Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition 100% guide

You need several save files because the difficulty and challenge achievements are tracked per file. This route uses four:

1. Normal 100% run. Story, every collectible, the full Ability Tree, all counters and all skill-trick achievements. This is the bulk of the guide.
2. Easy challenge run. Finish in under 3 hours, spend no Ability Points and don't die. That gets Supersonic, Elite and Immortal on one file.
3. Hard run. Story only, for Formidable.
4. One Life run. Story only, for Unhinged. It usually awards Immortal too, which backs up run 2.

Difficulty is picked per save slot when you create a new file. Pick it at creation and never change it on that file. Lowering a file to Easy makes the game count the whole file as Easy, so it can no longer earn Formidable. One Life cannot be changed once started.

Speedrunning ability helps but is not required. A clean story route on Easy fits comfortably inside 3 hours.

The Definitive Edition added full backtracking. The Ginso Tree, Forlorn Ruins and the original foggy Misty Woods can all be revisited, and Mount Horu does not lock you out of the world. This is the biggest difference from the original game. Older guides that warn about lockouts in these areas are describing the 2015 version.

• The only real cutoff is the final escape in Mount Horu. It starts after you have cleared Mount Horu's gate rooms and head left at the bottom of the mountain to face Kuro. You can leave Mount Horu freely at any point before that. After the credits, your save reloads around the start of that escape, and you can walk out of Mount Horu and free-roam Nibel again. Even so, finish every collectible and counter before you trigger it. Cleanup is much simpler that way.
• Do before endgame: Light Burst Master. It isn't confirmed whether Light Burst kills still count after the game is finished, so get all 50 before the final escape to be safe. Treat every other counter the same way.
• Escape sequences can't be replayed. The Ginso Tree escape, the Forlorn Ruins escape and the final Mount Horu escape are one-way runs. No secret area, Energy Cell or Health Cell is inside any of them.

• 45 secret areas (So many secrets, Seasoned Explorer, No stone unturned)
• 9 Map Stones (Marking the way, Halfway There, World at your feet)
• 12 Spirit Wells (Safe and Sound)
• 15 Energy Cells (Powerhouse)
• 12 Health Cells (Master Guardian)
• 33 Ability Cells (feeds Phenom)

On Easy, Normal and One Life, the full Ability Tree costs 54 Ability Points. That is comfortably covered by the 33 Ability Cells plus level-ups from a full-clear run. Hard raises the cost to 75, which would need a long XP grind, so Phenom belongs on the Normal file.

Every secret area, Energy Cell and Health Cell is routed in the area sections below. The Collectibles section at the end lists them all by area for checking off.

An area's map only fills in once you restore its Map Stone. The Exploration branch of the Ability Tree is one chain, and each skill needs the one before it:

• Map Markers is the second skill (2 points into the branch). It marks Spirit Wells, Map Stones and fragments, Keystone doors, energy doors, breakable walls and Spirit Light Containers. It does not mark cells.
• Ability Markers (8 points into the branch) marks Ability Cells. Life Markers (12) marks Health Cells and Energy Markers (14) marks Energy Cells. Buy Map Markers early and the rest when you have points to spare.
• Sense, the last skill in the branch (17), makes a secret area's fake wall partly see-through once you are very close to it. It does not mark secret-area entrances on the map. It is reported to make the pickups inside secret rooms show up on the map, though. Buy it before the final 100% cleanup.
• Treat all marks as a helper. Before you have Sense, pickups inside secret rooms may not be marked.

The game has no count of the secrets you've found. The only running count is the Xbox achievement progress for No stone unturned.

Each region's map shows its own completion percentage. It counts the terrain you've physically entered and pickups such as Spirit Light Containers. Entering a secret area is tracked separately, for the secret achievements. Any pickups inside a secret room still count toward that region's map percentage.

All counters below track per save file. Do the whole Normal run on one slot and don't hop between saves mid-run.

Charge Flame comes from Ancestral Tree Ano here, just past the Spirit Tree. It breaks the cracked barriers and opens shortcuts. The Hollow Grove Map Stone Fragment is on the far side of the big tree, upper left: take the bounce pads over the tree and drop through the fungus on the left. The Map Stone is just to the right, one level below.

