Summary
Enotria: The Last Songis the latest Soulslike to join the ever-growing sea of games in the genre, aiming to offer something different from what has come to be expected. Unfortunately, regardless ofhow differentEnotriaattempts to be, those unique characteristics are largely let down by the soulless world that envelops it.
For the most part, gamers have become quite familiar with what to expect from a Soulslike game, as the library of games in the genre has lately been expanding at an accelerated rate. However, this also means they have become accustomed to a certain standard, with FromSoftware leading the way, and anything that falls short of that tends to be given the stiff arm. On paper,Enotria: The Last Songis indeed a Soulslike, but its empty and lifeless world ultimately betrays it.
Why Enotria: The Last Song’s World Feels Empty and Lifeless
Enotria: The Last Song’s Story Is Almost Non-Existent
Soulslike games are known for having cryptic, convoluted narrativesthat are almost impossible to follow and make very little sense, thereby thriving on fan theories and encouraging personal interpretation. As a Soulslike,Enotria: The Last Songis expected to be no different, and, in some ways, it isn’t. However,Enotriaalso seems to take this idea to an extreme, as its story is almost non-existent and hardly evolves from beginning to end. It’s not thatEnotrialacks a narrative of any kind, but that its story is more of a backdrop for its world than it is a vehicle, making it blend in rather than stand out.
Enotria’s story is unique, boasting a plot that is unlike mostSoulslike gamesbefore it. InEnotria: The Last Song, players step into a world held captive by an eternal play called the Canovaccio, where its mask-wearing cast is trapped until the play has concluded. As the Maskless One, players aren’t bound by the Canovaccio and are tasked with defeating the play’s Authors and loosening their hold on the world. While all of this makes for a captivating premise, again, it is merely a backdrop in the game that never evolves as players progress.
Enotria: The Last Song Lacks Memorable NPCs
AlongsideEnotria’s largely absent narrative is a noticeable lack of memorable NPCs. Soulslike games haven’t always been known for their NPCs, as they generally strive to create a world where the player feels they are on their own. In more recent memory, however,the Soulslike genre has seen NPCsappear more frequently, many of them serving to add to the life of the worlds they live in. Unfortunately, most ofEnotria’s NPCs don’t contribute much of anything to the game’s world or its story. Additionally, there are very few NPCs in the game overall.
Players will regularly encounter an NPC by the name of Pulcinella throughoutEnotria’s story, who is somewhat charismatic and serves as a guide, and his frequent appearances help the world to feel a bit more alive than it does otherwise. This is especially noticeable when he can be heard nearby playing his lute, with the sound of his melodies gently fading as players move further away. Despite Pulcinella’s occasional visits, most ofEnotria’s other characters either hardly talk at all or don’t have voiceovers.
Enotria’s improvement roadmap does show plans for more voiceovers to be added to the game in 2025, but some players might find the wait too long.
Unfortunately, such an interesting premise is largely let down by a lifeless world inEnotria: The Last Song. As Jyamma Games has expressed its commitment to improving the game throughEnotria’s improvement roadmap, hopefully, some of those changes will eventually include givingEnotriaa bit more of a soul than it currently has. Unfortunately, that might be too tall an order for a simple patch or two to fix and instead might require a complete overhaul.
Enotria: The Last Song
WHERE TO PLAY
Enotria: The Last Song is an Action RPG SoulsLike set in a fantasy world based off Italian folklore and culture.It aims to take the genre in a new direction, with a vibrant and sun-lit world based off Italian summer where the gameplay allows you to alter the world & enemies in systemic ways.It is defined as a Souls-Like but unlike other souls-likes we are depicting a world based on Italian summer colours, as we call it, ‘‘Summer-Soul’'.The objective is to bring Italian rich past and culture to the fore in a new way that is appealing to the broader public.What we need to convey from the art direction is the colours, vibrancy and general feeling of visiting Italy.Enotria: The Last Song wants to capture the heart & soul of souls-likes fanbase, with rewarding exploration, diverse player builds, varied enemy designs while giving a unique twist.With Ardore, the player always has access to different strategies, allowing them to influence enemies behaviors, dynamically alter the world around them, solve puzzles & harness the very elements of Enotria.
