วีดีโอ

I have seen a lot of comments about the difficulty... this game is not hard if you explore and make a simple build. You can do so much damage!

yea the two bosses that gave me the worst trouble were the iron witch and velgrand. the final boss took me about 4 tries as i was doing ending B first then i did ending A on my first try (i didn't know i was doing ending B first and was concerned about how hard ending A would be) i guess my main problem was... i didn't use statues effects lol also for anyone who has beat the game. i recommend looking at the extras tab in a respite, you can unlock fanart, and character explanations, and enemy explanations, this is officially my second favorite game right behind fire emblem sacred stones, and right above fire emblem three houses. oh another thing, im leaving this here i 100% the game before the first patch so i can tell people, when they complain about a boss that has been nerfed being too hard, that i did it pre nerf so they can shut up and play the game lel

I just finished the first ending and have a few things to grab to get the platinum. I don't platinum games I don't love. This was incredible. Wish they would've made some of the upgrades more uniform. Couldn't use the scythe at the end because I haven't found its specific upgrade mat. My only complaint

Hollow knight is my number 1 !!!

Ender Magnolia like Ender Lillies are two of the best MVs. Simply divine!

Haha yeah the rats are OP. Why did they do that 😂😂😂

John Decker is a reference to Michael Moorcock, the first fantasy writer to tie up all his work in a Multiverse with an Eternal Champion. John Daker is the incarnation in "our" world. The most famous and influential one is called Elric. Geralt and Sephiroth are blatant ripoffs of Elric.

Someone said this was 2D Bloodborne, so seeing as Bloodborne is my absolute favorite game of all time (though Nioh 2 is hot on its heels) I gave it a try. It is NOT 2D Bloodborne! It's very much just a different flavor of Castlevania. Great for all the Castlevania fans, but it was not for me. I clocked in a few hours and had to drop it as I genuinely just didn't enjoy it. It had no charm. The combat was... fine I guess? The enemies were dreadfully generic...

Good sir. I have just found your channel per chance. And I am quite distraught to not find salt and sanctuary up on this magnificent tier list. Maybe something for a future episode. Stay well Alex K.

not worth the price tag, here in AUS its like 70 bucks or somethign. rather play 4 indie titles.

i despise the final phase of the final boss and i despised velgrynd. velgrynd made me quit for a day after i beat it. the rest great bosses, i liked the witch, i think declan can also go fuck himself

*Looking for my personal top 2 Metroidvanias, Hollow Knight and Rabi-Ribi, in the tier list.* Not yet, it seems... BUT I KNOW WHERE THAT CLOSING MUSIC IS FROM.

I am currently playing and right now am about to beat the arena boss ... I whole heartedly agree with every point you make ... This is a clear level up from Lillies and I think I want another game from these devs right after I finish this ... maybe a dlc for a change ??

I honestly got sick to my stomach looking at that tier list

It’s actually crazy to me how much I agree with the list, and even blind forest which I expected to disagree with, honestly just spoke facts about my opinions on it when compared to will of the wisps.

I finished the game pre patch and its honestly fine. The enemies with too-much-damage are kinda exaggerated - they only appeared in a few spots and just made those spots a particular hazard. Which made the area with them stand out more. I really liked the dangers. And I'm hardly good at games - I never parried a single time in the game. Can't do it (you can do bosses without it).

Is "Laika: Aged Through Blood" really a MV game and where does it rank in your tier list if it is indeed one?

This is one of the most "polished" Metrodvania I played. From combat to map to boss design to skill variety, everything is refined and polished to maximum compare to their previous game. They simplified the abilities, but in return they make every abilities useful/ good so you have some real choice in combat style. The boss is tough yet there's difficulty toggling so both the Souls game lovers and newbies can enjoy the game equally. It fixes every problem with Lilies' map system and make some of the best map indicator in a Metrodvania, which make the upgrade collecting painless. The map design is good too cuz it branch out just the right amount (not too open or too linear) in each section of the game. Overall this is a great Metrodvania which is both engaging and addicting. My only gripe with the sequel is the story seems to be a lot weaker / less impactful compare to the first game. (A bit too light hearted overall)

For the witch, due to me being on a bit of a parry high, i tried to abuse the electric nados and glacial attacks to send a steady stream of homing bolts at her.

For the rats, use the big drill pressure ability. They wont even get close to u.

I really love the game but, imo magnolia is 2 or 3 times easier than lilies. I only died around 10 times. Shackled beast and pressure abilities destroy the thoughest bosses in seconds 😢

This had one of your best cold opens

It's funny because I think Magnolia's 2nd half is way stronger than it's first half

The Iron Witch (as well as her sword wielding counterpart) is more annoying than difficult. If you don't know to just ignore the heal bot, you can easily get overwhelmed with how much goes on. Trying to dodge bullet hell and giant lightning pillars, while still attacking the boss, is not easy by itself, but if you also focus on killing a summon (that she'll literally just respawn immediately) you'll easily go down in seconds.

