izigame.me

This game was a complete joy. A beautiful, frustrating, and exciting joy. I had no idea about this game whatsoever outside of hearing the name pop up many times over the last few years. After adding it to my back catalog during a sale, I decided to finally start it up for the first time to enjoy on my Steam Deck.
Right away, the game looks gorgeous. With the character designs, borderline magical flowing bright color schemes, how unique each section of the map was, the tiny details in every step, even the attack moves...It's all a treat to watch happen. Pair that with some cool sound effects along with an epic soundtrack and it becomes obvious right away why this is a true experience for most gamers and makes perfect sense how I've heard the title mentioned so much.
The combat and level design has a lot of ebbs and flows. As you progress deeper through each section of the map, it goes from a whimsical bright fun world to a grueling trial and error with plenty of challenges. There were a few parts of the play through that made me pause on playing for a little bit so I could come back to attempt that part later. But it filled me with dopamine every time I succeed. This is such a basic feeling but so rarely done perfectly in games today. You mix in the beauty of the game itself in with comfortable and enjoyable combat...And here I am again being reminded of why this game has been brought up so much.
The story on the other hand was something I had no connection to. I fully understand that games like these typically don't have story line in the forefront of the gaming experience. But it's still something of that this quality deserved to make a modern day awesomeness trifecta. It wasn't a non-existent story. Just don't go in expecting something memorable.
This game reminds me why I fell in love with gaming over 20 years ago and is such a breath of fresh air in a rough industry. I can't suggest Ori and the Blind Forest enough.