PS Plus brings over 3000% more players to underloved PS4 soulslike

Ender Lilies' PS Plus player count exploded by over 3000% after the PS4 soulslike was listed among the monthly PS Plus games for August 2024.

Lee Brady

Published 13 Aug 2024

The Ender Lilies Quietus of the Knights trophies were made available along with the monthly PlayStation Plus August 2024 games, and since then the PS4 game has seen a massive 3000% player count boost. As the least recognizable IP among this month's PS Plus games, curiosity is likely the biggest driving factor behind Ender Lilies' PS Plus player count increase.

Ender Lilies' PS Plus player count beats out Five Nights at Freddy's

Ender Lilies Quietus of the Knights gained a 3200% player boost after joining PS Plus in August 2024
The PS4 soulslike hasn't ranked among the top 500 most-popular PS5 and PS4 games in at least two years
Ender Lilies saw more attention than the better-established PS Plus game Five Nights at Freddy's Security Breach this month

Using a gameplay data sample from over 3.1 million active PSN accounts (courtesy of our partnership with GameInsights, which draws most of its PSN data from sources beyond TrueTrophies), we tracked the PS Plus debut of Ender Lilies, which arrived on PS Plus alongside Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga and Five Nights at Freddy's Security Breach.

With big franchises like Lego, Star Wars, and Five Nights at Freddy's in the mix, you might expect Ender Lilies to be somewhat overlooked among this month's PS Plus lineup. However, thanks to its incredible PS Plus player count increase of at least 3235%, Ender Lilies saw 23.68% more player attention than the Five Nights at Freddy's game this month.

Note that the player count increase here is "at least" 3235% — in reality, the exact increase percentage for Ender Lilies is even higher. Our exclusive data is limited to the top 500 most-played games on PS5 and PS4 in any one week — a chart that Ender Lilies hasn't graced once in the last two years. So, we've used the lowest player count available from last week to find the minimum player count increase experienced by the game's PS Plus debut.

Top PS Plus Essential games of 2024 so far

#1 — EA Sports FC 24 (May 2024)
#2 — Sifu (March 2024)
#3 — Evil West (January 2024)
#4 — Foamstars (February 2024)
#5 — LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga (August 2024)
#6 — Among Us (July 2024)
#7 — Tunic (May 2024)
#8 — Ender Lilies Quietus of the Knights (August 2024)
#9 — F1 23 (March 2024)
#10 — Streets of Rage 4 (June 2024)

Yet, despite the game's relative lack of popularity — or perhaps because most PS Plus subscribers don't immediately recognize the game — Ender Lilies has blasted its way into the top 10 PS Plus biggest games of 2024 so far. The game's PS Plus debut has outranked the likes of F1 23, Immortals of Aveum, or EA Sports NHL 24 this year, and we have to presume curiosity in the PS4 soulslike is the biggest factor here.

Granted, soulslikes are very much in vogue on PS5 and PS4, so it's possible subscribers have also been craving a little more action from their PS Plus games. The enduring popularity of titles like Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree and Rise of the Ronin this year, along with other hard action games like Stellar Blade and Dragon's Dogma 2, suggests that there's a hunger for games exactly like the challenging Ender Lilies.

That said, it's still very impressive that so many PS Plus subscribers have shown up for this relatively underloved soulslike game. Have you had a chance to play Ender Lilies yet? Would you rank it as one of the best PS Plus games this year? Or is it not quite your type of game? Let us know in the comments below.

Chart compiled using gameplay data from over 3.1 million active PlayStation accounts (not just TrueTrophies accounts). Chart information is copyright GameInsights. Regarding this data:

When an account opens a game, this is registered as a game being played. Accounts can only register a game once per week.
Our data is good for suggesting general trends — we represent this using percentages, not numbers.

More ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights stories:

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Written by Lee Brady

Staff Writer Lee keeps one eye on the future (Astro Bot), one eye on the past (PS1, PS2, and PS3 games), and his secret third eye on junk he really likes (Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Sonic). A PlayStation fan for over 25 years, he loves replaying classic games via PS Plus.