Lies of P

With their first-ever triple A title, Neowiz has raised the bar for non-Fromsoft soulslikes. Pinocchio's journey through the world of Krat is inspired and mesmerizing, coupled with a narrative that seems genuinely invested in its driving themes. The combat is fine-tuned and weighty, with many standout features that blend together into a riveting mesh of hack and slash glory. While at times the difficulty can seem insurmountable, there's always new strategies to experiment with.

Combat takes center stage in Lies of P, built around the blueprint established by the Souls series. The usual fare of invincibility frame dodges and stamina-focused blocking is well-translated and is nearly indistinguishable from the likes of Elden ring. Where it sets itself apart, however, is the delicious mishmash of other mechanics derived from the other souls greats. Guarding doesn't negate damage, but rather dilutes it and demands that you attack your aggressor to earn it back. Rather than sitting behind a greatsheild while your enemy tires themselves out, the player is forced to engage. The peak of this engagement is the game's perfect parry system, which demands that the player time a guard to the very point of connection with an enemy blade. Rewarded with total damage negation and some useful stagger buildup, it's a high-risk, high-reward mechanic that rewards attentive players. With such a wide variety of enemies and bosses to fight, these duels are varied and consistently fun.

The art direction is also commendable, featuring many noteworthy settings full of unique enemies and set pieces that help to immerse the player. The standouts include a level set in a lavish Victorian opera house, a world's fair exhibition, and a ruin-littered junkyard. Though some of the settings feel a bit awkward gameplaywise, such as the extremely wide streets of Krat's urban sprawl, the dressing of this fantasy world is inspired and suitably melancholic.

The story is also impressive. Without spoiling much, it's a very introspective take on the classic Pinocchio tale that takes plenty of risks. Dynamics between characters evolve in natural ways, and you'll leave the experience with things to ponder. The traditional narrative vagueness that is so emblematic of the souls genre is dialed back to an approachable degree, allowing more casual observers of the story to glean its messaging. The characters are well-voiced and dynamic. While some of the "dark twist" character moments are a bit sudden and feel a bit forced, I'd say that for the most part the narrative is well-crafted.

It's not without flaws, however. Here's some objective gripes:

• There's a message at the start of the game that tells you that the red "fury" attacks are undodgeable, while what that really means is that they cannot be I-framed. There are certain red moves in the game that are far easier to evade than they are to parry.

• The "true" ending is locked behind one decision that you make towards the end of the game. Without spoiling anything, I picked the "wrong" option, thinking that exploration might yield a more amenable solution given the fantastical circumstances of the problem. As a result, I got dumped into the "neutral ending", which was profoundly unsatisfying.

• The weapon crafting system has some odd caveats that, while they service realism, inhibit experimentation and player fun.

• The difficulty feels a bit unfair at times. I think that the perfect parry window could be extended by a frame or two to help counterbalance some of the more peculiar enemy attack timings without sacrificing the game's challenge.

All in all, though, I think it's a fantastic game that's worth checking out for any fan of the souls genre. More like this, please.

As a souls fan I was skeptical about playing this game, and the game dragged me in by its fangs and took me to places I could never predict in my adulthood gaming experiences.

Let's start with the story, its a dark and grim adaptation on the well known Pinocchio story, with nice little twists and adaptations. Won't spoil anything here but it sure does it well. With the dark world and adult themes, and great voice acting as well.

Now for combat. It is polished and pretty tight, don't expect to go into the game and brute force it all the way, sure you can do that for the early game bosses, but eventually they will throw all the mechanics into to the game and you will be forced to adapt. It is not a combat I'm used to therefore I struggled with the game, but it was sooo satisfying beating that one boss you died 30 times because you mastered it and all its moves.

Overall it's the best soulslike I have ever played and it seem like the developers truly put their heart and souls into the game. I would go even as far as saying its better then a few souls games itself. So go ahead and try the game out its worth every penny and you will learn to be good at games again.

Lies of P is a perfect example that just because you're a souls like doesn't mean you're restricted to a basic formula. Honestly, I think this game may be the best souls like I have played.

