Lies of P is so good, that it ascends from being just a soulslike to a bonafide Souls title itself. From the rich atmosphere, incredible combat, fantastic bosses, and a richly thematic story, Lies of P stays at such a consistent high that it outpaces even the likes of FromSoftware's works. Interspersed in between all of these great things are systems and ideas that make every player's unique playthrough have just enough individuality to brew interest in multiple playthroughs, while staying true to the Souls way of a communal experience in gameplay. In fact, out of my entire playthrough, I only have two pieces of criticism which isn't much!
First, let's talk about the vertical slice. Lies of P gives the player an opening choice from three non-specific archetypes. Strength, Dexterity, and Balanced. From a Souls perspective, this opening choice is quite ambiguous and even better doesn't lock a player into a specific kind of build. Each choice has some small differences in stats as well as weapons, but the opening choice is simply a taste test in the vast buffet of the game's length. If it wasn't obvious, this is fantastic. My only minor remark is that I just wish there was a level-one class, but I digress. Combat is presented like so: a light attack, heavy attack, block, and a legion arm on the four triggers. A dodge is on the Circle/B button, and Fable Arts are attached to Triangle/Y. Like every other Souls game, actions carry weight having both wind-ups and wind-downs on every action. Inputting an action also locks the player into committing to it, even allowing a player to buffer these inputs into one another during the other action's movement. Dodges have invincibility frames allowing one to dodge inside of a hurtbox produced by an enemy, but the dodge's i-frames are in the middle of the animation rather than the whole thing, akin to a regular attack. In this situation, combat becomes a weaving of dodges and attacks where one has to consider the weight of each action thoughtfully and carefully. However, Lies of P also offers another way to deal with oncoming damage with blocking and perfect blocking. When the play holds a block, they will block the attack but take chip damage. This chip damage can be healed back via attacking an enemy, however, if an enemy hits you during the process, the remaining chip damage plus the additional damage will be lost. This system is very akin to Bloodborne's own vampiric heal system but unlike that game, it is only in the case of regular blocks. But if you are truly skilled, you can time the block button to be within a handful of frames before an attack lands to perfect block it. A perfect block builds stagger and comes with no chip damage, but the drawback is how tight the timing is. After enough perfect blocks and attacks on an enemy, an invisible stagger gauge will fill allowing for a Fatal attack. To proc a Fatal, the player must perform a fully charged heavy attack which will stun the enemy allowing for massive damage. Depending on the enemy, you can also perform a Fatal by backstabbing (this can only be performed on smaller, more humanoid enemies). After doing enough attacks, the player will build up Fable, a resource that can be spent on Fable Attacks. The three kinds of Fable Attacks are powerful attacks that build stagger, guard or parry-based moves that build stagger, and passives like increased attack damage or special types of damage. But now that the player has done a lot of damage, the durability of their weapon is low, so they must refresh their durability mid-fight with the Grinder. If the durability gets too low, attacks won't be as effective and will deal less damage overall. And eventually, the weapon can even break, which is REALLY bad. All of these pieces make up a combat system that is intricately diverse and special in its own way already, but there are still more pieces to this combat puzzle.
The opening train station teaches the fundamental level design that the player will continue to see throughout the game. Progressing through a bunch of enemies in various corridors and open areas until finding a shortcut back to safety or another stargazer(bonfire). Sometimes to progress, however, the player must defeat a difficult enemy that holds either a key or just straight-up auto unlocks the next area. Usually, reaching these enemies is easy and they are close to either shortcuts or stargazers to give the player an easier time learning and defeating these more challenging foes. The level design in this regard is pretty forgiving to a new player, but also unfortunately quite samey. This level progression does not change throughout the entire game, which can lead to most levels functionally feeling quite similar even when the art direction of each location is very distinct. This is one of my few criticisms of the game. I will say that while the approach is generally pretty fun, the repetition of such might cause some yawns here and there, even when the actual parts themselves have unique ideas. The benefits of such a design though are that for every section that most would consider a challenge, you are given easy access to every single time. This includes difficult enemies, mini-bosses, and of course, regular bosses. Boss run-ups are a thing of the past, which is entirely helpful since as Souls games have gotten bigger and better, bosses have continued to get an upgrade. And Lies of P is no different...
