There are a lot of games out there taking inspiration from and riffing on the formula that From Software popularized with its Souls games, but Enotria: The Last Song is the first one I’ve encountered that is explicitly angled at opening it up to more people.
I played Enotria at Summer Game Fest’s Play Days event, where developer Jyamma Games had a demo that featured a boss rush of three fights from the game, ramping up in difficulty. The first featured a battle with a miniboss, a jester-like guy with a spear; the second was a wispy magic-user; and the third, a giant puppet monster. All three were tough, but I took them all down well within the hour appointment time I had.
I have a lot of Souls-like experience, but part of my success in such a limited window of time was due to the coaching from Jyamma producer Eduoardo Basile on how Enotria’s signature systems work. While Enotria felt immediately familiar as a Souls-like–Jyamma says it falls somewhere between Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in terms of a focus on aggressive fighting and parrying–it’s also attempting to ease up on some of the harder-to-understand elements of From Software’s games. That’s, namely, the idea of being committed to a certain type of character or a certain type of build, which can put you at an advantage in some situations and a disadvantage in others.
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