Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights | PS4 Review
Updated: Nov 19, 2021
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is a 2D Metroidvania adventure with the twist that it's very much a Soulslike. Developed by Adglobe and Live Wire and published by Binary Haze Interactive, Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights provides an absolutely stunning backdrop with a deep and twisting narrative accompanied by some incredibly fluent combat. It is available on Windows PC, PlayStation, XBox, and Nintendo Switch, and for the purpose of my review, I was playing on the PlayStation 4 version.
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights takes place in Lands End where a formidable rainfall, known as the Rain of Death causes every living being to transform into dangerous and frenzied monsters. Due to this the whole kingdom has fallen into desolation and there's only one person who can attempt to unravel the mysteries and free the anguished souls from their torture. Throughout this harrowing adventure you'll take on the role of Lily, who in and of herself isn't exactly the most powerful character but in my opinion she is a fantastic protagonist in the sense that she wakes up in a world that's been totally decimated, has no recollection of what's happened, yet she must somehow rid the world of this evil. To accomplish this, Lily is accompanied on her journey by the Umbral Knight who is there to protect Lily. As you progress through Lands End and begin freeing lost souls you add a selection of different abilities to the Umbral Knight, allowing you to diversify your gameplay. Whilst this is at its bare bones a Metroidvania, I feel like Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is an incredibly diverse game with so much to offer anyone who's a fan of the genre.
If you can't already tell, I'm a huge fan of the game. Firstly, I was sucked in by the stunning graphics which allowed the beautiful yet dark and gothic art style to shine through. The combat was difficult but not unnecessarily so; nothing has really felt out of reach difficulty wise so my persistence was rewarded greatly at every opportunity. These rewarding feelings aren't just limited to beating bosses but sometimes just managing to finally perfect a path that you've been struggling with is enough to show you that you're making progress. The Metroidvania merged with the Soulslike difficulty level and concepts really works very well for me and provides for a really diverse experience. You never feel like you're just aimlessly killing things just to make it to the inevitable boss. Every fight matters; every shortcut has some form of significance, whether it would be to find "souls" to level up your character or items that contain lore.
The mechanics of Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights feel very smooth and well laid out and I never found myself getting frustrated with the combat because it was poorly made as everything just felt totally fluid. During combat, it is the Umbral Knight who deals the damage whilst Lily hides behind it hoping she'll be protected. I think this is a wonderful paradox as generally in games your character is the one who grows in prowess and strength and ultimately saves the day, however in this scenario the story acknowledges the weakness and turns it to strength giving you a companion who defends you at every turn.
For me personally I found Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights to be of a suitable difficulty. Yes, it is a real struggle and a challenge particularly because I'm not terribly well versed in the genre, but compared to my experience with games such as Hollow Knight I found the skill required to be much more reasonable for the average player. You don't need to be committed to Metroidvanias or Soulslikes to appreciate Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights which is just yet another reason I appreciated the game. If you're a fan of recently released Tails of Iron and other releases such as Hollow Knight and Ori and the Blind Forest I really feel like Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights will be a welcome addition to your collection and provide you with quite a few hours of fun and engaging gaming.
In terms of length the average time to beat is anything from 15-20 hours however this can obviously vary depending on skill levels and how much time you spend exploring every last corner of the sprawling maps, exploring and progressing and I just can't seem to stop myself from going back for more. It's not often I'd use such a term for a game, but Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is very moreish and has me really sucked in.
Over the last few years I feel like Metroidvanias performed a massive U-Turn in an amazing and exciting direction with games like Hollow Knight and Ori and the Blind Forest becoming a real benchmark for developers and fans alike to create stunning yet challenging experiences for players and I truly hope that Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights finds itself alongside these games on the lists of best Metroidvanias.
Lj's Rating: 4.5 frenzied foes out of 5.
For more information on Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights please use the following links...
Adglobe - Developer | Twitter | Website
Live Wire - Developer | Twitter | Website
Binary Haze Interactive - Publisher | Twitter | Website
Many thanks to Player Two PR for the Review Key.
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights | Steam | PlayStation | XBox | Nintendo
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