Ori and the Blind Forest was its developer's Mario, but its next game is its Zelda

A charming snapshot of Ori and friends — (Image credit: Microsoft)

The developer behind Ori and the Blind Forest has described its next project as the "Zelda" of the studio, with the Ori series being the "Mario."

Thomas Mahler, the CEO of Moon Game Studios, has tweeted about the studio's current project, comparing it to Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda. "Ori was our 'Mario', this is our 'Zelda'", Mahler says, "that was my thought when I first started prototyping our new project back in 2015."

Ori was our 'Mario', this is our 'Zelda'.That was my thought when I first started prototyping our new project back in 2015.We then committed to Wisps, which allowed us to give this project more time in the oven so that we'd then be able to turn it into a full-blown ARPG.February 4, 2023

The Moon Game Studios CEO isn't necessarily comparing the Ori series, which is a platforming Metroidvania, to Nintendo's plumber friend but instead suggesting that the developer's next game will have a similar progression to what Nintendo had when moving on from the Super Mario series to The Legend of Zelda series back in the day. Mehler explains this in the replies to the tweet by saying: "Nintendo back then made a platformer, followed by an Adventure game - hence my analogy."

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We don't know much about Moon Game Studios' next project as it's yet to be fully announced. All we do know is that it's set to be an action-RPG and that it's been in development since 2015, as per Mahler's tweet. Thanks to the replies to the tweet, we also know that it'll have a similar art style to the Ori games as Mahler wants players to "know that this is a Moon Studios game even if you just see a thumbnail."

While we wait for Moon Game Studios' next game, why not catch up with the developer's previous projects? After you finish Ori and the Blind Forest, released in 2015, you can move on to the sequel Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which we awarded four and a half stars in our Ori and the Will of the Wisps review.

If you're now going to give the Ori games a try, take a look at our Ori and the Will of the Wisps tips before you get started.

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After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.