Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist Review

Introduction: Considering the Ancients

When it comes to modern Soulslike/Metroidvania RPG platformers — of which there are a shocking amount — there are three notable tiers of quality, even if you only consider those that are at least “great”. At the very top, you have Hollow Knight, and perhaps Metroid Dread: games so fantastic and so influential that they practically define the entire genre, and change its landscape forever. Just below that, there is the tier of phenomenal games that leave their mark, but not quite as significantly. Games like Dead Cells, the Ori games, and Animal Well. They always get Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam and explore the edges of the genre in interesting ways.

And, at the bottom of these three tiers of great games, we have a list of titles that are best described as “flawed gems”. They stick out and do well, but are met with lukewarm praise. Lots of “despites” and “buts.” This includes games like Blasphemous (1 and 2), Salt & Sanctuary, and Axiom Verge. They are good enough, and evocative enough, that they could be someone’s favorite in the genre, but the overall consensus will always focus on what they lack instead of what they have.

One of these third-tier games is Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights. It is also my favorite Metroidvania ever released, despite its many flaws. And though it might be my favorite, it is far from the best. For every aspect that makes me love it, there is a way in which it doesn’t quite live up to its potential. Mostly because, in some way or another, it stumbles all along the way. About the only flawless part of Ender Lilies is the astounding, best-in-class soundtrack by Mili, but a good score does not make for a perfect game.

Despite the flaws, though, it is still my favorite game in the entire genre. Because of the gripping world and story, in spite of the convulution. Because of the dreamlike gamefeel, in spite of that same feel causing much frustrating. Because of the incredible art, even as the weightlessness and imprecision of the characters made it feel less present.

Or, at least, Ender Lilies was my favorite game in the “Metroidvania” genre. Until it’s sequel, that is. Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist does everything its predecessor did well even better, and essentially eliminates all of the first game’s flaws.

That is to say: while Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is a flawed gem, and firmly in the third-tier of “great modern Metroidvanias,” Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist earns its place in the first-tier of the category, and as one of my new favorite games in the genre.

The only purpose of this review, then, is to explore why.

Aesthetics: Looking Out at the Land of Fumes

And that exploration as to what makes Ender Magnolia so fantastic has to begin with the aesthetics — the visuals, animations, music, and so on. Suffice to say, I think they are all incredible. That is not unusual in the space — one of the prerequisites of the genre is to have a striking art style — but I do think the beauty of Ender Magnolia is unique even within that.

A lot of this has to do with the background art. Improving upon the broken fantasy landscapes and interiors of Ender Lililes, Ender Magnolia continues the trend of having stunning, hand-made, and unique backdrops for every single location — from the smallest rooms to the most sprawling levels. These backdrops are so rich and detailed that you could take nearly any of them and put them on a canvas themselves, and it would be impossible to tell that they were just images you walked past in a video game.

What’s more, Ender Magnolia improves upon Ender Lilies’s already fantastic art direction in a number of ways. In addition to increased clarity, massively expanded color palette, and more consistent visual language, the game’s visual backdrops are also more varied and lively. Because Ender Magnolia takes a step away from the “long-destroyed world” setting so common in Souls-inspired titles, and instead is set in a city still clinging on, there is more recency and life to everything. Forests are bright with color, streets buzz with lights and industry, and luxury still shimmers.

And this richness and tonal bombast extends beyond the backgrounds (though the backgrounds are, visually, the best parts). The characters and the scenes that they find themselves in are also much improved. Not only is the artstyle of character models more consistent, but their animations are vastly improved. Everything — including the main character — still moves in a floaty, loose way, but it no longer feels weightless. Instead, almost everything in Ender Magnolia moves gracefully, or at least with purpose. It is difficult to describe exactly what I mean, but any footage of the game can show it: the movements flow nicely into each other, but don’t hinder the heft of the world.

And this is all to leave out the cherry on top, the best aesthetic part of all of Ender Magnolia: Mili’s superb, unbelievable soundtrack.

I’ll just come out and say it: with the Ender Magnolia OST, Mili has produced one of the best video game soundtracks of all time. Each track is expertly crafted to enhance the mood and ambiance of the location, character, or event it is paired with, and each track also works so well as a piece of music that they will end up right on many people’s playlists. Of especial note are those songs which feature vocals, allowing Cassie Wie’s elegant voice to come into full prominence without ever detracting from the gameplay.

