Lies of P review: A competent souls-like, held back by lackluster combat

When Lies of P was first announced with the cryptic yet intriguing trailer back in 2021, I was immediately on board. I mean, who can disregard the allure of a souls-like that aims to deliver an experience akin to one of FromSoftware's most iconic creations - Bloodborne? Thus, when I finally got a chance to play the game, I was admittedly quite excited.

However, after I got past its honeymoon phase, I quickly realized that Lies of P might be a compelling souls-like title, but it is not Bloodborne, not even close. Don't get me wrong, Lies of P is an extremely polished action RPG, one that follows in the footsteps of FromSoftware's "Souls" (a la Dark Souls) games while sprinkling its own ideas in the mix.

In fact, I think Lies of P excels in many a number of aspects where even the pinnacle of souls-like experiences, such as Dark Souls and Bloodborne, fumble a bit.

There are plenty of innovative ideas in the game, coupled with a genuinely intriguing setting that kept me going back to the game even after rolling the credits on my first playthrough.

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However, during my 30 hours of playing through Lies of P, I was constantly reminded that I was playing a game that's, at best, an imitator of FromSoftware's games and, at worst, a fun but unwieldy souls-like. That doesn't mean the game has no positives, just that it failed to truly live up to its potential.

Lies of P's souls-like gameplay is marred by poor difficulty balancing and an uninteresting story

Visuals and Presentation

In terms of presentation, I think Lies of P is among one of the very best games within the souls-like action role-playing game genre. While it isn't breaking any new ground when it comes to raw graphical fidelity, it does look absolutely gorgeous most of the time, despite being a cross-generation game. Also, did I mention the game is optimized perfectly on PC?

The blood-soaked streets of Krat, akin to Bloodborne's Yharnam (Image via Neowiz)

I played the game on my moderately spec'd PC with most settings on "High" and a few on "Medium." Despite that, the game performed at a buttery-smooth 60fps with v-sync enabled.

It looked incredibly good, which is something I rarely get to say for modern PC releases. I was genuinely taken aback by the game's optimization and breathtaking environment.

The game's visual presentation is further complimented by the amazing sound design, which accentuates the feeling of isolation and dread while exploring the streets of Krat. The ambient soundtrack, as well as the boss themes in Lies of P, are nothing less than a masterclass in video game soundtracks.

Combat and its various nuances (for better, and sadly, or worse)

Now, on to the main attraction of any souls-like title - the combat system and its nuances.

For the early stages (roughly 8 to 10 hours), the combat system in Lies of P feels like a perfect mash-up of Dark Souls' deliberate and methodical combat and Sekiro's fast-paced hack-and-slash action. However, once you get deeper into the game's story, it quickly loses its luster.

The boss fights can oftentimes be quite exhilarating (Image via Neowiz)

Don't get me wrong, the combat in Lies of P is arguably one of the best in any recent souls-like made by a developer that isn't FromSoftware or Team Ninja. Unfortunately, the game does suffer from the same pitfalls as few others that blindly try to imitate the essence of a "Souls-y" combat system without properly dedicating themselves to it.

More often than not, the combat feels very clunky, something that really hampers the enjoyment of the game's moment-to-moment gameplay. The structure of the game's combat system is quite fleshed out, with multiple layers for you to tweak and twiddle at your leisure. But the janky animations and the overreliance on parries really hurt the experience.

You see, in Lies of P, regardless of whichever weapon you may choose, the combat always boils down to the following - parrying incoming attacks, waiting for the enemies to stagger, and finishing them up with either a charged heavy or a weapon art. However, what makes this feel cumbersome is that parrying in Lies of P never feels satisfying.

I don't hate parrying in games, especially in souls-likes. For me, Sekiro is arguably one of the best FromSoftware games to date, and that's because of its deflection mechanic.

I also absolutely adore the parry system in Bloodborne, as well as games like Nioh and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. I'd admit, I even liked parrying attacks and countering with my own in Elden Ring.

The game does encourage and reward organic exploration (Image via Neowiz)

However, these games put a lot of thought into making parrying attacks satisfying. In contrast, Lies of P feels restrained in that department due to its clunky blocking and parry animations, which never felt right to me throughout the 30+ hours I spent with the game. And what's even worse is that the game's miniboss and boss fights majorly rely on you parrying attacks.

Combat is good, but lacks polish

I never thought I'd say this for a souls-like game, but I enjoyed fighting mobs and regular enemies more in Lies of P than the bosses and minibosses. On a positive note, I did find myself enjoying its moment-to-moment gameplay, thanks to the "tools of destruction" that it rewards you with at every new level.

The Legion Arms are a great addition to the game (Image via Neowiz)

The Legion Arms, in particular, have to be the best thing about Lies of P's combat system. These are essentially the same thing as the prosthetic arm shinobi tool in Sekiro, but with a much higher level of utility in combat.

