Video Gamers Podcast - [Deep Dive] Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

Gaming Hosts Ryan and Josh are back with a special guest, and boy do we have a great episode for you! We’re covering the recent release of Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist with a full breakdown of the game, along with a few surprises! Join us we chat gameplay, art style, what makes this video game so special, and give perhaps one of the hottest gaming takes of all time. We break it all down in another awesome video game review episode from your favorite gaming podcast! Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Ol’ Jake, Disratory and Gaius Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Discord: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU12YOMnAQwqFZEdfXv9c3Q   Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Carry the Fire. I'm your host, Lisa Laflamme. Carry the Fire, a podcast by the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation featuring inspiring personal stories about what happens when world-leading doctors, nurses, researchers, and their patients come together to ignite breakthroughs. Carry the Fire launches Monday, January 27th, wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, fellow gamers,

and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. We've said many times that we're huge fans of indie devs and the incredible, artistic, fun indie games they make. And well, it's time to prove it. So we're going to be starting a brand new series where we cover the wide and wonderful world of indie games. That's right, for the next few weeks, or maybe longer, we'll be bringing you a jam-packed third episode each week where we cover all things indie. Game reviews, news, and more. If you're a fan of indie or just more gaming talk in general,

then these episodes are for you. Today, we'll be covering the recent hit release of Ender Magnolias, but first, some introductions are in order. I am your host, Josh, and joining me, the last indie game he played was Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. And when we came up with the idea, he asked if he needed to buy a hat and a whip. It's Ryan. Indie, indie. No. Oh, man.

Ryan's face trying to figure out like, wait, oh, I get it. The whole indie thing. Okay. I get it. Oh, man. It took a second. But, you know. Yeah.

And joining us what he's he's the indie master himself the man with the beating heart of the indie world firmly in the palm of his hand shouting kalima shakti day wait dang it that's the wrong Indy again. The man who has been feverishly trying to get Ryan and I to look at and play Tales of Iron 2, it's the one, the only Ace of Shame. I am going to get you to play Tales of Iron 2. It is happening. I don't care what it takes. I am going to message those devs directly to harass

you into playing i feel like you with tales of iron 2 is like me with remnant 2 where it's just like i'm not gonna let up until you people play this game exactly i mean what more do you want it's got blood gore and rats that's true That's true. That's true. And the ratdom. Exactly. The ratdom. Yeah. Sounds a little bit too like something else that we won't talk about right now. All right. Welcome in everybody to this very special third episode. We hope that you're as excited as we are.

This is something that we have talked about for a while is, you know, we're in an awesome groove. We've got our two main shows, our Monday and Thursday episodes. But it's one of these things where it's like, man, we know that people want more content. You know, what can we give them? And one of the things that we feel like we have been rather negligent on is the world of indie games. Like I know gamers that don't play anything that is not indie. And Ace, I know you're a huge fan of indie games, but you know gamers that don't play anything that is not indie and ace. I know you're a huge fan of indie games, but you also play a lot of mainstream games and stuff as well.

Um, but so this is something that we're very passionate about. We want to bring you as the listener, more content and, you know, in kind of brainstorming that and thinking about that, we thought, dude, let's really dive into the indie world a little bit more. Number one, we have mad respect for indie devs. The passion that they have for games is honestly something that we are absolutely committed to supporting. Some of the best games, some of the most fun games have come from indie devs. There seems to be this kind of loss of what gamers want from the a gaming world. And so indie devs have really just, you know, it's something that we love supporting and we want to talk more about, and that's why we're doing this episode. And then we thought, you know, who can, who can talk about indie games

all day and knows everything that's going on in the indie world. And then, uh, you know, Ace, obviously you came to mind right away on this. Awesome friend of the show. We met you through the show for people that don't know. And I'll be honest, we've become very, very good friends. And here we are. So I know this is one reason we love doing this podcast is the people that we have gotten to meet through this podcast. And not to get sappy, but you were absolutely one of those. And we absolutely consider you a very good friend. So we're thankful for that. And then we're like, well, how can we abuse Ace, man? We want more content. Come on now. Let's put this guy to work. Yeah. So yeah. So for the listeners, this is something we're going to do on a weekly basis.

Try it out. Let us know what you think about it. But yeah, we'll be covering kind of the world of indie games, news, maybe game reviews and stuff like that. So I don't want to speak for you guys, but I know I'm really excited for this, man. For sure. And it's something that's, like you said,

it's kind of a realm that we haven't tapped. Not to say that there's not great things there. It's just something that you don't normally gravitate say that there's not great things there it's it's just something that you don't normally gravitate to unless you're searching it out and to have somebody that's just such an expert and just so well versed in all things indie that that ace is like we're gonna learn along with him or along with uh the audience if you will like so it's

it's gonna be so cool i'm totally stoked for it, and I'm excited to not only learn about these games, but try some that I probably otherwise would not have played. Oh, buddy, get ready to learn some absolute gaming culture. It is coming. Yeah, like Tales of Iron 2.

Exactly. Tales of Iron 2, Whiskers of Winter out in two days. Oh, man. Oh, look at that. So Ace, let's kind of just start off with what is it about indie games that resonates with you so much? I mean, from the time we've known you, you've always been talking about indie titles and things that you're excited for. Famously, Another Crab's Treasure, which was a hit game in 2024. You were the one in our community that was just absolutely going like, I'm shouting this to the world. This is going to be great.

