With so many great RPG’s hitting the scene lately, last year’s award-winning game Elden Ring feels almost like a distant memory. The Soulslike subgenre hasn’t stopped, however, and nestled in prime real-estate on the PAX show floor was Jyamma Games’ next offering, Enotria: The Last Song. Should this song be added to your Wishlist?
I haven’t been a Soulslike fan for long, but I recently went to town on Elden Ring and completed all of the achievements, with a takeaway that I really like the style of play quite a bit. When I entered the squared-off monitor-lined pen that Enotria inhabited for my demo, I sidled up to someone that was already in the midst of combat and was encouraged by what I saw. Death. Repeated, brutal deaths from multiple opponents. There’s certainly something to be said for games that are too difficult, but I’ve never shied away from a challenge.
Is This Italian Dark Souls?
“This is an Italian take on a Dark Souls game,” David from the marketing team told me, as I was handed an Xbox controller. Built in Unreal Engine 5, Enotria looks beautiful, and unlike the Dark Souls games from which it borrows its inspiration, this single player experience wasn’t very dark at all. “We like to call it a mediterranean, sun-soaked take on the Soulslike genre.” He explained. The game comprises Italian history and Italian folklore with the world based on an actual coast in Italy, which seemed to be the primary defining theme as Jyamma games themselves are an Italian studio, composed of 50 Italian developers.
The entire feel of the game was meant to embody more of that Italian flair, right down to the music and themes, which expel the dark ambience of many of the current Soulslike games, in favor of something more sprightful and upbeat. As a predominantly story-driven game, I wasn’t able to play through much of the story itself, as I was introduced to the world by way of a narrow ridge that opened into a coastal field. There I met my first handful of enemies and proceeded to get demolished by a mixture of ranged and melee opponents.
Once in the area I was targeted rather quickly and I had to dodge and slash through several foes, fiddling with the buttons as I tried to get my bearings. As I started with what appeared to be a rapier, I felt as though the enemies were attacking too quickly, and I couldn’t stop or dispatch them fast enough, until I was introduced to the mask-swapping ability. Enotria employs a mask-swapping feature, and each mask has its own benefits, in addition to changing your loadout to a different set of weapons, talent trees, and armor. I took a quick walk-through of the talent and stat trees as he explained mask swapping.
A Mask For Every Occassion
Upon swapping masks, everything changes, including your stats, like attack power, defense, and so on. New special abilities also became available, and even within a single loadout, you could swap to multiple weapons if you needed to, compounding your combat options further. The premise of swapping masks is imposed as one of the bigger tactical challenges that set Enotria apart from other Soulslike games. Once swapped, I found myself in possession of a great hammer, and within moments I had cleared the entire field as I swatted each enemy to the floor with a mighty blow or two.
As you progress, I was told that you’ll need to tame different masks, and that swapping them will be necessary to succeed in certain battles. I was somewhat disappointed to learn that, at least for the demo, there was no true ranged weaponry, but you could throw items (and have them thrown at you) if you needed to attack at range. Magic, while alive throughout the world, was primarily relegated to charging “magic lines” that charge as you defeat more opponents. The team still believes that there will be more than enough variety, and they give you three different masks that you can swap in battle at any time, so they implore you to customize multiple builds as you see fit.
After I cleared the field, I was nudged to a cliff, where I was met with a short puzzle, where I was tasked with finding a magical key to unveil an invisible bridge so that I was able to cross. Some of the puzzles are required to continue along the story. The entire main storyline should take around 20 hours, but I was told that completing all the side quests in addition to the main storyline should take players between 35 and 45 hours of play.
Shortly after I made my way across the bridge, my demo came to a close, and I was left to be humbled by my poor performance and embarrassing death record. During my 15 minutes of play, I dispatched dozens of enemies and died numerous times, but I had a great time doing it. While it’s hard to live up to the legacy of 2022’s game of the year, Soulslike fans looking for a novel departure in the Souls subgenre will find what they’re looking for in Enotria: The Last Song. Jyamma games exciting RPG can be found on Steam, so if you’re looking for your next challenge, you’ll want to add this one to your Wishlist.
