So, figured its time for another review as we are into October now and its been a while since I've done one and I've decided to review a game I recently completed, the action adventure game, Lies of P, which is another Soulslike video game that pays homage to Bloodborne and also the story of Pinnochio.
So, how does Lies of P stack up compared to the Soulsborne video games? Well, let's take a look...
STORY
So, a bit about the story of the game, which is based loosely on the Adventures of Pinnochio written by Carlo Collodi and sees its main character, P, a silent puppet, rewakened by a voice and exits a train cart into the city of Krat. Krat was previously a flourishing city only then to be ravaged by a rare petrification disease that turned the people into essentially walking dead called caracases. The city has also seen its puppet inhabitatns effected by a strange frenzy that turns them hostile and resulted in a massacre of the city's population.
So, P is summoned by the voice of a woman named Sophia, who tells him he must find his creator named Geppetto in order to help them out and then make their way to one true safe haven in the city left, Hotel Krat. However, in order for P to reach Geppetto, he must first fight his way past the hostile puppets and more powerful puppet enemies that stand in his way...
THOUGHTS
As far as Soulslikes go, Lies of P is a very solid and enjoyable game and one that pays as much homage to the acclaimed Fromsoft RPG, Bloodborne as it does to the story of Pinnochio. The game also makes good use of its period settings that give a Victorian-esque time feel albeit with the characters having mixed accents of English and American (as well as Italian!). The combat also borrows alot from the Souls format with a similar mix of weapons, powerful enemies and of course boss fights but does it in its own unique way that keeps its own formula fresh. And unlike the Souls games it also offers some morale ambiguities where P has to make choices at key moments to either lie or tell the truth, which helps keep the Pinnochio theme going, the only difference though is P's nose doesn't grow when he lies! Lies or not, this is still a really solid game.
GAMEPLAY
As for the gameplay, the game adopts a similar challenging style of combat to the Soulsborne games but also adds some of its own ideas while also adopting the third person perspective for the action but I'll say more on the gameplay in the sub sections below.
COMBAT & WEAPONS
So, in terms of combat mechanics, P can perform strong and light attacks with each weapon and in addition to this, he can perform parries and block attacks with his own weapon, which will cause P to take some damage but he can restore it with a counterattack. P can also perform backstab (or more like back slash) attacks on sneaking up behind enemies for further damage. P can also perform rolls and dodges to evade incoming enemy attacks but this will of course drain his stamina. P can also break enemies weapons are several strikes depending on the strength of enemies themselves.
As for the weapons, P has a good array of weapons to select from as he works through the game, you will pick up different melee weapons as he goes but you will start with the choice of just one initial weapon. So, each starting weapon will be of a different class with one for strength, one for balance (essentially a quality weapon in the Souls games) and one for dexterity. In a unique feature of the game however, P can also swap out weapon handles and use them with different blades, which will give weapons different abilities and movesets. The weapons available feature a mix of longswords, greatswords, axes, daggers, clubs, halberds and spears.
P will also have his own unique mechanical arm called a legion arm, which has special abilities, and you can craft new arms for P at Hotel Krat as you progress through the game. The legion arm can perform different attacks such as fire and lightning attacks as well as perform grapple attacks and these can be modifed and created at the Hotel with the use of specific items. P can also use items called legion cartridges, to restore the usage of your arm's capabilities as P uses the arm in combat.
FABLE ARTS
Another unique feature in the game are fable arts, which are the special skills that can be used on different weapons to perform powerful attacks or strikes. P himself will need to however collect fable catalysts, which he can use on himself in order to use the weapon's fable art skills, some of which can also change the shape of weapons. As you progress through the game, P can also gain more fable slots that will allow him to reuse his fable skills but you can also restore his fable gradually on defeating enemies.
ERGO AND STATS
As for the game's currency, its known as Ergo, which is a blue energy source that is dropped from enemies after P defeats them, which he can use to buy items or level up his stats. Also as P's character upgrades his levels, the amount of Ergo required will rise as well, simialr to the other Soulslike games and the Souls series themselves.
