9/10

TLDR:
Ender Lillies: An interesting and unique Metroidvania with a macabre beauty that manages to be as fun as it is difficult.

Story: Ender Lillies is about a kingdom plagued by a mysterious blight that corrupts everything it comes in contact with. In this dreary hellscape awakens a little girl who has the ability to purify the contaminated zombies that roam the ruins. On her quest to restore the corrupted she's guarded by the spirit of the Umbral knight who was sworn to protect her even in death.

The story in this game is one of my favorite things about this game. The premise is interesting and unique. The pieces of information gathered in the game weaves a tragic tale about a girl burdened to restore a kingdom from the blight that plagues the land. This concept is unique and I found myself very interested in this world of ruin and the young priestess who has to save it.

Characters: The main character in this game is the priestess Lilly. A young girl who awakens to find herself in a ruined kingdom corrupted by a mysterious blight that decays everything it comes in contact with. On her journey she's protected by the spirit of a fallen knight called the Umbral knight. As you progress through the game and defeat and purify the bosses they'll join your party and they'll use their unique abillies to help our young protagonist on her journey. Each boss you face has their own story, personality and ability to offer Lilly on her quest.

gameplay: The game play is exactly what you need from a well executed Metroidvania style game. This game is a "souls like" and it is difficult. That is something to take into consideration if you're considering buying. Most bosses will take multiple attempts and you will die a lot throughout your journey. One boss in particular is very very hard to beat. With the games difficulty the controls are fluid and snappy. So the challenge is fair and you won't have to worry about broken mechanics being the reason for in game deaths.

The interesting and unique thing about this game in particular is that our heroine is completely defenseless and it is actually the spirits of blighted warriors who do the attacking. When you swing your sword it's not Lilly who swings the sword it's the spirit of the umbral knight that instantly manifests and swings in her defense. Each ability and attack you get in this game is executed by a purified spirit of a corrupted warrior. It's a really cool game mechanic and it's fun to see how each purified spirit contributes to your arsenal. The one thing I wish they'd do differently is make it so you can have more than 2 sets of 3 spirits to swap between while you play. A lot of abilities get neglected because you only can have 6 of any given spirit in your party at any given time. having one or two more sets to swap between would make a world of difference in this game.

Music: The music is for the most part is good but it doesn't generally stand out. However there is one track in this game that really leaves an impression on you. The track is called "Harmonious" which is a somber slow song featuring a harp and a girl singing in harmony to it. The track reminds me of the song "Merry go round of life" from the anime Howls moving castle. They have a similar progression though this song is a lot more dreary and a lot less whimsicle. The song really sets the mood and is excellent. It really stands out in a mostly forgettable ost.

Visual: This game has a really beautiful and haunting art style. Everything is decaying and in ruin but there is an ethereal beauty to the setting. There are some areas in the game that are very striking and pretty and the atmosphere in this game is supurb. Each area has a lot to offer visually and even when its grim it's visually pleasing to the eye.

Final thought: This may not be the best metroidvania on the market but it does have a lot of offer. The game is engaging and if you can manage the difficult nature of the game it is a really great gaming experience. It takes about 40 hours to beat if you're shooting for 100% on the achievements. There are multiple endings and you don't need to restart the game to get each one. If you like metroidvania style games and you're into something a little more macabre than this is definitely one to play. I really enjoyed myself and I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind a little bit of a challenge.

I give this game a 9/10

8/10

Wargroove is Advance Wars in a Fantasy setting.

The intro animation is in a neat retro anime style which is a nice surprise because I tend to prefer how anime looks in the 80s and early 90s.

The Story: The story is about a warrior princess becoming Queen after her father is assassinated. She goes on a quest that will lead her to a final confrontation involving a weapon of unimaginable power. It's not a bad story but it isn't anything overly exceptional either. A small thing that I didn't like is the silly names that are used in the game like the Kingdom of Cherrystone. It comes off as if it was written by a 12-year-old but it's a small gripe and overall it's not a bad story to go with the real important part... The game itself

Characters: The characters are for the most part likable and each has their own unique abilities. You will find which ones are your favorites to play and it's fun experimenting with their hero powers giving the game a little bit of variety. One of the playable commanders is a Doggo. They're cute and quirky and they reflect the pg nature of the story.

Gameplay: The gameplay here is essentially Advance wars. You take control of a Hero character that fights on the battle. They're given a special ability and have increased strength instead of a powerful global ability that you'd have in the Advance wars series. Outside that, units can be purchased through a barracks and you gain gold by capturing towns. The towns work a little differently in this game than in Advance wars. instead of healing a unit one health at a time like on AW the town itself has a 10-point health meter and you can use the town's health to heal one of your weakened units. This makes destroying a town and capturing it easier but in turn, makes keeping and defending them a little harder. All in all the game play is very fun and if you enjoy Advance wars this is a perfect alternative to play while waiting for Nintendo to release the game from the Delay.

All in all, this is a solid game with very little to complain about. There is plenty of content to play here and there are lots of goodies to unlock by trying different play modes. I totally recommend this to anyone who likes turn-based strategy games especially if you like the Advance wars series.

8/10