This can be a relatively brief review since this game has most of the same strengths and weaknesses as its predecessor Ender Lilies, which I previously reviewed in detail here. It's a really fun, atmospheric, well-paced, and nicely-animated Metroidvania with some occasional annoyances and some possible bloat in its systems but no real deal-breakers preventing me from giving it a solid recommendation.

I think this one has slightly broader appeal for a couple key reasons. First, I felt that there's a noticeably clearer focus on story and characters, paired with a somewhat more clean anime look and perhaps some inspiration from the NieR games which fits the pre-established "Ender" vibe very well. Otherwise the relevant changes come in the difficulty balance. Unlike the prior game, Magnolia does not have contact damage, which I think really makes bosses less frustrating. More generally, there are now sliders and toggles for a bunch of aspects of the game's difficulty, which I appreciated since I think both games' default tuning for enemy damage and health is sometimes not quite what I want. Level designs are also for the most part better and less annoying in this one, even if it still does have some nuisance areas.

I'd say by all means start with this game if you want, not an enormous leap over the prior one which is also worth playing, but one that's just a little bit better and more approachable. Some of my complaints from the prior game are still present, but I still prefer these over most Metroidvanias that have been coming out.

In short: Superb. Magnificent. A delicious, tasty meal.

Ender Lilies, the first in this series, was a good, though somewhat flawed metroidvania style platformer. It had a great story, killer music, good vibes, but the moment to moment gameplay wasn't weighty enough and some sections of the game simply weren't as good as others. Magnolia improves on those in every way all while building an even more distinct world. The gameplay is FUN. It feels good! There is notably more emphasis on distinctive play styles, each of which are great!

The homunculi you wield as your basic attacks are varied and interesting. Each is its own character who has their own moments to shine in optional conversations. Your homunculi have opinions about you, each other, and the world. It's good stuff. I had a load of fun focusing on aggressive, close combat with a parry focused build, but you might enjoy using different projectile focused homunculi, or perhaps focus on autonomous abilities, etc. Each homunculi also has three distinct attacks all with their own upgrades which help keep them interesting. By the end, it feels like you've built up a group of reliable allies.

The music is fantastic again, no notes.

Visuals are even more stunning than before. This is a notably more vibrant game while still retaining the awful grunginess of a blight ruined society. The shift forward in technology in this game allows for a greater variety of visuals. My one critique of this game, however, is three of the later areas aren't as visually interesting as the rest of the game. They feel like slight variants of other areas, though they were still fun to play through. Also, that mantle! Early on you gain a mantle. That's it. It's a really cool mantle.

I adored my time with Magnolia and I suspect you will as well. If you played Ender Lillies, go play this. If you didn't, go play this. You miss a little bit of the story, but it's not a big deal. Did you like Hollow Knight? Give this a go. For real, go check out this awesome game.

When I played it to completion for the first time, Ender Lillies left me feeling very disappointed. I really wanted to like that game but just about every aspect of it that wasn't its music and art direction felt completely bland and uninspired. It was a huge shame because when I played its early access, I thought it would be a very solid metroidvania. Unfortunately, past its initial hour or so, it becomes a chore to play, with the constant never ending dreary environments doing very little to help. But this isn't about that game, this is about Ender Magnolia, a much anticipated sequel for fans and oddly enough for me who really wanted to see the developers succeed in making a game I would really like. That's the important part to me cause I simply cannot understand why the first game gets overwhelming praise, but I'm glad they enjoyed it. To put it simply, Ender Magnolia feels very much like a QoL update to Ender Lilies. It plays its hand safely the entire way through.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I can confidently say I enjoyed this game far more than its predecessor and am satisfied with the experience. It feels familiar to play whilst being mechanically tighter and having markedly large improvements upon its level design, one of my biggest issues with the first game. The biggest difference between both games that largely improves the experience yet at the same time hampers it at times is its narrative direction. Ender Lilies was for the most part very silent. Lily never spoke, with only the Knight commenting on things every now and then and the bulk of its story told through the memories of those you would purify. The land you traversed had long since perished, with only the Blighted walking amongst its long rotten corpse. In Ender Magnolia, the world is very much alive. Lilac, our protagonist, speaks. In fact, everyone speaks. In fact (again), there's npcs, and quite a few of them too. You'll handle a few quests from them, meet them various times along your journey, nothing particularly out there but just enough for me to get a bit more invested in the world. I quite enjoyed the small conversations Lilac and her homonculi would have when resting at benches, ranging from a little exposition to endearing bickering. Though the game keeps its mostly dreary atmosphere, a much welcome change is being able to see our protagonist have these interactions with their homonculi as well as the denizens of this land that are trying very hard to survive in. While I appreciated Ender Lilies being what it is in regards to its atmosphere, I much prefer the approach this game took instead. That said, the narrative never evolves past a very simple and straightforward story. NPC's rarely matter outside of their roles and once their quests are complete. Most disappointingly of all is how many homonculi you have by the end of the game but how very little input they have in the game's narrative. By all means, all of them should have things to say or comment on regarding the decision that Lilac makes if you go for the true ending. Yet, everything just sort of... happens. What happened to them? What happened to Lilia? What happened to Lily? How does everyone to react to Lilac's decision which practically changes everyone's very way of life? The implications of the true ending are enormous, yet everything just sort of happens and we're expected to accept it and move on. It's odd and honestly very anti-climatic.

