Lies of P Review

A Souls-Like retelling of a classic.

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Platform: PS4/5 Xbox 1/X|S PC

Reviewed on: PC

Developer: Neowiz

Publisher: Neowiz

Release: Sept 19, 2023

Time Played: 18 Hours

Genre: Action RPG Soulslike

ESRB: M

Do you remember the story of Pinocchio? Ya know a wooden puppet brought to life by wishing upon a star and his nose would grow when he lied? Well Lies of P is loosely based off of that childhood classic. Playing as Pinocchio, a mechanical puppet created by Gepetto, you’ll fight your way waves of puppets that have gone mad, trying to figure out why. I’ve put quite some time into this souls-like retelling, you can checkout the playthrough in the description, but first let me tell you what you can expect and whether you may enjoy experiencing what this game has to offer. Then we can rate it and place it on a shelf.

Where it begins:

In a city on the brink of destruction from a rogue puppet uprising, you play Pinocchio, a newly awakened puppet. Following the words of a disembodied voice you’ll make your way to a small safe haven, to find your creator and help them figure out why the world is in such turmoil. The answers are a long way off, and there will be a lot of different enemies to overcome on your way there. Along with plenty of lessons about humanity and what it is to be a human or a puppet.

Can the kids watch?:

Lies of P did get a mature rating due to blood splatter, but it’s mostly like oil. When destroying puppets you will start to get covered in the stuff as it flies through the air on hits. Now there are a couple human enemies, so there is actual blood in the game. The language is clean, the only thing I would say to worry about would be the copious amounts of violence in combat, depending the kids’ age, that might be a problem.

Gameplay:

A Souls-like

There are a lot of souls-like games in the world, usually taking some of the basic mechanics like tough gameplay and the ability to regain lost experience when dying. But not many feel nearly identical to a souls game. Lies of P is one of those. The gameplay was challenging, the enemies had a dark feel to them and dealing with side characters in convoluted ways feels just like a souls game. The only major differences would be obtaining Ergo instead of souls, and the renaming of stats, they are the basic standards like strength and dexterity, just with different names like Motivity and Technique.

Weapon Assembly

A unique mechanic would be the ability to mix and match different sword blades and handles. Unless stated otherwise weapons can be disassembled and put together in different ways. The different handles dictate how the weapon is used, like stabbing or slashing, as well as stat scaling. They pull from three different stats to figure how much extra damage to add. The blades dictate the attack and guard stats. There is a lot to choose from, mix and matching the perfect weapon could take some time, but would be well worth it.

Fable Arts

In combat you’ll slowly fill up the fable bars, giving you a couple special moves to really make a difference in combat. Every weapon, blade, and handle will have their own fable ability. So on top of finding the right stats for a weapon, you’ll want to look at their fables as well. Some can be really awesome and pull you out of a pinch, others I found to be lackluster and kind of a waste of time.

Gear

To increase survivability and to be able to take a few extra hits, you’ll have to mix and max four different pieces of gear. They were straight forward in how they worked, finding more throughout the game the new pieces would increase your various defenses, as well as increase in weight. So depending on your build you may not want to equip the latest and greatest, lest your weight becomes to much, slowing you down and causing you to lose stamina quite fast.

Legion Arms

Pinocchio, for the most part, looks pretty human, except for his left arm, his legion arm. There are a few different legion arms that can be equipped there giving you some different combat abilities. I preferred the puppet string, a spear that shoots out and pulls me and the enemy together, nice to separate groups. Some can shock enemies, there’s even a shield arm if you want some extra guard. They do have a limited amount of use in combat though, so you will need to keep an eye on the legion bar. Each legion arm can be upgraded expanding the abilities they have to offer, but they require a somewhat rare material, so upgrade wisely.

P-Organ

The P-Organ is like Pinocchio’s heart and is upgraded in almost a skill tree kind of way. Throughout the game you’ll find quartz, these are placed in slots surrounding a skill, when all the slots are filled you acquire that skill. When filling a slot you’ll get to choose a minor specialty to increase, like potion use, increasing some special attacks, or more ergo on kills, there is a lot to choose from. With all of the different options you could really fine tune you stats for playstyle to make the perfect killing machine.

Playstyles

Like most souls like games, you’ll have different options on how you want to build your character. I like to go for a faster build, dodging attacks and making a lot of small hits in windows. Or you could go for a beefed-up build that hits really hard, but it’s kind of slow. There is an obvious cohesion between all the different gear and how the stats are allocated. I was having some issues trying to play a little more balanced between strength and speed, but found I’m much better off focusing on speed. But if you mess up the stats, it’ll be alright, there is an option to respec in the second half of the game.

Truth & Lies

In staying true to the original story of Pinocchio, Lies of P has mechanics related to telling the truth or lying. There are a lot of different places in the game where you have the option. But rarely is it easy to tell the truth. There are quite a few different situations where telling the truth is hurtful, and doesn’t really help anything, kind of like real life. But it will influence your character and the game, depending on the path you choose to take.

Costumes

One thing I really liked about Lies of P was the discovery of different clothes and masks to try out. Instead of having to find some badass looking piece of armor, and sticking to it for looks rather than stats, I got to pick and choose looks as I found things to wear. Sometimes found in chests, sometimes pulled from the bodies of enemies, I enjoyed finding all the different clothes to wear. I didn’t care for a whole lot of the masks found, but there were some awesome looking clothes to try out.

Outro:

I am really enjoying my time with Lies of P. Overcoming challenges and figuring out how I want to play is a blast. I have had quite a few bouts of anger, losing my cool due to some really mean enemies, but for the most part it’s a lot of fun getting my butt kicked and getting to repay the favor. So without further ado, let’s get this game rated.

The game looks good and plays smoothly. The characters and enemies move and look excellent, and the environments really layout the mood, I’m giving it a five.

I enjoy the story in the game. The characters explain what’s going on and what my goals are, I like how it’s not convoluted and I can understand everything, it’s getting another five.

Gameplay was as it should be, challenging but doable. I did have an issue with shortcut layouts. It didn’t happen everywhere, but there were a couple spots where a shortcut would safe on the distance needed to travel moving forward, but would have to many enemies or something really strong I’d have to deal with every time I’d want to go that way. Everything else was awesome, so I’m handing out a four.

Between the different builds to try out and the choices between telling the truth and lying, the replayability is very high, and I’m positive I’ve missed some really nice things, no matter how hard I look, requiring a second look. I’m going with another five

I love souls-like games and this game delivers. I’m having a lot of fun, but there are times where I definitely am not, due to enemy layout and environment. But that could be on me, I’m still testing different builds so time will tell. As of right now I’m going with a four, not quite perfect, but close.

Giving Lies of P an average score of four point six. Just barely passing over into the special reserve. A well earned spot for an amazing homage to the souls-like genre. Some may say it’s to similar to Dark Souls to be a good game, but honestly they shouldn’t reinvent the wheel to make a game like this. I really love this game and am going to continue playing it. If you enjoy challenging yourself, this game is worth checking out.