And then the game released and sure enough, it was great. I don't want to give you a big head and say that you're right on these things, but you definitely have your finger on the pole. So what is it about indie games that resonates with you so much? Well, first I want to say you were pretty shellfish

for not picking up another crab's treasure. Despite my insistence, my god and i've heard so many good things it legitimately is one of those games i kind of have fomo on where i'm like dang it i really did miss out on this so i want to know though speaking of like because it's like souls like so does the crab roll does the crab can the crab roll oh yeah okay sushi joke ryan is that a really sushi joke right maybe come on i thought oh no i thought i thought that's i thought that's what we were doing we're just that was the thing you know we're doing horrible jokes it's a shells like game is that really what it says oh kudos oh man that's awesome oh we're starting out so well i love it but uh yeah what really resonates with me with indie games though

is like when you pick up an indie game like you said the triple a it's failing people a lot it's really disappointing people it's obvious that they're just trying to hit a deadline when you pick up an indie game you are holding like the heart and soul of someone in your hand you are holding their dreams and you're yeah you're experiencing like the heart of a gamer right there and it's beautiful yeah i i agree with you it's one of those things where we have as we have seen the failure in a lot of the triple AAA games and seen the success from indie devs and Ryan and I have said this many times on the main show that you know the the future for the indie world looks very very bright oh yeah because as we get into these mega studios like EA and

Blizzard and you know Ubisoft and I think this is a like not to not to pick on Ubisoft again which I know you've been a huge fan of Ace but not I think they lose their way. Legitimately, I think it becomes about profits and money over the passion of games. And with indie devs, the passion of their game is what is going to determine their success. Exactly. on that. And this, again, one of the reasons that we want to start doing this, this show weekly is to really focus on that and support that because they're the ones that are pouring their heart and souls into these games with the hope that people discover it and people have fun with it. And we want to help when we can on that. So, okay. So, I mean, you know, that said, that's the goals of these episodes, right? We want to cover all of the things indie. You know, we will talk about just general gaming, apparently some really bad sushi puns along the way too. But if you are a fan of indie or just gaming in general,

these episodes are absolutely going to be up your alley. And we hope that you look forward to them. And in case you missed it, this is an addition to our normal Mondayay and thursday episodes another one as well another one again again again sorry just yeah cringed no no more no please i hear it in my nightmares yeah we've been playing a lot of rivals again is like something i hear in my nightmares i don't want to hear it anymore the look on both y'all's faces would like your brain process the sound was oh that was so great all right so let's get into this man. Ace,

just for, for people that don't know, um, you two years ago, you gifted me a copy of Ender Lilies quietest of the night, which I knew nothing about. All of a sudden I just get this, you've got a gift. And I'm like, what is this? And I'm like, what's Ender Lilies? What the heck? And then I had that moment where I kind of went, oh man, I can't not play this game. Like it was a gift. What am I going to do? Just throw it back at you and be like, no thanks. And so kudos to you because I did play Ender Lilies. You know, you've kind of forced me or guilted me into it by gifting it to me. You, you mean person, you. And I've said this before, but I am generally not the biggest fan of Metroidvanias. Like, I think there are some fantastic ones.

I think the genre as a whole, I'm kind of put off just a little bit. I do enjoy them from time to time, but it's just not my jam. Like I know Metroidvanias are one of your favorite genres yeah this is where we differ greatly like to me a metroidvania is the heart of video game it is the most pure gaming experience you can have just i mean ryan agrees with you because castlevania what is it symphony of the night right it's one of your all-time favorite games yeah i wish there was a modern way to play through that yeah um so you know so i was kind of i did go into ender lily's kind of like ho-hum but let me give it a shot and i i will say i i didn't finish it surprise surprise everybody but i do i do have a few hours into it and what i remember is like the kind of

atmosphere like mesmerizing is the word that kind of comes to mind for me, where the art style was beautiful. It was this kind of sad, almost like haunting type atmosphere to it. I don't know if you're a ghost or a girl that has ghosts attached to her, but I remember like you, you find these ghosts things that follow you around and help you. I thought it was really weird that she doesn't do a lick of fighting. Like you don't even have like an ability. It's like the ghost things that are following you around. But I do remember thinking like,

wow, this game is very beautiful. It's very well done. There is absolutely something here. Like whoever made this game knew what they were doing. And so like, and then they announced inner Magnolias and you started just again, shouting it to the world and saying, Oh my goodness, guys, I lost my mind.

I was being polite. You did lose your mind. I was so happy, man. Like, Oh, so what is it about this? I'm going to call it a series at this point, but I guess it's the Ender series. Is that the proper term? Okay. So what is it about the Ender series that that you love so much it is easily the atmosphere it builds where you are this lone protagonist in this ruined world it is not a happy story like you are not playing

through the happiest moment here you are in worlds at their darkest hour and you are their last hope and something about that is just so real yeah kind of like hollow knight in a way there's that like hollow knight is not a happy game you know a happy story no no yeah so i don't know what it does any metroidvania i mean ori right because isn't i mean that's sad too mean, that's sad, too. Yeah, that's pretty sad, too. What is it about Metroidvanias that makes everybody sad? I don't think there's a happy Metroidvania. There wouldn't be a bad guy if there was. Is there a happy Metroidvania out there? Nobody can be happy side-scrolling like that, man.

Okay, see, I'm with you, Ryan. Or getting lost in a giant map where you have no idea what you're doing. Or, you know, if you put it down for three hours, you have forgotten what you were doing and where you are. thousand percent that's my biggest gruff with uh metroid venus i still love them but yeah that that whole kind of layout of the maps and the the sequence there is is a little tough but man i'm yeah i'm excited to learn more about this man this is sounding pretty good though i i am excited because i know ace ace you have played this beaten it and hundred percented it if i am correct is that true i've understood both games yeah okay so we ryan

watch out we've got an expert on our hands here he said he's an expert that's why he's here time to get serious man we can we can We can hold up to this, Ryan. It'll be all right. I played one or two Metroidvanias in my time. Back in my day, Metroidvanias had vampires. I had Metroid in the name. There you go. All right.

