Ori and the Blind Forest Best Difficulty - Which to Choose

Updated:

19 May 2022

Are you up for the challenge?

Different levels of difficulty were added to Ori and the Blind Forest with the release of the definitive edition. Now there is an easy mode, the normal mode, a hard mode, and an impossible one-life mode. Players will always have their preferences, but here are my suggestions on which modes you should play and when.

Easy Mode

An easy mode was added to allow the player to focus purely on the story of the game. This is understandable, seeing as Ori has beautiful, emotional storytelling that gets lost in the difficulty of the game. If the story is the main reason you’re playing in the first place, then this will definitely be the way to go.

How It Works:

Enemies and hazards deal less damage.
Upgrades on the Ability Tree cost fewer points.
There are checkpoints in the middle of harder areas.

Choose this difficulty if…

You are a new or repeat player playing mainly for the story.
You are a casual player looking for a more relaxed game.
You are not really looking for a challenge.

Normal Mode

Normal mode will be your default if you are playing the classic version of the game. Honestly, even on normal mode, Ori is not the easiest game to finish. I do, however, think the game is worth the challenge, and I found normal mode to be the most enjoyable.

How it works:

It takes several hits from most enemies to die.
Some spikes are survivable after a few hits.
A regular amount of points are required for upgrades to the Ability Tree.

Choose this difficulty if…

You are playing for the first time and okay with a challenge.
You want something harder than easy mode but aren’t ready for hard or one-life mode.
You aren’t easily frustrated by dying.

Hard Mode

Hard mode is not so difficult that it will alienate most players, but it certainly adds a challenge. The layout of the level doesn’t change, nor do the abilities you have, but it is much harder to upgrade your skills and avoid death.

How it works:

Enemies and environmental hazards deal twice as much damage.
Enemies don’t drop collectibles for Life or Energy.
Experience points are harder to come by and upgrades on the Ability Tree cost more.

Choose this difficulty if…

You really want to challenge yourself.
You’ve played the easy and/or normal mode and you’re looking to push your limit.
You want specific achievements only unlocked through hard mode.

One-Life Mode

One life mode is a special difficulty only for the most extreme and talented players. It’s similar to normal mode, with the caveat that if you die you start over right from the beginning. There was already an achievement for finishing the game in one life with the classic version, so they added this as an official mode in the definitive edition. As I mentioned before, normal mode is already no walk in the park, so the added difficulty isn’t needed for this to be an insane challenge.

How it works: