So, to me, it's just one of the storytelling tools, where doesn't work if the animation isn't there and it also doesn't work if the music isn't there. There's tons of cinematics in the game, but if you ever listen to that without music, it totally does not work, like at all. If you can get everything across with just the animation and then with the music, to us music is a huge storytelling tool. I just loved the approach of, well, if you don't need to say it, don't say it. Mahler: The way to tell an Ori story: if you can shut up and if brevity can prevail, then we should do that. So is that the same approach this time? Is a greater percentage of it dialogue versus narration?

It's really just a reflection on the largest scope of the game, both with the characters and the different direction that the story has gone in.Д«y clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot'sДЄt least in the first game, there wasn't a ton of dialogue, there was more narration. Whereas in, various characters pop up throughout the game and it's a continuation of what we had in Blind Forest, but it is very, very much an expansion. So there's less of a chance to create themes for them and develop them throughout the game experience. If you think back to the first game, you encounter Kuro and you encounter Gumo and you were with Naru at the beginning, but you don't actually spend that much time on screen with them.

But also I think one of the biggest differences between this game and the first one is we just said there's just simply more characters and we also get to spend more time with those characters on screen. Gareth Coker: Thomas just hinted that the overarching theme of this game is quite different and I think, over the time, that becomes more and more apparent the further you go through the game. Transitioning to the composition: What was the difference in the mood you were trying to inspire with the overall musical themes in the first game versus the second? I don't really want to say more than that. I think this time it's a much bigger theme that is more about life in general and not focusing on a specific thing. Obviously, I don't want to give anything away at this point. Mahler: I would say the story is heading in a different direction. Is that a theme that you continue to explore in Will of the Wisp? You touched on one of the things about Blind Forest that is a resonant theme: that there's a connection between these two mothers because they're both parents and understand each other on that level. So when we came into Will of the Wisps, we had no idea what the story would be, but it made the most sense to just start with, well why don't we just continue right there? Like what happened to that egg? That's where it started.

It just made sense to end in that way, where mother is now taking care of the child. But during the Blind Forest development, it became obvious that became the story about two mothers that, at the end, will finally face each other and some way, one inspires the other. So I mean the original ending that I had for Ori and the Blind Forest, it's actually the ending that we used for Will of the Wisps. Thomas Mahler: Well, we thought we were done with it to be honest. When you began working on the sequel, was the ending of the first game a natural jumping off point? How much consideration was there of how much of that to use versus doing something completely new? Spoilers for Ori and the Blind Forest follow.

As the studio approaches its sophomore effort with Ori and the Will of the Wisps, the duo spoke with GameSpot about how they approached the sequel, which moments touched fans, and how they continued Ori's legacy. The small, decentralized company put together a Metroidvania with heart, thanks in large part to writer Thomas Mahler and composer Gareth Coker. Ori and the Blind Forest was a surprise hit for Moon Studios.

Ori and the will of the wisps music