Why Moon Studios Made No Rest For The Wicked Instead Of A Third Ori Game

No Rest for the Wicked, the upcoming action RPG from Ori team Moon Studios revealed at The Game Awards 2023, is gracing the cover of the latest issue of Game Informer. After checking the game out for a few hours and speaking to some of the lead developers at Moon Studios in Vienna, Austria, both myself and cover story writer Marcus Stewart are excited about No Rest for the Wicked – you can read more of our preview thoughts here, and you can read the cover story here. 

But, excitement for No Rest for the Wicked aside, both Marcus and I are big fans of the team’s Ori series, which began with Ori and the Blind Forest in 2015 and continued in the 2020 sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps. That’s why we couldn’t talk to Moon Studios about No Rest for the Wicked without asking how the team decided to make it instead of a theoretical third Ori game. 

It turns out, the answer is simple: the team feels like the the story of Ori is complete.

“I think were were pretty happy with where it left off,” tech and production director and Moon Studios co-founder Gennadiy Korol says. “I think we were able to complete the story of Ori. It’s a complete arc now; if you play both games, it’s a complete story. So it felt like the only way we would come back to Ori 3 is if we have more to say, more story to tell.” 

However, while No Rest for the Wicked is Moon Studios’ main focus for the time being – and considering it’s a game being developed alongside the community in Early Access, it could be the studio’s focus for years to come – studio CEO and creative director Thomas Mahler says he has some ideas for a third Ori game. 

“I have a title for it already,” he says. At this point, Korol jumps in to explain he didn’t know about this, stating, “I didn’t know that it was on the table.” 

Mahler continues, “I have some ideas, but so far, right now, we are completely focused on No Rest for the Wicked for the time being.” 

So there’s a little hope, Ori fans – it just might be a while. At any rate, if you’re a fan of the Ori games, you should check out No Rest for the Wicked because while the two series are extremely different in many ways, the Ori DNA lives on in No Rest for the Wicked. 

No Rest for the Wicked hits Early Access on PC next month on April 18. 

While waiting for its launch, check out this feature breaking down the Early Access roadmap and endgame content of No Rest for the Wicked, and then check out more than 25 minutes of the game in our No Rest for the Wicked New Gameplay Today. 

You can learn even more about No Rest for the Wicked by checking out our features and videos rolling out over the coming weeks in our exclusive coverage hub below.