Collect on this visit:

• Secret area and Energy Cell: drop the web-covered rock with Charge Flame, ride it down, and go left at the bottom. The Energy Cell is inside the secret room.
• Health Cell: in the web-covered rock area, wall-jump up the webs from the energy-door side, break the upper-right wall and drop in below the spikes.
• Secret area: past the purple-water posts and the bounce pads, on the ledge with a wall-clinging Pink Jelly. The room is directly to the left.

Go through the laser door into Moon Grotto and save at the Spirit Well in the main shaft. You get Double Jump from Ancestral Tree Leru, and the chase after Gumo continues from there. The Moon Grotto Map Stone Fragment is in the lower-left corner of the room with moving stone columns. The Map Stone is at the bottom of the main shaft. The stone you can see behind a barrier to the left belongs to Black Root Burrows.

Collect on this visit:

• Secret area: from the Ram-and-two-Stompers room, head left past a Stomper over a pit to a room with a Jumper and a hanging log. Cross the log. The room is to its left.
• Energy Cell: in the room with the two Stompers and the Ram, ride a dropping Stomper up.
• Energy Cell: after Double Jump, take the upper loop that doubles back and drop through the wooden beam.
• Health Cell: after Double Jump, chain Double Jumps and wall grabs into the small shaft in the upper right.
• Health Cell: behind the cheap energy door off the first main shaft. Double Jump with precise wall-jumps gets it now. Otherwise come back after the Ginso Tree and Bash off the jellies on the left.
• Energy Cell: once you hold four Energy Cells, open the 4-energy door and solve the stone-block puzzle that redirects a projectile into the ceiling. Finish this puzzle on this visit. Returning to the lower lasers later has been reported to leave a laser on.
• Secret area: at the top of the falling-boulder shaft during the Gumo chase, in the upper-right corner, just before the rescue.

Save at the Ginso Tree's Spirit Well, on the right just before the heart room. All four Ginso secrets are on the climb, before the escape:

• Secret area: top-right corner of the first room of the climb.
• Secret area: top-right corner of the second room, the one with orange spiky crawlers on hanging platforms.
• Secret area: take the lower of the second room's two top-left exits. The room is at the top centre.
• Secret area: back in the second room, jump up just right of that tunnel's mouth.
• Energy Cell: in the climb after you get Bash, redirect a Ground Worm's shot to break the far-left floor and take the tunnel. It comes before the heart.

With the water clean, Thornfelt Swamp opens up. Get Stomp from Ancestral Tree Ilo there. The Thornfelt Map Stone Fragment is in the bottom-right underwater branch, past the second set of crushing rocks. The Map Stone is on the left side of the lake after the Stomp tree, near a Ram. Cleansed water also opens pickups in Sunken Glades, Moon Grotto and Hollow Grove. Sweep them now. The Spirit Well up near the Mount Horu entrance, in Horu Fields, can already be reached, so save there now for Safe and Sound.

Thornfelt Swamp:

• Secret area: in the big lake left of the Spirit Gate, swim into the spike-lined underwater branch on the middle right.
• Health Cell: at the waterfall, Bash up the right-hand platforms, then cross to the platform behind the water.
• Secret area: climb the tree just left of the Thornfelt Map Stone. The room is at the top. Its Ability Cell needs Stomp.
• Secret area: on the Stomp-down route west of the Map Stone, a small separate pool sits under a breakable log. Break the log and dive in.
• Secret area: west of the drained room, next to a Frog, Stomp the weak wooden beam in the floor. The room opens below.

