Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist

Genre: Metroidvania

Players: 1

.

Review:

Ender Magnolia is a Metroidvania released in 2025 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. This game is a successor to 2021’s Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights, and as such it features a similar presentation, tone, and gameplay mechanics, though it stars an entirely new protagonist and is set in a completely different world.

Ender Magnolia takes place in a locale called The Land of Fumes, where mankind has created artificial lifeforms called homunculi by combining magic and machines. Unfortunately, toxic fumes have caused most of these creations to lose their minds and turn hostile, resulting in a smashed and decayed world where the remnants of humanity shelters in the ruins, hiding from these “mutant” homunculi. Players take the role of Lilac, who outwardly looks like a young child but has a solemn nature beyond their apparent years and an uncanny skill as an “attuner”, capable of healing homunculi who aren’t too far gone and making use of their abilities. Suffering a spotty memory and carrying the vague but driving sense that they should seek out someone close to them, Lilac sets out to find this person and mend the gaps in their memory.

One of the big changes this shift to a different world from Ender Lilies is that far from the secluded loneliness of that prior game, there are a good number of people to speak with (both human and homunculus) in this game, and even though Lilac is a stoic type of character, they still speak far more often than Ender Lilies’ protagonist, Lily. This communication is only conveyed via text, but it is nevertheless well-written, and helps to expand on the dour world you find yourself in, with many of the people and homunculi you come across lost to hopelessness, but with a scarce few still putting in an effort to try and make the world a better place.

The rest of the presentation feels like a subtle improvement over Ender Lilies, making use of beautiful, detailed 2D visuals with fluid animation, accentuated with a bit of 3D in places. This is backed by a wonderfully somber soundtrack with lovely tunes, though I don’t have any links to share at this time.

When it comes to complaint, I think my main issues with this game are tied to progression and level design. While overall good, I don’t think you find significant upgrades as often as I’d like. What’s more, you are not only limited in how many homunculi helper characters you can use at any given time (with each of these basically being a move in your move set), but as you collect upgrades for these homunculi you also need to choose which of those upgrades to use. It does mean that you have access to a good selection of abilities, but it means that going through the menus and trying out those abilities seems a bit clunky. It also dulls the impact when you do acquire a new ability, as it means shelving another one in your arsenal.

Still, make no mistake, this is a fairly minor complaint in what is overall a magnificent Metroidvania that’s sure to be a must-play for any fan in the genre. While Ender Magnolia does have some areas that could do with improvement, this is overall an outstanding entry in the genre that is not to be missed.

tl;dr – Ender Magnolia is a Metroidvania and follow up to Ender Lilies that features similar gameplay and presentation, but is set in a different world, with far more characters and dialogue. There are elements of the progression that could do with some improvement, but overall this is an outstanding entry in the genre, and one that Metroidvania fans should consider a must-play.

Grade: A-

.

This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2025 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Metroidvania

.

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Jamie and His Cats, Ben, Ilya Zverev, Andy Miller, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Francis Obst, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Jared Wark, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}