Played on PC, streamed once a week.
!! Spoilers below !!
I started this right after Hollow Knight because I wanted to play another Metroidvania game (and I haven't played another Metroidvania in quite a long time) so I'll inevitably form comparisons. For the record, I don't think the two are very similar beyond both being within the same genre.
Ori's character weight is somewhat noticeably lighter than Hollow Knight's, and I feel there's...less friction? Or at least, the movement is more sensitive? This leads to two things: 1. Aerial movement is very enjoyable, 2. Precise movements are extremely annoying to pull off. There's a lot of the first, especially after Bash is obtained, and unfortunately quite a fair bit of the second as well (I would frequently overshoot small platforms and walls and have to make my way back).
There are a lot of mobility skills in this game so I'll give my thoughts on each of them...
Besides these, various stages also introduce specific mechanics. There are a few chase scenes that involve failing and memorising the route through an area until you clear it. These are initially somewhat anxiety-inducing, but actually not that bad because they're not timed based on completion of the entire route, but rather smaller segments of the route, so there's more time than there appears to be, and rushing doesn't make later segments of the route easier to do.
Most of my enjoyment of this game was in the non-battle platforming sections plus the art and music. The art is gorgeous, although before I learnt to recognise them, I kept running into spikes and enemies because they blended into the environment too well...The main Ori theme motif is very strong and I enjoyed hearing it in the music. (Unfortunately though my brain kept autocompleting it to the Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron theme after the first few notes)
So, like, 3/5 satisfaction isn't really that low for me (it's still "good, worth playing") but I feel like I have to justify it lol. My satisfaction from games is usually based on a combination of story, gameplay and execution, and story tends to be a really huge component in whether it was a memorable experience.
I'll say Ori's story isn't really for me...I don't think it's like, terribad, but it's a very simple/straightforward story. There's some worldbuilding, but it's not particularly structured.
I think mostly it bugs me that the Spirit Tree causes the death of Kuro's children and the story's resolution is that...Kuro dies with no closure/compensation, in sacrifice to restore the Spirit Tree (but mostly to protect her last egg). This is somehow...framed as Kuro's redemption to the Spirit Tree and allies (Ori, Sein, Naru, Gumo)? Even though the Spirit Tree killed her kids first (even if accidentally)? She's given only a short cutscene for the purpose of making the player feel sympathy for her/justify her actions, but that sympathy is never acted upon while she's alive - there's no attempt made by the Spirit Tree allies to make things right, only caring for her egg. There's barely any confrontation with her over the damage she's done either - just a parent-to-parent moment and then her atonement is death apparently.
Like, I'm not opposed to stories where good and bad are murky and it becomes hard to tell if you, as the player, is really the force of good (I love these kinds of stories actually)...but in terms of artistic direction, how the characters are named/presented, and your journey through the game, it's clear that the game intended for Ori and their allies to be "good". It sets up you vs. Kuro early on, and then...it just turns out that Kuro is a very angry mom, but you're still "good" because the entire region depends on the Spirit Tree to survive, and unfortunately Kuro is in opposition to the Spirit Tree. Despite the fact that kindness and altruism save the "good" characters multiple times, that kindness doesn't get extended to Kuro, who gets conveniently obliterated. The story treats caring for Kuro's egg as an expression of kindness to Kuro, but I feel there should be a distinction between Kuro (who has the capacity to dissent and the memories of being wronged) and Kuro's child (who doesn't). It's, like, just...convenient.
Stories don't have to have a message to stand...but for one that SEEMS to be trying to send a message of kindness and empathy, I feel it kind of falls flat. I do think that maybe it'd have been too complex to add into a game that has fairly minimal storytelling, but I would've loved to see a true redemption and a resolution for Kuro...or at least one where they all achieve idealistic peace with each other. Here's hoping the next game's story will be more satisfying, I guess?
The execution part is great - aside from a few gripes about floatiness in the movement (I'm not sure if I'd have felt the same way if I hadn't played Hollow Knight prior) gameplay was fun, artwork is absolutely gorgeous with a great soundtrack to match. I'm probably going to be feeling quite frustrated about the story for a while, though.