Replaying Ori lately because the Definitive Edition came out, and really enjoying it. But something that really caught my interest, both in the original and now as I'm replaying it (especially since I'm playing on Hard) is how quickly and easily you can die. Even with a lot of health upgrades, death is usually just one mis-timed jump or surprise enemy attack away. You really do feel like the environment is heavily oppressive to life and you're just a tiny, feeble creature. Even as you progress and gain the powers of your fallen friends you can be crushed or burned or impaled in a split second.

Even though the game quickly respawns you back at your last save point after you die, I can't help but think about the meaningless of each death you face. Whether Ori is drowning in a puddle of poison after slipping up on a jump, getting crushed by a massive rock trap, or getting picked apart by a hawk/owl thing, each death marks the end of the story. The heroic Ori facing insurmountable odds in order to restore the forest and bring it back to life, yet brought to an untimely end by a hungry predator, or patch of spiky brambles.

Despite the sad ending, life continues on, though in a much darker form. Ori's pitiful death marks the end of the light, that final spark of goodness stamped out. But that really speaks to me, in a way. This is less of a story and more of a reality. Sometimes a person falls down a well and just suffers until they die. It doesn't fit a conventional idea of narrative and doesn't make a fitting conclusion, but maybe from a different perspective it makes for something interesting. I imagine, what if this was just some forest you come across in a bigger adventure, like an RPG or something? This is how it became a dangerous area full of traps and high-level monsters, and now you're some random dude coming in swinging a sword until it's all dead and you earn some sweet loot. Had a frog not stomped a rabbit, it might be a dreamy, magical forest oasis.

But you're still going to just run through swinging your sword and looking for loot.