Back through the earlier areas:

• Energy Cell (Sunken Glades): swim the narrow underwater corridor to an air pocket at the far left.
• Health Cell (Moon Grotto): in the right-hand branch of the first main shaft, directly under the Spirit Well. Needs Bash. Also take the other Moon Grotto Health Cell now if you skipped it.
• Secret area and Health Cell (Hollow Grove): in western Hollow Grove, level with and well west of the Map Stone, is a small high cave holding a Health Cell. Bait an enemy shot and Bash it, usually twice, to reach the wall above the pole. Then wall-jump into the corridor that looks like a dead end. Expect a spike hit before you have Charge Jump. The Health Cell is inside the secret room.
• Health Cell (Hollow Grove): Stomp the tall centre pole several times to open an underwater door, then Stomp the two pillars to block the lasers. The cell is on the floor.
• Secret area (Hollow Grove and Moon Grotto border): almost straight below the Hollow Grove Map Stone, up and to the right of the Moon Grotto hanging-log secret, is a small empty room beside a stompable floor. It is one of the most commonly missed secrets.

Black Root Burrows is a Definitive Edition area. It is optional for the story but required for 100%. Teleport to the first Spirit Well in Sunken Glades. The entrance is above it. The entrance only needs Wall Jump, and you can reach Dash without Stomp. But Stomp breaks the floor down into Lost Grove and the boulder at the end, so coming now, with Stomp, finishes the whole area in one visit. You get Dash in Black Root Burrows, and Light Burst from the Ancestral Tree in Lost Grove, which is reached through the Burrows. Save at both wells (Black Root Burrows and Lost Grove). The Black Root Burrows Map Stone Fragment is to the right of the Dash tree, past a line of Stompers. The Map Stone is in the upper-right corner of the lower room, after the boulder chase.

Collect on this visit:

• Secret area: in the green-laser corridor on the lower route, jump up into the pocket halfway along. Dash helps with the laser timing.
• Secret area: after the lever room, in the upper-right wall above the Ability Cell that sits in the open. Throw a Light Burst up and Bash off it.
• Secret area: dive to the bottom right of the pond and follow the long passage to a tiny room with an Ability Cell.
• Health Cell: after the lever door and the boulder chase, Stomp the boulder, pound the post, then cross the hanging platform above.

On the way out, back in Sunken Glades:

• Secret area: on the same turret-lined log climb as the earlier Glades secret, just left of it and slightly lower, at the height of the out-of-reach Ability Cell. Throw a Light Burst upward and Bash off it to get in.
• Energy Cell: open the hidden room's 4-energy door, push the rock into the hole to block the laser, and use it as a step.

On the upper route west from the Spirit Tree toward the Valley:

• Secret area: up and to the left of the Spirit Tree chamber, just before the Charge Flame wall into the Valley, is a high room holding a Spirit Light Container. Throw a Light Burst up and Bash off it.

Get Kuro's Feather in the Valley by Stomping loose rocks down onto Kuro, then picking up the feather he drops. It lets you glide. Remember it cancels Bash Master and Flying Fury chains, so don't glide while working on those. Save at the Valley's Spirit Well. The Valley's Map Stone and the Forlorn Ruins fragment are both on the path down to the Forlorn Ruins, so they're covered in the Forlorn Ruins section.

Collect in the Valley:

• Energy Cell: in the underwater corridor with crushing stones, hit the lever on the spiked ledge and surface on the left platform. Needs Dash and Light Burst.
• Secret area: the bottom-left corner of the Valley with Frogs and a Ram, where the Valley's Map Stone Fragment is.
• Secret area: past the lever above the Birds, in the upper right of that room. It holds an Ability Cell and needs Bash, Double Jump and glide.

If either Valley secret isn't reachable on your way through, take it on your way back from Misty Woods.

Misty Woods is a navigation maze, and you get Climb from Ancestral Tree Tatsu on the way through it. Its four secrets are in the fog maze, so get all of them before you place the orb in the Shrouded Lantern. If you miss one, taking Atsu's Torch back out of the lantern brings the fog version back.

• Secret area: after the third shift, as you float down through spikes below a ceiling Ground Worm, drift right into an alcove.
• Secret area: on landing, with a Frog and a Jumper to the left, Bash up through the hanging lights to the upper-right corner.
• Secret area: on a lower ledge with two hanging lights to the right, Bash straight up between them. Enter it even if the achievement progress doesn't visibly move.
• Secret area: late in the maze, cross the gap right of a Ground Worm ledge to the spot left of a barrier sealing a small tunnel. The room is directly above where you land. This is the one most often missed.

