Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist

The Assassins Creed 2 of video game sequels.

Why

• All the stuff that made Ender Lilies amazing, with the rough edges sanded off
• New setting and new (slightly) less depressing vibes
• Stronger connections to all your summons as characters
• Satisfyingly links the two games in the same universe

Why Not

• Can feel a little too similar to its predecessor, at least when played back to back

Impressions

A fantastic sequel which takes the medieval fantasy foundation of the original and brings it into the steampunk-ish future. The basic gameplay and premise are the same, so if you liked Ender Lilies (and you should) you'll like this. Rather than rehashing all the the things which made me love Ender Lilies from my original review, I'll say they all still apply here and just list the QoL improvements introduced with Magnolia.

• No contact damage!!! It only kinda annoyed me in the original, but I can't imagine going back to having it now
• The map now includes the internal layout of rooms, like platforms and ledges, making it much easier to orient yourself within a room
• Your summons now work just on cooldowns rather than charges, incentivising you to actually use them rather than saving them for after you die
• You can apply challenge modifiers right from the start, without reaching NG+
• Equipment and totems give you ways to change how base mechanics work, e.g. healing or shooting fireballs when you parry
• Less summons mean the game has space to give them their own mini-story arcs
  • But doesn't sacrifice combat variety because each summon has three 'modes' you can unlock, replacing the multiple similar summons from Lilies
• Fast travel from anywhere; since you don't lose progress on death this is just more convenient without making it easier
• The true final boss is much tougher than anything in Lilies, but still mostly fair (the ice shield ended wayyy too many of my runs)

Conclusion

Despite Magnolia being objectively better in every way, I still feel like I preferred Ender Lilies.

That's more down to my preference for fantasy settings and different levels of expectation going in than any failing of Magnolia's though. I didn't have high hopes for Lilies, but coming into Magnolia after loving Lilies, and seeing Magnolia's overwhelmingly positive reviews, I had sky high expectations.

The fact it didn't let me down is pretty incredible, and I have no hesitation is saying this is also a must-play.