When you hear the term Souls-like what comes to mind? Do you think of the popular FromSoftware SoulsBourne games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Demon Souls, and Elden Ring? If not those popular games, do you think of games like Lies of P, Code Vein, Remnant 2, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, or Nioh? The Souls Like genre is typically defined by difficult enemies, challenging bosses, experience drops and retrievals upon death, and typically darker environments. So what happens when a developer looks to break the mold and create a more colorful and welcoming Souls-Like experience? The result of that is games like Phantom Blade 0, Seikero: Shadows Die Twice, and now Enotria: The Last Song.
Developer: Jyamma Games
Publisher: Jyamma Games
Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic), and PlayStation 5. (Xbox Series X/S delayed)
Release Date: September 16th, 2024
Players: 1
Price: Base: $49.99 USD
When first booting up Enotria: The Last Song, players are asked whether they want to play the game in Story Mode or Souls-Like Mode. Upon selecting the game mode, the player is taken through the tutorial and taught the basic controls of the game. Unlike other Souls-like, countering has a more significant role and can be the deciding factor when surrounded by enemies or fighting a difficult boss. Upon finishing the tutorial, the player is welcomed to the world by a beautiful field of sunflowers.
Rather than a dark and gloomy setting, the world is full of vibrant colors, natural enemies, and warm music and soliloquies. Enemies within the game may not look threatening but letting your guard down can easily result in your death. Whether you are playing in Story Mode or Souls-Like mode, enemies within the game can kill you; in Souls-like mode the enemies hit harder and you have to be more conscious of your decisions.
Enotria: The Last Song has two key focuses showing off the game’s varying difficulty and the mask-swapping option. In Story Mode, the game will guide you a bit into which direction you will need to go; items that you find within each area also seem to be more abundant. In Souls-Like mode, you will get more of a challenge like you are accustomed to. Bosses will seem like gods at times until you learn their movement set. With story mode, you can tank the boss’s attacks somewhat without the fear of death breathing down your shoulders.
Playing through Enotria: The Last Song felt refreshing after constantly seeing a similar style of game for the last decade. Rather than feeling like a clone of something that was popular, it felt like the developers took aspects from each that they loved and utilized those mechanics in a fun and thoughtful way. The way to destroy certain objects did take a bit to get used to, however, these destructible objects weren’t always necessary in order to progress.
Boss fights within Enotria: The Last Song were invigorating with no boss fight feeling identical to another one. Each fight had its own little gimmick and something to watch out for, but none overlapped. Even when you thought the fight was done, something could change and the fight would be kicked up to the next level. Even smaller bosses could provide a surprising challenge, using abilities to poison, summon allies, or heal themselves.
Big boss fights are not all that the game has to offer. Players can fight smaller bosses that can grant masks, important items such as weapons and souls, and even helpful stat items. The game also offers optional fights through Dark Rifts that can be normal enemies to challenging variations of prior bosses. Sometimes, the game does force the player to use the Dark Rifts to progress, but those fights typically only summon lesser enemy types.
Unlike other Souls-Like, Enotria: The Last Song utilizes a multi-class system in which the player can swap up their fighting style by changing masks. The only other game similar to that is Deathbound which also swaps the classes but takes away from the health pool of another when fighting. Switching between masks will not require you to manage your health like Deathbound and each mask gives you special stats and abilities. Some masks can detract from stats while boosting other stats. Want to change your fighting style, switch your mask.
For fans of customizing their experience, players can edit the layout of controls to meet their needs whether using a controller or keyboard and mouse. The interact command does have some issues when Auto Loot is on. Players can adjust the visual experience by altering the colorblind settings, anti-aliasing, light quality, shadow quality, and the quality of other art within the game. Objects on the map can be difficult to see when on a lighter portion. The game features twelve text languages and three audio languages (English, Italian, and Japanese).
When taking a deep look at Enotria: The Last Song the gameplay itself is fairly solid, the leveling system and mask change system give the game an element that no other soul-like game can match. The boss fights all have unique combat mechanics that are invigorating but challenging. The option to play either in Souls Mode or Story Mode gives players a chance to experience the game without the frustration of difficult combat. Finally, the level design and artistic style make the game stand out.
The ability to change the game’s visual settings and control layout is a benefit that many gamers can only dream of. Although there are a lot of positives, the game does suffer from stuttering visuals and bad interactions with objects. Unlike most other Souls-like games, Enotria: The Last Song does not offer a co-op gameplay experience at this time.
So if you are looking for a different kind of Souls-like experience then it is worth picking up Enotria: The Last Song. If you are just looking for a new action-adventure game to check out then you might want to consider something else. Maybe once the game is released on the Xbox Series X, it will be more stable.
Enotria: The Last Song Review was reviewed on PC using a copy provided by Jyamma Games. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Enotria: The Last Song is now available on PC (Steam, Epic) and The PlayStation 5. The Xbox Series X/S versions of the game have yet to be released.
