Enotria: The Last Song Review

Enotria: The Last Song is an Italian folklore-inspired Soulslike developed by Jyamma Games. The premise is that the world is trapped inside an eternal theatrical play, and the hero of the game is trying to break that cycle. Every inhabitant of the world is forced to endlessly act out a role in a script that is draining the land of true life and freedom.

The game has received mixed reviews from critics and players and has definitely split opinions. I want to highlight what I liked about the game, while also looking at the things I agree could have been done better or improved.

What I Liked About the Game

For me, the combat was genuinely fun. I loved the parry-based combat mixed with magic abilities.

The setting of the game was a breath of fresh air for me. Most Soulslikes take place in a gritty, dark world where everything is in ruins and it’s just depressing all around. Enotria: The Last Song takes another approach with its mostly colourful world and bright settings.

The Mask System was great to experiment with. It functions as a set of swappable character classes, allowing you to equip a few different builds that you can switch between on the fly, even mid-combat. Though I have to say, I tried out a few variations, but in the end I just settled on a Mask I really liked and stuck with it.

Boss design was hit and miss, but for the most part the major encounters were fun enough, and the character designs were unique and fit the theme of the game. The difficulty wasn’t too bad, with only a few optional bosses giving me a real challenge. With that being said, I’m not saying the game is overly easy.

The game does not overstay its welcome, and that is a big plus for me. I clocked around 20 hours.

What I Didn‘t Like About The Game

The healing in this game is just off the pace. It starts out like any other game, but when your health pool gets bigger, the health potions don’t follow. In my playthrough, I remember having to drink four potions just to get my full health back, even when I was caught up with all the upgrades. To be fair, it gets better later in the game when you get all the upgrades, but it was still a major design issue for me.

The skill tree was overly complicated and way too big, with too many mechanics that just felt useless and layers upon layers of systems. I settled on a build pretty early in the game, so I just kept things really simple.

Some levels feel undercooked and lack direction. I admit I had to look up a video on YouTube to get through some of them, which is fine, but in a fairly linear game like this, it’s kind of bothersome for me personally.

Then there’s the Element Weakness system, where some bosses have immunities or weaknesses against certain elements. Midway through the game, I just couldn’t be bothered with it anymore. And that worked. I just could not be arsed to switch weapons even if my main weapon was weak against a boss.

Would I recommend this game?

Short answer is yes I would recommend this game to everyone who has finished the big hitters in the Soulslike genre and needs something a little different. Don’t expect a masterpieace but rather a good adventure with decent enough encounters.

tl;dr

Colourful, refreshing setting that stands out from most Soulslikes.

Fun parry-based combat mixed with magic abilities.

Interesting Mask System, although I eventually stuck with one setup.

Mostly enjoyable bosses without being brutally difficult.

Healing, skill trees and some level design could have been much better.

Flawed and sometimes overcomplicated, but ultimately a Soulslike I genuinely enjoyed.