The only aesthetic downturn in the entire game relates to its moment-to-moment writing. With the vastly increased cast, speaking main character, and amount of non-companion NPCs, Ender Magnolia’s dialogue has have drifted away from Ender Lilies’s ethereal, enigmatic snippets into full-on conversations. And, while these are not poorly written, they just don’t have the same impact or memorability as the sparse lines of dialogue in the first game did. Individual characters, arcs, and plotlines do stand out, but not for their writing style, which is, in all honestly, the only real dull aspect of the game.

Narrative: The Thousand Flowers Tell a Story

Even with some underbaked dialogue, (which I consider to be more aesthetic in nature than narrative), the actual core story of Ender Magnolia is fantastic. It is the centerpiece of the game, after all. It needs to be able to lead you along through over 20 hours of gameplay, and it does so admirably.

For much of the game, the actual plot — especially relating to the backstory of the many characters — can be difficult to follow and understand exactly. Intentionally so. But, unlike many other games, the story does not demand that you always understand exactly what is happening in order to pull you along. Instead, it presents to you a dozen mysteries, and a dozen characters. These dozen characters, then, will give you short term goals and small-scale scenes — maybe they tell you that they need a key, or they discuss with you how they wound up where they did — and then, within those scenes, they will also reveal clues about one or two of those dozen mysteries.

It’s a simple formula, but it works. Because it pulls you along, because you care about the characters and can keep up with them through the area or two they are in. Your companion Homunculi — the equivalent of your Spirits from the first game — have occassional snippets of character building banter where they will drop a massive revelation about their past lives. An NPC you saved in a dungeon might thank you by giving you a reward that features an item description that makes your eyes bulge. A boss who has tormented you through the level might, just before perishing, pass on a secret that explains so much.

It’s an elegant cycle. You follow a character for a bit, which works because you want to help (or stop) the character with whatever they are doing, and eventually you succeed. Small-scale goal progressed. But, in so doing, they reveal more about why the world is the way it is, and what you are doing in it, uncovering the many mysteries at the heart of Ender Magnolia as a whole. Large-scale goal progressed. Even as the structure stays the same, though, it never grows old, because the characters change and the secrets stay compelling.

And why do those secrets stay compelling? Well, that’s simple: because the Land of Fumes is a place that is wrapped in enigma that will make you desperate to understand it. It practically demands your attention even from the first moment — as you wake up, bathed in blue light, in a coffin-like vessel at the bottom of a cathedral-like structure (apparently called the “Subterranean Testing Site Ruins”), you want answers.

And, unlike Ender Lilies — which really just copied the Dark Souls playbook for much of its world building — this keeps happening. You hear about events and people –things relevant to the present setting, not just events that happened and people that lives in the distant past — that you will want to know more about. Who are the Frosts and House Milius, and what happened to them in the recent past? Where are the rulers of the city? What is the Chief Attuner doing? Who is Lilia?

And these questions, by virtue of focusing on things occuring in the Land of Fumes either currently or in the fairly recent past, feel relevant. And, what’s more, the answers to those questions are always fascinating, multi-layered, and detailed. There is no “fading of the first fire, eons ago,” there is “X killed the King, last week.” While still using the narrative conventions of Dark Souls and Hollow Knight — esoteric mysteries that require lots of thought to piece out — Ender Magnolia does something that trumps them by making the world building more immediate and relevant.

It does this while weaving the fascinating elements of the world in with its many characters, and then combining both of those elements with rich themes that, honestly, it could take all day to explore. Ender Magnolia tackles ideas like sacrifice, oppression, automation, technology, and more, and does so with nuanced, (but usually optimistic) viewpoints.

This is all to say that Ender Magnolia has a truly incredible story, one that is well worth experiencing from a variety of perspectives. While lacking in much excitement in its moment-to-moment writing, and sometimes not connecting as emotionally as I’d like (except for the endings… oof), Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist’s story is otherwise not only a big step up from the story of Ender Lilies, but is also one of the best in the genre.

