Lies of P
Developer: NEOWIZ
Publisher: NEOWIZ
Platforms: Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC (Reviewed)
Release Date: 18 Sep 2023
Price: $59.99 USD – Available Here $99.95 AUD – Available Here
Overview
Can we PC gamers talk about souls-like games without mentioning that B word? You know, Bloodborne. And that comes with the usual assumptions and dreams of a PC port that is “just around the corner”. And game companies eventually caught wind of that so they’re using Bloodborne allusions in the promos and not-so-subtle references. Then you have cheap imitations and even worse copies but every once in a while a game comes out that takes something out of Bloodborne and souls-like games while having its own identity. Could Lies of P be one of those games? Read on and find out.
Story
Inspired by the familiar story of Pinocchio, Lies of P is an action souls-like game set in the dark, Belle Epoque-inspired city of Krat. Once a beautiful city, Krat has become a living nightmare as deadly puppets run amok and a plague sweeps the land. You play as P, a puppet who must fight his way through the city on his unrelenting journey to find Geppetto and finally become human. Your androgynous protagonist will have to master all kinds of weapons, perfect blocking, fable arts, dodging, and who knows what else to get to the end.
Gameplay
Do you know what’s the main distinction between this game and Bloodborne? Can’t believe I’m writing this but – it’s way more challenging. As usual, it draws you in with a fairly easy tutorial section but after 20 minutes or so, things really start to get interesting. You don’t have a shield in this game (except one that you unlock halfway through the game, but his usefulness is questionable at best) so if you want to stay alive, blocking the enemy attacks is the second-best thing you can do after dodging. Invincibility frames here are almost non-existent and the block window is pretty small so you really have to master this.
On top of that, every once in a while some enemies will flash red and perform a super strong attack that will take a big chunk of your health or straight-up kill you – that is, unless you nullify it with a perfect block. You can upgrade your weapons or even better, disassemble them and combine them into something new. How so? Well, every weapon comes in two parts; a blade and a grip. Let’s say you have a katana and a scythe. You can disassemble them both and make a new weapon with a scythe blade and katana grip and vice versa.
Obviously, Lies of P has a pretty big arsenal of melee weapons so when it comes to this, the weapon experimentation is almost limitless. Then you have fable arts that are basically special attacks and you can also stagger enemies as well for massive damage. And that’s the thing about Lies of P, there are no shortcuts. The game is challenging and requires mastering everything it has to offer so you can properly experience it for what it is.
Visuals
My good old 1080 is slowly coming to its last days but as of right now, I can still play most of the new releases. When it comes to Lies of P, it ran without any hitches and the optimization is insanely good. The sections are cleverly interconnected via shortcuts and even though enemy placement can look a bit overpopulated at times, you’re never overwhelmed or cornered by them. One interesting thing that I have to mention about our titular character is the great variety of costumes that you can unlock for him. Some you get just by talking to friendly characters, some by exploring throughout the game and some are locked behind somewhat challenging puzzles and treasure hunts.
Audio
The soundtrack is on the level of quality with pretty much everything else in the game but where it really stands out is during boss fights. And make no mistake, you’ll memorize a lot of those tracks considering how many times you’ll die over and over (I’m looking at you, King of Puppets). Voice acting is also surprisingly great which took me by surprise, cause that’s one part of the game where I (wrongly) assumed that they’ll cut corners. Good on me for being wrong.
Overall
Lies of P takes a lot of inspiration from souls-like games, that much is obvious. However, by finely tuning the combat system and adding something new to the weapon dynamic, it emerges in the end with a well-crafted identity on its own. Sure, there are some cracks here and there like my characters passing through objects or some sections of the level not loading properly (which can be easily fixed by reloading the last checkpoint) but all in all, this is a game worth all of your attention.
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