LogFAQs > #965978723

Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights

this is an example of a game that sticks very close to the Castlevania formula but manages to elevate itself by doing basically everything very well

from the start, this game has great presentation and environmental design. The character movement feels good to play as, and the world quickly opens up to give you a ton to explore.

this game has a leveling system much like castlevania, so while combat starts out pretty difficult, its not hard to level up and overcome challenges (without trivializing things). The game also has a ton of combat optionsall of your attacks take the form of summoning a familiar to do some attack, and most of not all major enemies have a mini-boss version somewhere in the world to unlock that enemys attack

Main boss fights are also fun and varied (and challenging), and the game encourages you to experiment with different attacks to properly deal with them. One issue I had with this was weapons had to set at save points, which imo makes experimenting more of a pain than the game obviously wants it to be.

each area of the map feels distinct, with a good variety of level gimmicks and enemies, and each new power up makes it worth re-exploring previous areas and finding new treasures and weapons. I do think this game could have benefitted with a little bit more direction, as there were multiple times where I got a new power up then had no idea which way I was supposed to gothe game lets you get fairly far into certain areas until gating you which I found confusing at times

but gameplay stays rock-solid from beginning to end, bosses and enemies stay exciting and challenging, and the minimalist story nonetheless felt engaging the whole time. This was truly a great game

9/10