Lies of P (and the Overture DLC) Review: The Best Soulslike FromSoftware Didn't Make
A pitch-black Pinocchio story with lightning-fast parry combat, one of the best bosses in the genre, and a prequel DLC Ace ranks above Shadow of the Erdtree.
Lies of P sits in Ace's top 15 games of all time. Josh beat it, which, as our regular listeners know, is about the highest compliment Josh can give a game. And with the Overture DLC out, Ace tore through the new content in two days (he doesn't recommend that) so we could go back to the city of Krat. (Not "Crotch," Josh.)
It's probably the best Soulslike there is that FromSoftware hasn't made.
A dark fairy tale
Lies of P takes Pinocchio and makes it dark. You wake up as Geppetto's puppet. Nobody calls you Pinocchio, or even P. A puppet frenzy has torn Krat apart: the puppets broke the Grand Covenant that stops them from hurting humans and turned on the city. Corpses are everywhere. Puppets also can't lie, and you can.
That's the heart of the game. Lying makes you more human, and the game keeps putting you in moments where the truth would break someone's heart. Do you tell a mother her son is dead? (Josh's take: it's funny that the trait that makes you human is one of humanity's worst traits.) Listening to music and handling things like a person also add to your humanity, and you can watch your hair change. Josh's favorite check is trying to pet the cat. If it refuses, you're still a puppet.
And unlike a lot of Soulslikes, Lies of P actually tells you its story instead of burying it in item descriptions.
Combat built around the parry
It's faster and snappier than classic Dark Souls, closer to Sekiro or Bloodborne. It wants you to parry. Early on, dodging just isn't enough. Perfect parries break a boss's stance for a fatal attack, and enough of them can break the boss's weapon so it hits you for less.
Then there's the build-crafting:
- Mix-and-match weapons. Pull the blade off one weapon and the handle off another to make something new with different scaling and special moves. Ace had five fully upgraded weapons he swapped between depending on his mood.
- Legion Arms. Your prosthetic arm swaps between tools like a shield, proximity mines, and Ace's favorite, the Puppet String, a grappling hook that yanks you toward an enemy for a big slam attack. (Ideally. Enemies love smacking you out of the air.)
I never felt like the combat started to get stale.
The bosses
From the Parade Master to the infuriating clown to Ace's favorite Souls boss ever, the King of Puppets, the boss fights are excellent. Josh thinks they're more approachable than FromSoftware's: telegraphs are clearer, so when you die, it's on you, not because a boss was flailing like a fish. The early game is brutal, though. Ace's advice is to learn to parry, and the middle of the game eases up as you get stronger.
The Overture DLC
This is one of the coolest DLCs, possibly ever.
Overture is a prequel. P travels back in time to before the puppet frenzy, during the outbreak of the petrification disease that hardens people's Ergo and mutates them. You follow a legendary Stalker and try to save Romeo, Carlo's (the person we are a artificial recreation of) best friend, which gives the King of Puppets a gut-punching new context. You keep your level and gear, and it's packed with new areas (a zoo, a frozen lake, a frozen fishing town, catacombs full of alchemists), new weapons (yes, Wolverine claws), and some of the best bosses in the whole game. It runs about 15 hours for $30.
It's also hard. Ace beat the base game on its hardest difficulty and had to drop Overture down a notch. The first boss, a giant crocodile in a tiny arena, made him miserable. The final boss, he swears, is harder than Bloodborne's Orphan of Kos. And yes, he picks Overture over Shadow of the Erdtree. Josh does not buy it.
Difficulty settings
Lies of P has difficulty options, and some people online say that makes it not a "true" Soulslike. Our take: that's silly. Let people play games the way they want. More players trying games like this is a good thing.
The VGP take
Ace gave Lies of P plus Overture a 9.4. It's held back only by a late-game stretch that throws big enemies at you a little too often. Josh, who played the base game a couple of years ago, gave it an 8.7 to 8.8. It doesn't quite touch Elden Ring for him, but he enjoyed every minute.
If you like Soulslikes, this is a must-play. And if Elden Ring Nightreign got you curious like it did Ryan, Lies of P's quick, readable, story-driven fast and fun combat might be the perfect next step.