Deconstructing Ori and the Blind Forest's Best Bit

Pretty much everyone who has played Ori and Blind Forest, will give you the same answer when you ask them about their favourite part from the game. It’s the Ginso Tree. It's one of the three main levels in this gorgeous platforming Metroidvania, and it's kinda like the combination between a Zelda dungeon and a Super Meat Boy level, in that it introduces you to one of the game’s core abilities - but tests you on it through a gauntlet of tricky platforming challenges.

In this video, I want to break down the Ginso Tree, beat by beat, to reveal how this one area in the game shows off the power and adaptability of Ori’s best mechanic, before finishing off with a memorable set piece sequence that sidesteps a lot of the traps that these cinematic moments can fall into. I’m Mark Brown, this is Game Maker’s Toolkit, and here’s how the Ginso Tree works. Before we get to that new ability - the first half of the tree is there to really hammer home what Ori can do with his current set of moves - which include a double jump, a wall jump, and his spirit flame attack.

So we start with a tricky platforming section, with lots of wall-jumping and double-jumping between hanging platforms, and using these new - and rather disorienting - portals to whip around the screen. Then we have a section that involves some puzzle solving. We need to redirect this monster’s projectile to smash through these splintered trees, by using these cornered portals to change the direction of the bullet. Next, we shift to a combat arena, where we have to use Ori’s flame attack to destroy these gross slug things.

And finally, another platforming section where we’re jumping through portals and avoiding spikes - this time with four keys to collect. Now, with Ori’s current moveset thoroughly tested, it’s time to grab that new ability: Bash. This move lets Ori snap on to lanterns, projectiles and enemies, before choosing a direction and firing off like a rocket. It’s essentially the game’s signature move and - if you ask me - it belongs in the pantheon of great game mechanics, alongside reverts in Tony Hawk’s, High Time in Devil May Cry, and more.

Look, I’ve got video material for years. You’re never getting rid of me. Anyway. The move is great for so many reasons. For one, it gives you another way to stay in the air, which is when Ori is at its absolute best. The game’s floaty physics can make precision platforming tricky, but the game feels great when you’re chaining moves to stay airborne. But Bash is not some instantly accessible action, like a double jump, because you need to skilfully manoeuvre yourself into the right spot, to pull it off.

Bash also connects platforming and combat, so that might involve bashing an enemy into some spikes, or returning an enemy’s projectile right back into their squishy face. Either way, it’s a lot better than Ori’s standard combat. Unless you’re really into hitting the X button a lot. It also gives you two things to think about. When you bash off a projectile, the bullet will fire one way and Ori will jet off in the opposite direction.

So you need to consider both, or you might accidentally ping Ori into some spikes. And the way time slows down gives you a moment to think and pick the perfect direction. You can bash off in all 360 degrees, after all, which makes the ability so expressive. But this time-stop doesn’t break the flow of the game. In fact, that moment almost serves to emphasise the action. The contrast between the static build-up, and the resulting rush of speed, just makes it oh-so satisfying.

Like a catapult. And so, because it’s so adaptable, Bash recontextualises everything you’ve seen before. Projectiles and enemies, which one were once something to be avoided, are now a key part of your platforming, combat, and puzzle-solving skill set. And what better way to prove all this, than to take everything you did in the first half of the Ginso Tree - and repeat it, but now with the Bash move under your belt.

So we have another platforming section, but this time we can use Bash to leapfrog over projectiles. Then we get a repeat of that puzzle where we needed to redirect a projectile into a tree - but this time we can just use Bash to quickly fire it in the right direction. Also, the slug-like enemies from the combat arena return, but now we can see how their barf bombs can be used to our advantage. We next have another platforming section with keys, just like before.

But bashing off the lanterns significantly changes how the area plays out. And finally, there’s another combat arena, and this time the only way to win is to use bash to fire back projectiles. Also, here’s a perfect moment to learn about that whole catapulting Ori into spikes thing. When we move up to the top of the tree, we get two more tests. To the right, is a final puzzle challenge. We need to bring a projectile from here...

...to here, using both Bash and those cornered portals from earlier. You’ll need to observe the level layout, defeat enemies, and avoid getting hit by the projectile yourself. And on the left, we have a challenge that combines all of the bash uses. There’s some platforming, some combat, and some puzzle solving all in one room. And now it’s time for the grand finale. The Ginso Tree escape. This is a climactic, white knuckle, set-piece challenge.

It’s Ori‘s version of a boss battle and the real test of your new ability. You’ll need to use bash again and again to overcome a non-stop gauntlet of projectiles and enemies, all while a great jet of water is nipping at your heels. Now the problem with this sort of set-piece moment is that if you screw them up, it completely breaks the illusion. It’s like cut cut cut, let’s go again, places people, and action! You know, the cool moment just kinda gets ruined.

You can make them very easy so the player is unlikely to screw it up, but then it’s all spectacle, no substance. That’s not the case here - the escape from the Ginso Tree is tough and you will likely fail more than once. But Ori does a few clever things to stop the sequence from breaking apart. One is that restarting is instant, with no loading screens or cutscenes. If you fail, you just go again. Two, is that the music, which is incredible by the way, doesn’t reset, it just keeps going which makes failed attempts flow together as part of the set piece.

And three is that there are no checkpoints. Which means when you do succeed, you will have successfully done about a minute of unbroken platforming challenges. This wasn’t a war of attrition though checkpoints, or some flashy pseudo cutscene, or some low stakes smoke and mirrors. It was real gameplay with the threat of death at your back and you nailed it! Ori is never really better than during the Ginso Tree. Sure, the later dungeons - Forlorn Ruins and Mount Horu - are also well designed.

And you’ll get to use your new Bash ability throughout the adventure in even more difficult and exciting scenarios. But, the game has its issues. The Metroidvania structure mostly just leads to backtracking and confusion, rather than navigational joy. The challenge is all over the place with frustrating difficulty spikes. And because Moon Studios keeps chucking new mechanics on top of old ones, the game starts to lose some of the elegance found in the moveset you had during the Ginso Tree.

By the end of the game you can charge jump, triple jump, wall jump, climb up walls and then fire off them, stomp, bash, attack, do a charge burst, and float with a feather. And if you’ve got the Definitive Edition, you can also dash and throw out a ball of light. It gets to the point where almost every button on the controller does something new, resulting in a finger-fumbling exercise in frustration as half the challenge is just remembering which button does what.

But still, Ori is a great game and I would recommend it. Especially for the Ginso Tree which confidently shows off the brilliance of the Bash move by showing you what you can do without it, what you can do with it, and then putting your new-found skills to the ultimate test in a memorable set-piece moment. Who knows what Moon Studios has cooked up for the sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest, but I know I’ll be checking it out.

Hey there, thanks for watching. GMTK is powered by Patreon, and these are my top tier supporters. Also if the stuff about Zelda dungeons and keys in this video made you think about Boss Keys, don't worry. It's coming back soon.