REVIEW – The first great game in the Metroidvania genre this year, set decades after its predecessor Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights. Adglobe and Live Wire have created a decent game, and knowledge of the previous part is not necessary for a good experience, so the journey and the accompanying short animated scenes are good enough (although they are not accompanied by voice acting).

It’s a good game that sets the bar high both audiovisually and atmospherically.

Are the Homunculi human or not?

They are mostly part machine, part magical lifeform. On the surface, yes, but beyond that it’s not so sure. Then comes the task: find the Attuners. Not much background information is given to our protagonist Lilac, but that’s all the young silver-haired girl gets on her way with a Homunculus. Cliché, but she forgot everything. But she is also an Attuner. They help Homunculi (that’s plural) who are losing their minds. It’s good for the game that we don’t know much at first. We have to piece the picture together slowly, and that keeps the player engaged. Over time, in addition to the story, which at times is full of emotional moments, our characters go through a lot of development, and in the meantime there is also replayability, as EMBitM has multiple endings. In terms of gameplay, it’s a 2D platformer, but you can’t really find any flaws in it. There’s combat, your skills improve over time, and of course there’s the usual path-finding, skill-learning, progression gameplay loop. There are puzzles, bosses, hidden areas. The Homunculi are for combat.

The first one will be Nola, who will help in melee combat, but over time there will be more and they will be good for other abilities (some will be used as picks, others will be good for breaking through, but they will also be good for fast travel). Over time, we will have more moves and a very diverse repertoire that will allow us to access places that are not accessible at first (that’s part of the genre). During combat, we will be able to activate four abilities. Since there will be ten Homunculi tuned for combat, there will be some variation here, but each will have three abilities to unlock, so we have thirty to choose from. Then there are the special Attuner Arts, which can vary from Homunculus to Homunculus. These can be thought of as desperate attacks, because when the bar is full, they lead to powerful moves. The bar can be filled with successful attacks, and is not only strong in power, but can be called so in sight. And Homunculi are not just superficial, they are unique characters with their own stories. You can get to know them at the save points (Respites – where you can change Lilac’s loadout and equipment), because that’s when you can talk to them, and it’s worth it, because they’re varied and have a wide range of tones. It’s not something that would have a significant impact on the gameplay, but the atmosphere can be thoroughly improved by paying attention to such small details…

Beyond the machine and beyond the magic

The fights are rhythmic. Every action has weight and must be timed well. Opponents range from mining machines to strange fleshy creatures to flying robots. They cannot be touched for smart damage, but their attacks and projectiles can. They can be sprinted through, so if you time them right, Lilac (who is quite fragile, by the way, so it’s worth stocking up on Healing Wards, the game’s potion equivalent) will survive longer. Our enemies have a HP bar and another bar: draining the latter leaves them defenseless, so we can do even more damage, as this is the break bar that makes them go staggered. This really comes into play with bosses. More speed and danger, with the obligatory quick reflexes and forward-thinking. It’s exciting, but it can also be frustrating. Luckily for us, a Respite usually appears just before a boss, so after an almost guaranteed failure, we can try again from the next room.

There are three difficulty levels, but within those you can set a lot of things (strength and frequency of attacks, HP of your opponents), so it can be easy or hard in a customizable way. The harder we make it, the more the Fragment Bonus multiplier increases, allowing Lilac to be more colorful, or get concept art and other artwork to be unlocked. When we die, fortunately there’s no penalty like in a Souls game and we don’t lose our items. Visually, EMBitM is superbly grotesque, and the music is varied and percussive (by a Japanese group called Mili, as in the previous title). The problem is that in some places (especially in the forest) it’s a bit difficult to figure out where to go. In fact, this is the very element that kept it from getting a 9/10. If that doesn’t tell you how good this game is, nothing will.

First masterpiece of the year

Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist gets an 8.5/10. There’s at least a dozen hours to be invested in it, and with replayability, it could eat up a lot more than that. Simply stunningly shocking. This is a good game. It doesn’t need much elaboration; it’s a must-buy for fans of the genre, and anyone who likes platformers should check this game out.

-V-

Publisher: Binary Haze Interactive

Developer: Adglobe, Live Wire

Style: metroidvania

Release: January 22, 2025