I think they could have played up to the 'musical' aspect by making the main character a Bard and given (say 10) weapons a secondary form as musical instruments. 'Enotria: Ghost Song', where when you slay an enemy you trap their soul which can then be summoned (for a resource cost) to 'sing' for you the effect having positive/negative consequences for you or the enemies.
Don't have the proof of it, but the second delay from August to September might have been the result of Black Myth: Wukong releasing on the 20th of the former month and Enotria the 21th. So, yet again, avoiding competition. I don't trust BM:W as a product yet, but with the build-up it has produced throughout recent years, I can understand Enotria's devs avoiding getting tanked by another game.
The last boss they show off wasn't a great display of their creativity with boss design. It seemed like they tuned the boss to give off the illusion of difficulty without actually having mechanical depth. After 7 hours with the demo, it's difficult to be excited for this one, but I do respect them putting out a demo to begin with.
For what concerns the gameplay aspects that you discussed in the middle part of the video i think that since the game doesn't explain that really well it caused confusion, here is some maybe useful clarification: - Mask lines (the skills/spells of this game) recharge by default attacking enemies (i don't remember if parrying them too), the recharging speed of these skills is related to the Erudition stat (and also Attunement i think, but i don't remember), you can see that checking the stats menu. The reason why your mask lines were really slow to charge was precisely because of the Curtis Aspect that you equipped in your build, as you said that aspect modified your stats giving you a huge boost in physical and damage stats but a huge loss in the "mental ones" that are precisely Erudition and Attunement, this means that Curtis Aspect is best for a build that as you said focuses on pure weapon attacks and that is not interested in the mask lines (i heard thePruld, that worked in the game, saying that Curtis is like a "Barbarian build"). So there is that. - The second thing is that the game actually gives you much more ways to recharge your mask lines, but again it's related on how you make your build, for example in the demo there is the whole North part of the skilltree that is related to Mask lines perks and on extra ways to recharge them, for example there is one that reduces their damage but recharge them faster, there is one that recharge after killing an enemy and so on, there is also one of the Masks that you can equip in one of your loadouts that recharge the ranged Mask lines and make them deal more damage. So it's all build related and i tested this myself on the Demo, i made a loadout based on erudition, ranged Mask lines and i equipped all the perks related to these and i ended up spamming darts and spears masklines during the demo (it was actually quite broken to be honest), so it's all up to you. I'm taking care to answer some of your video because i sincerely think that there are some (understandably) misconceptions and wrong informations in this video that are caused i think by the fact that the menu of Enotria has everything in it but it's not best explained in the Demo's tutorial, to understand all of this i had to explore the stats with the Guide button by myself and i hope they will explain It better in the full game tutorial. I also watched the official gameplay trailer of the game where most of these things were explained and so i had actually zero problems to understand what i was doing in the game by the first moment i tried the demo.
I don't take such an analytical approach to my judgement but I also agree that this demo did not impress. Good: the physical level design was interesting. Bad: Weapons are all the same. Why does my Stage sword with a rotting wooden handle have the same stats as the fancy Martyr sword that has stat restrictions to use? Sure the Martyr sword glows red after a few hits and probably inflicts status effect but who cares. Bosses, not very interesting to fight. Special enemy encounters: the two archers, I also didn't see the reward so it seemed easy and pointless, the two big clowns, you can probably only beat it by being way over leveled, seemed too hard and pointless. Going to keep this game on the old wish list and see what others says after release.
I don't get it, why don't devs that are clearly trying to make a soulslike don't just copy the controls from DS or Sekiro? It's not like they are patented or st. It's like every FPS after Halo not implementing its groundbreaking FPS controls that allowed that kind of games to be played fluidly on console.
While some of your points are valid, others seems to stem from you not being interested in using the mechanics, and because you're not really engaging with them you're finding other aspects suffering as a result.
