The tale of Pinocchio is one we all know pretty well; wooden puppet brought to life by magic, wants to become a real boy, has a pretty outstanding lying problem. Now, let's take that tale, spice it up with some souls-like combat and systems, make the tale darker but still hopeful, and add in the developer's own unique features to the game to really make something special. Let's find out if your strings are being pulled or you can create your own truth in, Lies of P.
Lies of P starts us out awakening within a train carriage thanks to a blue butterfly and it gets us right into the swing of things quickly as we take control of Pinocchio or P. We get to choose between 3 starting weapons with some modifications to your starting stats too, but it's nothing drastic. P steps out of the carriage and we get our first taste of the city of Krat where puppets have claimed the streets after going mad and started slaughtering the citizens.
If you have ever played a Dark Souls game or a similar title from From Software then the combat, exploration, and weapon upgrade systems should feel pretty familiar to you. As it is in most souls-like games, the combat is tuned to one-on-one fights where learning your foe's pattern could be the difference maker in most encounters. Dodge rolling and blocking are here in this game but blocking has a couple special characteristics. If you block an enemy's attack your health is actually reduced, but like Bloodbourne, if you attack back quick enough without getting hit, you can recover that health.
Blocking actually has another mechanic simply called perfect blocking where if you block an attack at the moment it connects it negates any damage to you and inflicts some stagger build-up to the enemy. While stagger can be built up through heavy attacks, perfect blocking can be a more reliable way to achieve that state once you've learned the timing. The downside as you might expect from mistiming the perfect block is either it's just a normal block or taking the hit and then some. In addition to that, most enemies that have a weapon like a sword or baton, if perfect blocked enough the weapon will break. Besides just feeling very satisfying to do, this will also severally nerf the foe's damage output and even limit their range too. The real kicker to this ability is how bosses can also be affected by weapon breaks as well.
Another great change from the norm of the souls-like genre comes in the form of your fashion. Lies of P has a pretty healthy set of cosmetics to discover and unlock and they're all great. The best thing about your look though is how it has 0 to do with any stats or weight to your character. No need to worry about looking cool or silly and it making you no more durable than paper. There's a separate set of equipment slots to aide your defenses and resistances, so feel free to dress up Pinocchio however you see fit.
As you may have also guessed, lying or telling the truth plays a pretty important role in shaping exactly who you want P to be. Often when talking with characters or reaching certain world events you'll be faced with a pair of options. These options could boil down to a simple harsh truth and a harmless white-lie, or unveiling a family's hidden truth or letting sleeping dogs lie. These choices feel like they have more of an actual effect on P as you'll get onscreen notifications and even some changes to him too. Ultimately it's up to you which way you want to lean, but know even the small things like music or helping a friend can lead to big changes.
Let's take a moment to actually talk about our main hub area and some of the areas we'll be exploring as well. Hotel Krat will be our main hub where we can; level up, upgrade our weapons and tools, and even relax to some classical music and talk with our allies. As we explore Krat, more people will come to the hotel for safety from the puppet frenzy and these same people will have direct and indirect things happen to them throughout the course of the story. At times, we can even influence some information they may learn depending on if we want to be truthful or not with them and that can affect what rewards we get from them at the end of the quest-line. And just when you think the hotel can't surprise you anymore, it might have a hidden gem waiting for you in plain sight. Possibly a way to upgrade P beyond just leveling him up even...
The areas you explore are wonderfully crafted as traversing them comes with great ease but it's not so linear that there aren't secrets and side-paths to discover. Lies of P has us exploring the razed streets of Krat first and we get to see the beautiful buildings and architecture as we make our way in addition to seeing the horrors with the bloody bodies in the streets, vehicles set ablaze, and the few citizens that speak with us through their windows are suffering from a sickness plaguing the city. Don't worry though as Krat isn't the only place we'll be exploring as we'll be seeing an industrial factory taken over by the puppets, a village and cathedral overrun by victims mutated from the disease, and even a lavish and gorgeous opera house with hallways filled with beauty and danger.
Lastly, we'll speak about Lies of P's difficulty and it's bosses. After completing the game, it certainly feels in line with some of the most recent difficulties found in From Software's other titles. The game can feel oppressive and rigidly difficult but just like the other souls games, perseverance, patience, and preparation will see you through. Consumables in Lies of P are especially helpful and should be used, as an example there is a puppet that utilizes a pair of metal shields to turtle up and is a pain to kill. If you use some throwing cells (essentially an electricity grenade) it will fry these nuisances instead of you trying to toothpick them down.
The bosses are mostly all wonderful to go against as each one provides a new challenge as you might expect and learning the fight feels great. Just like the regular mobs in the streets, bosses telegraph their next move well but Lies of P can throw you off in having them delay that attack or have it actually be the beginning of an onslaught combo. The look of bosses is also almost always spectacular too as one could be a robotic, crazed clown with a goofy spring punch attack with an eerie laugh and the next boss could be a slender figure with a large glowing device on it's head that radiates some kind of malice as you approach as it draws out two blades in hand before it rushes at you. As I did mention before, there was only one boss that I didn't enjoy but one small hiccup isn't enough to topple the magnificence of the rest, besides everyone will find the bosses more or less difficult or fun to your given tastes. But I do believe you'll find more you like or love and only a couple you might harbor a grudge for by the end.
Just a quick blurb about achievements. From one run, you could attain about 75% of the achievements in the game but you will need to do a couple more runs to get the other 2 endings. Getting all the weapons, gestures, and records is fairly simple enough as you conduct your runs, just make sure you're careful before you start NG+ as you may just be on the cusp of getting a lingering achievement.
Probably the best compliment I and others could give to Lies of P is that, if you told us this was made by From Software, we'd believe you. The quality is there in every vein from the visuals to the combat to the character stories happening on the side. No where does the game stumble and is unable to pick itself back up, at it's worst, Lies of P may suffer from too many 2-phase bosses but that's hardly an outstanding issue. If you're a fan of the souls-like genre and/or From Software's games you will find plenty to enjoy from Lies of P as it shows itself to be the best of all worlds and wants nothing but for you to enjoy this wonderful game. You won't be seeing my nose growing when I say Lies of P is absolutely fantastic and it should be on your must-play list.
4.5