal Crossing, but I've found a wonderful reason to bring it before your eyes today. Animal Crossing: New Horizons lets you design all manner of lovely clothing items and pictures for you to display somewhere in your town, and players have been using it to create outfits inspired by PC games like Sea Of Thieves, Sayonara Wild Hearts and, of course, Doom: Eternal.
]]>When you come to the Wellspring for the first time, you may have noticed a small seed. This is one of six collectable seeds that you need to deliver to Tuley in Wellspring Glades. He wants to regrow the plants in Wellspring Glade and in order to find all the collectables, you'll need his help.
]]>By far the hardest chase sequence in Ori And The Will Of The Wisps is the one in the sand ruins. After looking at several murals and reuniting the spirits, Ori suddenly has to run very quickly away from a giant sand worm.
]]>At the top of the Baur's Reach, the highest peak in Ori And The Will Of The Wisps, Ori finally finds what he's looking for. Unfortunately, Shriek has other plans and triggers an avalanche with her noisy behaviour. He must now get down very sharpish.
]]>It's fair to say that the boss fight with Kwolok is one of the sadder encounters of Ori And The Will Of The Wisps. As a sage-like figure, Kwolok guided Ori in this strange land, but now he's under the control of a big tentacle monster. It's not a fun time, but he does have a Spirit that you need to complete the quest and we'll tell you how to get it.
]]>Ori And The Will Of The Wisps has a fair number of boss fights, but this one is that shade creepier than most. This giant spider is Mora and she does all the things giant spiders like to do, but it also likes to make things very dark. She is utterly terrifying to fight if you're not prepared, so this guide will go through all the steps needed to beat Mora.
]]>Today has brought the launch of Ori And The Will Of The Wisps, the follow-up to Ori's lovely 2015 journey through the Blind Forest. The cute lil' fella is off on another metroidvania-y platforming adventure, bashing baddies, gaining new movement abilities, and generally cooing at the pretty scenery. And it's a cracker, so I'm told. Lovely to the eyes and a delight to the fingertips, I'm told. Good boss battles, I'm told. By our review. Our glowing review, posted yesterday.
]]>You've likely seen Shriek already in Ori And The Will Of The Wisps, but this big bird is out for blood. Entering the Feeding Grounds area, you'll soon have to sneak your way past this massive bird before it sees you. It's surprisingly more difficult than it sounds.
]]>One of the more elaborate side quests in Ori And The Will Of The Wisps requires Ori to become a postman of sorts. You're given items that you need to deliver to various creatures, in exchange for the next item on the list. This quest does lead to something at the end, so we will walk you through all the steps to complete this side quest.
]]>When exploring the labyrinthine world of Ori And The Will Of The Wisps, it helps to have maps. Luckily, there is a rather neat lad named Lupo who will sell you complete maps of each area in the game. The only downside to this is that you need to find him in each area and he's well hidden in some cases.
]]>There are lots of secrets within Ori And The Will Of The Wisps, but none are more fascinating than the rumour you get about the Midnight Burrows. This hidden area has an entire dungeon locked behind some flowers you ring like bells. But what order do you ring them?
]]>Staying alive in Ori And The Will Of The Wisps is going to be difficult with low health, so you'll want to find Life Cell fragments. When you get two of them, you'll get extra maximum health. As one of the big collectables in the game, you may wish to find all of them, so we have been on the hunt for these fragments.
]]>There are many collectables in Ori And The Will Of The Wisps, with one of the more useful ones being Gorlek Ores. Ori can't use them himself, but he can give them to the leader of the Wellspring Glade in order to repair damaged buildings and facilities in the village. To help you with this huge undertaking, we've collated all of the known Gorlek Ore locations in the game.
]]>All around the world of Ori And The Will Of The Wisps, there are various creatures that want you to do them favours. They may have lost something important to them, or found something and want you to return it to its rightful owner.
]]>Ori And The Will Of The Wisps is looking to be just as whimsical and sombre as Ori's last adventure in the blind forest. We've collected our top 20 tips for all parts of Ori's new adventure to get players of all skill levels up to speed. We've also linked to all our other articles in our Ori And The Will Of The Wisps guide series. So whether you are wanting to complete side-quests or trying to beat a boss, we've got the info you need.
