Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights Review (Change eShop)
How many are Metroidvanias too much? It really feels like at this point as the Switch is completely overloaded with genre titles, but if we continue to receive quality experiences like Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights, then it’s good with us!
Despite its strange title (which is also a disgusting annoyance to the classic stone-cold Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and his spiritual successor Bloodstain: Night Ritual), Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is a strong take on the genre with a heavy focus on mood and tone above all else. It’s a dark story with visuals and audio to match, but make no mistake, it’s also full of challenging combat and vicious boss characters.
Take on the role of Lily, a Priestess who wakes up in ‘Land’s End’, a dark and desolate realm that has fallen under a curse known as Blight. The inhabitants of the kingdom – from brave knights to humble merchants – have been transformed into grotesque creatures, and it is up to Lily to purify and save her spirits.
Alone, Lily is completely devoid of any offensive abilities. He can run, dodge and jump just fine, but he hides in fear at the sight of the deadly ‘Blighted’; she it is a child, after all. To rectify this, she is joined by the Umbrella Knight, the first of many spirits who join forces with Lily throughout her quest. Although invisible most of the time, the Umbrella Knight sets out to unleash a torrent of sword attacks every time Lily commands him; this forms the basis of the combat of the game.
While defeating the boss characters scattered throughout the country, Lily is then able to purify and take on the enemy’s spirit, thus using her heart rate to her advantage. This could be a giant hammer attack, a raven that shoots long-range projectiles at enemies, or simply the ability to swim underwater. You can engage up to six different spirits at a time, divided into two groups of three that you can switch between by pressing a button. In essence, it’s similar to how Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night handled its own combat, but, dare we say it, Ender Lilies actually overcame this with a more elegant and customizable approach.
As you progress through the game, you can also gain certain items organically as you wander through the twisting and labyrinthine environments. These articles can be used to refresh your spirits, increasing their effectiveness on an ongoing basis. In addition, relics can be obtained that give specific advantages such as improved attack power or an additional healing slot. These can be hard to find, but traveling around the world is much easier as you progress, with a quick travel feature added to help you.
Experimenting with different spiritual groups is certainly encouraged, as Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is absolutely no pushover when it comes to difficulty. There is certainly a certain approach as Souls to combat; While an enemy rarely poses much of a threat, a group of them together can easily defeat Lily if you are not intelligent with your spiritual abilities. Running in and grinding the buttons rarely (if ever) works; you have to take a more cautious approach, wait for enemies to run in their attack cycles, and rush to counter them.
This is even more relevant when it comes to boss battles. The leader’s characters mainly follow a clear pattern of attacks, but as they snatch away their health they gain additional strength as the battle progresses, increasing their attack power and disrupting their movement groups. Dodging is absolutely essential to surviving these encounters, and luckily the game puts a lifeline near each head, so you’re free to change your spiritual abilities if your current charge doesn’t pay off.
Not only does the combat take some boost from Dark Souls, but the way the story is fed up drops via notes and the environmental narrative is very much similar to the classic From Software. To be clear though, this isn’t a hit to the game; the focus on the tone as you explore is absolutely exemplary, and it makes you happy want to go back and find out every possible link, if not for useful articles, then of course for more information fragments.
To reinforce this, the game features a stellar soundtrack with a wide range of instrumental tracks, from dark piano melodies to epic orchestral pieces. We are not ashamed to admit that we had a track called “Harmonious” blocked in our head long after we put the game together; it’s certainly the kind of soundtrack we’d be happy to be on the background during working hours.
The same care is also entered into the visuals of the game. While it is strictly limited to two dimensions, this only serves to benefit the fantastic conception of art on display. Everything from the intimidating conception of the enemy to the environmental brilliance of the environmental fauna has been treated with incredible attention to detail. When you consider how poor a title like Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night looked at the launch (at least on the Switch), Ender Lilies is frankly head and shoulders above it.
That said, there are lower frame rates at numerous points in the game. It’s never severe enough to disrupt combat sessions or impede your progress, but when most of the game runs at a smooth 60fps, the drops stretch like a sore thumb. However, this feels like a bit of a nitpick in the grand scheme of things; overall, the game is a visual and auditory treat, with an excellent gameplay that ties the experience together.
Conclusion
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is one of the strongest Metroidvanias of 2021, and easily one of the best examples of the genre on Switch to date. It boasts excellent visuals throughout, with bursts of color that illuminate the otherwise sad realm, and a wonderful soundtrack that guarantees you’ll live unscathed in your head for hours. All of this is held together by a strong gameplay, with a particular focus on customizable loads via spiritual abilities. It’s a tough game at times, and the rhythm peaks of smaller frames keep you behind from the true size, but with a respectable game time of about 15 hours this is an experience you’ll be happy to try.
