Last September we already received a soulslice based on Italian culture – we are talking about Lies of P, partially based on the famous novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio” Carlo Collodi. And exactly a year later, a soulslice from a Milanese studio was released Jyamma Games, which also draws inspiration from Italian culture – in this case from the theater and commedia of masks of the Renaissance. Agree, it sounds intriguing and beautiful. How did Enotria: The Last Song turn out? ?

Both you and I are unlucky – evil lives under the mask!

First of all, the game really turned out to be very Italian in spirit and style – sunny, picturesque, with landscapes, architecture and the mood of the south of Italy. True, behind this mask hides a monstrous grimace, because the fictional country of Enotria has found itself in the power of Canovaccio – an eternal play created by the gods that keeps the world in an unnatural stasis. Everyone there wears masks and plays the roles assigned to them, and only we, a creature without a mask, can resist the powerful authors of the play, defeat them and bring the world out of stagnation.

It sounds beautiful, slightly obscure and backed by the appropriate atmosphere. Having received the first instructions, running through a sunlit field of sunflowers and defeating the first enemies, we find ourselves in a typical Mediterranean town, where that same eternal play is played out on the streets – actors, jesters and musicians are constantly dancing, singing and reciting something.

True, if you listen to them, it turns out that the words are often very angry, with threats to devour those who do not laugh. And if we come closer, the actors will rush at us – immediately associations arise with the same crazy “civilian” residents from BioShock.

It’s a pity that it doesn’t get much development later. Yes, crazy gods, leaders of cults and their own churches periodically appear, who say something about art, faith and the meaning of life, there are notes that supplement the codex, which talk about the history and origin of this world, about how and why the artists doomed to play in an eternal play gradually went crazy, and so on – there really is a lot of interesting information.

But by and large, all this goes by in the background, especially if you don’t look into the code. So much in the background that at some point I stopped and asked myself what was going on here. Oh yes, the play is somehow eternal. But what should we do according to the plot?? It is clear that in soulslicks the story, as a rule, should go in the background. And it’s good that Enotria we were placed in such a bright and unusual setting, and not locked in yet another gloomy dungeon.

But this is the gift and curse of the game – this setting itself is so unusual that I would like a more interesting disclosure of it, so that we would not just fight on the stage of an empty theater, but, for example, participate in the production and shouting “To hit or not to hit?! Beat!» plunged a sword into the enemy’s chest. Or something like that. But in the end, we still received notes and periodic appearances by the main villains with keynote speeches.

It’s good that some of the bosses correspond to the stated theme – for example, a famous comedian who founded his own theater.

A tight mask is my salvation. And day and night I am her eternal slave

Although maybe I just want a lot. To the authors Enotria: The Last Song in any case, it’s worth saying thank you for coming up with such an unusual world. Yes, it wasn’t possible to fully reveal his theatrical and comedic potential, but it’s a good try.

Besides, this world is interesting to explore. https://nonukcasinosites.co.uk/non-sticky-casino-bonus/ It is not open, and some doors to important regions will only open due to the story. But within the current large locations we are almost completely left to our own devices. We can go in any direction and end up somewhere completely different from where other players would go.

So, I once almost made a mistake in the game – I thought that after defeating an important boss the gates to a new story region would open, but they didn’t open. I watched a walkthrough where a man, having defeated the same villain, safely moved to a new location. I already thought that I had caught a bug, but, as it turned out, I simply had not yet fully explored the region and had not killed another story boss.

During the exploration, we find consumables and materials to improve equipment, open chests with valuables and periodically solve simple riddles – at some points, with the help of the most simple manipulations, the hero can change space and time and return a ladder or bridge to its place in order to get to the next chest.

I’ll show you the face under the mask now, and you’ll die like everyone who came before you

In the gameplay, the authors also tried to play up the central theme with masks. Our hero is free to wear any one – this is reflected in the ability to change the character class on the fly.

The Fighter and Elementalist masks are available at first, and as we defeat important enemies, other roles become available. And in the menu we ourselves equip three layouts, three roles, between which you can freely switch – we choose a mask, consumables, two weapon options, several active combat skills, as well as aspects (specializations) and skills responsible for passive bonuses.