So, Ace, you've been a fan of this series. And I just, we usually start off these kind of, you know, game deep dives, so to speak, with the, what is the thing? The one thing, and I know this is hard because when I asked you to think about this, you went, come on, man. Like, what is the hook, so to speak? The thing that stands out to you the most

above all else in this game, to give people an idea, when we covered Astro Bot, Ryan and I said, it's the audio. As great as the gameplay and everything in Astro Bot was, the audio in this game is second to none. With Space Marine, it was just the kind of visual grandeur of that game. So every game we feel like has something that is, it's kind of like magic formula or the thing that sets it apart or the thing that your brain just instantly remembers. And I know this is difficult, but for Ender Magnolias,

like what would you say that is? It was the music hands down, man. The music. Oh wow. the music oh wow the music so perfectly complemented the the backgrounds and the characters and just every moment was followed by a track that just fits so perfectly and it was absolutely immersive and beautiful like i can't even describe how wonderful it was it's weird how much um uh music within kind of a game or even like you know a movie cinematics and stuff like that like how much that impacts your perception in in your gameplay like i know um i mean even just with uh like, we just talked about Hollow Knight.

Like, that music is absolutely fantastic. And then something like, not a Metroidvania, but like Skyrim. You know, Elder Scrolls. You're like, that music. When I hear that, I feel. Yeah. And then, yeah, even when, you know, you're exploring and you have that just calm. Do-do-do, do-do-do-do. When you're exploring and you have that just calm, and it's just kind of – it makes you feel more immersed and more part of that world, which is something that's so cool and so hard to do.

And that's why you can watch these clips or watch these gameplays or cinematic clips type things. And without the music, things are so different and so to have such a good track um on a whole game series like that is is something that's big so if that's the biggest part man that's gonna suck in a lot of people to uh just experience that world see like good music in a game uh you don't notice like it's it's not there but great music complements everything you're doing perfectly and it's totally there's not there, but great music compliments everything you're doing perfectly. And it's totally different. There are very few games in life where I have actively sought out the soundtrack for a game. Hollow Knight is one of those games where I have actually

like in the car with my family said, hang on, I want you guys to listen to this, you know? And then them be like, wow, what's, what is this? This is really good. And I'm like, this is, it's the music from hollow night. And then they go like, dad, you're such a nerd. Like you're playing video game music, but it's that good. And so hearing you say that the music for Ender Magnolias is the thing for you, uh, really does get me excited because like you said, it's, it's one of those things where when it's, when it's just just good or it's okay like your brain kind of tunes it out and you kind of go yeah oh it's there but when it is great like i said that sticks with you and then it's almost like it enhances your memory of the game because you start to remember like you know the song from you know hollow nest or the you know or these different stages in a game or something like that as well. So, um, all right. Well, there's a point for, uh, for ACE for getting me hyped for this.

All right. Well, listen, we've got a lot to cover. We're going to get into the, to the nitty gritty on this game and kind of the combat, the graphics, uh, ACE has told us that he has a hot take for us, us, which gets me very curious as well. But we're going to get to all that right after this short break. If you're not quite sure what they look like, therapy can help you identify those qualities so you can embody the green flag energy and find it in others. BetterHelp offers therapy 100% online and sign up only takes a few minutes. Visit betterhelp.com today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com. All right, we're back.

Well, one of the things that we were going to talk about was the music for this game. So, you know, Ace, you said it's the hook. You said it's great. Does this game use music in its kind of standard gameplay? Like, do you get that music that kind of amps up as you have a boss fight? I mean, is it more just that it's beautiful, haunting background music? Does the music in this game accentuate the experience? Give us a little bit deeper on that. It absolutely accentuates the experience. Depending on what areas you're in, if you go into a hellish, terrible area, not only will you have the backing piano and the harsh violin, you'll also have maybe something in the background giving you like deep raspy breaths to accentuate that you are in a bad place oh there's not like there's no happy

place in ender magnolia but like there are safe places so when you're in a safe place like that's when you actually get like backing vocals in the back oh that's kind of cool and that's the only dialogue in the game like everything else is quiet there's no dialogue so the only time you're going to hear voices is if you're hearing the vocals of the music and i i love when and this is the other thing you kind of think these are indie devs right like yeah like where do they find these composers like how do they afford these composers man like i don't know this is something we know very little about as far as like, you know, getting a soundtrack for a game, the OST, the original soundtrack, um, you know, professional musicians ain't cheap, man.

And really good ones that can, that can give you like something memorable like that, that fits your game is, is even harder still. So it really does make me curious where these music composers are and how they go about capturing the emotion and the feel of a game like Intermagnolia, man. So if you're a music developer or a dev that's dealt with one, reach out to us, man. We'd love to hear about it. Honestly, I'm very, very curious about that, that whole kind of development process, especially when it just, it's the hook. Like we talked about Ace, this is the thing, you know what I mean? That like you think about primarily with Ender Magnolia. And so it just, it really kind of gets me curious, but I also love hearing it. Now I'm going to have to go listen to some Ender Magnolia soundtrack.

You're going to have to run the soundtrack. You absolutely should. I encourage everyone in our Discord. I think I posted a playlist with nothing but those songs. Like, do yourself a favor. Put this on in the background. Well, I know if it's anything like Hollow Knight, which I am a huge fan of, that I will absolutely be checking that out.