Bosses are the biggest strength in Lies of P. There is so much juicy, fantastic design present that each one feels destined for larger dissection and analysis. But for this review, I'll keep it brief. The bosses here are if you took the best of Dark Souls III, Elden Ring, and Sekiro, mashed them all together, and spruced it up with the distinct, dark, Lies of P flair. For one, no bosses have input-reading! I shouldn't have to explain that this is fucking incredible. Going into a tough-as-nails fight but still being given room to breathe and learn is just as important as making something cool with lots of spectacle. Elden Ring forgot this, having many fights read when you try and heal to actively punish you. Lies of P chooses to keep things fair, giving ample time to breathe, but just as much pressure to keep things interesting. After you chug through a certain portion of the game, bosses begin to have second health bars like Elden Ring as well. And in most scenarios, they are way better designed too! Most second phases are designed to be simply an extension of the first phase, rather than an entirely new fight to learn. This allows a player to have a good chance at the second phase without beating them up and taking their lunch money before they even learn about the smallest thing. And again, this doesn't stop the fights from being difficult, if anything, it presses the player to improve even more to have a fighting chance against some really crazy fights. And the thing I think is most important about the boss design compared to Elden Ring, is bosses are designed to be doable with ANYTHING. You got a really heavy weapon you want to use? That works. How about a super perfect block build? Even better. You want to just dodge all attacks and take potshots when you can? Of fucking COURSE you can! Each and every boss aside from ONE is designed in a manner where everything works and is more than capable of winning. That one boss is the Green Monster of the Swamp btw. That is my second criticism of the game. Just that boss. I'm serious. The arena is poor for the kind of fight it is, many attacks are designed around specific strategies, and the second phase feels like a different fight entirely in a bad way. And compared to every other boss in the game? It does stick out as the one outlier of poop. AND I WILL TAKE IT! Having only one boss that sucks versus many mediocre fights is the definition of consistency! All of these fights are seriously kickass and put themselves in some of my favorites in all of the Souls series! And I haven't talked about how much I like the unblock/undodgeable attack system yet! Certain attacks on bosses (and even regular enemies) are unblockable and undodgeable, meaning the only way to deal with them is to either perfect guard or run the hell away. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't totally be a fan of this since it incentivizes changing your strategy for one kind of attack (which Swamp man does), but because this game is great, every single one of these attacks has either massive wind-ups or easy and unique tells to make learning when they are coming incredibly easy. It's just...AHH, IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD MAN! And as a last aside, the hitboxes are attacks on all bosses is so fair that it puts every goddamn fight in every Souls game to shame. It's almost too accurate at times, I swear...
A Soulslike is nothing without variety, and Lies of P has got you covered. There are three somewhat distinct kinds of enemies: Puppets, Humans, and Carcasses. Each type of enemy has very distinct behaviors and patterns, but what makes progression through Lies of P interesting is how much crossover the three types end up having. Throughout the game, you will experience puppets, half-puppet/half-carcasses, regular carcasses, hell sometimes you get a weird in-between mix of like 30/70 puppet and carcass. All the enemies have unique aspects that make each one an interesting challenge, but more than that, the variety presents a sliding scale of differing combat experiences. Since each type requires different kinds of strategies, the sliding scale changes each new area into a brand-new amalgamation of weird and strange new enemy types to try and figure out. It is absolutely wonderful. Especially since the later you get, the more the crossover ends up as a mix, leading to enemies that are more puppet and carcass than the sum would lead you to believe allowing for an even deeper diversity. If I had to pick one that shows up a little too infrequently it would of course be Humans. Rarely does the player get a chance to brawl with any until the very last few hours, which is a shame since they were already showing some unique qualities.
