As a soulsborne player (someone who loves Dark Souls and Bloodborne games), Lies of P was on my list of games I had to try. At first it sounded ridiculous, a game about Pinocchio. I heard it was really good, but it sounded so weird. A quick glance at screenshots convinced me it was a serious game, but still was low on my list of games to play.
It was 50% off recently in a Steam sale so I grabbed it and before I got around to playing it, my son stole it and started playing himself. Steam recently enhanced their Steam Family sharing where family members can share games without locking your entire library up. Now he can play any game in my collection as long as I am not playing it.
My son beat the game in a few days, and already started a second play through. I got my son hooked onto Dark Souls games and has the same drive as I do playing at max difficulty and challenging himself. He has done level 1 play through challenges making me very proud. Dark Souls games are already the hardest games on the market, and a level 1 play through take it to a whole different level of difficulty.
Anyway, back to Lies of P. After seeing how much he enjoyed it, I started playing after he goes to bed so he can still play his play through. After a few boss fights, I am equally hooked on the game. Difficulty as he says is harder than any of the Dark Souls games. He wasn't kidding when he told me it was hard. So far I am 6 bosses in, about halfway through the main game and I'm loving it.
The graphics are top tier, I love the style. I did not know what to expect of a game playing a nursery rhyme character, but they pulled it off. You are the actual Pinocchio and lying is an aspect in the game. Soulsborne games tend to have a humanity element to it. Your character typically has two stages, undead and imbued with humanity. Usually this a mechanic used to determine if you can be invaded by other players and usually gives you more health. Lies of P is completely single player and doesn't have the multiplayer aspect known to Souls games, and this is unfortunate.
Initially, I didn't like the game play, movement while fluid, had some jank. When attacking while swinging, you character sort of just stops in place, and you can't move during these animations which felt a bit constricted. After getting used to it, I don't mind it as much. Boss fights though, are insane. The difficulty is at another level, but like other souls game, extremely rewarding.
There is one mechanic I do not like and drastically increases the difficultly. While fighting, your weapon degrades, this is not a new mechanic, and exists in many souls games. In Lies of P is a cornerstone of the difficulty. While you go through the level trying to get to the boss, this is a non-issue, you have plenty of time to stop and repair your weapon. In boss fights though, it's a massive challenge.
Usually boss fights are so fast paced and aggressive, it is difficult to spend 200 ms to heal without being punished for it. Now you have to spend 3-4 seconds to repair your weapon. In boss fights, you will need to repair your weapon every fight, usually about halfway through the fight. You can attempt to repair a little bit at a time, or do it all at once when you get low, but if you wait until your weapon breaks, you are completely helpless. If you played any souls game, you know just trying to heal is extremely difficult and that's under a second, this is 2-5 seconds of grinding your weapon to fully repair it.
Lies of P is a lot like Sekiro where you encouraged to use perfectly timed blocks rather than dodging. This takes a bit to get used to, as I am used to dodging attacks completely and as a personal challenge I refuse to block as it makes souls games easier. In Lies of P, blocking is a key mechanic, but the timing is extremely tight, making it a real challenge.
So far I have about 17 hours in the game, and I probably have another 15 hours or so to finish the main story. My son tells me the DLC is probably about half as long, but even harder than the main game.
The weapons in the game are fantastic and have the feel and weight you come to expect in Soulsborne games. Each weapon totally changes the style of combat and are not just different states and more or less damage. They all have their own move sets and timing that take a while to get used to and have to be exploited to really make any progress.
This game is truly a work of art and I can't recommend it enough. There are three difficulties, and I really recommend doing the hardest difficulties. You will only get one chance at a first impression and the difficulty is a major part of the formula.
Check out the trailer if you want to see game play with some spoilers.
All images are in game screenshots of Lies of P