For what i understood of the game, everything is related to italian folklore's theater, strings are related both with the music (last song) and with the puppets, the Canovaccio is some sort of written story (like in theater) that the actors must follow and in this case, every character in the story is apparently trapped in their role exept for the Maskless one, that since it's without a mask it's also apparently free from the Canovaccio's prison and for that reason is the only one that can change the world ("the tree of change bears fruit", i don't know what this tree is supposed to be, but there is a lot of tree iconography in the first part of the demo so i guess it will be explained in the full game). The recharging speed of the Mask Lines is also named after classical music italian terms, things like "Presto", "Allegro" and so on are all used in music to rappresent the timing/tempo of the song, if is on a quicker pace or slower one, this again wants to put enphasis on this "last song" that we can't know anything about yet since this is only a demo of the first two areas of the game. I'm exited to play the full game because it actually surprised me, if it fixes some of the true main issues before the realize i think i'm going to have a blast with this game.
Think all these souls-likes will be a great thing in the long run leading to very good games like Lies of P or even games that could be amazing and surpass FromSoft’s best and I look forward to that - there is some hope for Black Myth Wukong being that game perhaps given it comes out so soon although I do wish that game had a demo too so we could see and give feedback and get a better idea of what we’re in for. But for now I think we’ll see a lot of bad ones but we’ll be able to identify the bad ones by watching showcase gameplay or trying out demos like with this so we don’t end up buying them so it’s not too bad. But to be honest I think it’s awesome we’re getting all these soulslike demos whether they are good or bad
About the setting: we can have a soulslike set in a setting that isn't just dark fantasy or something along it's lines, I bet a good writer and designer can make a goddamn British middle school be the setting for a soulslike and it'd be awesome. I agree with you, but I would love to see some real mythologies and even just real life be used as a setting for a soulslike. A soulslike set in modern day Italy, and you play some random guy fighting his way through the Italian Mafia's bosses and their lackies, aswell as maybe the Italian police and government? that sounds sick as hell! sign me up! Kinda like Sifu. Excellent video otherwise though. Hope the devs use the little time they have from the delay to atleast get *something* going here. Otherwise, I'm afraid we're dealing with a rather lost cause.
Great video mate. I only managed 4 hours in the demo coz I thought it was a complete mess and my sanity couldn’t cope with it. It felt like early beta and a real lack of atmosphere. New sub from me. Look forward to videos
I really want to see if they will polish the game and get a better feel for what the theme truly is. Haven’t played the demo yet, but want to give it a go. Thanks for the review.
And holy shit that fucking tracking on the second phase… thank you for saying this. Those hit boxes aren’t tight enough to pull some bullshit like those thrusts along with a lot of other moves with the parry jank. It’s bad. It’s disappointing and bad. Also, the dust build up in the first boss fight was the same way. You couldn’t see major attacks coming at you. Funny, I was just playing Sekiro and fighting Owl Shinobi and his smoke bombs… guess who did it better?
Damn. Guess I got fooled my Lords of the Fallen again. With their flashy trailers. Haven't played it yet cause I was waiting for it to go on sale. Oh well, can't be as bad as their first attempt, right?
I share most of the gameplay criticism, but as an Italian I don't understand the hate for the art direction, which I think is pretty good actually. The game is not inspire to "Italy as a country" (which Italy btw? Cause Italy is the result of millenia of diverse history). The game is inspired by the culture of Italian *folklore masks* and catholic religion. The dark area in the demo has references to Italian historic monasteries. I certainly wouldn't expect the entire game to be sunny areas, and I bet the devs wanted to showcase variety in the visuals. As I said, you make good points about gameplay, but your video leaves a bad aftertaste the moment you say "who would want a souls inspired by a country": 1) maybe some people do? 2) if you are not familiar with Italian culture, then probably you won't understand the inspiration and concept of the game, but that's not a good reason to criticize the artistic direction.
I encountered the same glitch as you. As well as... enemies becoming invincible with my weapon passing right through them while they could still hit me. This seemed to happen when I put them in their staggered state without performing the critical. Enemies and the first non-tutorial boss glitching out and freezing in place allowing me to wail away at them. Stuttering and fps drops on top of a bad frame rate overall on PS5. This game has potential but it needs to be delayed so they can fix glitches and polish... well... everything. An unstable 30fps on PS5 from a game that is far from graphically demanding is just unacceptable and baffling.
