Enotria: The Last Song

A sunlit soulslike with a rare sense of identity

Enotria: The Last Song stands out immediately because it refuses to look like the average soulslike. Instead of endless ruin, soot, and grey despair, it embraces bright sunlight, theatrical imagery, and Italian folklore. That choice gives the game a mood all its own. The world feels welcoming at first glance, but the more time you spend in it, the more you notice how the light sharpens the shadows and makes every threat feel stranger. It is a clever inversion of the genre’s usual visual language.

This is the game’s biggest strength from the start: it has personality. The art direction is bold, the environments are often beautifully composed, and the setting feels like it was built around a clear creative vision rather than a checklist of genre conventions. Enotria does not just want to be another difficult action RPG. It wants to be remembered for its atmosphere, its culture, and its theatrical tone. That ambition is visible in almost every frame.

The result is a game that can win over players even if they are not usually drawn to soulslikes. The world is striking enough to invite curiosity, and the folklore-inspired presentation gives the adventure a distinct flavour. In a crowded genre, that matters a lot. Enotria may not always be the most polished game in the room, but it is very often the most memorable-looking one.

Masks, roles, and a clever twist on buildcraft

The mask system is the feature that gives Enotria: The Last Song its strongest mechanical identity. Masks are not just cosmetic flourishes; they shape how you approach the game, how you build your character, and how you think about your role in combat. That gives progression a more expressive feel than in many action RPGs, where builds can sometimes boil down to simple stat allocation and weapon preference.

Here, the idea is more theatrical and more flexible. You are not merely equipping gear; you are adopting a role. That makes experimentation more interesting, because the game encourages you to think in terms of synergy and identity rather than raw numbers alone. For players who enjoy tinkering, that is a real draw. It adds a layer of personality to the build system and helps Enotria feel less generic than many of its peers.

At the same time, the system is not always as cleanly communicated or balanced as it should be. The game clearly wants to offer depth, but some of that depth comes with friction. Certain mechanics are under-explained, and the overall balance can make the system feel more complicated than elegant. The idea is strong, but the execution occasionally gets in the way of the fun. That tension runs through much of the game.

Combat that is interesting more often than it is refined

As a soulslike, Enotria lives or dies by its combat, and this is where the game becomes most uneven. The fundamentals are there: stamina management, spacing, pattern recognition, and the familiar push-pull between caution and aggression. The combat loop is readable enough to be engaging, and there is enough weapon variety to support different playstyles. When it clicks, it can be genuinely enjoyable.

But the game does not always deliver the precision that this genre demands. Controls can feel less exact than they need to be, and some encounters expose the rough edges in the system. In a soulslike, even small issues matter because the entire experience depends on trust: the player needs to feel that every failure is fair, every dodge is reliable, and every hit is earned. Enotria does not always maintain that trust.

The problem is not that the combat lacks ideas. On the contrary, it often has too many. The issue is that those ideas are not always integrated with enough polish. The game can feel overloaded, with mechanics that add complexity without always improving clarity. That makes the combat more interesting on paper than it is consistently satisfying in practice. It is a good foundation that still needs refinement.

Atmosphere, soundtrack, and worldbuilding do a lot of heavy lifting

If Enotria keeps pulling you forward, it is largely because of its presentation. The soundtrack, the visual design, and the overall sense of place work together to create a world that feels distinct and alive. The folklore influences are not just decorative; they shape the tone of the entire experience. The game feels rooted in a specific cultural imagination, and that gives it a texture many genre rivals lack.

The soundtrack deserves particular credit for reinforcing the theatrical mood. It helps the world feel larger and more expressive, and it supports the game’s identity even when the mechanics stumble. Combined with the strong art direction, it creates a sense of cohesion that makes Enotria easy to admire. You can feel the care that went into the atmosphere, and that care goes a long way toward keeping the adventure engaging.

Worldbuilding also benefits from this approach. Enotria does not simply present a backdrop for combat; it presents a place with a tone and a personality. That makes exploration more appealing, because you are not just moving through another generic fantasy landscape. You are moving through a world that has been designed to feel different, and that difference is one of the game’s most valuable assets.

Technical roughness and uneven design hold it back

For all its strengths, Enotria: The Last Song is held back by the kind of roughness that can be especially damaging in a demanding action RPG. Balance issues, unclear systems, and technical imperfections regularly interrupt the flow. None of these problems is enough to erase the game’s appeal, but together they keep it from fully realising its potential.

Boss design is one area where the unevenness becomes particularly noticeable. Some encounters feel like they belong in a more polished version of the game, while others expose the limits of the current design. When the challenge is fair and the systems are working, the game can be very satisfying. When they are not, the experience becomes more frustrating than tense. That inconsistency is the main reason Enotria never quite reaches the level its best ideas promise.

The same applies to the game’s explanation of its own mechanics. A soulslike can absolutely be mysterious, but mystery should not become confusion. Enotria sometimes asks the player to absorb too much without enough guidance, and that can make the learning curve feel harsher than necessary. The game wants to be deep, but it does not always make that depth easy to navigate.

Verdict

Enotria: The Last Song is an admirable and often beautiful attempt to give the soulslike formula a new cultural voice. Its Italian folklore setting, sunlit world, and mask-driven progression system make it stand out in a genre that often struggles to surprise. There is real creativity here, and at its best the game feels like a fresh take on familiar ideas.

But the final result is uneven. Combat and controls need more polish, the balance is not always convincing, and the game’s technical roughness regularly interrupts its momentum. That means Enotria is easier to appreciate than to unreservedly recommend. It is a game with a strong identity, a lot of atmosphere, and enough mechanical ambition to be interesting throughout, but it never quite becomes the fully refined standout its premise suggests.

For soulslike fans, especially those looking for something that feels different from the usual dark fantasy template, it is absolutely worth a look. Just go in expecting a fascinating, stylish, and occasionally frustrating adventure rather than a perfectly tuned classic.