So, okay, let's move on Ace. You know, another thing with indie games is the, you know, the attention to the graphics or the graphic style I'll say, you know, and I'll preface this with saying like, you know, a lot of indie devs don't have the funds to hire these top tier graphic, you know, designers or artists or something like that, you know, and I admittedly, I don't hide this. I'm a graphic snob. I love cutting edge graphics. I love things that are going to make my eyes bleed and oh my goodness, this looks so good. But at the same time, I love various artistic styles. Ryan, we covered No Rest for the Wicked, which famously you did not like,

but the art style in that game, I think is phenomenal. We have a game South of Midnight coming up, which we'll probably be talking about in our Twig episode this week, because we just got some more information on that at the Xbox reveal there. And so it's like, you know, this kind of this artistic style, I think is a calling card for indie devs almost, where it's like, you know, this kind of this artistic style, I think, is a calling card for indie devs almost where it's like this is a way around the we don't need cutting edge graphics, but we can still make a game beautiful and atmospheric. So overall, what do you think about the graphics in Ender Magnolia? Because I have watched gameplay and having played the first one, I have some thoughts on it as well. But I'm curious what like explain that. Like, what's's the art style what do you think about the graphics as a whole so if inder lilies was more of a a gothic fairy tale storybook aesthetic inder magnolia is

more of a steampunk uh studio ghibli aesthetic oh okay say Okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Say those words again. Steampunk Studio Ghibli. Oh, boy. Ghibli. One more time, Ace. One more time. All right, number one. I love Steampunk stuff.

I'm a big fan of Steampunk. I don't know why. I just think it's a neat mashup of stuff. And then Studio. I say Ghibli. Is it Ghibli? I don't know. I say Ghibli. G i said i would i wanted to get it right so no one made fun of me no that's good well i got it wrong i'm an idiot i say studio ghibli but dude i mean oh my goodness i love studio ghibli movies dude so okay i just needed a minute for my brain to process that awesomeness

so steampunk studio ghibli mashup for Ender Magnolia. Yes. That is what Ender Magnolia is. I may say no more. I'm sold, right? Right there, man. Like if you think of like Studio Ghibli films like Castle in the Sky

or these ones where you see the robots and things like that, it's absolutely like what you're feeling when you're walking through Ender Magnolia, especially because everything is hand-drawn. Like I know it's not feasible for every you know developer indie or otherwise to do hand-drawn graphics but man does it make a difference i'm sure it's gonna give that kind of almost um like we talked about the hook and then what's going to draw people in they obviously don't

have the budget and they don't have the title to make it be a big thing. What is going to be that characteristic that really brings people in? And for the graphics, if they're not as good, it has to have some sort of little bit of hook to it. And to have that look is something that's really unique and something so cool that I love with the – I mean, shoot. I know Josh is a graphics snob, and I'm a little bit too. I love looking at beautiful games, but Lethal Company is one of my most favorite games in the last two, three years. And that looks like it was made on a potato. So graphics do not make a good game.

Like, a fun game makes a fun game. And so, you know, if you can tie it in with amazing music and composition of awesome stuff and then great art style, dude, all the better, man. So, I mean, this sounds cool. You don't need realism to get immersion. Exactly. It is absolutely like, it's that. Like, you don't need realism to get immersion. That's all it is.

Like, it's beautiful. I have said, I think Valheim is one of the most beautiful games that I've ever played. And Valheim looks like it's made in like, you know, 1080 or 480p. It's like, you know, 1080 or 480 P it's like, you know, it's, it's really very low polygon, but the atmosphere in that game and the beauty of the game is second to none. In my opinion, like it really does kind of touch me in, in, in like a way that it's like, how did they do this? Because graphically speaking, this game is not like, it's not graphically intensive, but the world and the way that they incorporate weather and music and just the wind blowing through the grass and stuff like that.

I've always said is absolutely a masterclass in how you make a game beautiful without needing like cutting edge graphics, this hand drawn art style. I absolutely love, like I, I have said this and please, you know, I know there's people out there that are going to gas,

but I'm not a fan of eight bit graphics or six. I don't like pixels, you know, like pixel graphics, Celeste, one of the best platformers ever made. I did not play for years and years and years because every time I went to buy it, I would look at the graphics and I would just go like, I can't do it. I can't do it. I'm sorry. You know? And then I finally did it. And then it's one of the best platformers ever. And it's like, you kind of get past it, but there's something in my brain that just goes pixel graphics,

eh, hand painted, hand drawn graphics. Like, all right. So, so it's, I have seen,

I watched a few reviews and some gameplay stuff. You actually clipped some gameplay of a boss fight that looks pretty crazy that we'll get into here in a little bit as well. But I do, I do have to say as somebody that knows nothing about this game, the art style in it is, is genuinely beautiful. All right,

Ace. Now you said you have a hot take for us and I've been wondering what the heck this hot take is. I've been thinking about it all day long. I've been holding it in. Okay. I could tell because you were like, even when you said, like, I have a hot take, it's like you could see it like bubbling up. And it's like, so this is your chance, buddy.

You know, we won't say that we won't mock you for it. But what is this hot take? Ender Magnolia completely and utterly eclipses hollow night as the best metroidvania we've ever had whoa easily okay wait okay now well let's walk that back just a second that's some big words there brother i told you it was a hot tag, brother. Okay. Okay.

I love hollow night. It's one of the few Metroidvanias that I will actually say, like, I love this game. Now, you know, you say the music's really good check. Okay.