Hot take: I think Elden Ring ruined it for other developers. That game does so many different things and it does all of them extremely well, so other developers now feel pressured into doing a lot of different things in their game too in order to even have a chance to compete. It feels like no one can be content with making a small, mechanically monothematic game with one or two really well-developed core mechanics like Sekiro anymore.
I cannot believe this game was supposed to come out this month. It feels like it’s 20% finished. I’m glad to see some honest critique here because so many videos are just dumb sponsored videos and people licking its balls when they know exactly what’s wrong. It feels bad to play. The animations are clearly not original. All of the enemies have the same move sets, including the bosses. Just reskins of reskins. It’s just so amateurish feeling with a nicer coat of paint. And I think they are trying to pay their way to success. One thing I will say is that the mask system and world are based on Italian folklore. So there’s probably a cultural disconnect. So it’s not “inspired by Italy”. The developers are Italian and are using things from their culture to build a game around. And that I don’t see as being the problem with the game.
As soon as I saw the game I knew it wouldn’t be for me, but it’s unfortunate it’s as bad as it is. It’s got that “generic unreal engine” look to it that just turns me off of any game, even if they’re fun. The hyperreflective water and ultra sharp shadows just turns me off so to see that the game is aesthetically and thematically unfocused comes as zero surprise. Hopefully more games start taking from Lies of P and Another Crab’s Treasure in how to make an enjoyable, unique experience.
You're insane this is one of the smoothest Souls games I've ever played the demo displayed nothing but how great the game is going to be I hear people talk s*** I don't understand it I tried to see what they were talking about it feels good while you play it it looks amazing the art design is incredible the weapons are incredible I don't understand people are saying and it gives people the wrong impression saying this game is so bad when it's actually really great
yeah the demo has a lot of issues (especially that one reality warp duo fight, that doesn't even give good rewards) or that the last boss was actually almost too easy (armonia sap is broken, use that + heavy attack from ultragreatsword heal all the damage the boss did to me, while dishing out massive dmg and posture dmg. it absolutely trivialised the fight). really like the Idea of only giving us one weapon of each category, that way budget would've been freed to improve the rest of the game, hopefully the different weapons we get in the actual game will feel more different. What one of my biggest issues was, was the stamina recharge being so slow, despite leveling stamina I could often make just one heavy and then have none left to dodge forcing me to take dmg (as said not an issue with sap, but still) All that said, I do like the game overall, really dig the vibe and I'll gove it a good amount of leeway for being an indie company, in my head it was never gonna compete with lies of P or eldenring, that's just not the metric to use. It's by no means perfect, but good enough to have fun imo and I wouldn't be that harsh on the devs, yes be honest about the issues, but be polite
This game is horrendous. If you're going to make a game hard, it better function well. This game's second boss has the health bar of Malenia. This is hilariously bad. And the first boss is complete garbage with moves that two shot you and track you perfectly without having any good tells. Then the dodge straight up doesn't work. It's just BAD.
Souls-like suck because instead of making their own original games, lazy devs try desperately to capitalize on a genre that doesn't really mean anything and some idiots buy their games thinking it's going fill that void they have in-between Fromsoft releases.
Yeah I played the demo for like 2 hours and don't plan to finish it. The combat is boring/jankie and has a bunch of other baffling issues like not being able to move the camera at all while doing a critical attack to see if any other enemies are going to attack you once your riposte s end. Also why is the resting animation/loading SO slow. It's such a massive waste of time for an action you will be doing very regularly.
Lol i played this game on stream it a exacts as annoying as lords of the fallen thinking that annoying level design is difficult lvl design with the amount of jank this game it has if it lanchs as is it gonna be worst than lords of the fallen ,the consept of build and skills are pretty good but everything about the game screams lack of polish
