In addition, to save points scattered in the game, players can create "soul links" at any time they choose to serve as checkpoints. However, soul links can only be created using energy cells collected during gameplay; the needed energy is not in abundant supply, forcing players to create them only when necessary. The player can gain ability points to buy various perks and upgrades, such as increasing the damage of Sein's Spirit Flame. These upgrades can be bought anywhere a soul link has been created and if the player has enough ability points to buy the skill they desire. An ability point is gained when Ori collects enough experience by killing enemies, destroying various plants and finding spirit containers and ability cells (which gives Ori an ability point automatically). Each skill must be bought in sequential order from one of three ability trees to allow the next skill to be accessible.
Plot
The voice of the Spirit Tree in the forest of Nibel narrates the story of when Ori, a guardian spirit, fell from it during a storm as a newborn and was adopted by a creature named Naru, who raised Ori as her own. A cataclysmic event soon makes all of the forest wither, and Naru dies of starvation. Newly orphaned, Ori is left to explore the forest on their own. After collapsing near the Spirit Tree and being revived by it, Ori later meets Sein (pronounced /saɪn/), a small orb who guides Ori on a journey to restore the forest. Sein tasks Ori with recovering the light of three main elements supporting the balance of Nibel: Waters, Winds, and Warmth.
Ori and Sein come across two beings in their quest: Gumo, the last survivor of the spider-like Gumon clan, who were wiped out by the forest's cataclysm, and whose home supports the Wind element; and Kuro, a giant, shadowy owl who is hostile toward Ori. Gumo initially steals the key to the Water element, but returns it after Ori saves him from a rockslide. After the Wind element is rekindled, Ori and Sein find Kuro's nest, empty except for a single egg, and they learn the source of her wrath and the forest's cataclysm: when Ori was lost, the Spirit Tree released a flash of light to look for them, which burned and killed all of Kuro's recently hatched offsprings when she was away from her nest looking for food. Determined to prevent this from happening to her yet unborn child, Kuro took away the core on top of the Spirit Tree, which is actually Sein. Without its core, the Spirit Tree could not sustain the three elements, and Nibel lost its balance. Meanwhile, Gumo overhears Ori and Sein's intentions to restore Nibel and uses his clan treasure that stores the light from the Spirit Tree to revive Naru, and takes her to where Ori is.
After the final element, Warmth, is restored in the volcano Mount Horu, Kuro attacks Ori and Sein as the fire from Horu starts to spread. Naru, who had been separated from Gumo, arrives to protect Ori from Kuro. Kuro softens, remembering the pain of losing her children. As the fire spreads and is about to reach her remaining egg, Kuro takes Sein back to the Spirit Tree, which emits a flash of bright light that dissipates the fire and restores the forest, but Kuro is destroyed by the light. Time passes as the forest begins to flourish once more, and Ori watches new spirits being born in the field at the foot of the Spirit Tree. Gumo and Naru watch together from afar, before the latter goes home, where Kuro's last egg now rests, just in time to see it begin to hatch.
Development
Ori and the Blind Forest was developed by Moon Studios, a worldwide collaboration of designers and programmers who have been working on the game four years before it was released, with Microsoft acquiring the game about a year after development started. One of the lead team members is Thomas Mahler, an artist formerly working with Blizzard Entertainment. According to Microsoft producer Daniel Smith, Moon Studios is not located in any one location, but instead staffers are working from around the world, including Austria, Australia, Israel and the United States. Gameplay programmer David Clark described the team as being inspired by current and classic adventure games, notably the Rayman and Metroid franchises, and that Ori is intended as a "love letter" to those games.
The designers say they were guided by works such as The Lion King and The Iron Giant and that it is a "coming-of-age story". The designers were heavily influenced by the work of Hayao Miyazaki, particularly with one of the levels "Valley of the Wind", being a nod to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The art style is meant to appear hand-drawn, similar to the more recent Rayman titles that utilize Ubisoft's UbiArt graphics engine; the game instead uses the Unity engine. The game takes place in one large map, rendered at 1080p and 60 frames per second with no visible loading time as the player explores. According to Mahler, the game's backgrounds are all individual components, with none duplicated as in other similar titles. As an example, Mahler explained, "You see this tree in the background and this mushroom and this rock? That's the one and only place you'll ever see those assets."
The game was unveiled at E3 2014 during Microsoft's pre-show press conference at the Galen Center; E3 was the first time a number of Moon Studios employees actually met face-to-face. Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi, in charge of marketing for Xbox One, stated that they considered opening the conference with Ori, but instead chose Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. During E3, attendees waited in long lines to play a demo version of the game, often waiting in queues 7-8 people deep for each of the four consoles featuring the game.