So it's like point for under Magnolia is even though hollow nights music is, is fantastic. I'm having a hard time here, but i'll let you hey at least he's got a sequel below the belt that was savage oh brother goodness gracious hey you know what they got a sequel before hollow night there must be something there man and they came out after hollow night did oh my goodness well we're gonna get gta 7 before hollow night comes out oh my goodness man

okay so now you get me very excited here ace because it's like my brain instantly rails and goes there's no way there's no way. There's no way. But I mean, can you give me the 30-second pitch to what makes it that way? Oh, well, it's easily the map is better. The transversal is better. Just the ways you get around and the ways you can evolve your combat. You're not just stuck with a singular weapon you're able to swap between like nine different spirits and different weapons you can

go from uh a sword a scythe a katana an axe and they all have different move sets and uh as you go through the game you're evolving those move sets to gain even more powers and now you have a gauge that gives you a really strong attack that can stun the boss or something. It's, it's incredible. We're going to get into the gameplay here because honestly, like I said, you can have a beautiful game. You can have the most awesome soundtrack in the world, but if the gameplay is not there, then it's just a walking simulator at that point. Um, and I will say that in watching some of the gameplay for this game, it actually did get me kind of hyped because it looks, yeah, I mean, it looks like it's actually pretty tough.

And I know we're going to talk about some of the difficulty settings here too. So let's, let's go. That's a hot take Ace, but man, you got me curious. Cause I know you don't say that lightly. Yeah, I know. I want to, I want to know now with knowing his love, you know, for all that, like I got to, let's get into it. let's put the cards on the table here i don't mean to interrupt you ryan but let's ace on a scale of one to ten how would you rate hollow knight hollow knight is easily a 9.8 out of 10 okay so you love hollow i love this isn't like you're one of those people that didn't love hollow at all no i just had to get out of the way are we dealing with a crazy person here andrew magnolia is just a 10 out of 10 oh my goodness

easily 100 easily i ace i if there's one thing i've learned it's to trust you when it comes to indie games as much as i don't want to believe you on this one like i i've known we've known you long enough that it's like you don't say these things lightly no um you have you would you have played games that you were excited for didn't you play um uh what's the storybook game that came out recent plucky squire oh you would bring up didn't you so because you were hyped for plucky squire i was excited for plucky squire and then you kind of so your reaction says it all you were like i did not like the squire i'm sorry plucky squire yeah i hated you you were too handholding general takeaway yeah they don't

all hit well they don't all hit that's the that's the one thing with the indie games you know you're gonna get something amazing that you don't expect and uh and it's not gonna be 70 and then some of them you know they're just not, not the ones. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, I'm going to,

I'm going to stew on that. My brain's kind of reeling at me, Ace, but also it's kind of like, you know, you, you know, this guy,

you should trust this guy. So let's get into the game. The shame is on the podcast. We hope you enjoyed this test episode. That's over. Um, all right, well, It's over. All right. Well, let's get into the gameplay. For me, gameplay is paramount to just about anything else.

We play games to have fun. If you have frustrating mechanics in a game, it can absolutely ruin a game for you. I'll take absolute peak gameplay over anything else, even if it means I have to play in 8-bit pixel graphics like Celeste. I've learned it's just gameplay is king, in my opinion. Oh, absolutely. So give me the... For somebody that doesn't know, we've covered that this is a Metroidvania, but can you boil the gameplay down into just a general cliff notes for somebody that knows nothing about this game? What are you doing? what is the actual kind of just in and out minute to minute gameplay? Well, minute to minute gameplay, you're going to be traversing areas with your,

you're not, you don't have weapons in this game. That's the thing with the Ender series. You're not attacking directly. As you mentioned, you have people fighting for you. In the first game, it was spirits that were tied to the white priestess bloodline something like that uh in this one it's things called humunculi which you can sort of control with your mind okay all right okay but you're going to be moving through areas taking out enemies that are going to get tougher and tougher you're going to come across things that you can't quite access yet because you haven't unlocked the ability to do so and then when you get to the end of an area you're going to fight a boss that's probably going to kick your butt five or six times before you get it i like this i like boss fights

they are not easy bosses i i'm gonna put that out there now uh but thankfully this game has a difficulty slider so that's nice yeah okay so which you go. Okay, so... Which is new for a Metroidvania. I was going to say, yeah, difficulty sliders in a Metroidvania, I don't know that anybody's done that. Well, it's not just a difficulty slider either. It has full customizable difficulty. You could turn down the amount of enemy health. You could turn down the amount of enemy damage.

You could turn up XP. You could do all sorts of stuff with it. It's kind of crazy. And it doesn't limit you from the achievements. It's really really weird we're starting to see that a lot more in games i can't remember the game that's coming up that was talking about the customizable difficulty slider oh it's uh is i think it might no it's not path of exile 2 there's i can't remember what it is but yeah somebody was talking about this really robust difficulty slider where there's 10 different things and you can adjust it so that you can cater it to your play style and it's like this seems genius to me man especially like somebody like me that likes a challenge and you know you say you're gonna die to this boss five or six times

like that's a plus to me that's like the oh like okay i want i want to get into these boss fights okay so it i posted i probably died about 50 times. That looked pretty crazy. It was very chaotic, very like phase-based almost. Like it looked like it progressed through phases where that boss just decided they were going to rage out on you and do even more crazy stuff. So, I mean, is it fair to say then that this is your pretty standard Metroidvania as far as like the gameplay elements where, you know, around this map find things that you can access uh you know fight

monsters that are kind of all over the levels get gear i'm assuming you mentioned gear and different weapons and things like that in this game is there the are there like rpg-ish type elements to this yeah where's the loot like you don't have yeah you don't have like man you don't have like weapons but like what what do you what do you get well there is loot there is loot to gather all right there is loot worry not there's loot and secret areas there are three types of loot you can gather you can get relics bracelets and totems and uh relics are going to change up your gameplay and how you can affect things like it'll give you a 10 damage boost when attacking in the air or you take 50 less damage when you're at 25 health or something like that things that help you survive in the world and then you have

your bracelets which are just your straight stat boost like your healing potency your defense stat your health stat they'll boost that kind of stuff and then totems completely change things okay totems can mess with the amount of heals you have or you'll get an insta auto heal if you go below 15 health uh the first time then it burns out and you're screwed but which i found out really quick or so these would be akin to like the amulets in Hollow Knight then? If I remember right, didn't you get the amulets in Hollow Knight? That sounds like what these totems would kind of be equivalent to. I'd say they're close.