The witch is kicking my ass right now

You have some valid complains about the skill needed to progress and i think the last two areas were rushed. The game play is the exactly the same as sotn, ooe, aoe, potr etc.. and i like i could easily clear all the enemies on screen in a few seconds after i max out my character.

I’m really looking forward to this one. I loved, loved Lilies, and was surprised at how much I loved it because at the time it seemed like everywhere I looked people either thought it was just ok or not that great. For me, it felt kind of like Zelda was waking up from her sleep in Zelda 2 and link was helping her; then everyone was helping her! Just the combination of the atmosphere, the 2D combat and platforming, the experience of growth, and the “friends you meet along the way” cemented this experience as a top gaming experience for me. Can’t wait to start Magnolia.

The dual map is absolutely horrible in this game. The inability to keep track of locked doors or where you can't progress between two maps is just an absolute slog.

9:05 thats EXACTLY how i got up there too.

Fantastic job ma man! Keep doing your thingy 🦾 the first game was one of my top Metrovanias, so I’m sure the score you gave to it. It’s super accurate.

January was absolutely packed with metroidvanias! In addition to playing Ender Magnolia and Blade Chimera, which you already reviewed, I also got to play Somber Echoes, Mark of the Deep and just yesterday I started Resetna. Do you plan on covering any of these games as well eventually?

I hard disagree with you telling people not to just go. Level up if the enemy feels too insurmountable, you can always have more levels. More HP means more mistakes and less opportunities for you to get one shot or 2 tapped. I do not agree when people say not to. Level up in a game that has a level up system and wants you To explore and level up

ReSetna?

Hail to you, Metroidvania Guru! Stellar in-depth review, I agree with pretty much everything you said. I just want to mention as a disclaimer, I never toggled the game's customizable difficulty, leaving it at "normal". I also NEVER once used parry, I paid no mind to it, and since the dodge mechanic is so good and useful, its how I overcame most unpleasnt attacks. In my first go in Ender Magnolia, Luiseach the white witch decimated my arse more times than I'd like to admit; and what it was for me, was switching focus from her, to that darn heal-bot she keeps summoning, it was tough for me to focus on wiping it out, while dodging her attacks. Then, No.7 was my next difficulty spike, not because its a hard fight by any means (though there is that ONE attack you have to time to be able to dodge- you know the one), but the fact you had to fight 3 other bosses just to reach it, all on 3 heals. In my first run, I ended up getting ending A, then went for ending B and all was well. Except for one. Room. One unholy room that hates every fiber of your being. A pretentious room of deadly water you have to swim through with not much in the way of strategy other than to have as much max health as possible and the best gear. I had to look up how its done, and even then, its barely doable. I threw the game and decided to start over. In my second run through Ender Magnolia, I found out you can choose between going to the magic district and the arena tower, and this time I took down No.7 on my first attempt, and Luiseach was a pushover- and thats another thing I like about this game; if there's a difficulty spike, you're never really "stuck". Suffice to say, I got both endings again, 100%in the game at Lv70 though I still have a few optional things to unlock in the galleries; since theyre so expensive. Also, once you uncover all of the blueprints, they give you WAY too many purchasable Relic Slots at increasingly more expensive intervals. That said, brilliant game. Bonus points not so much for the main protagonist being able to talk to her Homunculi's, but the Homunculi talking between themselves; its a minor thing, but I wish more game did this, its just such a small attention to detail, I love it. The biggest surprise moment for me, was finding out WHO Magnolia herself is though it is cleverly hinted at. I hope this game will get at least one major DLC down the line, expanding on a few things and maybe the world itself. If/when they make a sequel to this one, hopefully called Ender Trillium (TM), I will be there for it, day one

If I were on the design team I would have said- Don’t give the player the option to zoom out on the map. It’s psychological but as soon as you zoom out you think yeah this map ain’t so big.

I love both of these games so much

I finished this game last week. It was a good time. I thought the graphics in the first game were fine, but I was really struck by the graphic goodness in this one!

update the tier list in description, it's from 2023

where does hollow knight rank in the metriodvania tier list?

6:25 Luiseach was the boss that had me stuck more than any other. Also, I think it's funny how you consider "a couple" tries as being indicative of a tough boss when I died to Luiseach at least 30 times. I finally had to leave the area and come back later, at which point I promptly wrecked her in one go with the benefit of 20 extra levels and whatever else I got in those other areas. So maybe you went the other way first? The only other boss that came close to Luiseach was the factory boss, Velgrynd, though I wasn't too fond of the arena boss, either.

"Have all this work to do... oh Guru just dropped Tier on Bloom in the Mist!"

I'm currently playing it, my next play session I'm going up the first stratum. Took me a while to figure out I could break a wall to the wall climbing boss (big dumb dumb thought I could only break it from the other side), which lead me to a wild goose chase that almost mame me clear the map. I never had a problem with Ender Lilies map, but this one surely is an improvement. Noticing what is and what the game considers a room by the faded outlines probably saved me from searching in that one room you mentioned. Also, yeah, screw those rats.

I'm really average player, but on normal difficulty IMO that witch and final boss weren't too bad, but that Number 7 and those two factory robots were overkill for normal difficulty :D