Gameplay: Gliding Through the Mist and the Blight

I have now said so much about Ender Magnolia, but I have not yet mentioned its actual gameplay. Isn’t that why we are here, after all? What’s the use of a beautiful, story-rich action-platformer if the gameplay is no good?

Well, my friends, thankfully I can report that the gameplay in Ender Magnolia is very good. In fact, it is probably the most improved part of the game, when compared to Ender Lilies.

First of all, they get movement right. It is hard to make a character feel light, while still giving you lots of control over them and giving your attacks and actions the necessary heft. But Ender Magnolia, through its excellent game design, animations , and sound, is able to do just that. You are always in tight control of Lilac, who moves gracefully at all times. Platforming is a breeze, with floaty double-jumps, generous dashes, and a ledge-grab that has saved me from falling a thousand times. And, with an ever-expanding roster of movement techniques (that any Hollow Knight player will immediately feel familiar with), that grace continues in new and inventive ways during the entire game.

But, despite the breeze-like way Ender Magnolia’s Lilac often moves, she has much more of a presence than Ender Lilies’s Lily in combat.

But, before I go into that, an explanation: One of the most brilliant concepts in either game is the idea that your main character isn’t the one doing the attacking (or most actions), but rather summons allies in order to do them for her. This adds to the characterization and visual flair in these games, but it also means that your character is essentially attacking enemies with spirit dust while she hides behind them.

In the first game, it felt just as such — Spirit attacks had wispy sounds and very little weight, and Lily cowered down as they attacked. The attacks felt as small as Lily was. And it, in general, just didn’t feel fantastic. Serviceable, but not exception.

In Ender Magnolia, though, the Homunculus you summon live up to their more imposing title. They swing large, hit with satisfying thuds and crunches, and stun the enemies for a frame or two longer, giving the undeniable impression of weight, as though Lilac is summoning flesh and metal — the things Homunculi are made of. Instead of cowering, she takes a defense stance, and the wider, more sweeping attacks feel like extensions of her will instead of protections of her frailty.

This has two effects. Firstly, it makes combat feel really good. And secondly, it characterizes Lilac through her actions as a stronger, more capable, and more experienced character than Lily ever was. Both are storytelling through game design, done exceptionally well, but one also feels good.

And what of the enemies you are fighting? Well, in addition to being designed in such a way as it is easy to read their movements and actions (a problem the first game sometimes struggled with), they are also almost universally engaging and fun to fight. There is a wide variety to the enemies you will face, and their variants will continue to evolve and grow as you do. And, so long as you are not overleveled for an area, most regions will challenge you just the right amount to make getting through them difficult. While there are easy encounters — usually those designed to introduce a concept or enemy — there are no easy areas, all owning to the wide swath of enemies that have tricky, fun movesets.

And, at the same time, the game is also not too challenging. There was only one section that took me hours of retries to do (I hate boss rushes), whereas every other part of the game took me just enough tries to feel engaged without ever feeling frustrated. In that way, Ender Magnolia is the Soulslike platformer for people who don’t want to rage out, but who also don’t want a pushover. Again, all owing the enemy design, thanks to them having challenging-but-limited movesets in good encounters. It’s also thanks to the fact that enemies don’t damage you on contact anymore, a simple-but-needed change.

The only exception to this is a few of the bosses, who — while still meeting that perfect middle level of challenge — sometimes do feel lacking in move variety. But that is a small issue, and made up for by the utter cinematic power of almost every boss fight in the game.

All of this to say that Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the mist has exception gameplay in all fields, from platforming to exploration to combat. And all of it has been vastly improved from the first game.

In fact, basically everything has been vastly improved from the first game, which I’ve already told you is my (now former) favorite Metroidvania. And so, is it any wonder that I consider Ender Magnolia to be one of the best Metroidvania-Soulslike-Action-RPG-Platformers ever?

I suspect other reviewers with find more fault with the game than I did. I can see someone not liking the floaty movement, not connecting with the esoteric plot and characters, or even finding the world too similar to other games (though I might fight someone over that last one). But, for me, Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is nothing short of a masterpiece. It ticked every box, improved in every way I can think of when compared to its predecessor and other similar titles, and has me already planning out time to play through again for a third time.