ENOTRIA: THE LAST SONG

Enotria: The Last Song is the current project being created by Jyamma Games, a growing independent studio based in Milan, Italy. Enotria is an action RPG soulslike title with all of the familiar elements and gameplay of the genre with an added Italy inspired setting.

What sets Enotria apart from other souls like titles such as Dark Souls, which always have a visually dark tone, Enotria has a bright and vibrant tone. These colors are based on Italian summer colors, to which Jyamma coined the term, “Summer-Soul” to highlight the difference.

After playing a demo of Enotria at Pax East 2023, it carried a very familiar weight of difficulty but a steep learning curve nonetheless. With figuring out the timing of parrying, learning what new spells do (the hard way), and 10 different bad guys times 15 “game overs” later, I managed to beat the boss. A boss who's boss room had waterfalls that did not flow with water, but with wine.   

Enotria: The Last Song is currently in development and, as of time of writing, it is unknown which platforms this title will be available on, or what the official release date is, but we will be keeping an eye out for this bright souls like.

Taz: This is Taz interviewing David at PAX East 2023. Last day, everything's kind of calmed down a bit, but it's been a long weekend for everybody. David, how are you doing?

David: Tired. Exhausted.

Taz: Yeah, yeah. So we are here in front of… How do you pronounce Enotria?

David: Enotria: The Last Song.

Taz: Perfect. And you said you're on the marketing team and so, who are you, and what do you do for the team? 

David: Sure. So I'm part of the marketing team for Jyamma Games. We're here showcasing Enotria: The Last Song, which is a souls-like game with a huge Italian flair. So the game is being developed by an Italian-based team. And as you can see in the game, lots of Italian influences based in the south coast of Italy, Italian music, Italian colors, beautiful scenery. 

Taz: Very nice. I did demo it, actually, over there. Earlier, yesterday. Very difficult. Very fun. Very colorful, actually. Someone was telling me it was not a Dark Souls but like a Summer Souls because of how vibrant it was. 

David: That’s a good way to put it.

Taz: (laughs) So, being on the marketing team. What's it been like working with the developers, especially if they're from Italy?

David: It's been fantastic. I think Jyamma games are really, really easy to work with. They're a great bunch of people willing to kind of, you know, experiment and try different things. I mean, one of the reasons why we've got brought on is because we market in and out of Japan, East Asia, as well. And so we've got, you know, contacts in Japan and not only having them target the Japanese market, but here we obviously at PAX East to the American market. So, helping them out with the Western marketing too.

Taz: Perfect, and if this applies, great. What what do you look for when deciding what games to kind of market for our publisher kind of get out there?

David: We don't discriminate as to what kind of game. I guess it's more about whether the developer or publisher sees value in our services. So we partner with both independent developers and publishers. So I guess the criteria there is if they find themselves, time poor, or the opportunity cost is too high and that they're rather someone else helped them out, that's what we're here for. So we can help them with, you know, exhibiting on their behalf at different shows; we can help them with their press releases, in and out of Japan or other parts of Asia; we can help them with localization. So if you're getting the game ready to be localized in that particular market, including the marketing materials, contacting streamers on their behalf, merchandising — these sorts of things.

Taz: Perfect, and so this is the last day. Overall, for this year's PAX East, What has been the game’s reception from the crowd? 

David: Oh, I think the massive consensus is it's a great game, and people have really enjoyed playing it. This booth in particular has been chokers and has been really busy. Lots of people playing it, people lining up. I'm actually quite surprised how many people like souls-like games. Myself, I'm not the best at these types of games, but I can see why people would like it. I mean, it's inviting with the colors, as you said, the music. Yeah, it's been great. Been a great show for us.

Taz: Perfect. And that's actually all the questions I have, super easy. Go ahead and shout your stuff out. Where can we find the game, its release window, if possible, all that kind of good stuff.

David: Release window for this game is Q1 2024. At the moment, we've got some social media pages that you guys can follow. Where we'd like you to go is the Discord and from there, you know, you can be directed to other platforms. We're on Facebook, we're on Twitter, we're on Instagram, Tik Tok. You know, all your favorite things. But jump on board Discord. Let's have a conversation about the game and get hyped.

Taz: Perfect. Thanks so much, David. I really enjoyed it. Have a great rest of your PAX. Only a couple hours left until break down, but I hope you rest well. Take some time off.

David: (laughs) Thank you so much.