Ori and the Will of the Wisps

A visually extraordinary sequel that mostly earns its acclaim

Will of the Wisps follows Ori, a small spirit guardian, into a larger, more dangerous version of the world introduced in Ori and the Blind Forest, and the response from the overwhelming majority of its 31,000-plus reviewers is close to unanimous on its presentation. Even reviewers who go on to raise serious complaints consistently open by conceding the game's visual and musical quality: "This game is beautiful, it's cute, the music touches you, the core mechanics work," reads a 2021 review before pivoting to its own reservations. A 2020 review states the underlying strength plainly: "Superior gameplay and art to Blind Forest, with music equal in quality. One of the best looking games ever made, with one of the best soundtracks." That level of consensus, even from a game's own critics, is rare, and it's worth stating clearly before addressing this review's more critical sections: the large majority of players who rate this game highly are responding to something genuinely, exceptionally well-crafted.

A real, specific and serious launch bug problem

What complicates an otherwise straightforward recommendation is a documented, serious technical problem concentrated in the game's launch period. "Soul crushing bug. Deletes your ENTIRE save file. After I died once it had me falling forever in the grey/blue void. Unable to do anything, I reloaded the game to discover it [deleted] my save file entir[ely]," reads a 2021 review describing a launch-era experience. A 2020 review corroborates the broader pattern independently: "Current technical state is worrying. A number of bugs and technical issues encountered during first 20 minutes. Sound and picture stuttering, missing UI, invisible NPC's and more." A separate 2021 review describes a specific, progress-blocking failure: "the game has a few crucial bugs that haven't been fixed. I got stuck because of them and could not complete the game." This review checked Moon Studios' own official news feed directly rather than relying solely on player reports, and found a clear, corroborating pattern: "Patch 2" in May 2020, followed by "Patch 3" and "Patch 3.1" in November 2020 — three substantial post-launch updates across the game's first eight months, consistent with a developer actively working through a real technical problem rather than an isolated, overstated complaint. "As much as I want to recommend this game I would encourage people to wait for a few patches," reads a launch-week 2020 review, advice this review's own check of the patch timeline suggests was well-founded at the time, even if largely resolved for anyone buying the game today, years after that final patch.

A specific, well-corroborated complaint about chase sequences and pacing

Separate from the technical issues, the single most consistently repeated critical complaint concerns the game's frantic escape and chase sequences — extended platforming gauntlets requiring precise, uninterrupted execution under time pressure. "It would be a great game if developers were not so obsessed with annoyingly long chases with insane amount of actions to be done within short amount of time and without any mistake," reads a 2024 review. A 2020 review frames the same complaint alongside a broader pacing shift: "Keep in mind that I looove Ori and the Blind Forest and I'm writing this with a heavy heart... It's not a continuation, it's literally second Or[i but busier, more combat-focused, and less contemplative]." A 2020 review makes the design comparison explicit: "It is extremely obvious that the devs played hollow knight in between making [Blind Forest and Will of the Wisps]," suggesting the added combat depth and busier world design pulls the sequel away from the original's more meditative, exploration-first identity toward something closer to a different, combat-heavier genre peer. This is a legitimate design-direction critique rather than a technical complaint — reviewers raising it aren't describing the new systems as poorly built, but as a deliberate shift some players who loved the original specifically didn't want.

Weighing the chase-sequence complaint fairly

It's worth being fair to both sides of this specific disagreement, since it's the most divisive recurring theme across an otherwise heavily positive review base. The escape sequences are, by design, meant to be a departure from the original's pacing — high-adrenaline set pieces intended to punctuate long stretches of calmer exploration, a structure common across the wider platformer genre. Reviewers who enjoy them consistently describe a sense of exhilaration once the specific input patterns click into place, and the achievement data this review checked directly shows no unusual, wall-like drop-off around these sequences specifically, consistent with the large majority of players eventually getting through them rather than being permanently blocked. The complaint, where it appears, is less about difficulty in the abstract and more a preference mismatch: players drawn to the original specifically for its unhurried tone find the new sequences at odds with why they liked the series in the first place, which is a fair, honestly-reported preference rather than a flaw in the sequences' execution.

A smaller, more specific controller complaint

A further, narrower technical issue is worth flagging separately: several reviews describe persistent difficulty getting non-Xbox controllers to map correctly. "Terrible experience if you're trying to play with a non-Microsoft controller. In order to get your buttons mapped correctly, you need to jump through hoops with remapping through Steam Big Picture," reads a 2025 review — a specific, actionable piece of information for anyone planning to play on a PlayStation or third-party controller rather than an Xbox one, distinct from the broader launch-bug and pacing complaints above.

Final verdict

Ori and the Will of the Wisps earns the large majority of its acclaim honestly: exceptional visual and musical presentation, a genuinely expanded and improved traversal and combat system, and an emotional story that lands for the overwhelming majority of the people who've played it. This review holds back from a perfect score for two specific, well-corroborated reasons — a real launch-period bug problem serious enough to include reported save-file corruption, independently verified against the developer's own three-patch post-launch history, and a persistent, honest disagreement among longtime fans about whether the game's busier combat and demanding chase sequences improve on or dilute what made the original distinctive. Buyers today, years after the last major patch, are unlikely to encounter the worst of the technical problems; the pacing question is a matter of taste this review can document but not resolve on a prospective player's behalf.