Like the Ori Metroidvanias, No Rest for the Wicked director says his new ARPG starts with a rainstorm to pay homage to Zelda games as a “good luck charm”
Moon Studios’ creative director has revealed that all of the team’s games begin with a moody rainstorm as a sentimental homage to retro Zelda games.
Thomas Mahler – the creative director behind the gorgeous Ori series and the recently-released ARPG No Rest for the Wicked – explained that all three of the studio’s games open with rain and thunder “as a bit of an homage and a good luck charm.”
Mahler took to social media to tweet a screenshot from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past’s iconic opening, which sees our little hero get rudely awakened in the middle of the night to go and save his princess. “I’ve shared this before, but yes, the reason why every Moon Studios game starts with a rainstorm scene is because Zelda: A Link to the Past started with a rainstorm,” the director explains.
Ori and the Blind Forest used a rainstorm as the backdrop to a classic, Disney-type family tragedy. The rainstorm in sequel Ori and the Will of the Wisps sets up a foreboding, dangerous new land and causes Ori’s separation from his adopted sibling. And finally, No Rest for the Wicked’s storm causes our protagonist’s shipwreck, thrusting them into the main game.
Pathetic fallacy plays a part in all three openings – find me the person who doesn’t cry like a rainstorm watching Ori’s mum perish – but, really, I think it’s just the studio flexing their animation muscles with the entire screen moving like an interactive Van Gogh exhibit, twirling winds and all.