When it comes to Souls, the story is usually very subdued, offering very little to the player unless you choose to dive deep into item descriptions and small lore tidbits. However, regardless of all the smaller, richer world details, most of the story and ideas presented are thematic rather than concrete plot stuff. Unlike Souls, Lies of P chooses to tell a rather forward story with plot details and the like but still harnesses the power of thematic undertones in the whole. Themes of humanity, consciousness, religion, filial relations, death, etc. Really heavy topics that I am in no way able to dissect well, but can at the very least understand and grasp in a way that leaves some resounding emotional moments. Really, if I can get that out of your thematically rich game, you've already won. The more concrete details of the plot are pretty simple and surface-level, but easier to understand compared to a Souls title. The game ends up as a much darker and more sinister version of the Pinocchio fable, with Pinocchio having to stop the source of the puppets' outrage, as well as the petrification disease. Both of these are slowly wiping away humanity from the map, all the while dastardly figures stand in the background plotting all of the events. Unfortunately, any more would enter spoiler-territory, so just know that I quite like the story and how it is presented, especially due to the Humanity system. The Humanity system is what allows the player to interact and take the story into their own hands with each choice. By performing various actions, such as listening to music, being nice to people and puppets, as well as lying, Pinocchio slowly becomes more and more human. Lying of course is against the puppet code, making Pinocchio unique in his own way. Throughout the game, the player is given the option in various conversations to either tell the truth or lie. It is up to the player to decide whether or not they wish to do either and depending on the scenario, each choice isn't exactly an easy one to make. Much like being human, a simple lie or truth isn't always black and white, leading to a distinct and lovely way of player expression through narrative cohesion in gameplay.
And boy oh boy, that gameplay. It only expands after the initial slice into a goddamn masterpiece. For every normal weapon you receive, you obtain a handle and a blade. After a certain point, you can mix and match blades and handles to create entirely new weapons. Each blade determines the weapon type as well as the amount of base damage associated with the weapon, and the kinds of damage it can do best. The handle is the base moveset of the weapon alongside the stat scaling. On top of this, each blade and handle has associated Fable Arts, meaning you can mix and match those as well. This system breathes so much life into the base Souls combat, allowing a player to experiment as much as they want to find the kind of weapon that would fit them as a player. I mean hell, you can even adjust the scaling on the handles if you want to have even more customizability to your combat experience! This alongside the stat system which has trimmed all the fat leaving only six equally important stats, leads to gameplay asking and encouraging unique playstyles, experimentation, and most importantly FUN! Add on top of this the Legion Arm system which gives the player a Sekiro-esque prosthetic arm that requires no external resources. Each unique Legion Arm adds just enough to give the player even more interesting choices in and out of battle, with upgrades attached to each arm (that you can remove at any time), and a magic-like MP bar to incentivize using them during combat. There is so much freedom in this combat system, yet nothing is ever broken or overpowered, and vice-versa nothing ever feels underpowered or shitty. An immaculate balance of so many intricate and detailed pieces leading to unadulterated enjoyment. It is fucking incredible.
And yet, Lies of P doesn't stop at just having incredible gameplay, because my god does the art direction go crazy. As previously discussed, enemies have a wide variety of looks due to the differing types, but that goes into the world as well. For the most part, each part of the world is very interesting and unique. Some parts fall into what I perceive as the "Resident Evil 4 Village" aesthetic but overall the towns, factories, castles, and chapels were all pretty visually fun. However as I said a lot of areas suffer from the repetitive design, so at times it is hard to recall what makes an area special aside from its art direction. Now, the game's general art direction, that deserves lots of praise. The dark and lonely atmosphere of a post-disaster "London" clashes with the abundance of mechanical puppets in a beautifully rich portrait-esque world. Admittedly, I probably can't find any more special words or synonyms for "nice looking" so just take my word that the game looks really good. And sounds good too, I forgot to mention that the soundscape is incredible.
Alright, tiniest little thing before I wrap this up. Two Dragons Sword, my beloved. This sword takes the juicy gameplay from a 10 to an 11 with the parry charged heavy. Completely demolishes the game for an experienced player, but has just enough risk to compensate for all that power. I LOVE IT.
