This review contains spoilers
It was my first experience with Metroidvanias, and I liked almost everything about it
The game's biggest strength has to be the atmosphere, it's really melancholic. And the story, while pretty simple, still worked really well. You get to see a short cutscene (~1 minute long) after each boss fight so it doesn't break the flow of the game.
They did an amazing job with the hand-drawn art-style, the game looks gorgeous. The OST was also great, Mili did a fantastic job. I'd say my favorite themes have to be "Harmonious" and "The witch's breath"
When the developers designed this game, I feel like they wanted to make sure that the player wouldn't waste his time, it really shows throughout the game.
Each boss fight has a checkpoint right next to it. So you never have to walk longer than a couple of seconds when you die against a boss.
Something else that also saves the player a lot of time is how they handled the map. If the area on the map is blue, it means that there are still items to find. But if you got every collectible & discovered every secret, the area turns orange. So you immediatly know which areas you don't have to inspect carefully again, and it made the backtracking really satisfying.
Moreover, there are many teleporters across the map, and you can teleport to the last bench you've used whenever you want by going into the Menu.
Speaking of boss fights, I thought these were really good. It was just the right difficulty for me. From what I've understood, Ender Lilies is on the easy side of Metroidvanias. I'd say some Bosses were still really tough for me. The most challenging ones were Ulv the Mad King & Knight Captain Julius.
And I have to reiterate, but the bosses look amazing with that art-style.
The gameplay was really engaging with the different spirits. Basically, you have 2 different sets of weapons, and you can switch between each set whenever you want, even during boss fights.
It means that you can use a total of 6 weapons at all times (each set can contain a maximum of 3 weapons). For example, you can put a melee weapon, a shield and a weapon that deals passive damages in your 1st set, and ranged weapons like a bow or fireballs in your 2nd set.
It added a lot of variety and freedom to the combat, and each player will probably use a different strategy/set of weapons to deal with a Boss.
There are still a few things that bothered me in Ender Lilies. One of the last areas was really annoying.
It's an area with toxic gases, and you constantly lose HP while you're in it. So you have to rush your way through and it's really stressful. I think it was a really poor design choice.
By the time I got to that area, I had thoroughly explored almost every region in the game to collect every item that increases my stats, especially my HP and my tankiness. So I was pretty optimized once I started exloring that area with the toxic gases, but it was still annoying to go through. I think that's the only negative criticism I have about this game.
Speaking of atmosphere again, I have to talk about the very last area of Ender Lilies, right before the Final Boss. My God it was f*cking creepy, the tension, the environment, the MUSIC. It was really unsettling... I was so relieved once I beat the final Boss. The only thing I wanted was to go out of that nightmarish place lol.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played in early July 2022]
Playtime: 22 hours
100% Completion
The game's biggest strength has to be the atmosphere, it's really melancholic. And the story, while pretty simple, still worked really well. You get to see a short cutscene (~1 minute long) after each boss fight so it doesn't break the flow of the game.
They did an amazing job with the hand-drawn art-style, the game looks gorgeous. The OST was also great, Mili did a fantastic job. I'd say my favorite themes have to be "Harmonious" and "The witch's breath"
When the developers designed this game, I feel like they wanted to make sure that the player wouldn't waste his time, it really shows throughout the game.
Each boss fight has a checkpoint right next to it. So you never have to walk longer than a couple of seconds when you die against a boss.
Something else that also saves the player a lot of time is how they handled the map. If the area on the map is blue, it means that there are still items to find. But if you got every collectible & discovered every secret, the area turns orange. So you immediatly know which areas you don't have to inspect carefully again, and it made the backtracking really satisfying.
Moreover, there are many teleporters across the map, and you can teleport to the last bench you've used whenever you want by going into the Menu.
Speaking of boss fights, I thought these were really good. It was just the right difficulty for me. From what I've understood, Ender Lilies is on the easy side of Metroidvanias. I'd say some Bosses were still really tough for me. The most challenging ones were Ulv the Mad King & Knight Captain Julius.
And I have to reiterate, but the bosses look amazing with that art-style.
The gameplay was really engaging with the different spirits. Basically, you have 2 different sets of weapons, and you can switch between each set whenever you want, even during boss fights.
It means that you can use a total of 6 weapons at all times (each set can contain a maximum of 3 weapons). For example, you can put a melee weapon, a shield and a weapon that deals passive damages in your 1st set, and ranged weapons like a bow or fireballs in your 2nd set.
It added a lot of variety and freedom to the combat, and each player will probably use a different strategy/set of weapons to deal with a Boss.
There are still a few things that bothered me in Ender Lilies. One of the last areas was really annoying.
It's an area with toxic gases, and you constantly lose HP while you're in it. So you have to rush your way through and it's really stressful. I think it was a really poor design choice.
By the time I got to that area, I had thoroughly explored almost every region in the game to collect every item that increases my stats, especially my HP and my tankiness. So I was pretty optimized once I started exloring that area with the toxic gases, but it was still annoying to go through. I think that's the only negative criticism I have about this game.
Speaking of atmosphere again, I have to talk about the very last area of Ender Lilies, right before the Final Boss. My God it was f*cking creepy, the tension, the environment, the MUSIC. It was really unsettling... I was so relieved once I beat the final Boss. The only thing I wanted was to go out of that nightmarish place lol.
----------Playtime & Completion----------
[Played in early July 2022]
Playtime: 22 hours
100% Completion