Review | Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights

In a world where we get 3.67 games like Castlevania every month, it’s really hard to pick the best one from time to time. I often read articles and reviews and when the time is right (when I’m up for a game of this genre) – I start my new 2D journey. It’s not easy being good after we such classics as Symphony of the Night and Metroid games. That is always my pain and that is how I will approach this one as well (if they want to copy the recipe, well, I want to compare the games).

Ender Lilies is an indie title developed by Binary Haze Interactive, and it was in development roughly less than 2 years before coming out on consoles (Switch, PS, Xbox) and PC. Its price is fair, plus it’s really a decent game – maybe this will help you support the team and even enjoy it (I really mean it, there is a lot to like here).

Howdy princess! You are in luck, Lily is the lone survivor. Get her towards the goal. Also, kill some spirits.

The story follows a young girl Lily, the last surviving descendant of the White Priestesses, who has the ability to cleanse spirits of corruption. The lands are devastated by an endless and oppressive rain that drives living things demented and transforms them into undead while granting immortality. Lily Awakens in a church with no recollection of what has happened, and turns to exploring beyond the safety of the sanctuary to find the source of the rain.

But Lily is no ordinary girl. She can summon the spirits of purified undead to protect her. Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights begins after the Blight has destroyed the entire kingdom and turned all of its inhabitants into the Blighted. A knight spirit, who had sworn allegiance to the previous White Priestess, will help you navigate through the scourge kingdom, find the way and recollect memories together, and, of course, to defend you from the evil.

I’m not a huge fan of the story being told, but I must admit that the soundtrack helped. A lot. Some of the tracks were obviously inspired by some games such as NieR (Main theme & Harmoniuos), and I even hear some familiar Trails of Cold Steel tunes in The Witch’s Breath. Even with that being said, I think the biggest ace this game has is exactly that sountrack and the effect of melancholy it accomplishes. There is just a lot to like when you constantly have that feeling that music generates. Notes, which are basically a lore to extend the story, are well-written and sometimes I liked to read them more than I liked the story scenes.

I did noticed that some boss fights and scenes were without tunes, which was a bit weird.

Some rooms are nice, others feels a bit generic. Still, combining locations with awesome sountrack is what makes them memorable. When not exploring, climbing walls way my thing in this game

Now, I don’t have problems (except that I do) with the story itself. It’s just, I heard this already. Every indie game that I’ve tried always goes for this melancholy feelings and tries to hit those heavy “notes” inside of us. Remember Sea of Solitude, Arise, Rime, even Child of Light? They all share the same core when it comes to the story.

I can’t say that I was impressed with this game aspect, but for sure it raised some feelings. Lily is just a little girl. Going through the endless blight while trying to find a reasoning is what soften me. It’s just so sad.

When we talk dungeon design, we have the same Castlevania formula. You need different set of abilities to reach areas in starting dungeons, and that goes for the whole game. Lily will learn the double jump (not the best double jump in games), hammer smash, thrust moves… You will need all of that to enter new areas where new challenges awaits. My opinion is that the game has too much backtracking. Often you have no idea where the hell you are supposed to go. Map is bad when you need details about the room you are in, but works in a larger scale. I liked that it marks the completed rooms so you know where you need to return after gaining new abilities.

You need different environment skills to reach all rooms. This involves a lot of backtracking. Fortunately, rooms will be marked as completed when you collect all there is, which makes this a bit less tedious. Combat is a bit stiff, I really miss more freedom while performing the moves. Also, bumping into walls can reveal hidden hallways

I felt like the combat part of the game is the worst of all elements. Rooms you explore tend to be big later on, and often you will die if you keep pressing the wrong buttons. You can heal for a few times after which you need to reach the resting point to restore these items/abilities (and you can extend the healing number with new Relics later). Healing takes time, so be careful not to be interrupted by enemies while you’re trying to heal your ass.

Dodge serves as the main damage avoider. Just before you are about to be hit you can dodge and strife away from the attacks. This usually puts you behind an enemy back, which is the best place to be. Attacking from the back works well and it’s often the only way to damage some enemies. You can also parry later on, but dodge was my choice all the times. I disliked the small frame after performing dodge where you can’t really move for a half of second.

When you defeat a boss or a sub-boss you unlock different Spirit. They can be equipped on 2 sets of buttons, which means you can use them for attacking. I changed spirits 3 times in 17 hours. The starting knight is my favourite, followed by the hammer spirit. The 3^rd one was always experimental. The whole game can be completed by just spamming the hammer – it usually stuns or catapults the enemy after 2^nd combo.

Boss fights can be fun, but they come down to memorizing the pattern and returning back to finish the job. Neither boss gave me any issues. Too bad boss rush mode is not needed for trophies.

Also, I hate the underwater parts and fighting underwater. Tedious. And the poison area is a maze, plus it drains your health (have fun exploring that area).

Nowhere without the sword + hammer. You can easily beat the whole game using just those 2 buttons. Some boss's require a bit of tactic, but overall, pretty easy journey (and a bit frustrating considering how many times I've bumped into enemies while dodging)

Collecting Relics and collectibles was fun in a way. I always like to explore the hidden areas and find what the developer intended to be hidden. It does make sense to regularly backtrack to some areas as the rewards in a form of HP+ items helps you for sure.

Relics are like equipment and they reduce the damage taken by enemies, but some even extend your double jump and speed. Having extra healing items in between healing respites (healing, safe rooms) is probably the biggest help you can get. You need slots (and extend them) to equip relics, so there is only as much as you can benefit from at the same time. You can combine this with upgrading your spirits to raise the damage you inflict, but having 2-3 spirits you can use throughout the whole game made the upgrading of the rest pretty useless.

And lastly, you will need to complete almost everything to find the 7 tablets and work your way towards the best ending. You can unlock 3 endings, and you can’t really miss them. It’s cool how you can get ending A pretty soon, but that one is just depressing and no way you can let Lily end like that. I liked the extra content from the ending C.

In the end, what is left? Just the darkness and the emptiness of a lonelly, hollow world

Ender Lilies is yet another game you’ve already played. Is that what makes it bad or avoidable? Not at all. It goes strong for your feelings and mood, and does the job almost perfectly. It depends whether you crave for games like these or not. I do from time to time, so I don’t mind the copy-paste formula this one brings. Enjoy the song I liked the most:

If this team ever makes another game like this, I hope for better movesets, the less stiff controls, and I really miss the ability to move freely in the air while attacking like in Castlevania games.