Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist – Early Access Review/Impressions – Familiar territory

Gare – Tuesday, October 29, 2024 6:55 PM
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Ender Lilies was one of my favorite games of 2021 – its melancholy visuals and somber mood, along with an excellent mixture of soulslike and metroidvania elements made it very difficult to put down. Ender Magnolia is the much-anticipated follow-up to that success story, offering yet another trip into a haunted world that needs saving. This time, we venture into the so-called Land of Fumes, a world where artificially created humanoids called Homunculi run rampant, driven mad by toxic gases – in the role of a young Attuner called Lilac, players will be attempting to gradually heal those afflicted by the miasma, while also recovering her own lost memories. Let’s take a brief look at what that means in the current, Early Access build of the project.

A new yet familiar land

Starting up Ender Magnolia years after finishing its predecessor, I felt like I’d never left. The protagonist I took control of might have been different, as was the location of this new journey, but the general feel of the world – its grim yet beautiful melancholy – very much remained the same, making me feel right at home, especially with the soundtrack’s lovely piano tunes and soft vocal backing in certain areas. Lilac starts out wholly defenseless, much like Lily in the original, but as her journey continues, she saves and befriends a host of Homunculi who essentially act as her weapons, wielding a wide variety of deadly instruments that serve different purposes. You can “equip” multiple Homunculi at the same time by assigning their skills to different buttons, which can then be used in tandem, although a lot of them come with their own cooldowns to prevent endless spamming. Your basic attack – the first Homunculus you acquire – will essentially be a quick slashing strike, but as you progress, Lilac’s repertoire will include ranged pistol shots, slow but heavy-hitting two-handed weapons, and even an ability – a personal favorite – that freezes an enemy in place, leaving them open for attacks. There is enough variety to give the game a constant sense of progression from a combat perspective.

Overall, my experiences with the Early Access build gave me the impression that Lilac is a bit of a glass cannon: regular enemies can very easily be obliterated with a quick barrage of synchronized Homunculus attacks, but on the flip side, receiving even a few hits can quickly put you down to critical health, forcing you to use up your precious Not-Estus healing charges. Enemies themselves come in various shapes and sizes, from little floating robots shooting projectiles, to flamethrower-wielding baddies, each requiring a different approach; as for bosses, they have so far been manageable, especially with the inclusion of a stagger gauge that, once depleted with continuous attacks, will give you a few seconds’ worth of free hits while the boss is stunned and immobilized.

To change or not to change

Gameplay-wise, customization plays an important role: the game not only gives you multiple Homunculi with unique abilities to play around with, but these abilities can then be further customized with the use of upgrade materials found in the world. It should be noted that you’re not necessarily making a Homunculus’ attack more powerful, but instead you simply change what it does, which may or may not fit your own play style better. To give you an example, your basic sword attack delivers quick successive slashes, but this can then be altered to change into a very slow, hard-hitting swipe, as if you were wielding a massive two-handed axe. Now, whether you want to sacrifice speed for damage is up to you, so don’t necessarily think of Homunculus upgrades as “upgrades”, but rather as extra alternate abilities that give you more playstyle options and thus plenty of variety.

Map exploration in Ender Magnolia has been pretty straightforward so far, but part of this could be due to the Early Access nature of the project. While I did discover a few hidden passages and secrets, the game, at least in my experience, wasn’t teeming with “oh, I’ll need to come back here later!” type of bits; in fact, the in-game map uses color-coding that makes it very clear if you’ve fully explored a zone, or if you still need to discover something. That said, the art style is impressive, and the zones themselves are an absolute joy to look at, so I didn’t particularly mind this too much: Ender Magnolia’s Land of Fumes is a world I simply enjoyed being lost in. It’s also a world with slightly more life: during your travels, you’ll meet friendly NPCs here and there that add a bit more personality to the game, which I found to be a nice addition; what’s more, there’s also an option to chat with your Homunculus companions at save points.

Closing thoughts (for now)

To conclude, I’m very pleased with the Early Access state of Ender Magnolia: it’s most certainly the kind of game that immediately grabs your attention with its gorgeous world and atmosphere, all the while tweaking and polishing what worked in Lilies. The combat system – that is, using “spirits” as weapons that fight for you – is as enjoyable as its counterpart was in the original, and the option to upgrade Homunculus abilities in order to diversify your lineup and try new play styles adds ample amounts of variety to gameplay. All in all, Ender Magnolia very much seems like a worthy successor to Lilies, and I can’t wait to see more of it.

Ender Magnolia is currently available via Early Access, with the full version slated to debut on January 23, 2025.


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