Recent reviews by Breathless

I wasn't really feeling the game on the Steam Deck so I decided to try it on my PC and it quickly grew on me. After beating it and getting all the achievements, I feel that ENDER LILIES is not as fun as other more popular metroidvanias, but I still recommend it for its price point.

One of the biggest problems in my opinion is that it lacks impact. Enemies often feel like damage sponges that don't react to your attacks and bosses aren't that special either, with some mini bosses dying faster than regular enemies. The combat isn't bad but It just didn't feel very satisfying, maybe because of the (lack of) sound effects or the constant chill piano vibes.

Speaking of which, what clearly carries the game is the beautiful soundtrack by Mili and the stunning visuals, although enemies felt too samey at times because of the art style, the limited color palette and the fact that they're all blighted.

Another positive is the amount of different weapons and abilities you can equip, but this is hindered by the limited amount of the currencies used to upgrade them. Even after beating the game, you won't have enough to maximize everything. You can farm the currencies from breakable objects like barrels and boxes but it's better to just replay the game on NG+ if you really want this (you probably won't).

The difficulty was good enough, with a few spikes that didn't feel frustrating. There's almost no platforming besides a few very short optional sessions at the end. The hidden passages are also not that hard to find and felt satisfying with valuable rewards. The balance is a bit all over the place but that's expected when you have too many build options. The game will feel easier or harder depending on your setup versus the enemies you are facing.

The story is also really interesting but you only get pieces of it through notes, short dialogs and cutscenes, so I felt the need to revisit them to piece the info together. It's nothing groundbreaking nor innovative but it's still executed better than most games of the genre.

Lastly, one of the things I most liked was that the game respects our time. Straightforward progression, no grind, no penalty for dying, fast travel unlocked in the beginning, cleared rooms have a different color in the map and the achievements are all easily obtainable without guides. It only lacks the option to mark things on the map to backtrack to once you unlock an upgrade, but most areas are quick and easy to traverse, and there are numerous save points you can fast travel to. There's even an option on the menu to go back to the last point you saved in, so there's no need to quit to the main menu like in other games.

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Great game, great devs, great update.

It's so addictive that it ends up running out of content a bit too soon. Definitely worth the price though.

Had to uninstall after playing 70 hours in one week.

I like rhythm games, despite not being good at them, and RPG is one of my favorite genres so of course I had to try this. It took me maybe 10 years to do it but still, it was a pleasant surprise. I loved some of the ideas, especially how the combat works, with the three different panels. The story is interesting as well, and the ending was good. The achievements are also quite fair and fun, if a bit grindy. The only thing I didn't like that much was most of the dialog, although a few lines made me chuckle. Overall, I'd say It's an unique indie gem from 2011 that held up pretty well.

It's just the mobile game with a few problems. No way to check the news tab. Can't even choose the decks properly if you have too many created. The prices of the paid stuff are also more expensive than the Android ones, at least in BRL.

I still recommend it because the game is really fun and addictive. It embraces randomness in an interesting way with short matches with somewhat nothing to lose. There's not even statistics or match history. You can just flee from a bad game and start another one in literally less than a minute. When your strategy works, it's pretty satisfying, which makes for an endless "one more" cycle. Good game.

I wasn't feeling it at first but it gets way more interesting after the Shrine is unlocked. Aside from the controls, everything is great, especially the soundtrack, storytelling and weapon variety.

Great AA Souls-like game. Played it right after spending 200h+ on Elden Ring and it still felt fresh and fun. Loved the visuals and most of the systems. The combat felt weird at first, but I managed to parry quite consistently after some practice even though I'm usually bad at it. Since parrying is one of the few ways of recovering HP, I felt forced to learn some of the timings which led to some really satisfying moments. Still hard, though.

That said, the game is definitely flawed with bugs, weird design choices, confusing levels and, my biggest gripe, bad optimization. It runs beautifully but at the cost of our hardware lifespan lol Got lower temperatures on Elden Ring with everything on Ultra than when playing this game. Monitoring the heat and tweaking with the graphics options took a bit of the enjoyment away and made me worry a bit but I was too hooked to quit lol

I might play again in the future to try the rogue-like mode and some different builds.

Astounding amount of content. I was amused from minute 1 to hour 215, when I finally got the last achievement. It was a fantastic journey, well worth the price.