Lies of P is the best parts of the Souls franchise combined with the classical tale of Pinocchio. With gameplay at the forefront of design, leading to a player-experimentation focus with fair yet brutally challenging bosses. A story that is quite possibly the easiest to follow in a Souls game without losing out on heavy theming. And all of it wrapped in a bow by some of the best Art and Sound of this generation. It isn't an exaggeration to say that Lies of P beats FromSoft at its own genre. No matter what these devs do next, from DLC to a new game, I will follow. They deserve my money.
First, let's talk about the vertical slice. Lies of P gives the player an opening choice from three non-specific archetypes. Strength, Dexterity, and Balanced. From a Souls perspective, this opening choice is quite ambiguous and even better doesn't lock a player into a specific kind of build. Each choice has some small differences in stats as well as weapons, but the opening choice is simply a taste test in the vast buffet of the game's length. If it wasn't obvious, this is fantastic. My only minor remark is that I just wish there was a level-one class, but I digress. Combat is presented like so: a light attack, heavy attack, block, and a legion arm on the four triggers. A dodge is on the Circle/B button, and Fable Arts are attached to Triangle/Y. Like every other Souls game, actions carry weight having both wind-ups and wind-downs on every action. Inputting an action also locks the player into committing to it, even allowing a player to buffer these inputs into one another during the other action's movement. Dodges have invincibility frames allowing one to dodge inside of a hurtbox produced by an enemy, but the dodge's i-frames are in the middle of the animation rather than the whole thing, akin to a regular attack. In this situation, combat becomes a weaving of dodges and attacks where one has to consider the weight of each action thoughtfully and carefully. However, Lies of P also offers another way to deal with oncoming damage with blocking and perfect blocking. When the play holds a block, they will block the attack but take chip damage. This chip damage can be healed back via attacking an enemy, however, if an enemy hits you during the process, the remaining chip damage plus the additional damage will be lost. This system is very akin to Bloodborne's own vampiric heal system but unlike that game, it is only in the case of regular blocks. But if you are truly skilled, you can time the block button to be within a handful of frames before an attack lands to perfect block it. A perfect block builds stagger and comes with no chip damage, but the drawback is how tight the timing is. After enough perfect blocks and attacks on an enemy, an invisible stagger gauge will fill allowing for a Fatal attack. To proc a Fatal, the player must perform a fully charged heavy attack which will stun the enemy allowing for massive damage. Depending on the enemy, you can also perform a Fatal by backstabbing (this can only be performed on smaller, more humanoid enemies). After doing enough attacks, the player will build up Fable, a resource that can be spent on Fable Attacks. The three kinds of Fable Attacks are powerful attacks that build stagger, guard or parry-based moves that build stagger, and passives like increased attack damage or special types of damage. But now that the player has done a lot of damage, the durability of their weapon is low, so they must refresh their durability mid-fight with the Grinder. If the durability gets too low, attacks won't be as effective and will deal less damage overall. And eventually, the weapon can even break, which is REALLY bad. All of these pieces make up a combat system that is intricately diverse and special in its own way already, but there are still more pieces to this combat puzzle.
The opening train station teaches the fundamental level design that the player will continue to see throughout the game. Progressing through a bunch of enemies in various corridors and open areas until finding a shortcut back to safety or another stargazer(bonfire). Sometimes to progress, however, the player must defeat a difficult enemy that holds either a key or just straight-up auto unlocks the next area. Usually, reaching these enemies is easy and they are close to either shortcuts or stargazers to give the player an easier time learning and defeating these more challenging foes. The level design in this regard is pretty forgiving to a new player, but also unfortunately quite samey. This level progression does not change throughout the entire game, which can lead to most levels functionally feeling quite similar even when the art direction of each location is very distinct. This is one of my few criticisms of the game. I will say that while the approach is generally pretty fun, the repetition of such might cause some yawns here and there, even when the actual parts themselves have unique ideas. The benefits of such a design though are that for every section that most would consider a challenge, you are given easy access to every single time. This includes difficult enemies, mini-bosses, and of course, regular bosses. Boss run-ups are a thing of the past, which is entirely helpful since as Souls games have gotten bigger and better, bosses have continued to get an upgrade. And Lies of P is no different...
