ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights

Don't be fooled by its Kawaii-looking: Ender Lillies: Quietus of the Knights is a hardcore Metroidvania game, made for those who are willing to have their patience tested. Be prepared to die 50 times or so in a single boss-fight, to explore a huge map with a bunch of rooms loaded with hostiles, and to face a not-so-generous and somewhat poorly designed map which is going to drive you crazy.

As orthodox as it is in terms of gameplay, it does everything it’s doing so well that I can’t imagine any fan of the genre coming away disappointed. Add in the stellar visuals and excellent music, and you have a well-balanced experience that is more than worth your time and money.

ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights is an excellent action RPG. Despite its occasional framerate drops and little musical variety, it has an interesting story, beautiful artistic design and great controls that make it directly one of the best indies of the year.

This is a beautiful ‘soulsvania’ whose strengths are a fantastic combat, a solid map design and a very interesting story.

Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is one of the strongest Metroidvanias of 2021, and easily one of the best examples of the genre on Switch to date. It boasts excellent visuals throughout, with bursts of colour lighting up the otherwise dreary kingdom, and a wonderful soundtrack that we guarantee will live rent-free in your head for hours. All of this is held together by strong gameplay, with a particular focus on customisable load-outs via the spirit abilities. It’s a tough game at times, and the minor frame rate dips hold it back from true greatness, but with a respectable playtime of roughly 15 hours this is an experience you’ll be glad to try out.

Ender Lilies proves to be a somber experience, providing a melancholy but hopeful story that utilizes environmental storytelling to its fullest. As a platformer it functions well and has its own unique gimmick that helps create a fresh take on the genre. If you were hesitant about picking it up in early access, the full product is more than worth your time.

ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights has an undoubtedly classic and recognizable structure for fans of the metroidvania genre, but at the same time manages to amaze thanks to an impeccable execution and a plot that blossoms as the adventure continues.

Despite the performance issues and some difficulty spikes, Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is one of the best games you can play on Nintendo Switch this year with its superlative soundtrack and gorgeous aesthetic.

Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is a well-planned and executed game from Binary Haze Interactive. It has some repetitive shortcomings, but the fun boss fights and massive levels will help you get through the grind.

While looking gorgeous and dripping with atmosphere, Ender Lilies may not be the greatest metroidvania when it comes to level design and combat. Thankfully, it is easy to overlook if you are not of the nitpicking kind. But still, make sure to use the game’s momentum while it lasts, since a number of its bumps may spoil the ride for some players out there.

With a rich and pleasant gameplay, a really neat artistic direction and a fairly well balanced challenge (a little less at the end of the adventure), Ender Lilies ticks all the boxes of the successful 2D action-RPG. There isn't much more to say, except that if you enjoyed Hollow Knight or Blasphemous, you are going to have a great time with the baby from Live Wire and Adglobe. Especially since the title has its twist, thanks to its mind system, which will allow you to recover new skills on the bosses beaten. Enough to forge your own style of play, within tortuous and increasingly challenging levels. In short, it's varied, inspired, rich with in addition a good lifespan. A very nice adventure.

I haven't played a Metroidvania as immersive and rewarding as Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights in a long time; it's great stuff.

It's difficult to shake the feeling that I've already played this game before. It borrows so much from other Metroidvanias, albeit elements that make these games fun, and as a result it fails to wholly craft a distinct identity. From screenshots, I would have sworn it was a spiritual sequel to Momodora and Minoria (like the latter to the former). After playing through it, I still haven't been able to shake that feeling. Nonetheless, Ender Lilies plays well and provides ample challenge for fans of these types of games. Multiple endings will likely compel you to keep exploring every untravelled path, but the final sections of the game will test players to their limits. Ender Lilies may not stand out in a crowd, but those who pledge to cleanse its world of Blighted will be well rewarded.

Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is a solid game all around, with a fun and always evolving combat system, a well-crafted world with tons of secrets to find, and a sober soundtrack accompanying its traversal acting as the title’s highlights. A word of caution should be given regarding the difficulty, since both regular enemies and bosses can prove to be quite hard to beat, especially during the final act. The story doesn’t shine for its originality but still manages to be well worth uncovering thanks to its characters and setting, making this bleak but ultimately endearing Metroidvania a strong recommendation for anyone that is up for the challenge.