‘Stomp’ is vital for the player who enjoys exploration, and it helps that it deals a great deal of damage to your enemies too. There are a great many areas I encountered before learning ‘Stomp’ that might have made me all the more grateful when I finally got it. Ori is about to burst through the floor to discover a secret area. You can reduce the amount of Energy Cells you consume by half with upgrades.You can recover your lost Energy Cell by destroying the large blue cocoons.Deal greater damage and attack multiple enemies at once.

Increase strength and radius with upgrades.Hold ‘X’ to charge and release ‘X’ to detonate.Although you have to sacrifice (at most) an Energy Cell for each ‘Charge Flame’, I argue it’s a good investment of your time. ‘Charge Flame’ does a great deal more damage than ‘Spirit Flame’ and affects several enemies at once.

This is an incredibly useful skill as you start encountering more challenging enemies. I may be saying this a lot, but Ori is a really pretty game and that’s important to me.

Allows you to jump higher without ‘Charge Jump’.

You can also ‘Bash’ off Light Bursts to jump higher.

The explosion deals damage, destroys walls and lights lanterns.

Hold ‘R’ or ‘LB’ to aim, tap ‘R’ or ‘LB’ to throw a light projectile.

I rank this below ‘Charge Flame’ only because it comes so late in the game. It’s handy for when you can see enemies ahead but are in a rush and would rather they be dead before you get there. ‘Light Burst’ is your titular bomb mechanic in Ori and is exclusive to the definitive version.

It’s fun jumping from wall to wall and watching Ori do her little flips.

It is the first skill learnt after ‘Spirit Flame’.

Push towards a wall and press ‘A’ to jump up.

In my experience, it is still the fastest way of getting up walls even after you’ve acquired the rest of the skills. ‘Wall Jump’ is the early game climbing mechanic but doesn’t run out of utility even when you learn the skill, ‘Climb’.

It looks cool when Ori does her little spin.

A skill you’ll only learn when you really, REALLY need it.

Can achieve ‘Triple Jump’ through an upgrade.

Self-explanatory - press ‘A’ to jump and ‘A’ again to jump higher.

That said, being able to double jump really makes things a whole lot easier. The fact that ‘Double Jump’ has to be earned quite a ways into the game makes me respect it all that much more. I’d never thought I’d taken the ability to double jump in games for granted until I played Ori and the Blind Forest for the first time.

Is the main skill needed in some of the most exciting and fun parts of the game.

Go farther and higher without ‘Dash’, ‘Double Jump’ or ‘Charge Jump’.

Repel enemies with ‘Bash’ to break through sturdier walls.

Repel projectiles in the opposite direction.

Hold ‘Y’ or the right mouse button near a lantern or projectile and aim in the direction you want to leap.

‘Bash’ is a skill you will get a lot of mileage out of from the time you learn it to the end of the game. Though I personally haven’t really used it for attacks, I find the ability to redirect projectiles and swing through the air to be a lot of fun. ‘Bash’ is the most useful skill, sporting a wide variety of features. Ori uses Bash to soar higher than before.

Get across wide gaps without needing to ‘Dash’ or ‘Double Jump’.

It causes a lot of damage when aimed at enemies.

Jump much higher than normal, reach new areas.

Hold down ‘W’ or ‘LT’ or ‘L2’ while on the floor to charge your jump.

Ill feelings aside, it is one of the skills that puts the ‘precision’ in precision-platforming. It’s an extremely necessary part of the game but I’ve misjudged distance and died from it too many times to stop myself from projecting those bitter feelings on the skill itself. I’ll admit, I’m ranking this skill low because I’m bad at it.

Hit multiple enemies at once (with the ‘Split Flame’ upgrade).

Press ‘X’ to fire Sein’s light while battling enemies.

While I’m ranking it low, I will acknowledge that it’s a crucial part of the game, even if it may not be as flashy as some of the mechanics I ranked above it. I suppose it’s important to have a first-person shooter won’t throw you into the deep end without at least a handheld weapon. ‘Spirit Flame’ is the first skill you will learn in the game as it’s the bare minimum skill you will need to be able to fight enemies. These skills all have varying levels of utility (and fun-ness), so I am here to rank ten abilities you will uncover while playing the Definitive Edition. To help you cope with the challenges you’ll face in each new area, you can unlock new skills by ‘absorbing the light’ from the Ancestral Trees you find while you’re exploring. Ori and the Blind Forest is an entertaining platformer game with beautiful graphics and increasing difficulty as you progress through the game.

Ori and the blind forest dash skill