On the path down from the Valley of the Wind toward the ruins, Bash Exploders into breakable walls. The first Exploder you launch to the right breaks a wall hiding a Map Stone Fragment. Carry it into the ruins, because it's for the Forlorn Ruins stone. Another breakable wall on this path hides the Valley of the Wind Map Stone. Place the Valley fragment from the bottom-left corner there. Inside the ruins, save at the Spirit Well in the room above the early Keystones. The Forlorn Ruins Map Stone is just to its right.

Collect on this visit:

• Secret area: directly above a room near the entrance route. Throw a Light Burst up and Bash off it.
• Secret area: in the first room with a hanging Spider, reach the upper-left corner by Bashing the Spider or its shot.
• Secret area and Health Cell: after the light vessel is placed, before you restore the winds. Go to the far upper right past the beams, Stomp the post, then head to the bottom-left pit past two death beams. The Health Cell is behind its fake wall.

Save at the Spirit Well on the upper-right side. The Sorrow Pass Map Stone Fragment and Map Stone are both in the kidney-shaped area: Bash up off Birds and boulders, or come back down with Charge Jump from above. Get Charge Jump from Ancestral Tree Nir here. Charge Jump opens many walls and pickups across the map, so the sweep after this section becomes worthwhile now.

Collect on this visit:

• Secret area: in the first spike-lined shaft coming in from the Valley, on the left side. It holds an Ability Cell.
• Secret area: in a ceiling alcove of the first main room, near a pink Detonator. It holds a Keystone. The breakable wall just left of it is not a secret.
• Secret area: past two lava jets, go up and left after Bashing a Frog's shot through the ceiling. The lever inside opens a gate to an Ability Cell.
• Secret area and Energy Cell: at the top of the vertical lava-jet shaft with the Keystones and a boulder, in the upper-left corner. The Energy Cell is inside, and it's the same spot as Juggle Master.
• Secret area: a gap in the ceiling spikes just past two vertical spike walls. It holds the last Keystone.
• Secret area: past the four-Keystone door and the Charge Jump tree, just above a Frog. Needs Charge Jump.
• Health Cell: left of the first main room. Break the wall by Bashing the exploding enemy into it, or Charge Jump into it from the ledge. Then Charge Jump through the ceiling inside.

With the winds restored and Charge Jump in hand, pick these up on your way to Mount Horu:

• Health Cell (Hollow Grove): on the left wall, ride the wind stream up to a corridor that looks like solid rock.
• Energy Cell (Thornfelt Swamp): take the updraft from the bottom-right log up and left to a broken trunk.
• Energy Cell (Hollow Grove): pole-hop to the vertical shaft, wall-jump up, Charge Jump across the ceiling spikes and follow the corridor right.
• Energy Cell (Hollow Grove, Horu Fields side): Bash over the lava using enemies and their shots, land on the fallen trunk and go down it into a small cave. This needs Kuro's Feather, so you can also take it any time after the Valley.
• Secret area (upper Hollow Grove): just beneath the Horu Fields cavern, a little west of that lava Energy Cell. Push a rock so it breaks the weak floor, then drop into the room.

If Good Eye is still missing, take the cleared-woods route now: ride the updraft at the far west end of Misty Woods with Kuro's Feather.

Checkpoint: you should now have all 12 Health Cells and 14 of 15 Energy Cells. The last Energy Cell is in Mount Horu.

After the Sunstone, head to Horu Fields, the area outside the mountain, and go in.