Bosses are the biggest strength in Lies of P. There is so much juicy, fantastic design present that each one feels destined for larger dissection and analysis. But for this review, I'll keep it brief. The bosses here are if you took the best of Dark Souls III, Elden Ring, and Sekiro, mashed them all together, and spruced it up with the distinct, dark, Lies of P flair. For one, no bosses have input-reading! I shouldn't have to explain that this is fucking incredible. Going into a tough-as-nails fight but still being given room to breathe and learn is just as important as making something cool with lots of spectacle. Elden Ring forgot this, having many fights read when you try and heal to actively punish you. Lies of P chooses to keep things fair, giving ample time to breathe, but just as much pressure to keep things interesting. After you chug through a certain portion of the game, bosses begin to have second health bars like Elden Ring as well. And in most scenarios, they are way better designed too! Most second phases are designed to be simply an extension of the first phase, rather than an entirely new fight to learn. This allows a player to have a good chance at the second phase without beating them up and taking their lunch money before they even learn about the smallest thing. And again, this doesn't stop the fights from being difficult, if anything, it presses the player to improve even more to have a fighting chance against some really crazy fights. And the thing I think is most important about the boss design compared to Elden Ring, is bosses are designed to be doable with ANYTHING. You got a really heavy weapon you want to use? That works. How about a super perfect block build? Even better. You want to just dodge all attacks and take potshots when you can? Of fucking COURSE you can! Each and every boss aside from ONE is designed in a manner where everything works and is more than capable of winning. That one boss is the Green Monster of the Swamp btw. That is my second criticism of the game. Just that boss. I'm serious. The arena is poor for the kind of fight it is, many attacks are designed around specific strategies, and the second phase feels like a different fight entirely in a bad way. And compared to every other boss in the game? It does stick out as the one outlier of poop. AND I WILL TAKE IT! Having only one boss that sucks versus many mediocre fights is the definition of consistency! All of these fights are seriously kickass and put themselves in some of my favorites in all of the Souls series! And I haven't talked about how much I like the unblock/undodgeable attack system yet! Certain attacks on bosses (and even regular enemies) are unblockable and undodgeable, meaning the only way to deal with them is to either perfect guard or run the hell away. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't totally be a fan of this since it incentivizes changing your strategy for one kind of attack (which Swamp man does), but because this game is great, every single one of these attacks has either massive wind-ups or easy and unique tells to make learning when they are coming incredibly easy. It's just...AHH, IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD MAN! And as a last aside, the hitboxes are attacks on all bosses is so fair that it puts every goddamn fight in every Souls game to shame. It's almost too accurate at times, I swear...
A Soulslike is nothing without variety, and Lies of P has got you covered. There are three somewhat distinct kinds of enemies: Puppets, Humans, and Carcasses. Each type of enemy has very distinct behaviors and patterns, but what makes progression through Lies of P interesting is how much crossover the three types end up having. Throughout the game, you will experience puppets, half-puppet/half-carcasses, regular carcasses, hell sometimes you get a weird in-between mix of like 30/70 puppet and carcass. All the enemies have unique aspects that make each one an interesting challenge, but more than that, the variety presents a sliding scale of differing combat experiences. Since each type requires different kinds of strategies, the sliding scale changes each new area into a brand-new amalgamation of weird and strange new enemy types to try and figure out. It is absolutely wonderful. Especially since the later you get, the more the crossover ends up as a mix, leading to enemies that are more puppet and carcass than the sum would lead you to believe allowing for an even deeper diversity. If I had to pick one that shows up a little too infrequently it would of course be Humans. Rarely does the player get a chance to brawl with any until the very last few hours, which is a shame since they were already showing some unique qualities.
