With 30 years of experience as a player, I can only say one thing. There are games that you just play and that's it, but there are also games that you don't just play because you literally experience them with your whole being and they can completely shake your emotions to such an extent that after finishing such a game you have to take a break because the shock is so great, that you just need to calm down.

Importantly, such games also have the rare feature of triggering a kind of self-reflection in us because we start to think about what we have just experienced and start to analyze it within ourselves. This is not the end, because at the same time we often experience a very strong identification with the main protagonist, as strong as if the hero were us and we were him. That's why we are able to feel him and what he / she feels so well. We feel his / her uncertainty, fear, doubt, pain, suffering or joy and pleasure.

The whole experience is truly fascinating and I could easily write a book about this typical psychological analysis, and probably if I had more knowledge on this subject and time, I would do so, but unfortunately I don't have them. When you reach this part of the text, you probably start wondering what the hell he's writing about, he's crazy, he took some medicine and he's slightly insane, but it's not any of that. Therefore, I will get to the heart of the matter, I am writing about 3 games, the first one is "ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights", the second one is "Ori and the Will of the Wisps" and the third one is "Alice: Madness Returns".

Now you're probably starting to wonder why I listed these particular games. I chose them because they are games that the player not only plays but also experiences with his whole being, because they are different, they are not ordinary games that you just have to buy, complete and forget about it. In the case of these titles, whether you like it or not, you will be completely consumed by them and you will experience them on a completely different and much higher level than regular games. Of course, there will definitely be a group of players here who don't give a damn about this entire game and just want to complete it quickly and forget about it and move on to the next one. However, I am not mentioning this group here because it is a different matter and I am not going to write about it.

Even though ENDER LILIES and Ori are typically 2D platform games, and Alice: Madness Returns is not, there are some similarities in many aspects, especially in how strong and extreme they can evoke feelings in the player and the plot itself and the events we experience are not simple and pleasant because they are rather sad and complicated.

An important element in building the entire experience is, above all, music and graphics and how they show given events. First of all, colors are important here, which play a huge role in building the atmosphere of the entire world and what it looks like. However, the music itself enhances these experiences because it intensifies the feelings related to what is happening in the game at a given moment.

The music and graphics in these three titles are at the absolute highest level, and I don't mean that it's so beautiful because it's full 4k and so on, on the contrary, the visuals are appropriately suited to the production and it may not be "4k", but it's just beautiful anyway and perfectly creates the atmosphere of the whole thing along with the music, which is beautiful.

As for the mechanics of character movement, in ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights it is well done and I think there is nothing to complain about here. The character is responsive and moves well, although at the beginning we do not have all the skills related to movement, which can sometimes make it difficult to move, or we do not have access to all areas of the map, but over time we will unlock them and the problem disappears.

The fight is also done well, protagonist itself doesn’t fight directly but uses something like the spirits of old warriors to fight for her, of course we can choose which warriors we want because we have a lot of them, and thanks to this we can change our fighting style to any one we want, so I think It turns out that this is a good solution in this case.

ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Alice: Madness Returns are not just games because they are pure, unique and very deep experiences that the player can experience if they decide to play them. And most importantly, the shock and reflections these games will evoke in player will be unique. Let me put this way the games like these are not produced anymore. Sometimes you can find another one, but it's really rare.

I would love to see more such productions, but whether I will actually be able to see them is a big unknown and I am rather afraid, looking at the current gaming industry, that I probably won't be able to see games like these in the near future, which is a pity. because they are truly one of a kind but there is always still hope that something might still appear and I want to believe in it.


This game is a masterpiece.

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10 / 10
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I hope you enjoy reading
and I wish you all the best.

Dark ☠ Emissary ☠

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The game feels a bit slow but it all builds up really satisfying by the end

This game has possibly the worst designed metroidvania levels I've ever played. With absolutely no sence of direction or progression, I spent 3 hours searching for the second boss of this game, fighting the same 4 enemy types again and again and again and again and again and again, and walking past dozens of secrets I could NOT open because I had no abilities at all... Every level feels like a maze of similar looking tiles with no direction and no purpose, every room has 3 exists that lead to another room with 3 exits and another and another and another... Having no in-room maps does not help either, because some "rooms" can have several full screens of content, while other fit on one screen...

Nice artstyle, horrible gamedesign.