You now have every ability. Check each region's map completion percentage, and use the Collectibles section to see which secret areas and cells are still unchecked. Per-area totals for checking:

• Secret areas: Sunken Glades 5, Hollow Grove 6, Moon Grotto 2, Ginso Tree 4, Thornfelt Swamp 4, Black Root Burrows and Lost Grove 3, Misty Woods 4, Valley of the Wind 2, Forlorn Ruins 3, Sorrow Pass 6, Mount Horu 6.
• Energy Cells: Sunken Glades 4, Hollow Grove 3, Moon Grotto 3, Ginso Tree 1, Thornfelt Swamp 1, Valley of the Wind 1, Sorrow Pass 1, Mount Horu 1.
• Health Cells: Sunken Glades 1, Hollow Grove 4, Moon Grotto 3, Thornfelt Swamp 1, Black Root Burrows 1, Forlorn Ruins 1, Sorrow Pass 1.
• Ability Cells: Sunken Glades 4, Hollow Grove 6 (including Horu Fields), Moon Grotto 2, Thornfelt Swamp 4, Black Root Burrows and Lost Grove 7, Valley of the Wind 6, Misty Woods 1, Sorrow Pass 3. None are in Mount Horu. Most maps count the cell behind the underwater door in the Moon Grotto hanging-log room under Hollow Grove.

Ability Cells: these are delegated to Ability Markers. With it bought, Ability Cells you haven't collected show on restored maps. Cells in secret rooms may not show until you have Sense, so check these by hand:

• Sunken Glades turret-climb secret on the left side.
• Thornfelt Map Stone tree secret. Its cell needs Stomp.
• Lost Grove pond passage and the cell below the Light Burst secret after the lever room.
• Valley of the Wind room past the bird lever.
• Sorrow Pass: the first shaft secret, the gate opened by the lever in the Frog-shot ceiling secret, and the secret above the Frog past the Charge Jump tree.
• The Good Eye corridor in Misty Woods.

Several Valley, Hollow Grove and Sunken Glades cells need Charge Jump, and some also need Climb or Light Burst. That's why this cleanup is where the last ones come together.

Preventative precaution: once Mount Horu's gate rooms and the world cleanup are finished, and right before you head left to start the final escape, copy this save to a spare slot from the save menu. It protects the post-credits free-roam save if anything goes wrong.

Create a new file on Easy. This run gets three achievements together. Skip all collectibles and Black Root Burrows, and play only the story.

• Don't spend any Ability Points, not even one. Soul Links cost energy, not points, so creating them is fine.
• Don't die.
• Finish within 3 hours of in-game time. Check playtime in the pause menu. Skip cutscenes when the game allows it, and don't idle. It isn't confirmed whether cutscene or menu time counts, so leave yourself a margin.

Safest route: copy the save to a spare slot after each major story beat, such as after the Ginso escape, after Forlorn Ruins and on entering Mount Horu. If you are about to die, pause and quit to the menu before the death registers, then reload. This is reported to keep the death counter clean but isn't guaranteed, so check that the death counter in the pause menu still reads 0 afterwards. If a death does register, load your last copied slot. A rough pace that leaves time to spare: out of the Ginso Tree by about 45-50 minutes, out of Misty Woods by about 1:15, and into Mount Horu by about 2:00.

Create a new file on Hard and play the story only. Enemies and hazards hit far harder, and the tree costs more. Prioritize survival skills and Spirit Magnet, and grab easy Health Cells and Energy Cells on your way. Soul Link often before escapes and difficult rooms. Don't lower the difficulty on this file at any point.

Create a new file on One Life. Damage is tuned like Normal, but one death ends the file. You can't copy a One Life save, so there is no backup. The quit-before-death trick from the Easy run does not work on One Life. Play the story only, collect Health Cells and Energy Cells that are on the way, and spend points on survival. The escapes and Mount Horu's laser rooms are the main run killers. Your Hard run is good practice for them.

CURRENTLY COMMUNITY-FLAGGED / BUGGY (reports through June 2026): One Life offers Try Again after a death, and you can still load the dead file. Continuing a file after a death is reported to permanently record a lower difficulty on it, so it won't award Unhinged at the end. If you die, quit to the menu, delete that file and start a brand-new One Life file. Let the credits finish on their own. As a quick check, the save slot shows a difficulty colour. Compare yours with a brand-new One Life slot, since reports disagree on which colour is which.

If you play on PC through the Xbox app and a clean run awards nothing, check that the Xbox Live Auth Manager, Xbox Live Networking Service and Connected User Experiences and Telemetry Windows services aren't disabled. An April 2026 report had both achievements unlock once those services were running again. That is an achievement-delivery problem, not a ruined run.