Apart from the Legion Arms, I also really enjoyed the weapon customization, swapping handles, and making a hybrid weapon of my choice. This felt like a really cool addition.

However, the janky animations, inaccurate hitboxes, and overreliance on parries drag the whole combat system down. If the game is going to funnel me into the parry-focused route anyway, regardless of whichever weapon I choose, it kind of undercuts the whole weapon and playstyle variety, negatively affecting the gameplay.

I should also mention that the game has a really weird difficulty curve, something that took me by surprise when I reached the second chapter. While the first few bosses are quite easy, as soon as you reach the factory and then the ruined castle, you'll immediately feel a massive spike in difficulty. This is further made difficult by the issues with parries and hitboxes.

Yet, I never felt the game wasn't fun. Perhaps it was due to it being a souls-like, a genre that very much appeals to me, or due to its overbearing cosmetic similarity to Bloodborne, Lies of P is something that I really enjoyed despite its glaring shortcomings.

Level design and enemy variety

One thing that I always look forward to while jumping onto a new souls-like experience is the level design and how interconnected the game's world is. Fortunately, Lies of P does not disappoint in this regard.

From the very first hour of the game, it was made quite apparent to me that Neowiz has taken heavy inspiration from the Dark Souls Trilogy when designing the levels.

Lies of P's immaculate boss design (Image via Neowiz)

While the map isn't equally as interconnected as Metroid or the first Dark Souls game, it does feel quite akin to Dark Souls 2. Each new area is connected to previously explored zones via a door, usually guarded by a boss. There are also plenty of open areas in each new zone for you to explore, with optional boss fights, treasures, and more.

My personal favorite moment that really made me appreciate the game's level design was the second chapter, where you get to explore a ruined puppet factory. Here, I came across a boss who resides in a pool of poison (corrosion) pretty early in the level. And while I could defeat him by risking going into the poison pool, it wouldn't be the most efficient way.

Instead, I took my time to explore the area and found two levers that drained the poison, allowing me to go down and easily kill the boss. What's really cool about this part is that the game never hinted at me needing to drain the pool or forced me to explore.

As a result, finding the solution to this environmental puzzle felt much more rewarding.

Some bosses are built like an environmental puzzle, more than a traditional boss fight (Image via Neowiz)

There are many more instances of such fun level design templates that feel pulled right out of the earlier FromSoftware games. Another big positive aspect of the game is its enemy variety, which kept the gameplay fresh (despite the lackluster combat system) for hours. I also really liked the boss design in Lies of P, with each boss being themed around the area they're inhabiting.

An intriguing setting, marred by a mediocre story

Lies of P's story is something that I was really intrigued about, especially with it being a retelling of the fable - The Adventures of Pinnochio, albeit with a dark and fantastical twist.

However, I was really let down by the game's shallow narrative, which felt nothing similar to the games it's trying to emulate. At best, it feels like a mediocre dark fantasy story and, at worst, an incoherent mess.

Lies of P can look absolutely gorgeous at times (Image via Neowiz)

The story barely has anything to hook players to its world and characters. I hardly remember the names of most of the characters outside of the protagonist and the "firekeeper" of this game - Sophia.

While the opening hours did intrigue me with the promise of a dystopian twist to the classic tale of Pinocchio, I never found myself much invested in the game's story after the first few chapters.

There's also the heavily advertised "lying" mechanic, which does play a major role in the overall story but isn't anything truly revolutionary, as the marketing might suggest.

It's essentially a binary choice-making system, where depending on your choices, certain aspects of the game's story and characters are altered, mostly to encourage replayability.

The story in Lies of P reminded me a lot of the games like Steelrising and Thymesia, which had a similarly intriguing setting but never failed to capitalize on it with their characters and stories.

While Lies of P doesn't have a bad story per se, it doesn't feel like something that'll hold much of your interest during the 25 to 30 hours of its runtime.

In conclusion

Lies of P is a fun souls-like, but one that feels devoid of the polish and quality that's found in some of the best games in the genre.

While the visuals, sound design, interconnected levels, and enemy variety are major positives, it does fumble when it comes to its combat system. That is essential in making a souls-like feel engaging and rewarding.

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Despite being built on the foundations of Souls, Lies of P does not come close to delivering an experience that I'll remember fondly. From its flashy but clunky combat system to its unbalanced difficulty and a rather uninteresting and incoherent take on a classic, there are more issues to this game than I was anticipating.

In a vacuum and taken on its own, Lies of P can probably pass as a fun action role-playing game. However, in a world where we've had games like Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Nioh, and Wo Long, Neowiz's latest souls-like feels quite lacking and something that still needs a lot of polish in order to make it a viable alternative to FromSoftware's games.

However, if you're yearning for a new souls-like role-playing experience and are willing to look past the mediocre narrative and janky animations, Lies of P is a perfect game for you. It might not be the "Bloodborne-like" experience fans thought it would be, but it still can be a competent souls-like.