izigame.me

The most frustrating platformer I've ever played. The difficulty lies in either playing in a developer-approvedTM way, or banging your head against poor geometry, unclear visuals and low information. The developers prioritized aesthetics over visual clarity in a metroidvania of all games. The game consistently punished me for thinking creatively about the use of the mechanics presented to me, allowed me to level up abilities that I won't have access to for another 3/4s of the game (dash, underwater breath) and pretended that "challenge" means "impossible to know until you die to it at least once". This game is by the way not intended for casual players.
Movement is floaty and random, which works to be the antithesis of the core aspects of the game: precision and speed. Often presented to you are cliff edges, platforms, pick-ups and places that seem tantalizingly close yet are in fact unreachable. This in the devs' minds is a clever way to have the players come revisit these areas, but in fact, unlike games where this same idea is shown with a clear gap between what-you-can vs. what-you-can't do, Ori and the Bullshit Forest has you thinking you may be able to do it as a mechanically-abled player, only to always slightly miss the mark. The controls are clunky enough to where sometimes you indeed can reach places, but your character randomly works differently, so in the back of your mind you always feel like trying again. I once decided to create sideways momentum on a swing to jump off to a ledge where a big pick-up lies (you're supposed to get here with double-jump) only to be punished by the devs for my creativity by a curving angle that didn't let me get that pick-up for no good reason. Escape sequences randomly speed up or slow down the pace of the incoming danger, making it confusing and unrewarding to try and obtain extra exp from mobs and pick-ups, and rely on the philosophy of "die first, try the whole thing again" as you often can't even tell which path you're supposed to take. Nothing is challenging nor rewarding, everything is frustrating.
The combat is shallow and uninteresting, and moves rather explosively from you being completely helpless to -if your hands allow it- every single enemy being perfectly trivial, as you can dodge and redirect every single ability they have (or just warp through them), and/or use something like the powered-up stomp to nuke everything around you. Additionally, the overzealous focus on nice vfx makes it sometimes impossible to see things that will damage you as they are covered by other visuals. Some enemies die and leave damaging puddles behind, others just die in the exact same colorful way, but without hurting you. Sometimes the damaging particles will be covered by the very same attack animation you killed that enemy with.
You are allowed to save anywhere by managing a currency, but the game is full of sequences with unexpected deaths or forced cinematics, which makes it so that quite frequently you're reviving to just be forced to re-watch and wait for the same thing over and over. It also takes a while to adjust to the fact that although you are actually incentivized to save all the time in the early game (although the game never explains this to you) and are provided with plenty of chances to do so, the game then suddenly forces you to manage it carefully a few hours in, as the blue crystal currency inexplicably becomes extremely rare. This happens right around a sequence in a twisty distorted nightmare forest where you will die to terribly implemented climbing mechanics. As an added bonus of developer-funTM, this currency is also used for combat and exploration, which makes it so that every decision you ever make is stacked with anxiety over what you may be missing out on.
The experience is riddled with small instances of damage or death in fully unpredictable and tortuous ways. The first section of Forlorn Ruins has you take damage to recognize you will take damage, then carry an orb that will deactivate said damaging places, but only as long as you hold it, which doesn't allow you to use any mobility skills. The ball will then float around you but this you can only learn by letting go of it in places where you will most likely either take damage or die, only to then go watch a cinematic again, and save again to skip said cinematic next time you die. You climb higher and now sections randomly pull you into the wall with spikes so small you don't even notice them, where you also die, etc, etc etc. An honorable mention goes to the sections that introduce wall climbing, being quite possibly the worst implemented thing I've ever seen in a game with this big a budget.
Puzzles in the game rely on depriving you of information and making you suffer through chores. Watching House M.D. is only slightly more obvious and predictable than this game.
The graphics are cute, but I was too busy zipping through maps with infuriating design to pay attention to anything. Ironically enough too, it is just that, cute. Most of the maps you couldn't tell apart with a gun to your head, and the OST is either non-existent or forgettable. To some, the story is emotional and profound. It wasn't to me. I don't care about any of these characters and nor was I given a reason to. Apparently sad music equals depth.
The devs should go give Hollow Knight a try and take some notes, that game is a superior experience in every possible way. If you're gonna play this, do it in adventure mode, save yourself the trouble, although it may still prove frustrating and convoluted. If you're more of a casual player, I do not think you will have fun at all.