I had a lot of fun with Ender Lilies as a game that helped fill that Hollow Knight hole. Exploring a ruined kingdom that slowly uncovered the lore and story through gorgeous artwork and journal entries developed the game's great atmosphere accompanied by a soothing soundtrack. Sections of the map such as Twin Spires were awesome in terms of level design as looping back around in circles around the dungeon gave a similar vibe to the fantastic areas in FromSoftware's catalog. I especially loved the variety of abilities given to you that are recycled from the enemies you fought throughout your journey. Each of the main spirits you would use as your primary damage source had clear pros and cons, and the rest of the abilities helped mold your skillset to any playstyle you wanted.

Unfortunately, this is not a perfect game as the leveling system, checkpoints, and enemy variety were some of the few things that kept me from giving this a higher score. This is less of a major issue and more of a nitpick, but leveling up in this game felt inconsequential and only helped to gatekeep tougher areas you might have accidentally stumbled upon in your exploration. I also did not find this game particularly difficult which is not normally an issue for a game unless it is due to an overreliance on rest areas; Checkpoints almost always being at most two levels away lessen the feeling of danger in a postapocalyptic world knowing that you respawn an area away. Enemies are also quite boring from start to finish. As the game progresses, blight-afflicted enemy designs start to wear down on you even if the attacks change. I would have been interested in seeing the monstrous direction taken further with some of the humanoid enemies.

Altogether, it was a complete package that had a satisfying conclusion to the story it told. The length and pacing felt right in the 14 hours I played, and I am interested in seeing what else the developers do in the future.