Lies of P The New Era of Soulslike Games.
We’ve entered a new era in the increasingly crowded souls-like arms race when we’re now turning classic children’s stories into Dark Twisted bloodborne pseudo sequels but hey here we are yes Lies of P is yet another game inspired by the unforgiving FromSoftware masterpieces that have captured the hearts of so many myself included but it’s also an undeniably impressive standout amid a sea of games chasing the souls-like trend.
Is Lies of P about Pinocchio?
One way it stands out is with its tale, which is a dark reinterpretation of Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio. You know the story about a naughty puppet known for spreading lies and wishing to become a real boy a real real child.
The Lies of P version takes a lot of gory and depressing Liberty in its version of the classic tale, but it has some nice nods to its inspiration, such as these untrustworthy mammals and a neat mechanic where you have to choose whether to tell lies or the truth, which will affect the outcome of your story.
What Is The Story of Lies of P?
This genre of game isn’t recognised for having the most understandable stories, and Lies of P isn’t an exception, but it tries harder than others. There’s a lot of dialogue and cut scenes that kept my attention during my first run, in fact, of all the disturbing and perplexing stories I’ve seen in this genre, this is one of my favourites.
It has some interesting twists and turns and a few memorable characters. As you’d expect you’ll split your time hacking your way through levels where practically everything in sight wants to kill you and taking on much more formidable bosses and lies of P largely nails both of those genre pillars.
The city of Krat is memorable in dystopian but also constantly reminding you that you’re acting out a legendary Pinocchio fairy tale.
It includes your Cricket sidekick Gemini and your puppet-making father Geppetto, who always urges you to be a good boy before sending you on missions to murder everyone in your path in order to get rid of the frenzied puppets that have seized East City Hall. You’ll find the “poison swamp” level that every Soul’s like is legally compelled to include, as well as an exhibition hall with hopeful images of a future that clearly didn’t work out quite as planned.
Each is thoroughly enjoyable to hack and slash your way through.
Lies of P is clearly inspired by Bloodborne
Another thing on the list are some memorable and generally unpleasant boss fights and Lies of P has got those too. They’re all enjoyable, even though they’re all relatively standard encounters where you Whittle down a health bar.
It would have been nice to have one or two encounters where they change things up by throwing in a challenge or trick you have to figure out to beat your opponent, those are always my favourite.
For Better or Worse, most of its fighting is clearly inspired on Bloodborne, with a few small changes.
For example, unlike in Bloodborne, you cannot restore health lost from direct attacks by striking back at your enemies, but you are given the ability to partially block some of that incoming damage then counter to restore the chip damage you absorbed.
The result is a similar meta where aggressive gameplay is encouraged, which keeps fights moving along at a quick pace, but it also discourages more defensive play styles, which tend to be my go-to in soul’s likes games.
Is Lies of P too hard?
It’s a difficult game, after all it’s a Souls-like game and will put your talents to the test in a variety of ways. Bosses will irritate you, hidden mysteries will excite you, and even the weakest puppet adversaries will occasionally get the better of you.
Is Lies of P worth a playthrough?
While the levels are less open and twisty than most, with an awesome weapon crafting system, some really memorable boss fights, and one of the better stories we’ve seen in the genre, I can enthusiastically recommend you spend your time hanging out with Geppetto and friends if you’ve been waiting for a bloodborne remaster or sequel that may never come, Lies of P is the next best thing.
Lies of P is out now on PC, PS5 and Xbox.
