Each year, hundreds of games try to smash together beloved franchises into something shamelessly, shallowly commercial. At first blush, you might mistake Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist for one of these offenders. The new 2D indie game combines the design of Metroid, the look and sound of Nier, and the progression of Mega Man — with a twist of Pokémon-style creature collecting.
What differentiates Ender Magnolia is the glue. Developers Adglobe and Live Wire bind their inspirations together with thoughtfulness and care, keeping what works, trimming what doesn’t, and making sure — above all else — that the game comes together holistically.
Because while Ender Magnolia borrows liberally from big-name peers, its creators seem to know that a great game ultimately must be its own thing.
Ender Magnolia takes place in an industrial fantasy setting called the Land of Fumes. Humans have created a robotic, artificially intelligent population called Homunculi to shoulder the kingdom’s labor. After a toxic gas corrupts the working machines, our hero Lilac is dispatched by the kingdom to purify the sickly Homunculi and then partner with the healed bots to save humans and machines alike, while uncovering the mystery of the blight. It’s serviceable, pulpy sci-fi stuff.
But the combat? It’s special, rivaling if not besting its inspirations. As Lilac meets and cures Homunculi, many bots join the party. Lilac doesn’t fight, relying instead on the machines, each of whom can be assigned to a button. Tap X, for example, and a Homunculi instantly materializes, dishing out a slash, a projectile, or an explosion. Each bot can be upgraded with alternate attacks, and additional relics can be collected to modify combat further.
The game challenges the player to create a clever loadout at rest points scattered throughout the map. Going up against a bunch of slow, powerful, tank-like bots? Assign to you buttons a band of Homunculi with heavy attacks that hop over shields. Facing a cloud of zippy bug bots? Go with a mix of the balletic Homunculi with fast attacks and the gun-wielder tweaked to shoot ammo rapid-fire.
The game’s creators use this combat to sew different patches of enemy types into a big, beautifully quilted Metroidvania world. And the game’s generous fast travel system and clear map are a merciful addition, making it easy to zip around. You get the sense that the designers don’t simply admire the games I mentioned above, but understand, at the core level, how these video game series — Metroid, but also Mega Man and Nier — create their particular warm fuzzy feelings.
Ender Magnolia is a sequel to Ender Lillies, a similarly designed Metroidavania set in the same fictional setting but decades earlier, but I don’t mention this to instill some sense of obligation to play the predecessor first. The opposite, actually. Ender Magnolia benefits most from a love of its inspirations more so than a deep understanding of its lore, but knowing its predecessor exists still matters, because once you hit credits, you may find yourself wanting more.
Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is now available on Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PC using a download code provided by Binary Haze Interactive. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
