Enotria: The Last Song Breaks the Soulslike Mold with Italian Flair

When it comes to FromSoftware’s various Souls games, one will find that a persistent formula does exist somewhat, which is why it has become its own subgenre within the industry. For those who are familiar with Soulslikes, here’s a game that aims to break away from the norm.

Enotria: The Last Song is an upcoming Soulslike set in a fantasy world based on Italian folklore and culture. It aims to take the genre in a new direction, with a vibrant and sun-lit world inspired by Italian summers and an expressive battle system.

The game is being developed by Jyamma Games, a Milan-based independent game development studio founded in 2019. The main objective of the development team for this upcoming game is to bring Italy’s rich past and culture to the forefront in a whole new way.

Like a summer vacation where there are enemies out to destroy you, the colors, vibrancy and general feeling of Enotria: The Last Song evoke the sensation of visiting Italy. At Tokyo Game Show, IGN Southeast Asia managed to speak to Jyamma Games and try out Enotria for ourselves.

Play for Today

The cool thing about Enotria: The Last Song is that it takes place within a play of sorts, with the world filled with classic Italian stock characters of old. With the curse of the Canovaccio taking away the citizens of Enotria’s free will and identity, it is up to the player to free them.

Unlike the dreary medieval world of FromSoftware’s games, Enotria is a beautiful sun-lit land inspired by Italian nature that hides dark secrets behind its bright facade. With its masked citizens and sombre atmosphere, this game definitely evokes the vibes of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.

While exploring, players will always have access to different strategies, allowing them to influence enemy behaviors, dynamically alter the world around them, solve puzzles, and harness the very elements of Enotria.

In battle, players can expect the usual tough-as-nails combat, but with a parry system and the ability to switch between different loadouts on the fly. The player can don the masks of fallen enemies to take on their roles, allowing for new ways to play, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Mask Off

''With Enotria: The Last Song, the team's goal is to capture the heart and soul of Soulslikes, with rewarding exploration, the ability to develop different builds, and varied enemy designs,'' said Game Director of Jyamma Games, Stoyan Stoyanov. "Masks are a core element of not only the narrative but storytelling, enemy interactions and builds.

"Our aim with the single-screen Loadout and Mask Switch mechanics is to encourage smaller more specialized builds, and a Swiss army knife approach – in contrast with the traditional ‘single huge build’ approach."

When playing Enotria for the first time, we definitely felt this emphasis on player expression throughout the demo. It keeps things a lot more fast and loose compared to a typical Soulslike, down to how the player engages enemies and the environment.

"Our game is modular and systemic – from armour sets and spells – all the way to our various traps, hazards, world and environmental interactions. We firmly believe the future of games is systemic."

Soul to Squeeze

This flexible exploration comes with the Alter Reality mechanic, where players can touch certain rifts in the world to solve puzzles and reveal secrets. Even though we only played a tiny part of the game, Enotria feels fully fleshed out.

"With Rifts, Mini Rifts, destructible and elements we wanted our world to feel more reactive – and not just like elaborate set dressing (pun intended)," said Stoyanov.

"We're an indie team with a budget title – we knew we're too small to be boring."

Truly, the spirit of Enotria: The Last Song is infectious, and one can see the love and care the Jyamma Games team has put into every nook and cranny of the game. Hopefully, diehard Soulslike fans can appreciate the effort being poured into Enotria’s core design.

Enotria: The Last Song is set to release in Spring 2024, and will be available on PC via Steam and current-gen consoles.