Moving onto the game's stats, there are six main stats in the game that are vitality, that relates the amoutn of health P has, vigor, which connects to P's stamina. Then there is Capacity, which relates to the equipment load that P can carry, Moitivity, which is to do with strength, Technique which relates to dexterity and finally Advance, which boosts your elemental damage e.g. acid, fire or lightning attacks. Also as mentioned above, these stats can be upgraded and the amount of Ergo required will raise as you do so and P can upgrade himself via the character Sophie at the main hub of the game, which is Hotel Krat.
THROWABLES AND CONSUMABLES
In terms of throwable items, this is basically Lies of P's answer to ranged attacks, as P can carry so many items at once that he can throw at enemies. These items include containers of fire, lightning or acid as well as other items as saw blades, sharp pipes, grenades and short puts. P however can only carry a limited amount although this can be increased by upping your skill tree level at Hotel Krat.
As for consumables, P can also use items to restore his health or cure him from certain status ailments, which will effect him throughout the game. In terms of heath restoration, P's primary source are pulse cells, which he will gain more of as he progresses through the game but he can also use certain cubestones that do the same. P will take different types of damage as well in the game such as corruption, which is like poison, break damage, shock, which is lightning damage and worst of all is disruption, which will outright kill P if the disruption bar reaches full. So, P can take items such as attribute purification ampoules to cancel out these damaging ailments.
HOTEL KRAT
As for Hotel Krat itself, this is the central hub of the game similar to Firelink Shrine in Dark Souls or the Hunter's Dream in Bloodborne. So, here P can talk to several characters, who have questlines that he can follow or he can buy items from or sell to, as well upgrades his weapons and level himself up via Sophie. The hotel will also have many rooms that branch off in different directions and lead out to different areas of the game, which will unlock themselves as you progress.
P ORGAN SKILLS & GOLD COIN TREE
There are also another couple of key aspects to the gameplay, the first being the P Organ skills, which are essentially a skill tree that can be unlocked during the game after a certain point. From here, P can upgrade many different abilities such as offensive and defensive capabilities as well upgrades to the ites he can carry or the ability to heal himself. The tree itself however can only be unlocked via the use of a special item called quartz, which P can collect in different areas of the game or from fighting powerful enemies or bosses.
As for the Gold Coin Tree, this is a special tree where P can collect golden coins that regrow on it, which he can talk to an NPC, which you can purchase special items from known as cubestones. These cubestones will also grant P different abilities such as stamina regen or HP recovery as well as restorative or enhancements to your summonable NPC during boss fights known as Spectre.
STARGAZERS
In terms of the travelling between different areas, P can use special devices known as Stargazers, which are essentially the game's version of the bonfires from Dark Souls, which allow P to fast travel between different points of the game. P can also perform other tasks at the stargazer as well such as switch his legion arm, store weapons or assemble them from different blades and handles.
ENEMIES AND BOSSES
As for the enemies and bosses, there are plenty to be found in the game but they are mainly split into three different categories of humans, puppets and caracasses. The human enemies are generally of two rebellious factions known as the Stalkers and the Bastards, where as the puppets are a mixture of basic mechanical puppets that wield melee weapons such as swords or in some cases also guns, to far more powerful puppets that can deal greater damage. As for the carcass enemies, these are humanoid enemies that have been infected by the petrification disease and essentially almost like the infected in The Last of Us that are either standard or powerful elite versions that deal greater damage.
Boss wise, there are also plenty of bosses to be found here as P will face a mixture of powerful bosses to fight that are a mix of the above enemy type. The bosses usually start with the health bar and have two phases, which change at roughly half health but later bosses will have two separate health bars and will provide a greater challenge. The boss difficulty is certainly mixed here but there is a fairly decent challenge level here to be found all the same in line with the other Soulslike games.
LIE OR TRUTH SYSTEM
And last of all is the lie or truth aspect of the game, where P will be forced to either tell a lie or the truth when faced with a certain situation or NPC. This can also have an affect on the outcome of the game's ending depending on which choices P makes as essentially, the more P lies, the more human it makes him appear as puppets are seen as being incapable of lying. Also depending on P lying or telling the truth to different NPCs, he will gain different items that can be useful.
