Ender Magnolia developers made the game easier: “One soulslike a year is enough!”

On January 23, 2025, Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist, the sequel to the popular 2021 metroidvania Ender Lilies, was released. In an interview with Japanese outlet Famitsu, Binary Haze Interactive head Hiroyuki Kobayashi explained why the team reduced the difficulty

As Kobayashi recalls, during the development of the first game, the studio was inspired by FromSoftware games to create a stylish and moderately challenging project. Although Ender Lilies is often called a “difficult soulslike game”, the developers position it more as an entry point into the metroidvania genre.

During the creation of Ender Magnolia, discussions arose within the team regarding the game's difficulty. Kobayashi admits that he wanted to make the game harder so as not to disappoint fans of the first installment. But the lead programmer suggested a different approach: 

“Why turn everything into a soulslike? One such game a year is enough for players, and it should be a FromSoftware game.” 

This comment forced the team to rethink their vision.

In Early Access, player opinions were split: some praised the easier gameplay, while others complained about the reduced difficulty. To please everyone, the developers added a difficulty selection option to the final release.

Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is already available on Nintendo Switch, PS4/PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.

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Cover art author: Binary Haze Interactive. Cover art source: Steam