Several fantastic games came out in the time between me getting shot out of a cannon at Kotaku and the foundation of Aftermath that I have tremendously strong feelings about. One of those is Lies of P, a game I think is one of the few Souls-adjacent games to actually equal FromSoft. Now that I have a blog where I can write whatever the hell I want, I would like to introduce a segment called “You Know What Ruled?” starting with Lies of P, which ruled and I’m excited to play the DLC.
During Wednesday’s Sony State of Play, Round8 and Neowiz unveiled the trailer for Lies of P: Overture, the new DLC for the game. Overture serves not only as a prequel, but also a director’s cut of the game, according to director Jiwon Choi. This DLC, as well as the planned sequel, have been in the works for a while now, and while both could potentially whiff it, I have confidence because Lies of P was so thoroughly my shit that it made me shout.
Lies of P had much going against it: It can seem both hubristic and tiresome for a relatively green studio to say its making a Soulslike. The surface level absurdity of the pitch, Pinocchio Bloodborne with minor Sekiro characteristics, coupled with the fact that the game takes a while to settle into a rhythm, made it a hard sell. I was underwhelmed when I first played the demo. But Lies of P, like Kunitsu-Gami, massively benefited from the slack afforded to it by being on Game Pass. Once you give the game a few hours, the systems start to lock in place and the game starts firing on all cylinders.
If Lies of P had simply aped Bloodborne competently that would have been satisfying. Bloodborne is still peerless in FromSoft’s catalogue, its excellence made bittersweet by being trapped in the strange limbo of Sony’s involvement. But Lies of P blossoms into more than a simple imitator around the tail end of its second chapter. The game features a Weapon Assembly system, where handles and blades can be swapped interchangeably and weapons can be customized. Using different combinations impacts not only the moveset and efficacy, but the Fable Arts, special moves similar to Ashes of War in Elden Ring. Lies of P also features different elemental damage types that change in efficacy depending on the type of enemy being faced (puppets, carcasses, or alchemists). On top of this, P’s mechanical Legion Arm opens up a lot of possibilities in a way that’s not dissimilar to Sekiro’s Shinobi Prosthetic.
It should go without saying that Lies of P is difficult, and the game quickly developed a reputation for being harder than many of FromSoft’s recent offerings. You could debate this until you are blue in the face, and since its release the game has undergone multiple difficulty tweaks. What actually matters is that the game feels fantastic when it’s grinding you into dust – it’s a blissful, relentless pressure that keeps you coming back for more. It says much about the planning and success of Lies of P that people put it up to the level of scrutiny Souls games normally face. When nerds start getting into annoyingly granular arguments about boss nerfs and weapon balance, there’s a nonzero chance you have succeeded.
But what floored me is that Lies of P actually makes such a goofy premise work. Over the course of the game, Krat becomes a totally realized world. P’s relationship to Geppetto actually gains heft as the lore of the universe develops. Appropriately, the game ceases being simply an imitation and becomes real. This culminates in a “true” ending that is well realized, one with actual meat on it in ways that many of FromSoft’s endings lack (FromSoftware is not allowed to do another ending where a bunch of guys bow or someone sits on a throne.).
Lies of P also features an absurd and fantastic post-credit surprise. Normally I hate teasers like that because the Marvel cinematic universe has so thoroughly abused the form in the last 17 years. What’s more, if you had spoiled the surprise for me at the beginning I would have told you that it was corny. But Lies of P ended on such a strong note for me that when I saw what it was hinting at, I started hooting and hollering. Oh you guys are doing that? That’s where you’re going with this? Hell yes, I’m sold, I’m locked in, let’s fucking gooooooo.
God damn, Lies of P rules, and writing this made me want to play it all over again.
