Lies of P is a real video game title. Lies of P is also a really good game! The premise of this game is pretty wild: Bloodborne, but this time with Pinocchio? That's Lies of P, and it absolutely nails it.

I've been a fan of FromSoftware's work since Demon's Souls, and have played or beaten every one of their games in that lineage. Up until Elden Ring, Bloodborne was my favorite of theirs in that lineage, and I still wish they would go back to that spookier setting at some point. This is where Lies of P comes in. Many other developers have tried to make a Soulslike game - to the point where "Soulslike" is its own subgenre now - and until Lies of P, I don't think any have come close to replicating what makes the Souls games so good. It's hard not to forget that FromSoft didn't make Lies of P while you're playing it. The trademark fair-yet-difficult combat is precise, the animations are incredible, and the level design and overall vibes match FromSoft's typical output. FromSoftware didn't develop Lies of P, Neowiz did. To my knowledge this is their first major title, and that is incredibly promising.

The "P" in Lies of P is your character, a mechanical puppet created by Gepetto. In this world, puppets have rebelled and become murderous, and you have been tasked with helping to fight against these rebel puppets. Much like various android/robot science-fiction, the puppets in this world are programmed to not be able to lie. P, however, can lie, hence the title. So far, the story has been an interesting take on Pinocchio, while also delving into other sci-fi ideas around what it means to be alive, etc. The setting here also leans very much into horror, which again is something that has been missing from other Soulslike games since Bloodborne. The creepy atmosphere makes the already tense combat feel even more tense, which creates an even more rewarding feeling when you find success.

Mechanically, this game includes and builds upon the tried-and-true Soulslike formula of studying enemy patterns, dodging and/or parrying at the right time, and picking moments to strike. Lies of P rewards aggression, as you can rebuild health after a successful block or parry, and your health items recharge after successful hits. There is also a customization system for both weapons and tools that P can use, allowing for some variance in builds - another staple in Soulslike games. The greatest customization aspect for this game is what is called the P-Organ (the P-Organ! P-Organ!!!!!!!!!!), which lets you modify different abilities for P. All in all, there is a lot of flexibility in how to approach combat, which is always a good thing. Boss battles are challenging and epic in scope - another way this game successfully captures what makes the Souls games great. The checkpointing system is a little more forgiving (thankfully), as most of the time there is a checkpoint right before each boss. This is nice, as it allows you to focus on figuring out how to approach a boss on multiple attempts vs. having to worry about fighting your way back to the boss.

Bloodborne came out in 2015, and there hasn't been a game since then that captures the spirit of what that game did until now. Lies of P is the best Soulslike game not from FromSoftware, and an intriguing major debut for Neowiz. Even though Elden Ring dominated the world last year (and will hopefully receive DLC this year), Lies of P is a fantastic entry in the genre as we wait for the next proper FromSoft Souls game.

P-Organ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Starfield, for a very long time, was not on my GOTY list this year. After playing around 5 hours or so around the initial launch window, I realized that a lot of my fears about this game seemed to be true: there was a lot of different kinds of content, but not a lot of depth; the lack of different species to talk to would seem boring; there would be nowhere very interesting to explore even though there are 1000+ planets. This was my experience for those first 5 hours - I tried very hard to get into the game but there was nothing that hooked me very much, and none of the experiences that Bethesda claimed were in store for me felt realized at all. The combat was feeling pretty good, but ammo management in the early game was hamstringing some of the fun of it for a while. As much as I was really trying to give it a fair shake, I was left feeling rather cold, and often disappointed.

Then something happened - I'm not entirely sure why, but right before the end of the year I decided to pick it back up for a casual session on a Saturday morning. I think taking a bit of space (lol) from the initial launch of the game, plus coming back to it with reduced expectations allowed me to finally find some fun, and many hours later I'm really starting to enjoy Starfield. I debated putting it on this list because it's the only game that didn't immediately hook me, but I've put enough time into it now (as well as found more hooks) that it became more of a go-to game as the year ended than I ever thought it would.