]]>While the previous adventure had Ori running away from big monsters more often than not, Ori And The Will Of The Wisps has some more traditional boss fights. The first proper boss fight you'll be facing will be against the Horn Beetle. Its attacks are rather simple to dodge, but it does have a couple of sneaky tricks up its insect sleeve.
]]>Ori And The Will Of The Wisps doesn't do away from the whole running away from big monsters shtick that the previous game had. In fact, the first big chase sequence has Ori running away from a monster that's pretty much just a mass of tentacles with teeth. Frankly I'm not surprised that running away from this monster is the only option.
]]>Do you like using abilities a lot in games like Ori And The Will Of The Wisps? If so, you'll want to have as many energy cells as possible. To do so, you'll need to collect a lot of fragments which combine together to increase your ability pool. We've begun the hunt for all of the energy cell fragments so you know where to go and what skills are needed to reach them.
]]>While the previous adventure had Ori running away from big monsters more often than not, Ori And The Will Of The Wisps has some more traditional boss fights. The first proper boss fight you'll be facing will be against the Horn Beetle. Its attacks are rather simple to dodge, but it does have a couple of sneaky tricks up its insect sleeve.
]]>While he had a lot of skills in the first game, Ori And The Will Of The Wisps gives Ori a lot more that are combat focused. There are also a lot of Spirit Shards to be collected by finding combat shrines in the world, which can be used to apply more Skill Shards to modify your existing move set. There's a lot to cover here, so let's get started.
]]>Ori And The Will Of The Wisps delivers an affecting tale overall, but it teems with small, strange stories: a cutesy little owlet learns to glide along the pockets of air its massive, dinosaur-sized ancestors once sailed. A small man with a skull for a face tries very hard to save a tree that’s already dead. An ancient frog king fights some sort of weird brain squid, who manipulates him into swallowing a magic orb. But at its core, all these disparate tales feed into the same overarching saga, in which a teeny-tiny spirit protects the harmony of nature - not for the sake of the world itself, but for their best mate, who’s gone missing.
]]>Xbox Game Pass for PC continues to please, as they've just announced this month's lineup. Ori And The Will Of The Wisps will be available on Game Pass as soon as it launches on March 11th. Then we have the likes of Pikuniku, Train Sim World 2020, The Lord Of The Rings: Adventure Card Game and Mother Russia Bleeds.
]]>It’s quite rare for a composer to be offered as the spokesperson for an upcoming game, but it’s also quite rare for a game to sound as good as Ori And The Will Of The Wisps. So good, in fact, that it was Gareth Coker’s tinkling ivories that were first used to announce the game at E3 2017, where he sat at his piano and played a live accompaniment to that incredible footage. Okay, it doesn’t have the star factor of a Keanu, but it’s breathtaking in its own way.
With Ori 2 releasing on March 11, we got to chat to Coker about what makes the new soundtrack, and the game underneath, tick. Turns out it’s not just about playing the hits - although I am dying to hear “the most emphatic” version of the main Ori theme - but showing character psychology through subtle tweaks, and establishing a larger cast of characters without driving ears insane with repetition. And you thought Ori’s job was tough.
]]>Over the break we had a chance to do some serious scientific study of this business we call games, and it turns out that games are actually good. 2020 in particular has a healthy mix of big budget bonanzas and smaller indie plates to suit everyone's discerning tastes. And, as you know, the RPS treehouse is the most discerning, so to make it easier for you we've got a big ol' list of the games we're most looking forwards to this year. It's traditional.
]]>Good news: a new trailer for Ori And The Will Of The Wisps shown at The Game Awards gave more lovely little looks at the sequel to 2015's pretty-pretty metroidvania Ori And The Blind Forest. Bad news: the trailer also confirmed a one-month delay. Previously due on February 11th, 2020, it's now slated to launch on March 11th. Balanced news: it looks real nice so I'm happy to wait another month for this one. Better late than rushed.
]]>We've been drowned by E3 2019 this past week, but maybe you only waded into the river of game reveals and new trailers up to your ankles. If you didn't get your hair wet, there might be some gems among the flotsam and jetsam that you missed. That's what this post is for: we've rounded up our picks for the best games of E3, based on our own impressions of either seeing the games behind closed doors at the show, or of watching the videos from the comfort of our homes.
