On January, 11th 2024, Clear River Games published physical editions of Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights for the Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation 4 for European markets. While the game’s publisher Binary Haze Interactive brought physical releases for both systems back in 2022 in Japan, and Limited Run similarly did the same that year for North American markets, there is now one more affordable and easy to pick up way to purchase the game for fans of physical media.
So what is Ender Lilies? It’s a Japanese dark fantasy “Metroidvania” style action RPG that originally came out in 2021 digitally for PC on Steam, the XBOX ONE and Series X/S, the PS4 and Switch. It was co-developed by independent studios Adglobe and Live Wire, the former responsible for the 2023 strategy RPG Redemption Reapers (also published by Binary Haze) and the latter for 2022’s Harvestella and several ports of popular shooters on modern platforms. The game has been out for a while now and has sold over 1 million units, but is still a game that many fans of Metroidvanias might still be unaware of.
Gameplay and game progression is solid, and a lot of people, including myself, have described the game like a mix of Hollow Knight and Dark Souls. Though Ender Lilies lacks the depth of either of those titles, it makes up for it in its atmosphere and art direction. Featuring hauntingly beautiful graphics and visuals and a simply stunning soundtrack from Japanese indie band Mili, Ender Lilies is a game I think most fans of challenging action adventure titles will adore.
That’s the gist of it, but if you want an in-depth review with minor story spoilers, check out the video review I did earlier this week. I know Bob is a huge fan of Super Metroid, Castlevania: SotN and the games they inspired, so that’s probably why he asked me to post it here–and also because he’s a sweetheart.
