Enotria: The Last Song Hands-on Preview – A Truly Unique Soulslike Game

Enotria: The Last Song Hands-on Preview - A Truly Unique Soulslike Game

As a long-time fan of Soulslikes, I must admit that my heart skipped a beat when I stumbled upon Enotria: The Last Song. With its intricate skill system and deep level design, it seems like Jyamma Games has truly understood what makes these games tick.


As a passionate gamer, I can’t help but notice the surge of the Soulslike genre, a trend that’s sweeping across the gaming industry. It’s fascinating to see so many games today carrying the torch lit by FromSoftware, either directly echoing their style or subtly being influenced by it. This growth and competition within the genre can only mean one thing: it’s going to get even better!

In the world of Enotria: The Last Song, everything exists within a perpetual performance called Canovaccio, where each character, whether they’re an NPC, a main character, or a boss, is trapped in their assigned roles, creating an unchanging status quo. This Canovaccio serves as the backstory for the protagonist’s repeated resurrections and enemies’ fixed locations. It’s a fresh twist on the narrative, but the goal remains to break free from this Canovaccio. As the Maskless One, players embody the role of change in Enotria, being the only character not confined by a set role, allowing them to determine their own fate. Game Rant recently previewed a demo of Enotria at Gamescom, generating excitement for its upcoming launch in September.

Enotria: The Last Song’s Character Progression and Builds Innovate on the Soulslike Formula

The demo kicked off with a brief walkthrough, familiarizing us with the fundamental aspects of its Soulslike game design. As anticipated, it included essential elements such as dodges, parries, attack combos, stamina management, etc. It all seemed perfectly suited for a Soulslike game, highlighting Jyamma Games’ deep understanding of the genre. The way it innovates within the Soulslike genre is also impressive. Notably, Enotria presents two unique approaches to character progression that differ significantly from most games in this genre: elemental effects and loadout customization.

Elemental effects in this genre aren’t novel, as numerous builds often embody the element they represent. Using spells or enchanted weapons with extra fire or electric damage makes sense. However, Enotria sets a distinct duality for every elemental effect: it both empowers and penalizes the user. This isn’t limited to The Maskless One; even bosses experience this duality. For instance, reaching maximum ‘wine drunk’ status can increase damage output, but also increases susceptibility to damage. This creates a unique balance of advantages and disadvantages in gameplay for those who focus on elements.

In the game “Enotria: The Last Song“, the construction of its world is intricate, brimming with an assortment of spells and weapons typical in this genre. It appears that the game offers a wealth of both build diversity and depth, which are crucial elements for players to fully savor their Soulslike adventure. “Enotria: The Last Song” boasts eight distinct weapon categories, over 120 unique weapons, approximately 45 magical spells at your disposal, and eight variations to customize parrying mechanics. What sets “Enotria” apart from other Soulslike games is the ability for players to carry three separate builds, or loadouts, simultaneously.

Loadouts are not a novelty in gaming, however, they bring something new to the Soulslike genre. While players have undoubtedly honed their character builds or switched them completely when facing specific bosses in Soulslike games, Enotria allows for the simultaneous use of three loadouts, enabling swift changes between them. A developer shared with us that perhaps players prefer one build for dealing with mobs and another for battling bosses, or maybe they enjoy crafting builds in Soulslike games. This feature simplifies these choices while also allowing each build to be more finely tuned.

In essence, players in Enotria have the unique ability to maintain and switch among three distinct character builds simultaneously, a feature that could easily be considered innovative. However, Jyamma Games didn’t settle for just that. They introduced an aspect called Aspects, numbering over 30 in the game. These can be thought of as starting classes in Elden Ring, influencing stats. Unlike Elden Ring, however, these aspects remain significant throughout a player’s progression and even more so when they start tweaking respecs. In Enotria, players can equip Aspects to each build/loadout, with each one altering the base stats of the loadout. We saw some fundamental archetypes during gameplay, but there were also deeper ones that positively or negatively modify skills, enhancing the variety in character builds. This is on top of Enotria’s Path of Innovators, essentially its skill tree, allowing players to assign specific skills to each mask displayed in the loadout screen.

It appears that Soulslike enthusiasts who enjoy fine-tuning their character builds will discover an abundance of such opportunities, and even more, within the game called Enotria.

Enotria: The Last Song’s Level Design is Deep, Almost Literally

During our demonstration, we delved deep into the vibrant world of Enotria, starting from the tutorial zone, gradually progressing through a field, and ultimately reaching the main city, both on its surface and subterranean levels. At one point, we even found ourselves in a region reminiscent of Venice. The game design showcased during our demo was heavily focused on verticality, particularly within the city. Not only was the entire city a playground filled with intense enemy battles, but there were numerous shortcuts and hidden paths leading to dungeons and areas beneath the city.

In the region surrounding Venice, it’s not surprising that there were numerous broken paths and waterways, making for a challenging and imaginative journey for players. Notably, one of the most appealing aspects of Elden Ring lies in its open-world exploration, where players discover more about the world, narrative, history, and battle mechanics concurrently. The layout of Enotria seems to follow this pattern; Jyamma Games has grasped the core concepts of Soulslike game design, even extending it to the environments. Yet, even with these similarities, Enotria manages to infuse its own unique twist into exploration.

In the game of Enotria, there are challenges known as Rifts that enable players to manipulate reality. This involves discovering puzzles which open up new zones or reveal hidden mysteries. Sometimes these rifts transport you to a different location, while other times they grant access to a treasure chest. Additionally, some of these rifts are permanent and give the player the ability to rebuild structures like bridges. This creates an impression that players can have lasting effects on a world that typically follows a predetermined pattern. Although it’s yet to be determined how frequently these Rifts will have such dramatic impacts, they serve as a fantastic addition to Enotria’s gameplay environments.

Enotria: The Last Song Hands-on Preview - A Truly Unique Soulslike Game

Enotria: The Last Song’s Combat Understands Soulslike Gameplay

As a gamer, I can vouch that Enotria grasps the core mechanics of Soulslike build and exploration layout, yet it’s the combat that truly shines. If the combat didn’t measure up to the same standards, it wouldn’t matter much. But rest assured, it does. Whether facing mobs or bosses, it presents every challenge a player would anticipate, and it sure knows how to keep you hooked with that “just one more try” feeling. Combat in Enotria demands strategic thinking; players must discern the patterns and rhythm of each fight, never underestimating even the simplest combat against a mob enemy. In essence, the combat in Enotria is as Soulslike as it gets.

As a passionate gamer, let me tell you, I get what a Souls-like game is all about, and Enotria truly nails it.

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2024-08-29 19:04