When it comes to Souls, the story is usually very subdued, offering very little to the player unless you choose to dive deep into item descriptions and small lore tidbits. However, regardless of all the smaller, richer world details, most of the story and ideas presented are thematic rather than concrete plot stuff. Unlike Souls, Lies of P chooses to tell a rather forward story with plot details and the like but still harnesses the power of thematic undertones in the whole. Themes of humanity, consciousness, religion, filial relations, death, etc. Really heavy topics that I am in no way able to dissect well, but can at the very least understand and grasp in a way that leaves some resounding emotional moments. Really, if I can get that out of your thematically rich game, you've already won. The more concrete details of the plot are pretty simple and surface-level, but easier to understand compared to a Souls title. The game ends up as a much darker and more sinister version of the Pinocchio fable, with Pinocchio having to stop the source of the puppets' outrage, as well as the petrification disease. Both of these are slowly wiping away humanity from the map, all the while dastardly figures stand in the background plotting all of the events. Unfortunately, any more would enter spoiler-territory, so just know that I quite like the story and how it is presented, especially due to the Humanity system. The Humanity system is what allows the player to interact and take the story into their own hands with each choice. By performing various actions, such as listening to music, being nice to people and puppets, as well as lying, Pinocchio slowly becomes more and more human. Lying of course is against the puppet code, making Pinocchio unique in his own way. Throughout the game, the player is given the option in various conversations to either tell the truth or lie. It is up to the player to decide whether or not they wish to do either and depending on the scenario, each choice isn't exactly an easy one to make. Much like being human, a simple lie or truth isn't always black and white, leading to a distinct and lovely way of player expression through narrative cohesion in gameplay.
And boy oh boy, that gameplay. It only expands after the initial slice into a goddamn masterpiece. For every normal weapon you receive, you obtain a handle and a blade. After a certain point, you can mix and match blades and handles to create entirely new weapons. Each blade determines the weapon type as well as the amount of base damage associated with the weapon, and the kinds of damage it can do best. The handle is the base moveset of the weapon alongside the stat scaling. On top of this, each blade and handle has associated Fable Arts, meaning you can mix and match those as well. This system breathes so much life into the base Souls combat, allowing a player to experiment as much as they want to find the kind of weapon that would fit them as a player. I mean hell, you can even adjust the scaling on the handles if you want to have even more customizability to your combat experience! This alongside the stat system which has trimmed all the fat leaving only six equally important stats, leads to gameplay asking and encouraging unique playstyles, experimentation, and most importantly FUN! Add on top of this the Legion Arm system which gives the player a Sekiro-esque prosthetic arm that requires no external resources. Each unique Legion Arm adds just enough to give the player even more interesting choices in and out of battle, with upgrades attached to each arm (that you can remove at any time), and a magic-like MP bar to incentivize using them during combat. There is so much freedom in this combat system, yet nothing is ever broken or overpowered, and vice-versa nothing ever feels underpowered or shitty. An immaculate balance of so many intricate and detailed pieces leading to unadulterated enjoyment. It is fucking incredible.
And yet, Lies of P doesn't stop at just having incredible gameplay, because my god does the art direction go crazy. As previously discussed, enemies have a wide variety of looks due to the differing types, but that goes into the world as well. For the most part, each part of the world is very interesting and unique. Some parts fall into what I perceive as the "Resident Evil 4 Village" aesthetic but overall the towns, factories, castles, and chapels were all pretty visually fun. However as I said a lot of areas suffer from the repetitive design, so at times it is hard to recall what makes an area special aside from its art direction. Now, the game's general art direction, that deserves lots of praise. The dark and lonely atmosphere of a post-disaster "London" clashes with the abundance of mechanical puppets in a beautifully rich portrait-esque world. Admittedly, I probably can't find any more special words or synonyms for "nice looking" so just take my word that the game looks really good. And sounds good too, I forgot to mention that the soundscape is incredible.
Alright, tiniest little thing before I wrap this up. Two Dragons Sword, my beloved. This sword takes the juicy gameplay from a 10 to an 11 with the parry charged heavy. Completely demolishes the game for an experienced player, but has just enough risk to compensate for all that power. I LOVE IT.
Lies of P is the best parts of the Souls franchise combined with the classical tale of Pinocchio. With gameplay at the forefront of design, leading to a player-experimentation focus with fair yet brutally challenging bosses. A story that is quite possibly the easiest to follow in a Souls game without losing out on heavy theming. And all of it wrapped in a bow by some of the best Art and Sound of this generation. It isn't an exaggeration to say that Lies of P beats FromSoft at its own genre. No matter what these devs do next, from DLC to a new game, I will follow. They deserve my money.