I would say they're closer to the relics or closer to that. The totems are a whole new thing. So these are like build defining type things. I mean, you kind of said percentages you're gonna build the totems are actually like these these are going to change like the way you play the game yeah they're going to decide whether you want more heels and less offense or you want to go for three uh special attack gauges and maybe one less heels than you would normally go into a fight with that way you could maybe break the boss's posture bar and get them down even quicker okay so so they're like customizable based on your

kind of play style or how you want to oh yeah you think that's really neat like halfway through the game now does the game reward you with gear like fairly often is it is it one of those things where it's like you know yeah you do get gear but it's you know it's kind of rare so when you do get a piece it's like a big deal or yeah, you do get gear, but it's, you know, it's kind of rare. So when you do get a piece, it's like a big deal. Or is this like a, hey man, like you're getting this at a pretty decent clip and you can kind of pick and choose what you want to use at that point. You're going to be finding stuff like constantly and it's all going to be useful to you at some point or another. You may not keep it on the entire game, but like you're going to be finding relics and secret passages and you're going to be finding health boosts and all sorts of stuff just scattered around waiting for you there is no reason to not complete a room there's always a reward oh so okay this is cool to me because part of a metroidvania is the exploration

aspect right like the oh what's that thing up there i can't get there i don't have double jump yet like i've learned to realize when i need to double jump, but then a lot of games and in this review that I was watching, I saw that kind of charge up dash ability where you can, you know, you can just kind of fly across a level until you hit something, you know? And so there's that I love. So the reason I bring this up is I am a huge, huge fan of progression. I want to feel like I am getting stronger. I want to feel like I'm unlocking new abilities, new skills, new weapons, play styles, that kind of thing. Because that to me is what keeps games fresh. With somebody like me that can barely finish a game because my game ADD just wants to go on to the next thing. If a game has

really good progression, it keeps me invested long enough to kind of see it through to the end. And, you know, I have played enough Metroidvanias to see ones where you don't really get very much progression. And it's more about trying to just work your way through this massive map, you know, but then I've seen other ones where it does give you this, that kind of dangles that care and it really keeps you going. And those are for me or will kind of hook me in so how does this game like fare in that progression sense magnolia is always evolving in the gameplay in the progression like no matter what you're doing you are moving towards your goal but maybe you're also learning some story stuff or you're coming across a side quest or maybe even a character from the past game that somehow is still alive and you don't know that's kind of cool and you know you wouldn't know that unless

you played the first game but you would know because the music kicks in from the first game oh see that's cool throwback too yeah i've seen so actually you know what since we're mentioning that right now this is a perfect place to to kind of segue into that if somebody didn't play ender lilies can they jump into ender magnolia without any kind of detriment absolutely 100 okay so the game stands on its own yeah 100 stands on its own okay i mean you would maybe get like an ooh look moment or two but it's uh it takes place in the same world kind of just several years apart uh but you would not need to have played ender lilies to understand magnolia even slightly okay well that's good that helps i mean i i like when

devs do that because it's like you're really kind of shoehorning things if your sequel is very very tightly tied to the original and i get that sometimes you want that to continue a story or something but at the same time i think it's really smart when you give fan service, like you said, like a piece of music or a character from the first game where if you played the first, that would be a neat moment for you. But if you didn't, like it's not, I don't really know what's going on. Maybe it's lost on me, but it's not like it doesn't interrupt the story or anything either at that point. So Ace, I said in the beginning beginning i'll say it now my biggest problem with metroidvanias is the the map and sometimes just the movement through the map like if you if you you know there's a lot of platform here we go there's a lot of platforming in a metroidvania and if your movement is not good

or your abilities are not good it can feel cl clunky. And when I have to move around this giant map with this clunky movement system, it just gets frustrating to me. So I know that part of exploration in a metroidvania are the skills that you acquire along the way that let you get to these secret areas and stuff. I will say one of the things when I was watching video of this game was that it looked like there were actually some really neat like movement abilities like you get a little glowing spider that's almost like a uh like uh you know the the grapple gun or something like that like a grappling hook there is wall climbing there's the dashing there's the the blast off and shoot over to the other side

of the level so it seems like they really kind of took into account a lot of these aspects on how you actually get around in this world oh yeah easily like uh from the very get-go like not even an hour in you unlock the fast travel so you are fast traveling from anywhere you don't even have to sit at a bench to fast travel you could fast travel from uh just out in the level you decide you don't want to be there anymore go back to the first bench it's fine there's no punishment no anything like that uh and if you hold down the dash button you can mount a wolf and just start running across the level and running into enemies and ignoring them completely oh that's good that the thing is with the with those types of um i know j mentioned like progression, but having the ability to have those different ways to traverse through the areas