Starfield is a game where you can: explore different cities each with different vibes, touch down on more remote planets or dock onto space stations to find enemies and loot, engage in interstellar ship combat, design/modify ships, follow a mystery that could unfold secrets of the universe, and talk to a wide variety of different characters, often gaining quests in the process. If Starfield did all of these things at a high level, then it would be one of the best games ever made, but unfortunately it only really excels at a few of those things. Space travel is merely dressed-up fast travel, broken up by loading screens. You can also skip space travel altogether if you want even faster-fast travel. Unlike games such as No Man's Sky or Elite Dangerous, space travel doesn't add much of anything to the overall gameplay. There are thousands of planets, but most of them are pretty dead, with only a handful of repetitive activities to do once you touch down, such as exploring a cave or some sort of human installation, usually with enemies to fight. The combat feels good at least, but seeing the same types of enemies and small variations in locale doesn't do the combat any favors.

Like previous Bethesda games, I think the best part of this game is the faction missions. These have become the biggest hook for me, as they spend more time in the larger cities vs the more remote/generic areas of the game. These bigger hubs are way more interesting to be in, as they have more characters, more activities, and more visual variety in set dressing. Anything in this game that can keep you in the larger cities is a great idea, and is what has kept me coming back to the game more than I thought I would. There is still a good amount of what Bethesda does well in their games in Starfield, but it's underneath more clutter than usual. I don't think this will have as intense of an overhaul like Cyberpunk 2077 did, but I do think there is a lot of potential for this game to grow into more of what they envisioned here in the coming years.

I've never been a huge mech guy, but FromSoftware returning to the Armored Core series had me interested. I never played any of the previous five Armored Core games, but anything that FromSoft puts out, I'm there. Armored Core 6 is not MechSouls, but that's okay - it's an incredibly fast and furious action game in its own right. Despite having no familiarity with the series, Armored Core 6 wasted no time in getting me not only into the action, but also invested in the dark, cynical, corporate sci-fi world where all of this action happens.

You are a mercenary mech pilot trying to survive on a dangerous planet called Rubicon. The planet is host to an incredible energy resource, so naturally many different corporations wage wars against each other for control. As a mercenary, you take jobs from any and all of these corporations in order to survive, as well as make a bigger name for yourself. The story, while having a basic premise, certainly plays with bigger ideas of corporate greed, morality, and humanity within such a dystopian situation. The story is certainly more interesting than I thought it would be, but it honestly doesn't need to be - the main draw is how incredible this game feels to play, as well as the absolutely wild spectacle this game is capable of - both aspects true to FromSoftware games.

The game follows a mission structure rather than operating within an open world, so you'll take missions, complete objectives, and earn money that you can use to upgrade your mech. Most missions can be completed fairly quickly, which encourages replay to try out different mech builds and strategies, knowing you'll always earn more money if you succeed. I think that the idea of replaying so much would be tiresome if this game didn't feel so dang good to play. Initially, it is a bit overwhelming to manage multiple weapons, your health, your speed, your altitude, and the number of enemies on screen, but after a few missions I realized I was very much in a flow state, dodging and flying around enemies and using the appropriate weapons at the right times. Executing the amount of action on-screen that is required to succeed while also doing that in a flow state is incredibly satisfying - even for somebody like me who hasn't been hugely interested in mech-action stuff before.

The moment that truly hooked me on how awesome this game is happened fairly early: you are tasked in one of your missions to take down a gigantic walking base that houses a huge laser weapon near its "head." When you start the mission, you see the thing out in the distance, and it looks impossibly huge from that far away. As you move in closer, all of a sudden you hear a warning about its weapon about to fire, and then you see this massive laser beam surging towards you. So now you have to dodge that giant laser AND other enemies as you get in closer. Once you finally get to the walker, you realize "Okay...now how do I take this thing down?" The size difference between your mech and the walker is absurdly comical, but yet you still have to take it down. Because the game rules, you quickly see all of the small ways that build up to take the thing down, even though it feels incredibly dangerous the entire time. The feeling I had while flying away, watching this giant monstrosity explode while I, a mechanized mosquito, flew away mostly unscathed was incredible. I think I'm a mech guy now?