And the most interesting thing is connected with these aspects and passive abilities. They initially belong to different specializations – fighter, trickster, battle mage, elementalist, rogue, assassin. There are corresponding skill branches, where new passive abilities are learned for points gained.

Then we are allowed to attach any aspects and skills to any role (that is, to one of the three characters), regardless of the initial specialization. That is, you can add aspects of a robber or battle mage to the role of a warrior. Such entertaining combinatorics opens up a wealth of possibilities for creative experiments with the build.

In battles, it is sometimes really useful to switch between available masks and weapons, given the situation and enemy composition. In some places a warrior is more effective, in others it is better to use an elementalist who relies on elemental damage. On wide streets it is better to swing a halberd, and in narrow corridors it is better to switch to a fast sword.

We must also take into account that both we and our opponents can specialize in different types of damage and have different resistance to them. You can use consumables that strengthen/protect us or apply weakening crap to enemies, but it is better to “sharpen” your builds for different types of damage and then switch between them depending on the situation.

The game places a special emphasis on various status effects. One of them – “Galice” – enhances elemental damage, but if a character with this status misses a blow, then his offender will restore health. That is, we need to fight more actively against such “bad guys”. A character with the Radiance status will gradually regenerate health, but hitting him will cause an explosion that will damage both.

You want to see what’s under the mask, but, alas..

Active combat skills also play an important role in all this – here they are called replicas. Many of them activate special elemental attacks and techniques, making enemies more vulnerable. That is, combat abilities also need to be wisely selected for each of the three available masks. Add to this the ability to upgrade this entire avalanche of tools at bonfires for the local equivalent of souls (there is also a separate forge where you can also trade) – and you will understand that from a mechanical point of view The Last Song looks quite competent.

Another question is how this is all implemented. Take passive skills – many of them are useless because their cumulative effects are reset when taking damage. Switching between masks also doesn’t quite work – the role-playing system is designed in such a way that it is most often more profitable to upgrade and use one or two masks from the entire arsenal.

In addition, for some reason the authors introduced a bunch of incomprehensible names and terms. The types of damage are called “vis”, “fatuo”, “gratia”, “ardore”… They also write slyly about the speed of charging replicas. As a result, their descriptions sound something like this: “Summon an Ardor mace imbued with the power of vis and perform a heavy powerful attack. Charging speed: presto”.

It’s clear why the developers from Milan did this. It is, of course, possible to translate, understand, memorize and get used to it, but in a harsh action game, where it is important to quickly navigate what effects are on us and the enemies, and react to the situation, this is annoying at first.

Even more annoying are the constant spontaneous switching from target to target, slow and uninterrupted animations and sometimes too small a window for parrying. It’s annoying that there are many places where a character can easily fall into an abyss or into water – and then we return for the lost souls and see that, of course, they are lying in the water and it is almost impossible to return them.

There are bosses that are impressive in terms of design, but their tactics are often predictable and simple. In addition, there is no balance – some take dozens of attempts, others you kill on the first, without understanding what it was. Although, perhaps I just came over pumped – the open structure of many locations allows you not to go straight to a dangerous enemy, but to explore other territories.

It happens that the enemy simply stands rooted to the spot and reacts to all blows only with a sad look. There are also other bugs.

Playing Enotria: The Last Song is not easy, and in some places it is harmful to the nervous system. But it’s still interesting. It is clear that this is not the level Dark Souls and the same Lies of P, but the picturesque landscapes, bright style, unusual world that you want to explore still attract. It is clear that the game is big and beautiful, with its own features, and you can get pleasure and challenge from battles. It’s all the more disappointing that the authors were never able to successfully realize the potential of their creation.

Pros: a bright and unusual world inspired by Italian culture and nature; open structure of many locations, allowing you to explore them freely; many interesting features in the gameplay; rich opportunities for experimenting with builds; excellent character design; atmospheric music.

Cons: some mechanics are poorly implemented; annoying moments – bugs, slow animations, control features and others; some bosses are primitive.