and get back to other parts that you may have not been able to achieve prior in the game, early on in the game and stuff. That's one of, for me personally, and I know we talked about it on one of our recent episodes as far as me forgetting I ever played Castlevania and playing it again it's just like those first experiences when you unlock that next thing and you're like oh now i can go back here you know and then you go back and you're so excited like what is in that room that you know is there you see it on the map but you can't get to it then you're able to like there's just something different there that you can't really get in many other games um in metrovania's like just kind of have that on lockdown and and that's really neat to hear like that they not only do that but do it

in kind of a unique way well the other thing is with the uh the map in ender magnolia and ender lilies uh the map is all blue at or it's all gray in this one it's all gray at first and if you complete every objective in a room that room is now blue so you know that you've gotten everything in there you don't have to go back oh that's such a nice touch so i'm not just looking around for something yeah so if there was if there was a door you didn't open room is not done so okay that's nice because yeah i'm i'm a big time i'm a big time like especially on like action rpgs and i'm i'm traveling through and then i'll go off every single path because i don't want to miss anything because i don't want to have to come back and to know like in this in this style

of game like to know okay that section's done check it off the list baby and i can go on to the next area and i'll gotta worry that i missed missed something. Like that's a big draw for me personally. Oh, and it's so satisfying when you start checking off the rooms too. Like you've started completing them. You're just like, oh yeah. Yeah. There we go.

Love it. So does Ender Magnolias do anything? Because my, and this is, I'll say, as much as I love Hollow Knight, I hated the map in Hollow Knight. Having to run for 10 minutes straight to get to a fast travel point to then travel to a fast travel point that, oh, wait, that's not where I meant to go. Oh, maybe it's this one. Nope, nope. It's not that one either.

Where the heck was this fast travel point? Where was that underground swampy, gassy area that I'm trying to find? I can't remember where it is? And so for me, a map can absolutely ruin a Metroidvania for me. I will say we were chatting the other day, Ace, and I asked you if you had played the New Prince of Persia, the Lost Crown one. And because I said this has the best map in any Metroidvania I've ever seen, it lets you take a screenshot and pin it to the map itself so that you can remember what the thing was that you couldn't get to.

Like at one point point there's a chest that's like it's well above double jump range. And I'm like, well, how the heck am I supposed to get up there? And so I just took a screenshot of it, pinned it to the map. And then later on in the game, probably six hours later,

I got the ability that let me get up there, but I could see it. Like I visually could see, oh yeah, that's where that treasure chest is I couldn't get to before. And I have heard good things about the map in Ender Magnolias, but what is it that they do? Is it just a plethora of fast travel points?

Like, is there something that makes it more approachable? It is a sectioned off into each of their, uh, the level sections. Like it says where you're going at the top there. So you, and it also tells you if you've gotten everything in that area at the top that's really a little check mark next to it which is

super cool uh really though there's no way to do that except for to put pins because they did actually include like little map pins you could drop to help remind yourself i don't really struggle with the uh remembering where to go on the map but that's because i played the game for eight straight hours every day. Yeah. So that wasn't something I was thinking about. I'll be real, but you probably did have pictures and I just didn't notice. I thought that was genius for Lost Crown, to be honest with you.

I get that you want these big sprawling worlds for a metroidvania so that you can kind of wander around and explore, but just give me the ability to like, once I've experienced it, just skip over some of wander around and explore, but just give me the ability to, once I've experienced it, just skip over some of that stuff, man, or just have something that says, go to this zone,

or just something. I can't tell you the number of hours I have lost in this life by backtracking somewhere that it was like, it's not there. Oh, wait, maybe it's over here. Nope, it's not over there. Like, what was I doing? I know it was somewhere around here. there oh wait maybe it's over here nope it's not over there like what was

i doing i know it was somewhere around here i just can't find it yes exactly i saw that door where was it yeah oh man yeah more of that please for metroidvania so all right listen we're running low on time um ace you know you mentioned it and i just want to double check this because i was going to get your your rating on this game but like are you truly giving this a 10 out of 10 this is a 10 out of 10 game this is the most pure joy in a gaming experience you can have especially as a metroidvania fan uh it does everything right like there's no glitches no hiccups it's completely finished it's stunning beautiful to listen to and look at. And the combat is ever-evolving.

I didn't even get into the different types of homunculi. I didn't even touch the story. It's so good, man. We didn't want to get into the story for spoilers. It is a new game, so I don't want to really touch it. I know you said the story actually made you emotional. Yeah, a little bit, man. In a way.

Yeah. That's always good, too. It was touching. Well, and what? Maybe something that makes me emotional, and I just want to put it out there. How about a game that just runs well? What kind of world are we living in where that's a perk of a game?

Oh, yeah. No glitcheses and the game runs well like what do you you know what do you you know what world do we live in where that's that's a benefit like oh i bought this car after 5 000 miles it blew up like oh bummer you know that's just happened sometimes no like put these things out have them run well and it sounds like this this hit the mark on that and like that's that's uh depressing that that's like a benefit but it's also good to hear you know and it and it should be an attractive thing for people that are you know looking for a game of this type well especially for indie devs they don't have teams of 100 people doing all this stuff and so

like you said somebody that actually releases a complete game that isn't buggy isn't broken isn't uh hey we'll patch that don't worry day one patch kind of thing you know is is something that should be rewarded uh you know and so if this game sounds like it's up your alley i mean 10 out of 10 is hard to argue with better than hollow knight it is better than hollow knight i will die hard to it's hard to argue with and it's like to argue with. I almost want somebody else to come forward and be like, it is better than Hollow Knight. And then I'll be like, Ace isn't crazy. I mean, I might still be.

