Although it doesn’t reinvent the Metroidvania wheel, Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist successfully builds upon its predecessor, Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights, to create a potent follow-up. The action packs more punch, the customization allows for deeper strategy, and the world is arguably better looking. While it lacks some quality-of-life innovations from more recent contemporaries, series fans and genre enthusiasts have another solid option to scratch the action platformer itch.
Set long after the events of Ender Lilies, Ender Magnolia differentiates itself by blending a cool industrial aesthetic with its magical fantasy. As Lilac, a gifted and amnesiac boy, you’ll partner with homunculi (artificial lifeforms) to fight your way up a collapsed kingdom, from its slums to the top of its societal hierarchy. Ender Magnolia’s lore is more intriguing than its plot. I enjoyed soaking in contextual notes and chatting with my homunculi partners – including a mysterious masked swordswoman and former aristocrat trapped in the body of a spider – more than the story itself. While the quest to regain your memories while sparing the world from a magical affliction is serviceable, it doesn’t help that seeing its true ending (after you’ll likely first encounter the false “bad” conclusion) requires completing an involved and annoying vague series of steps.
As with Lily in the last game, Lilac doesn’t get his hands dirty in battle (he is a child, after all). Instead, he lets his homunculi party handle the fighting for him. My favorites include fellow amnesiac, Nola, who executes slick melee attacks, and a shy masked warrior who pummels foes with his giant mechanical fist. Some homunculi attack autonomously, like a throne-bound little girl who pulsates damaging shockwaves wherever she’s placed. Other homunculi bestow exploration skills such as climbing walls and shooting a web line to zip up designated perches. Though I used some homunculi more than others, this was usually by preference. They’re all useful in their unique ways, and trying different combinations yields fun synergies.
Homunculi also have two or three attack variants. For example, Nola can wield a sword, scythe, or axe, and each weapon behaves differently and has unique stats. Luka’s fiery punch can knock back foes in a straight line, but I also like his jumping downward punch that encases targets in ice, especially those below me. This freeform approach to combat extends to how you assign up to four homunculi to a dedicated button; the most ergonomic layout means comfortably executing multiple attacks at once. Mapping a gun-toting homunculi’s ranged pistol attack to a shoulder button kept a face button free to unleash melee attacks simultaneously; I enjoyed optimizing this multitasking. Tack on the aforementioned auto-attacking homunculi, and the combat sings when I unleash the full brunt of my party to shatter enemy defenses and finish them off.
Equipping Lilac with a limited number of stat-buffing relics, clothing, and accessories means you can create many specialized builds. You can focus on passively regaining HP, maximize the amount of currency/upgrade resources, or build around inflicting punishment through status effects. I never settled into a comfort zone with my loadout; whenever I hit a tough enemy, of which there are many, a trip to a save room to reconfigure my loadout usually solved the problem.
Ender Magnolia’s massive, sprawling map begins feeling tiresome towards the back half. It also isn’t always clear where the main objective lies. You can deeply traverse multiple areas from the start, making it easy to lose the thread on the task at hand. This became frustrating when I wanted to focus on the critical path because I wasn’t always sure I was going the right way. I’m also disappointed the map only includes barebones markers that look the same, so you still have to remember what you’re denoting. Considering some tasks require you to revisit certain characters, some of which move around, keeping everything straight feels more troublesome than necessary (especially after Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s fantastic screenshot feature). At least the sights along the way look like a video game art book come to life, boasting beautiful 2D visuals and striking locales like an underground laboratory, an enchanting crimson forest, and an opulent magic academy.
Ender Magnolia is a solid sophomore effort for this series, and while the exploration is protracted and occasionally confusing, the combat steps up its game in a big way. While not a gigantic leap forward, chalk up another good outing in this hidden gem of a Metroidvania series.
This 2025 review reflects our thoughts on the game’s current state at publishing. As such, post-launch updates were factored into the final score.
