Lies of P is amazing

 

The other face of my Souls-Like extravaganza was spent in the world of the sixtieth Pinocchio adaptation of 2023- Lies of P. Alongside my struggle through Lords of the Fallen I rewarded myself after every section I dragged myself through with a preciously brief dose of a Lies of P area to make up for the suffering- in doing so offsetting my time with one of the roughest high budgets Souls-likes of all time with what might go down as one of the best of the genre. A game borne from a bizarre adaptation decision that ended up carving a unique model for itself in the market and securing a potential series down the line if they have all their ducks in a row. I am thrilled to say that everything they say about The Lies of P is true- the game is a downright masterpiece of the genre!

When I heard of the premise I'll admit to being a bit sceptical. Dark Fantasy Pinocchio in a Souls-like? Seriously? It sounded like the set-up for a bad joke and I make no apologies for the fact that I straight assumed this would just be throw-away from a premise angle. I always liked the look of the game, from it's delightfully on-point 'world expo' style robots to it's retro 'city of the future' industrialism angle embodied in Kryat. But I figured the heart of the game would at best be gimmicky in it's relation to the story of it's origin and the theme it exposes. Which really rubbed with me because I always saw the Souls-genre as a vehicle for some of the best most medium-effective stories to ever grace gaming. Dark Souls' wider exploration on destructive obsession, Hollow Knight's subversive underground epic- I'm not surprised when new entrants to the genre-type fail to live up to those examples- but I always kind of sad when I see someone not even try. I think Lies is going to be a new game I include up there in these comparisons from here on.

Taking the very nature of 'puppetry' and the theme of 'defining humanity' that is lightly brushed on by the source material, Lies of P presents a story about seeking legitimacy through the pursuit of the abject prospect we call 'humanity' whilst raising the query of what that even is. I won't pretend there's any great insight into the nature of mankind even attempted by this game, but the very strong reigns by which it weaves around these decent mature pillars forms an emotionally resonant and strong-willed narrative that sticks with you. Like any great Anime, it comfortably rests on the edge of significant discourse and weaves a solid narrative in that space.

But the plaudits don't end with the narrative, that's merely where they start. Lies of P follows the footsteps of Sekiro (and I supposed Bloodborne but given how that game is sentenced to forever remain on the PlayStation 4 I'll never be able to validate that for myself.) by taking a more light-footed, dodge and parry approach to the traditional Souls-Like gameplay whilst sticking staunchly to the build variety of other Souls-Like style games. Action is fast paced, death comes quick, but you aren't at the whim of 'learn to time your parries or die'. You can still build to whack around your enemies with a big stick or dodge through attacks to get that perfect back-flurry- of course with that comes some limitations. The biggest one being parrying itself. This game does not offer you nearly the same amount of tools that Sekiro does with it's parrying system. There is no telltail glow, there is no generous parry window, there is merely the promise that if you nail the exact moment of contact (because the deflect is instant) you entirely avoid damage and whittle down their invisible poise meter.

Lies of P really is a very active kind of Souls-Like, where you are encouraged to be aggressive and resourceful with the weapons you use, the Legion Arms you equip and the Sword-arts you pull out in dire situations. Your reward is big damage windows on guard breaking, gorgeous animation work and the kind of cinematic flair when you finally dominate a fight that is really rather rare in this genre simply for the style of games that it encourages. Which is not to say P is as active or dangerous as Sekiro, mind. In fact, given the still 'Experience based' levelling, the generally slower enemies and the forgiving damage-recieved; Lies of P is actually a lot more accessible and easy than Sekiro- in a manner that I think leads a lot of people into a false sense of security before the second half of the game rushes at you with violent abandon. 

P also presents us a visually stunning and interesting world in the fallen city of Kryat, dipped in it's secrets and it's factions and characters. Whilst I think the actual environmental storytelling could do with some work- a lot of the incidental documents you pick up are rather dry pamphlets that offer very little more than what can be gleaned by simply looking at the world around you, or name drops vague historical background not exactly pertinent or additive to current events or themes- there's a clear purpose of design present in every unique district, each area feels cohesive and intent driven- I never feel lost in a maze for the sake of there being a maze or stretching out a level. (Besides, perhaps, the final climb at the end of the game which really does stretch out for a bit!)

And, of course, we have the bosses. Large and small, Lies never falls back on gimmicks to make a fight interesting but rather incorporates spectacle-tipped extravaganzas of moves fast and slow which engender great tests of skill and build- as this genre is best served facilitating. Poise breaking can be somewhat unreliable for bigger bosses, so big-bonk builds aren't always rewarded, but playing more to this game's style- dodges, parrying, blocking and health reclaiming- creates these genuinely solid duels that zoom through so fluidly. Additionally, can I just commend this team for really getting it with all the minutiae about how to give a boss fight. No major boss is ever sprung out of nowhere- you always have a summoning pool outside of big fight arenas to tip you off. Whenever you die your Ergo is placed outside the entrance to the boss, allowing you to retreat and restock if you need it. (because literally nothing is benefitted by locking Souls inside of a boss arena. That's such an antiquated practice.) And you'll find respawn points never further than thirty seconds from the boss- they know the futility of the runback. In terms of fixing points of friction within this genre type, consider Lies of P at the exact opposite end of the spectrum to Lords of the Fallen.

It may have been said before but it bears repeating- Lies of P is pretty much the only Souls game capable of giving FromSoftware a run for their money in the best way. They aren't following the example of FromSoft trying to catch a hint of their magic, they're doing their own thing, iterating where possible and building the foundations of a team worth paying attention to in the years to come. P is very obviously not the extent of their ambitions, the cliffhanger finale is equal parts ridiculous and exciting to consider- and I'll just bet it makes Miyazaki smile to see others finally getting to that point of mastery within this new face of the 'action adventure genre' that he helped bring into this world. And goodness do I hope those rumours about a bubbling DLC are true, because I need more P in my life.