Lies of P Review – Clockborne Rising

There are great many Marlenas in this world, but only one of them is Dietrich. The same goes for Bloodborne, from which the famous “borne” part in the Soulsborne is derived. Many tried to replicate the elusive magic of this masterpiece, and almost exclusively failed. The latest example was Thymesia, the game we labeled as “Budget Bloodborne”, which was probably overly generous.

At some point, someone was bound to create a good interpretation. In Lies of P, South Korean studio Neowiz Games managed to nail both the formula and the feeling of the From Software’s classic, creating one of the best Soulsbornes in recent history. Not only did they succeed in cloning the core of the Bloodborne experience, but they poured their own magic into the mold and cast something unique.

The Figurehead

Lies of P is a twisted retelling of the Pinocchio fable, where the ol’ wooden boy is a deadly automaton optimized for melee combat. Our P looks like juvenile Robert Smith from the era predating The Cure, and his goth appearance is augmented by the devastated utopia all around him. Historically, The Belle Époque, a period of all-around prosperity in the West lasted from the late XIX century until the outbreak of WWI. In lies of P, the good times ended with the bloody rebellion of puppets.

The lore in Lies of P is quite straightforward, lacking the complex multi-valence of From software storytelling. Very few things here are open to interpretation, and that feels refreshing after playing a dozen obfuscated Souls. Those puppets were the chief reason the fictional French city of Krat prospered. The helpful clockwork proto-robots were made possible by the discovery of Ergo, the sparkling animus that gave them faux life. Policemen, dockworkers, soldiers, maids, and other automatons handled the labor and services while the citizenry enjoyed a friction-free existence. Puppets then rebelled and murdered almost everyone, and a mysterious plague simultaneously struck the hapless city. You, of course, need to get to the bottom of this calamity and find who or what is behind it.

Taking the cues from Sekiro

Dim-lit cobblestone streets, Victorian/Edwardian fashion, and a sinister vibe. At first glance, Lies of P is a Bloodborne clone, at least in the sense of the foreboding atmosphere. The fast-paced combat is the second marker of familiarity. To succeed in your artificial life, you’ll need to attack with the tenacity of a hornet. There are no shields in Lies of P, avoidance needs to be active all the time. Taking a cue from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the game needs you to utilize perfect parries and dodge rolling, made more difficult by the weaker effect of I-frames compared to other Soulsbornes.

General rules regarding gear and stats will be instantly familiar to any veteran. Accumulating Ergo from fallen enemies works in the same way as Sen, Souls of Blood Echoes work; Investing it into core stats evolves you towards one particular combat style, defined by your weapon of choice. The elementary dichotomy between slow, strength-oriented weapons and fast, dexterity-defined ones is the staple of fighting. The game doesn’t offer spellcasting specs, but the option, to a lesser extent, exists in the form of your modular left hand. That’s the second thing borrowed from Sekiro, and it works as you expect, albeit in a simplified form. You can’t use it for jumping on rooftops, but depending on the active module, you can shock or electrocute enemies, lay mines, pull them from afar, Scorpion-style, and so on.

Trick weapons for the next century

Apart from the special weapons obtained from the boss Ergos, most pieces in the game consist of two interchangeable parts. This modularity allows you to mix and match blades/heads and hilts, modifying the default attacks and altering their attribute scaling. The entire system is well-thought-out and it enables endless experimentation. Weapons can be additionally tuned by applying different cranks, which improves one particular attribute scaling while nerfing others. Tinkering for the win.

You’ll need that flexibility because Lies of P presents a substantial challenge. It may not seem so at first. The game will slow-boil you like a frog, gradually increasing the challenge until you become painfully aware of it. For me, the moment of truth came at the end of the sixth of eleven chapters. The two-phased King of Puppets boss pushed me to the brink of rage-quitting. The challenge receded after that ordeal, but it left me painfully aware of my fragility. Lies of P keeps you on your toes, keeping the power fantasies on top of a very tall skill pole.

Most modern Soulsbornes are made easy by enabling you to invoke human help in your fights. Lies of P is purely a single-player affair, so that option exists in the form of the summonable specter. The bot is a poor substitute, useful only for holding the boss’ aggro for a minute or two. However, in the difficult fights, such as the one I have described above, you’ll be grateful for it.

It’s on the game pass!

Gradually increasing difficulty is accompanied by an even slower pace of storytelling. You’ll be mostly in the dark for the first dozen hours or so. Lies of P has three different endings, depending on the humanity achieved by lying. Yes, you are a puppet capable of lying. The invisible meter adjusts as you decide what to do or say during the binary choices you face, pushing you towards one of the endings. Apart from some familiar faces such as Geppetto, most of the elements of the legendary Italian fable are mutated to the point of absurdity. This is “Pinocchio” in the same vein as Bridget Jones’s Diary exists as an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

The big boon for the Lies of P is the XBOX/PC Game pass availability from the launch day. This is a great way to experience this beautiful game without shelling out sixty bucks. If you are a true Soulsborne fan, you might want to do it anyway and signal the devs that you appreciate their work. After all, they have succeeded where everyone else has failed, we should honor and celebrate that effort.

Review platform: PC

Developed by: NEOWIZ

Published by: NEOWIZ

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