Tokyo Game Show 20 23 (TGS2023), one of Japan's largest game festivals, was held from Thursday, September 21 to Sunday, September 24, 2023. We have a play report on the soul-like action game " Enotria_ The Last Song " at the booth of "quot;Jyamma Games ", a game studio from Italy.
Report on the "Jyamma Games" booth!
Soul-like " is a genre of action RPGs that originated in Japan and has now become one of the most popular genres. At this year's TGS, there were several exhibits that showed respect for the soul-like genre and its origin in Japan. I was also impressed by the fact that there seemed to be a constant stream of people waiting in line to try out the games, perhaps attracted by the atmosphere of the booth as well. The entire booth was designed to convey an atmosphere based on the image of the work and its soul-like image.
A monitor at the entrance showed a video consisting of a trailer and an interview with the developer, which heightened the anticipation of the attendees as they headed to the play table. The narration of the trailer was one of the factors that attracted the attention of the participants. The voice of Tomokazu Sugita (@sugitaLOV ), a popular voice actor, was in charge of the narration. Just listening to Sugita's low-pitched voice explaining part of the worldview, one can feel a sense of anticipation and interest in the game, which is a promotion that was made with the Japanese player in mind.
A test of "Enotria_ The Last Song," a soul-like action game!
The game takes place in a non-existent "Italian-style" city. The reason why the game is not set in a real city, despite being produced by an Italian studio, is to increase the immersion in the story and to include elements of European landscapes to give the player the feeling of traveling through the game.
Another feature of "Enotria_ The Last Song" is that the scenery in the film is very bright, even for a soul-like film. The world of "Enotria_ The Last Song" is a dark, black-and-white world that is generally imagined by players, but in this work, a bright and beautiful landscape reminiscent of the Mediterranean Sea spreads out before your eyes, and the aforementioned feeling of traveling is probably connected to this. The development team also calls this title "Summer Souls," and they hope that users who have avoided playing this game in the past due to the difficulty of the controls and the dark worldview will also enjoy this title. However, they are confident that the story will not betray players' expectations, as it has dark elements in contrast to the lightness of the scenery.
The story begins in a world where the protagonist and other characters all wear masks and are forced to play roles related to their masks. In this "cursed" world of never-ending mask festivals, only the protagonist breaks out of his role and travels, but how he was able to break out of his role and why he ends up traveling is still a secret as of this year's TGS.
Another unique element of this game is that masks play a major role in the game system. The main character can change the masks he wears to change the weapons he uses and his fighting style, and the game also includes elements that require strategy, as the player must make full use of the skill tree granted to each mask to battle enemies. The fact that the costumes also change to match the masks is another wonderful aspect that shows the attention to detail that the developers put into the game. In addition, during the course of the game, there are action points that are triggered by interact commands, so the player's thoughts and actions will be important.
The battle scenes are very much in the style of Soul-Like, and the author, who is not very good at this type of action game, was baptized as a " deadly game" and was slaughtered by the enemies many times. I was especially baptized by the timing of parry. This action is really difficult and essential to gain the upper hand in battle, but I was always getting knocked down by enemy attacks because I missed the timing of parry so spectacularly.
This is a point that even those who are not good at this game can play by acquiring skills that will give them an edge in the game as they progress in skill tree development. The beautiful worldview and action-packed gameplay kept the player's attention throughout the game, and the desire to see what happens next grew. I wonder if the game balance, which successfully conveys the sense of experience to players in this area, is due to the uncompromising nature of the game, including the commitment of the development team.
The game is scheduled for release in 2024!
Enotria_ The Last Song" has a development team that has a strong respect for the Japanese market, and they are particular about the way they translate the story and convey the meaning of each word and sentence in the localization. They have also put a lot of effort into the casting of voice actors, including Tomokazu Sugita, who narrated the trailer mentioned above, and they are looking forward to the announcement. As for the completion of the game, the core of the game has been completed and is currently in the process of being brushed up. The game will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam, and is currently in production for release in 2024. Wish lists are now being accepted on Steam and thePlayStation Store, so be sure to register and wait for more news.