Ori And The Will Of The Wisps Guide

Getting Started With Ori And The Will Of The Wisps

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is one of those platformers where the difficulty curve sneaks up on you. You think you've got the controls down after hour one, then you hit the Crystal Falls and realize you don't actually know how to use half your abilities yet. A proper

Ori And The Will Of The Wisps Guide

isn't going to hold your hand through every secret, but it should at least get you unstuck when the game decides to punish you for not paying attention. Start with the basic ability chain. You get Breakable Ground early, then the Spirit Arc shortly after. Most players treat these as throwaway tools and don't realize how much they open up backtracking. I wasted about three hours trying to find an alternate route through the Forgotten Highlands because I refused to go back and revisit old areas with my newly acquired double jump. The game is designed to reward you for going back. It's in the mechanics. I had to learn that the hard way. Save Orbs are your second currency. Everyone focuses on Skill Points because the upgrades feel more immediately impactful. But saving Orbs lets you replay areas without losing progress, which matters more than you'd think once you hit the later islands. There's a stretch in the Glades of Hope where you need to backtrack four or five times through the same section with different abilities. If you haven't saved Orbs, you're redoing large chunks of platforming for no reason. I've seen players skip saving entirely and then spend an extra forty minutes in one level just because they missed a checkpoint. Don't be that person.

The Spirit Arc Isn't Just For Combat

This is where most guides miss the point. The Spirit Arc looks like a standard projectile weapon. It's not. You can redirect it off walls. You can charge it to break certain objects. You can use it to trigger switches from across the room. The charged shot alone saves you from some tedious puzzle segments if you learn to time it right. I spent a solid twenty minutes in the Shattered Lands trying to find a hidden path before remembering I could charge my arc shot at a breakable wall from a distance instead of having to get dangerously close. Another thing people don't catch: the double jump combined with the arc lets you do a mid-air directional dash. Hold the movement direction, press jump, and then tap the arc button mid-flight. It's not a featured ability in any tutorial. You learn it by accident or by reading forums. This move is essential for reaching certain orbs and shortcuts. I found three total by trial and error before anyone mentioned it exists.

Skill Point Priorities

Don't spread your skill points evenly. The game gives you enough to max out a build if you plan ahead. Here's what I found works: Get the health upgrades early. Specifically the first two health increases. Dying resets your run partially, and having extra health pools means the difference between a failed attempt and moving forward. After that, prioritize the Spirit Arc damage upgrades. Then pick whichever ability tree you're using most — double jump for mobility players or the breakable ground route for puzzle-focused people. I tried a balanced build in my first playthrough and hit a wall around the middle of the game. The enemies start hitting harder and the platforming gets more precise. A build without upgrades felt like fighting the game with one hand tied behind your back. I restarted with a focused build and cleared the same sections in half the time.

Common Pitfalls

One thing the game does that trips people up: environmental hazards aren't always obvious. Spiky plants, falling debris, water currents — they blend into the art style. You'll die repeatedly and not know why. Pay attention to the visual cues. Red-tinted surfaces usually mean danger. Glowing nodes often mean safety or collectibles. Another issue is the checkpoint system. Checkpoints are generous but not infinite. Some rooms have no checkpoint at all. If you're struggling with a section, look for nearby orbs. Collecting them doesn't just give you skill points — it also creates a save point in some cases. This is especially useful during boss fights since the game sometimes doesn't place a checkpoint right before the encounter. There's also a subtle mechanic with spirit energy. Using abilities costs spirit energy, which regenerates slowly over time or by collecting wisps. In tight platforming sections, using your abilities sparingly and relying on movement alone can save you when you're low on energy. I learned this during a section in the Whispering Roots where I ran out of spirit mid-jump sequence and died repeatedly because I kept trying to use the arc instead of just jumping.

If you get genuinely stuck on a boss or area, check the in-game journal. It tracks collectibles and sometimes hints at optional paths without giving them away directly. The game doesn't want to hold your hand, but it also doesn't want to hide things completely. The journal sits somewhere in the middle. One last practical note: the game runs at sixty frames per second on most platforms, and that smoothness matters for the precision platforming. If you're experiencing slowdown or input lag, check your display settings first. I had a friend who thought a section was impossibly difficult until he realized his console was in economy mode and the frame rate had dropped to thirty. Turning that off made the same section feel completely normal.