Above, a scene from “Ori and the Blind Forest.” (Photo credit: Moon Studios)

By Todd Martens
Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — After spending the better part of four years working on the pensive fairy tale “Ori and the Blind Forest,” Thomas Mahler was relieved to reveal it at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Now he just hopes people don’t think it’s “artsy-fartsy.”

The “Ori” trailer makes a play for gamers’ hearts.

A mystical, sprightly little creature falls from the heavens, landing near a furry and plump bear-like animal with a softly glowing face. This is Ori’s mother, and we watch as the little guy, Ori, is raised in a fantasy forest straight out of a Hayao Miyazaki film. All seems idyllic until a monster of an owl enters the picture. Lightning flashes, the owl takes thunderous steps toward Ori, and we catch glimpses of Ori bounding around the forest with light-footed quickness.

What happens next in the teaser could bring on the tears. Ori, bearing what appears to be food, walks to his now-still mother. Ori nudges her for several moments, yet she doesn’t move. The clip fades as Ori is seen mourning alone in a now-darkened forest.
In a medium in which extra lives are the norm, glimpses of death have a tendency to linger.

This is our introduction into the world of “Ori and the Blind Forest,” which is coming to Xbox One and PC this fall. The first game from Moon Studios, “Ori” is being published to the platform by Microsoft Studios, and the game is the brainchild of Mahler, a former cinematic artist at Blizzard Entertainment.

“Ori and the Blind Forest” has drawn a winning reception at the video game trade show E3, which concluded Thursday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The game has been playable on four Xbox Ones in the Microsoft booth, where it’s overshadowed by racing game “Forza Horizon 2” and the crazily hyperactive “Sunset Overdrive.”

And yet throughout Wednesday, the line to play “Ori and the Blind Forest” was consistently seven to eight people deep.

“I’m actually a little concerned,” said Mahler. “The reception was awesome at E3. People came up to us and said, ‘That was my favorite thing of the show, and it was so sad.’ I’m afraid that people will see this as some artsy-fartsy thing. ‘Oh, this is another game that wants to make you sad.’ But we’ve been working on ‘Ori’ for four years now, and we’re trying to push on every level.”

“Ori and the Blind Forest” is, in the words of Xbox One marketing guru Yusuf Mehdi, “melancholic.” Yet Mehdi also said Microsoft considered opening its pre-E3 press conference at the USC Galen Center with “Ori and the Blind Forest.” Instead, Microsoft went with “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.”

“We thought, ‘Hey, maybe we should show up with a different personality,’” Mehdi said of the debate.

In the early portion of the game that was demoed at E3, players guided Ori through a deserted forest. We learn that all its former inhabitants are now believed to be dead. Soon, players discover a floating orb, one that’s sentient and appears to have a deep connection to nature. This orb appears to be named Sein, and Sein informs Ori that the forest is in ruins and “those who remained simply vanished.”

In their place is a host of more undesirable yet still fantastical creatures. Dark-orange gooey creatures hang from bark ready to attack Ori, and creepy, reddish creations with crab-like movements are on the prowl.

As Ori and Sein traverse the woods, Ori is able to learn numerous abilities, such as the handy skill of crawling up walls. While the forest is barren, the look is magical. The game brings a radiance to the grim, as dark blues and deep purples are used to decorate the landscape. Programmer David Clark said the studio wanted a luminosity that would inspire a desire to return the universe to life.

“Having a dying world as a forest is really hard. It can be depressing, so you need something that’s visually interesting but doesn’t look alive and happy,” Clark said. “The use of color with the shades of purple, blue and orange — those are really powerful colors — even though you’re looking at dead leaves. So that way you feel like you’re in an interesting world, but there is a sad theme. You feel the need to bring this world back to health.”

It’s worth noting that “Ori and the Blind Forest” isn’t exactly easy. While Mahler describes the game as an eight-to-10-hour experience, it was clear that even in the early portion of the game players would be grappling with agility puzzles that may require some trial and error. Level design and controls came first, said Mahler, as the fable-like nature of the game was fleshed out later in the process.

“For a long time it wasn’t this artsy thing. We want to craft a really beautiful game where people can feel something,” he said. “We also want people to understand we spent a lot of time on pure game play and design.”