GRAPHICS
Moving onto the game's graphics, Lies of P is quite a stunning looking game as it features beautiful environments and very solid character models. The game's environments are also very varied in choice as P will navigate abandoned train stations, beauitful hotels and other buildings, dilapidated buildings and factories as well as poison swamps. As for the character models, they also look very good and are step up from the models seen in the Souls game, which look pretty dated by comparison.
MUSIC
As for the music score, Lies of P, it was composed by Korean composer, Silun Lee and overall its quite a good one and features some good tracks. However compared to the soundtracks of the Fromsoft Souls games, it pales by comparison in terms of quality overall and even to the soundtrack of the similar Soulslike released at the same time, Lords of the Fallen, which was phenomenal (albeit Lies of P is the better game of the two imho!). Despite this though, the score does have some highlights particularly the theme for the boss, Laxasia the Complete, which is excellent and also the Hotel Krat main theme, which is poignant and haunting all at once. So, its a pretty good score in all even if not a world beater.
FLAWS
As for flaws...yes Lies of P isn't quite perfect.
For starters, I felt that the game at one point made some annoying choices that made things shall we say pretty difficult at one stage in the game. So, without TRYING to giving it away for sake of not spoiling things, there is a boss you need to fight (wont say who!) and at this point you are cut off from fast travel to other stargazers, so you can't buy any items and have to depend on farming nearby enemies for random items of use. So, this really annoyed me at the time as I was left with just 8 pulse cells for healing and that's all! So, I felt this was a really stupid decision by the developers to make, which really does leave gamers high and dry at this stage in the game.
I also felt the ranged weapon options in the game were distinctly lacking as you had to resort to purely using throwable items such as saw blades, pipes, or fire or lightning containers to throw at enemies from afar. This is further compounded by the fact that P can only hold so many, before you need to go and buy some more, which inevitably means you need to farm more ergo to get them in the first place! So, its a pity that didn't come with more effective ranged options than they did here, as even some guns or other projectile weapons would have been a good option (although the legion arms do offer a limited soultion to this).
I also found the boss difficulty again was a bit of mixed bag at times, as some bosses were very easy but others were frustratingly difficult but this is of course nothing new in Souls games. However, I did feel that the final boss for e.g. (won't say their name!) was somewhat lacking in challenge compared to the previous boss before them (again won't say who!). So, it would have been good if the final challenge in itself was a greater one, although there is apparently another boss at the end that does indeed offer greater challenge, which I didn't fight.
The game is also guilty at times of some very frustrating runbacks to bosses, which is not a problem so much early on but much later into the game, it does become an issues, as there are some very annoying enemies you need to pass in order to get to certain bosses. So, I felt like boss runback definitely became an issue as the game went on.
Another issue I had to do with the game, was the question of weapon durability as some weapons really had low durability (mostly the smaller or dex based weapons) but I was shocked also to find even some of the more potent weapons such as the bone cutting saw, a greatsword, was at breaking point with relative ease at one point! You can of course use grinder to repair your weapon, but it would be nice if they felt more durable than they are but I guess I just miss the infinite durability weapons had in Elden Ring!
Last of all, I also felt the game is just a bit too long toward the end, as without giving anything away, you do have one massive climb up a big tower in order to get to the final boss but it feels like it takes FOREVER to get to the end of it! Also, the path up to them can be quite annoying at times to cope with as well, so that adds to your problems. So, I think towards the end, the game does slightly wear out its welcome and I was easily about 60 hours of gameplay by the end of my first run.
So, that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, Lies of P is overall an excellent Soulslike Action RPG, that offers a solid experience with plenty of challenging combat as well as unique features that help make it stand out over other games. It has a stunning visuals with some good character models and a decent soundtrack that features a mix of different styles in places. There are of course some gameplay issues and choices made here than can be frustrating to deal with at times such as lenghty runbacks, mixed boss difficulty and illogical developer choices too(!). But that all aside, this is still a very enjoyable Soulslike game that will keep you entertained and challenged for many hours.
So, I will rate Lies of P
8.8 out of 10
So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with hopefully another review fairly soon.
Until then its bye for now!