]]>I understand that spiders are our household helpers and it's wrong to hate them, but I also understand that the fungus-infected giant spiders in Ori And The Will Of The Wisps are horrible and I hate them with my entire being. The purpose of the new trailer debuted at E3 was to announce a release date of February 11th, 2020 but that has only caused me to blot out that day on my calendar with black marker to pretend it's not happening. Come look at how horrible this spider is.
]]>Trying to keep up with E3 2019 is a fool's errand, and the foaming river of content streaming down the internet's face doesn't always make it easier. So here's a round-up of every news story from the show we think matters to you, with links to our full stories (and bantful liveblogs) where relevant. We'll be updating this hourly, so keep coming back.
]]>Wow 2019 is a thing, huh? How are we all doing? Relieved? Bowling a hangover and a nagging sense of trepidation? Maybe you work in retail and, surprise! You were supposed to be at work half an hour ago. Time loses all meaning post-New Year break, doesn't it? You're just sort of adrift in a sea of empty Quality Street wrappers. That's okay. We're all there too.
Pretty soon the grim news cycle is going to grind to life again. Only three months until -- no! Don't think about it. We still have a moment here, on the crinkly, brightly coloured waves. Listen to their quiet rustling and think, not about reality, but about games! Yes, lovely, shiny games. We can bury our face right in them. And from that point of view the next 12 months are looking pretty good. Here's our selection of the games we're most looking forward to next year.
]]>Microsoft had a lot of games to announce at E3 2018, but it's a little murkier this year to find out what was relevant for PC users. Some games were coming to both, others only to their Xbox One consoles. You could of course watch the entire conference right here, but for some there just isn't enough time to wade through the entire show.
Not to worry though, here are all the trailers and news for you in one place. There's a surprising amount of variety in the announced titles: from an old favourite making a return, much celebrated developers showing off their new series, to even a completely free game launching very soon. The games below aren't in any particular order but you're in for a long ride.
]]>I'm not sure what your favorite part of Ori and the Blind Forest was. Was it the heartbreaking breaking of hearts throughout the story? Was it the whole Metroidvania but cute aspect? Was it the soundtrack that has few to no peers in gaming? Well, whatever made that game special for you, today at E3 we got our first full look at the follow-up, and it is everything you would want. At least, it is everything I want. I assume you and I are the same, because we're both hear to just fawn over Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
]]>As we lay 2017 to rest, let us remember all of the wonderful games that flickered across our screens and occupied our hearts and minds. But now we must promise never to think of them again because times have changed. This is 2018 and if we've learned one thing from the few hours we've spent in it it's that there are games everywhere. Every firework that exploded in the many midnights of New Year's celebrations was stuffed with games and they were still raining down across the world this morning. We cannot stop them, we cannot contain them, but we can attempt to understand them.
Hundreds of them will be worth our time and attention, but we've selected a few of the ones that excite us most as we prepare for another year of splendid PC gaming. There's something for everyone, from Aunt Maude, the military genius, to merry Ian Rogue, the man who hates permadeath and procedural generation with a passion.
]]>One year and a day ago, and after a decade of work, one Metroid fan released an unofficial PC remake of Nintendo's Metroid II. AM2R [official site] was its name (Another Metroid 2 Remake), and being pretty great was its game. Alas, Nintendo's lawyers shut AM2R down within days. This was unpleasant but unsurprising. The anniversary of the launch, however, has brought far better news.
AM2R lead Milton 'DoctorM64' Guasti announced yesterday that he has landed a job in level design for Ori and the Will of the Wisps [official site] - a new metroidvania.
]]>Each year E3 rolls around like a giant evil worm, crushing all that's good and pure. BUT that worm also announces lots of exciting gaming news as it wreaks its carnage upon the Earth. Here we have gathered every announcement, reveal, and exciting new trailer that emerged from the barrage of screamed press conferences over the last few days. And lots of it looks rather spiffy.
A rather enormous 47 PC games were either announced, revealed, or updated upon, with new trailers, information, and released dates that will all be missed by at least three months. We've collected the lot, with trailers, in alphabetical order, into one neat place, just for you.
]]>Ori and the Will of the Wisps was just announced at Microsoft's E3 2017 conference. It's the sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest and it seems to be about sad owls. You should watch the trailer below, because it's beautiful.
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