To pivot off that a bit, the world we are to explore this time around is significantly more varied. Though to be fair, the first game didn't really set that bar high at all to begin with. Nonetheless, I still very much enjoyed exploring the world this time around, even if at times it felt far too linear. However, if it's one thing they're consistent with is making the visuals of each area absolutely stunning. Very pleasing eye candy.

The combat itself is very much still like its predecessor which for the most part is fine. While I would love to try and mention differences and nuances between them both I find it very hard to do because I quite literally cannot remember anything about the first game. And I played it twice. At the very least, your arsenal this time around feels more customizable, with your different homonculi being able to switch up your playstyle in varying ways outside your primary attack. You can equip up to Four homonculi at a time, with the first one being Nola as she is your primary attack who eventually offers three different weapon types. Your three other homonculi will vary and provide things like a ranged attack, a counter, single target/aoe skills, and the such. It can feel a little overwhelming to keep everything in mind and use them consistently during fights, but the game kindly provides homonculi that also just do their own thing as they follow you which lessens the button overload some might have. I thought that was neat.

I want to mention that this game felt significantly more difficult than the first one which was, to me, a nice surprise. To others, it might be worth being cautious of. That said, the game has a very customizable difficulty system that you can fine tune to your liking as well. You can adjust things like enemy damage, health, frequency of attacks, and other such details. Depending on how you tune it, it will dictate how much experience you get from enemies, with higher tuning providing you with more experience. It's hard to explain the extent of the tuning I did, just know that it was enough for enemies to provide more than double the experience for me. Clearly, I made the game far harder for myself, but even so, it felt like a significant step up from the first game's difficulty. Some bosses can be quite aggressive and erratic in their attack patterns. The addition of a parry separate from your counter was a welcome addition as I feel just a dodge wouldn't be enough for some of these bosses and enemies alike. At the difficulty I played, it also felt like equipment mattered much more than if you'd play at normal difficulties, often in regards to just opting to take more defense and hp over attack.

The music... well it's Mili. I love Mili. If you do too I don't think I have much to say in this regard. Oddly enough though, I felt there were far less vocals this time around compared to the first game. Not to say less vocals is a bad thing, but I quite liked the vocal tracks in the first game and this one as well so I wish there was more of it. Actually, it just came to me as I wrote this. Part of the reason the story and narrative might have felt flat to me is that there was oddly no music that played during any of the big story moments. Not even during the endings. I double checked and Ender Lilies definitely had music playing during all of it's endings and parting dialogues. This game... doesn't. Huh. Well, that's something else to keep in mind I guess.

Ender Magnolia's story and narrative feel way too safe and lacks the emotional depth that even Ender Lilies managed in it's final minutes. Its mechanics and combat feel largely the same and evolve very little though that's not surprising considering the huge success the first game was. It'd be weirder if they tried to shake things up. While the increased difficulty is appreciated, this is one aspect that might put off others. That said, it all feels moot when they already allow you to meticulously tune the difficulty to your liking. Even so, I really liked this game. The last six or so hours of the game I played all in one sitting, and not because of wanting to get it over with and move to a different game already, but because I was really enjoying my time. Bosses towards the end of the game I found very fun, with the final boss, while not the most difficult, being a grand battle and quite enjoyable. I really wish Lily had more to do with the story but it makes sense her role was mostly minimal. Her story has long since concluded, after all. She deserves to finally live her life.

If you liked Ender Lilies, you'll probably like this one too. If you didn't, well I'd still recommend you give this one a chance. Despite my grievances, I genuinely enjoyed this game very much. I likely won't play it again, as there is no replay value other than achievements, but also because I'm very satisfied with the experience. The story of the "Ender" world seems to close with this game, but I hope the developers continue making more games. Now more than ever, I look forward to what they will do next.