Ori and the Will of the Wisps release next week, and we finally seem to know when we will see reviews. According to a countdown clock on the homepage of OpenCritic, we can expect to see reviews go live on March 10, around 4 a.m. PDT, or 7 a.m. EDT.
This puts the end of the embargo at just a day before the release of the game. Allowing reviews not to release before that may worry some gamers. Late review embargoes are sometimes used to keep poorly received games from getting the full media attention an earlier embargo might bring. Previews of the game indicate this likely isn’t the reason in the case of Ori and the Will of the Wisps, however.
Many of the previews seem to be optimistic about the release. Numerous websites have said it raises the bar in some places.
A pushed back release date
Ori and the Will of the Wisps‘ release date has been pushed back multiple times. This should have given developers at Moon Studios plenty of time to flesh out mechanics like weapons and new abilities. Anyone who’s played Ori and the Blind Forest also knows the team has likely been hard at work on the story, characters, and animation. If the sequel follows the original in that way, players should expect to shed a tear at least once during Ori and the Will of the Wisps. The review embargo being so close to the release date may indicate the team continued to work on the game for so long, they couldn’t get the final release to reviewers earlier.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps releases March 11 on Xbox One and PC. It will be available to play from release for people subscribed to Xbox Game Pass. It’s been quite a while since the game’s announcement at E3 2017.