There are fantastic soul likes for example hollow knight is one of the best Game I've played in general but I've struggled with it being referred to as a souls like. It's hard like souls games but it's not really a souls game. This occurs often within the gaming ecosystem but lies of p IS a souls like. It is a blend of all the game in such a unique way. Takes pieces of that piece of this for instance it's overall aesthetic is very Bloodborne feeling while it's combat system very dark souls but also Sekiro with its deflecting. But it stands out cause it's beyond original. The game is based on Pinocchio lore which honestly utilizes itself to be a core component to the game. Not only its story but the way the character changes. At the start your a puppet stiff and unalive. As you progress depending on what you choose to do you can become more human. Making choices like a human lying or otherwise. Listening to records. There's more spoiler type things ahead so I'll move on but this shows in your gameplay. Your character starts to move more natural grunt or make human sounds and my favorite example is in the beginning of the game there's a cat that will hiss angrily if you interact with it. The more human you become the more the cat chooses to reciprocate. Small details like that are why lies of p is such a grand game. Along with that design goes far. We got a very wide variety of enemies ( all though there was a lot of recycling for them) and bosses as well were so sick. All amazing designs not one similar to the last no reycyles an I appreciate that a lot. The gameplay besides the picked up stuff is so damn good. The weapon system is so unique it's beyond belief. I've never seen this in any game that I can think of but you get two pieces to each weapon you find a blade and a hilt. Both of them have a different special moves and the move said determined by what hilt you're using. You can mix and mash these, however you choose to that leaves to your arsenal being as vast as your creativity allows you. If you want the giant head of a wrench on the end of a dagger hilt you can go crazy my friend. Yep, upgrade system that comes along this as well it's very different. Let's sayit can be a little bit stomping at first confusing the hell out of you until you finally get a hold of it simply broken down you getA item called quartz, which lets you put one point into a skill point you put into that skill you get a small benefit out of whether that's a boost effect or an extra heel something to the likeness of that and once you have enough of those points put into one bracket you get the skill it's it's actually good really good for replay because as you progress in a new game, plus you can keep building upon it. The inventory management system as well can be a little little bit of a throw. It's kind of hard to get everything centered. You have to upgrade a lot of stuff to get certain attachments like having more space being able to put on another ring you know those sort of things can be difficult to get around, but it kind of makes things balance better for yourself.

Clothing does not add any weight or take away stats. It's actually affected by puppet pieces, which is really nice for the fashionable ones of us. The Legion attachment. I personally didn't use seemed useless. The whole fire like shrine type area is amazing as well, so great all the characters are so enjoyable so creative as well as the NPCs in the game in general There's just a large sense of whimsy and creative writing that makes lies of p stand out. I'll also add that the music is top-notch some of the best gaming music I've ever heard and it adds a lot to the game both as a narrative device and as an aesthetic device. The game just uses the Pinocchio format as a seasoned spice on top of everything using the different aspects of the fairytale for different dynamics of the game. Both setting pacing and Capability for different game styles I'd recommend this as a souls like more than most are typically recommend. It is just a special thing that I'm happy I came across and as a veteran FromSoft Nerd hear me when I say this game deserves so much respect and love.

'Lies of P' is a hauntingly beautiful game, a macabre twist on the story of 'Pinocchio'. It's like 'Bloodborne' meets 'Steelrising' meets 'Detroit: Become Human'. It's gorgeous, with a stunning atmosphere, and incredibly fun (and challenging) to play. There are numerous weapon designs and builds to choose from, and the battle system is quick-paced but fairly easy to learn.

My only issue is with the story development. I see what they were trying to accomplish, but I feel that the story could've benefitted from tighter writing; it felt as if they were trying to do too much at once, which made the plot feel somewhat convoluted. Tightening up the story would've strengthened it, making it more cohesive and coherent, and it would've eliminated some of the plot holes (there are several). One of the endings, especially, would've benefitted greatly from this, and it would've given a stronger resolution to the main character's story.

Also, if they had given the main character dialogue and had him speak, it would've profoundly elevated the narrative and made the game unique amongst other souls-likes. Silent protagonists work well for those games, but it just feels strange for this one, considering the story centers on a character discovering his humanity.

Other than those issues, it's a truly fantastic game, and the developers should be proud of the work they've done.

Lies of P is, for me, the game that has come closest to capturing the essence of my favorite games by FromSoftware (Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Demon's Souls). I'd like to highlight some of its positives:

• Fantastic mechanics (movement, combat system, inventory management, etc.)
• A beautifully dark world
• Stunning music
• Superb enemies, fantastic boss fights
• An engaging story with surprising twists
• Clever, innovative additions (grindstones, legion arm, golden fruit, etc.)
• Levels aren't overly complicated, devoid of unnecessary verbosity
• Almost bug-free
• Stabile performance

I'd love to give the game a perfect ten, but I'm deducting one point solely due to the absence of online/co-op mode, as I've always enjoyed taking down bosses with a friend in FromSoftware games.

It's a magnificent and fantastic game, perhaps the best souls-like not created by FromSoftware.