Probably still crazy. But if you've played it and you agree or disagree, come let us know. Come to our Discord. Come to our socials. Wherever it is, let us know what you think, yay or nay on on kind of that rating come I'm interested to see for sure I so I do have a question Ryan like with everything that Ace has said does it get you is does it get you curious does it get you going

like dude I might need to check this game out at some point now I'll say that under the preface that we are very close to kingdom come deliverance 2's release which i know we will be playing and covering for the pod which will then lead into avowed but let's just let's just pretend that in march there's nothing there is stuff in march which like i said we'll cover on the twig but let's just pretend you got an open month right right and you're like dude what am i gonna play uh you know marvel rivals yes we're gonna play that but like are you curious at this point like is this a game you like metroidvania is more than me so what's your takeaway from this i would say honestly that is the perfect word is curious i um hearing that one. It runs flawlessly. The, the art style of the,

the hand drawn kind of the look and the way it looks is something that, that is a big draw to me. The music. I am a big on, on video game music. I think that paired with good cinematics or good game gameplay really just draws you into a kind of a separate like almost plane of existence when you're playing like you are you are in that world you are part of that and there's nothing

else going on so anything that can give me that feeling i i have to give it an honest shot and an honest try like so so and and obviously like we said we respect ace's opinion on this stuff like wholeheartedly we know what he thinks about this and with my opinion on metroidvanias and how much i love them it would probably be a crime to not at least try this and the fact that i don't have to go play a whole nother game to try this game is also enticing so um i would say for me personally i it's something that i'm definitely gonna find find not not only um just it happened but i'm gonna actively find a spot to where i can you know make some time to play this game i think i think i have to man heck yeah i will i will say this ace you got me very curious on this you know you've been You've been hounding us about this game for months and months and months now.

That's one word for it. I mean, I do this to people all the time, Remnant too. But it's one of those things where the claim that it's better than Hollow Knight to me really kind of – it's like my brain almost wants to go like, I'll be the judge of that. Prove it. Yeah, no way. I'll be the judge of that. That was my hopeful reaction. For anybody that's out there and again you know ryan and i have not played this ace has

100 of this thing but if you were curious which i was this game has a 95 rating on steam currently and that's with over 6 000 reviews and this game released what three days ago four days ago three or four days ago so in three days it's amassed,000 reviews and it's at a 95%. There's obviously something here. Um, here's the best part about this. It's 2499. Like we talk about games, you know, that leave their mark on you and that are beautiful games that you remember, or, you remember or that are works of art that we want to support. And instantly, I think as gamers, our brains kind of go $60, $70. It's $24.99.

Yeah. I'm kind of with Ryan on this one. I think I need to try this game. I don't, let's be honest, I'm probably not going to beat this game, but I think that just experiencing it is something that is probably on the agenda for us at some point.

Once we kind of get past these, these huge releases that are coming up. Ace, I want to put you on the spot before we close the show. Oh, all right. Knowing what you know about Ender Magnolia and your hype and hopes for tales of iron to the whiskers of winter.

If you could say, Hey, I want you guys to play one of these, which one would you pick? Oh, no. I love it. You can see his face. Oh, man. He's like, I just got done hyping Ender Magnolia for the last hour, but I'm really hyped for Tales of Iron 2.

I really am hyped for Tales of Iron, man. I mean, the time for heroes is over. It's got to be under Magnolia, man. It's not recency bias. I know what everyone's going to be like. It's recency bias. You just played the game. That exists.

That's totally. Good game's a good game, man. I've never played a game like this where I felt like the gameplay was constantly evolving in the exploration as well. Like, usually in a Metroidvania, you're just going across and you know down i felt like i was going everywhere yeah through the water in the air it didn't matter i was going that's awesome that's all right well well i guess if there's one that i'll try it maybe it's this one sorry tales of iron 2 you had your chance i I'm so sorry, Oddbug Studio, please forgive me. Rat Game 2. No. Oh, man. All right. Well, listen, thank you, everybody, for joining

us for this episode. We hope you like this. Listen, we are going to be doing some very, very incredible things with the podcast very soon. We've got some big announcements coming. If you're not part of our community, you'll hear about those on the next episode. But we are absolutely focused and committed to bringing this podcast to the next level and the level above that. We cannot thank you enough for being with us and listening to this show. But if you have enjoyed your time with us so far, let me tell you that I can't, I mean, for Ryan and myself,

we could not be more excited. Ace, I'm gonna speak for you because you've been such a critical part of the community and the show and a good friend. You know what's going on. Oh, yeah. We cannot tell you how excited we are for the future. We have a lot of really incredible things coming. One of those is this third episode per week. You're going to be hearing a lot more from us

and from Ace of Shame in regards to indie games, indie news, and that sort of stuff. So we're very excited about that. But that's not it. I don't want to sound like a game show host, but that's not all, everybody. But wait, there's more. Yeah, exactly. But there is a lot more coming. So, you know, thank you for sticking with us. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you follow the show, uh, open your podcast app, click the plus button, click the follow button. If you haven't left us a review or a five-star rating, please take a second to do that as well. And if you've been a listener for a while, or maybe this is your first time and you're just like, dude, this was great. And you want to support this

podcast. You can do that over at multiplayer squad.com. We give you a lot of perks for that. But yeah, we are very excited for the future ACE. Thank you so much for being willing to do this. Number one, for sharing your passion for indie games with people it's going to be a lot of work but ace is he's on board for that and we're very excited about just really kind of tackling that side of the gaming world in the gaming industry as well so that's it for this episode we'll see you on the next one thank Thank you. Ace until next time. Happy gaming. Come at me.

Hollow Knight fans. Love it. See ya.