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Sound in Ori and the Blind Forrest

“Ori and the blind forest” is in every respect a true work of art, the art style, story, music and sound design of this unique world have a similar feel and complement each other incredibly well.

The score, written by Gareth Coker in my personal opinion is one of the most deserving of recognition in recent years, a wholesome approach to storytelling through the use of instrumentation and leitmotif as opposed to your “typical” soundtrack you would expect for a side-scroller not dissimilar to early Metroid games.

The game is based entirely in a forest so natural sounds were always going to play a key part in Ori’s sound design. The sounds of the grass and leaves as Ori traverses through them is more apparent than the weight of Ori’s movements, this really creates a feeling that the world is more real than Ori, Ori is an entity of energy interacting with the world around him. This is extremely effective in creating immersion and a real respect for the forest you are exploring.

Although the overall feel of the music is very uplifting and tranquil, that’s more a narrative of Ori’s influence within the world. There is certainly a play of more sinister elements within the sound design of  “Ori and the blind forest” you are at near constant peril in the game and the sound of creatures constantly ready to attack Ori in the distance is always quietly apparent. Ori’s companion “sein” (a ball of energy that explains to the player where to go and the point of the next objective) can be used to attack enemies and create explosions to both unlock pathways and be used to destroy certain things, the sound of the explosion building up is typical for something people would imagine as pure energy powering up, it wouldn’t sound out of place on a weapon in Halo, and as for the explosion itself it echoes so much when used that the sense of space it creates really highlights the size and significance of the world is in while also highlighting the significance of Ori’s impact on the world.  

The narration is done entirely in a fictional language that is closer to gibberish than anything else. There is also an echo effect put on this to make it feel very dream like. Now I am assuming that this is voice acted in some way because the amount of character in these voices despite it not being coherent speech is incredible, often a strong sense of urgency and care for Ori that sein has can often be replaced with a more concerned yet consoling tone at key story points. Again this is just another aspect that really draws the player into the importance of this world.

if I was to mention one more aspect that, again, expertly draws you into the world it would be the sounds Ori makes himself, Ori sounds incredibly innocent while also having an ethereal feel, and throughout the game you wind up caring for this delicate appearing creature. Ori becomes much more powerful and capable as the game goes on, and even though the sounds he/she makes haven’t changed, suddenly this delicate thing now sounds agile strong and capable. I feel the designers may have had both stages of Ori’s journey in mind when deciding how Ori should sound.

All in all it is the music carrying the sense of wonder and immersion in this game, often telling the story more than the game attempts to itself without the music, one reason I feel this was achieved is that Gareth Coker had the opportunity to start working on the score when the game was in very early development.

That being said at no point in this game should any of the sounds be overlooked for how important they are in the overall immersion of the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA8Uzj0tyG0 - Gumo sound teaser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFAf0-EsuZ4 - behind the score teaser

https://youtu.be/8yAPi1kny6U?t=19m38s - some gameplay to give an idea of the things I’ve spoken about.