A good Metroidvania, at least in our opinion, balances the joys of exploration and discovery with fun combat, challenging bosses, and ideally, the ability to gain new combat tricks. Ender Lilies did all of these things very well, and it looks like Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is going to be more of the same, but just a little bit better.
Ender Magnolia is set after the first game, by a fair bit, and while the first game was more dark fantasy, Ender Magnolia has more dark sci-fi to it so far. Instead of finding spirits to help you, you’re recruiting homunculi into your ranks that you can use at will, which means that while Lilac, the character you control, can’t fight, she can enlist her allies to fight on her behalf.
The result is a very cool combat style where your Lilac performs gestures to summon weapon-wielding homunculi to take down the creepy enemies you come up against. It looks amazing, and it feels good as well, which always helps. The world you’re fighting in also looks incredible, with some truly stunning backdrops that help solidify the weird dystopia the game takes place in. Plus, there’s mystery around every corner, plenty of good fights to get your teeth into, and a lot of potential customization to be found in mixing and matching different homunculi.
Oh and if you need another reason to fall in love with it, the music also happens to be great. While that’s not an essential part of a game for a lot of people, we think it helps Ender Magnolia shine, and the fact it’s by the same composer from the first game is rather love too.
Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist has only just hit Early Access, but is already a highly enjoyable game that has us looking forward to how it’ll evolve over the coming months.
