A new game in the Ori series is rumored to be in production at Xbox, according to the same prominent leaker who spilled the tea on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time‘s Switch 2 remake.
Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps are some of the best Metroidvania games around – they’re drop dead gorgeous, brutally tough but always totally fair, and occasionally sad enough to make a Pixar third act climax feel quite cozy, in comparison.
That’s why I’m trying not to raise my hopes too high after comments made by prominent insider NateTheHate, who recently said a “new Ori” is in the works. In the past week, he’s dropped hints about Xbox potentially working on a sequel to one of its modern franchises in collaboration with a developer you might not expect.
Series creator Moon Studios is currently all hands on deck for No Rest for the Wicked, an ARPG that’s leaving early access on PC and PS5 this October. Not only is the developer pre-occupied with another project, reports once suggested the studio’s “oppressive workplace” led to its relationship with Xbox fizzling out, so you can probably expect an outside developer to jump aboard for a potential third Ori game.
NateTheHate also says he’s not sure if the project will debut at next week’s Gamescom Opening Night Live show or sometime after. Previously, the insider accurately let the internet know that a new Star Fox game and an Ocarina of Time remake were in the works weeks before Nintendo said anything official about either. Even before that, he was a somewhat trusted source within the Nintendo fandom – add in the fact that Ori and the Blind Forest sold over 10 million copies, and the prospect of a third adventure seems ever more likely.