Enotria: The Last Song’s Invisible Walls Channel Black Myth: Wukong

by

Enotria: The Last Song's Invisible Walls Channel Black Myth: Wukong

Key Takeaways

  • Black Myth: Wukong plays like a Soulslike without being one, while Enotria: The Last Song is technically a Soulslike.
  • Enotria: The Last Song doubles down on invisible walls, which were also abundant in Black Myth: Wukong.
  • Enotria uses invisible walls to trap players in boss battles, breaking immersion.

As a hardcore gamer who’s spent countless hours honing my skills in Soulslike games and exploring vast open worlds, I can’t help but feel a sense of deja vu when it comes to the latest releases – Black Myth: Wukong and Enotria: The Last Song. Both have their unique charm, yet they share an unfortunate design choice that has left me feeling somewhat trapped.

While Black Myph: Wukong may not be classified as a Soulslike game, its tough boss battles and challenging nature make it feel very similar. On the other hand, Enotria: The Last Song is an authentic Soulslike experience with demanding combat and harsh mechanics to match. However, sadly, these two games share a connection in their difficulty levels.

Black Myth: Wukong is unquestionably one of the most anticipated games of 2024, currently boasting an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on Steam with over 300,000 reviews. Yet, it’s far from flawless, and Enotria: The Last Song has decided to focus on rectifying one of its weaknesses.

Enotria: The Last Song Doubles Down on Black Myth: Wukong’s Invisible Walls

Black Myth: Wukong Is Littered With Immersion-Breaking Invisible Walls

In the gaming world of 2024, Black Myth: Wukong could potentially be one of the most successful games. However, it’s often criticized for its use of numerous unseen barriers, or ‘invisible walls.’ To put it simply, this game, with its vast, open environments, seems to have more of these invisible obstacles than many games from the past ten years. Players, as they traverse Black Myth: Wukong‘s world, often find themselves in areas that seem passable, only to discover later that they’ve stumbled upon blocked-off sections. These aren’t barriers created by natural or man-made structures, but rather invisible ones that players can’t see. This not only disrupts the immersive experience for players but also wastes some of the game’s stunning visuals.

In contemporary video games, using “invisible walls” as a design element, unless it’s intended as a joke or Easter egg, can be an unfortunate choice, considering the advanced technology and skill sets prevalent in game development today. However, this isn’t the case with Black Myth: Wukong, which has managed to thrive despite its design choices. Regrettably, Enotria: The Last Song appears to have adopted the use of invisible walls, a trend that, if it continues, could be concerning for the industry.

Enotria: The Last Song Uses Invisible Walls to Limit Exploration and Box Players In

Similar to how Black Myth: Wukong incorporates invisible boundaries for exploration, Enotria: The Last Song also employs these limitations in its Dark Souls-inspired universe. However, the area you can traverse in Enotria is significantly smaller compared to Black Myth: Wukong. This might make the use of invisible walls in the latter game more justifiable. Nevertheless, there’s still a scarcity of space in Enotria that supports their implementation. The challenge lies less in encountering invisible walls while exploring Enotria as opposed to Black Myth: Wukong because Enotria’s level design utilizes verticality to expand its map boundaries, thus requiring fewer invisible walls.

Just as jarring in Enotria as it is in Black Myth: Wukong, the experience remains disrupted by the presence of an invisible barrier.

Unlike the game “Black Myth: Wukong”, “Enotria” employs semi-transparent walls that can entrap players during boss battles, including optional ones. In Soulslike games, players usually have the option to avoid optional bosses if they prefer. However, in “Enotria”, these bosses cannot be avoided, and players must fight and defeat them to keep the Memoria they’ve earned. These walls are hard to spot from a distance but become visible when players run into them, thus disrupting any immersion built up until that point. This design decision is regrettable, and it appears that there are no plans to modify this aspect of the game as per “Enotria”‘s update roadmap, so players will likely have to contend with these walls for the time being.

Read More

2024-09-25 14:35