We all know the story of Timothée Chalamet and Jiminy (or Gemini in-game) Cricket in the story from Italian writer Carlo Collodi, right? So I am sure I don’t have to explain in great detail the plot of Neowiz Games and Round8 Studio’s Lies of P; biomechanical puppets that are unable to lie are roaming the city of Krat, and your creator Geppetto is missing while your friend, Jiminy/Talking Cricket is a little broken. In fact, everyone and everything is a little broken, as there is a plague on the loose, puppets are banned from areas, and there are quarantines all over.

I think it is easy to make the comparisons off of the back of that: A Souls-like, with a dark Gothic theme, and all in the shadow of a sickness, it sounds very Bloodborne. Lies of P is probably the most FromSoft title that is from outside of the Japanese developer. That’s intended as a compliment of both teams; I adore being beaten over the head with a bat. However, despite using the template of Dark Souls and the loose story elements of Pinocchio, there is a refreshing nature to Lies of P that can oftentimes feel as if it weighs the title down more than it elevates it.

It goes without saying, but you often need to go on multiple spelunking adventures to understand the whole story of a Souls-like from its progenitors, but Lies of P is initially more intelligible. Even with its language surrounding the plague, the quarantines, the puppets, and furthermore, the crafting surrounding weapons. Lies of P is the truest to FromSoft’s vision originally while also bringing its own feeling, its own sense of what it needs to be. It doesn’t have to be pretentious to be seen as a good Souls-like because it lets the gameplay speak as the story surrounds you.

Throw a stone and you’ll find a handful of Souls-likes, throw another stone in that bunch and you’ll find several Souls-likes that miss the simplicity of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring. Lies of P understands those simplicities and did some of its own twists. It didn’t make the genre feel refreshed from the word go, but it does all the right things for a Dark Souls (1) fan while being thematic to the Victorian puppet setting. In fact, having those hints of Metroidvania that a good Souls-like often has, Lies of P feels more linear, and sometimes easier.

Bosses, as well as everything between you and the Hotel of Krat and beyond, will try to bend you over and attempt to perform a ventriloquist set. Though I can’t help but point out that I’ve been able to walk in on several bosses while they had their pants around their ankles during their morning constitutional. I’m not saying that on your first run you’ll be able to do a no-hit run, nor a no-death run, but if you’ve played countless hours of Dark Souls, Dark Souls III, Elden Ring, Sekiro, and all the offshoots, chances are you’ll walk several of these bosses with relative ease.

Possibly as a result of the tools Lies of P has to offer, the biomechanical puppet theme comes into play through a prosthetic arm with different abilities. Similar to how Sekiro went about it, but fitting more to elemental effects rather than an addition to the traversal of the overall game as well. There is also a section of gameplay I otherwise wouldn’t have noticed much if it weren’t always on-screen, that being weapon durability. To me it never became an issue, at least in how I’d play in an almost conservative way: Only attacking when I knew I could be the most effective.

There isn’t a class system – you go in mêlée or not at all. The closest thing you get to classes is the weapons and their uses; heavy blunt objects will smash, while the rapier is quick and agile. Lies of P is a Dark Souls-like, as I’ve established already: I’m going in with a light, quick, and agile loadout because I want to tank the hits I do eventually take while doing the most damage in short bursts. The lack of a class with projectiles to fire from a distance is what I think puts a lot of people off of Lies of P.

You can still use projectiles, such as throwable gears, thermite, and the electricity cells, but it is a little clumsy. Another comparison to make to Dark Souls; those of us that have been beaten around the head in Blight Town enough think it is fine, but it isn’t always the most intuitive control scheme. I’ve stopped remembering the names of them now, but the Estus flasks for Lies of P rest on your directional buttons, up particularly. Meanwhile, down is for your weapons, rapiers and eventual elemental effects. They both have a further two things you can use, effectively like pockets.

Sometimes in the heat of a fight, and X/square being your use button, it can result in an, “ahh, what do I need to do?” moment. By all means, every Souls-like has its clumsy sections, but this is one that’s an obvious issue for newcomers that could and should be addressed at some point. For the “get gud” crowd it is easy to say that it isn’t a problem, but as with all things, that’s just going to result in a very small fan base and eventually cause the genre’s popularity to die out. Personally, while I enjoy what Lies of P does on its own, I also want to see its fan base expand and enjoy it while it stays true to itself.

Performance-wise, I’ve mostly seen Lies of P stick to 60 frames per second with the highest graphical settings available. Running on both a 30-series RTX and a 40-series RTX, in the year that I’ve been slowly forcing my way through, I’ve undoubtedly seen minor dips, but performance is rarely an issue I’ve found. Nor have I encountered many bugs, if any at all, especially following the 1.5.0.0 update back in February. There are ways to “cheese it,” as the kids say, but that’s common for just about every Souls-like in some way, shape, or form.

Ultimately, Lies of P is the most Dark Souls a Dark Souls-like has been while also feeling refreshing. The downside of that is, of course, the fact that for some, Dark Souls is a difficult jumping-on point, especially when it comes to mobility issues or otherwise. With a world deep and rich in the Italian fantasy, turned dark and gothic, Lies of P is probably also one of the most refreshing takes of the Pinocchio story. Sorry, Guillermo.

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Lies of P

$59.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• The most Dark Souls a Souls-like has ever been.
• Such a fantastic, gothic art style.

Cons

• Very few concessions to modernize itself for accessibility.