Upon release, the game received critical acclaim, with players praising the gameplay, art direction, story, action sequences, musical score, and environmental design.

Ori and the Blind Forest is a 2D Metroidvania; a platform game with an emphasis on exploration, collecting items and upgrades, and backtracking to previously inaccessible areas.

In addition to scripted save points scattered in the game, players can create "soul links" at any time they choose to serve as checkpoints.

These upgrades can be achieved when the player has enough ability points to learn the skill they desire, anywhere a soul link has been created.

[6] Sein tasks Ori with recovering the light of three main elements supporting the balance of Nibel: Waters, Winds, and Warmth.

After the Wind element is rekindled, Ori and Sein find Kuro's nest, empty except for a single egg, and they learn the source of her wrath and the forest's cataclysm: when Ori was lost, the Spirit Tree released a flash of light to look for them, which burned and killed all of Kuro's recently hatched offspring when she was away from her nest looking for food.

[5][8] The game takes place in one large map, rendered at 1080p and 60 frames per second with no visible loading time as the player explores.

"[9] The game was unveiled at E3 2014 during Microsoft's pre-show press conference at the Galen Center;[7] E3 was the first time a number of Moon Studios employees actually met face-to-face.

[9] Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi, in charge of marketing for Xbox One, stated that they considered opening the conference with Ori, but instead chose Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

[7] Sometime after E3, Moon Studios announced on the game website that an Xbox 360 version of Ori and the Blind Forest was in development and planned for release sometime in early 2015.

[16][17] In May 2016, Nordic Games announced that they had partnered with Moon Studios and Microsoft to release a retail version of the Definitive Edition for Windows.

[28] Chris Carter from Destructoid also gave the game a 9.5/10, praising its narrative, upgrades, and visuals, which he compared to the Rayman series but that "[Ori] easily surpasses them in quality."

He summarized the review by saying that "it succeeds in being both a great introduction to the genre and a rewarding experience for the hardcore audience" and called the game "a new classic" as a Metroidvania.

[26] Ray Carsillo from Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the variety of environments, art style, story, and the quick save system, and further complimented the emphasis on platforming, puzzle-solving, and exploration instead of combat as it allowed players to fully appreciate the level design.

However, he criticized the occasional frame rate drops as well as the game for not enabling players to re-enter certain areas after completing their quests (an issue addressed in the Definitive Edition).

[31] Lucas Sullivan from GamesRadar gave the game a score of 8/10, praising its animations, atmosphere, music, and gameplay, which he stated "has conveyed a real sense of lightweight agility".

He summarized the game by saying that "Completing Ori's six-to-nine-hour journey will certainly leave you feeling warm, fuzzy, and accomplished – just be ready to dig in for some particularly trying segments.

For example, Chris Melissinos commented that the video game audience was not used to seeing the "dreamlike sensitivity" of its style of art, "usually reserved for high profile animated films".

[14] The main characters, Ori and Sein, were announced as a playable fighter in the independent fighting game Rivals of Aether on June 12, 2017 and were released in Q2 2017.