Ori and the Will of the Wisps - masterful Metroidvania hampered by technical problems

Everything here glows. The luminescence smothers the thicket like a warm, snug blanket, dusting the world with a soft, preternatural radiance, piping the edges of the leaves and twigs that dance as you glide and tumble past them, leaving them trembling in your wake.

Ori dances, too. They leap from platform to vine to outcrop, their acrobatics growing in scope and confidence as their skill-set expands. You'll be routinely rewarded for your exploration and the idle curiosity that takes you off the beaten path, and soon enough, you'll be voluntarily throwing yourself into the air, bouncing off projectiles and enemies and lanterns with a confidence that'll astonish you.

Nothing feels copy-and-pasted or created by rote. Every twig and leaf and cloud has detail and purpose. The biomes you explore - each one feeling simultaneously both familiar and new - have been crafted with care and affection, stuffed with bespoken motifs and secret little hideyholes. There are distinct areas with their own friends, foes and landmarks, and plenty of opportunities to revisit old stomping grounds when you learn how to access a previously inaccessible pathway. There are deserts and snow-capped mountains and lush, tranquil pools and caverns with suffocating darkness. The world itself is a tangible, moody NPC all of its own, and it's one with a shockingly poor poker face; the further into the story you tread, the more it will telegraph exactly what's at stake here.

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