Never have I ever played a game that mimicked Dark Souls to this degree, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does feel uncanny. From the pace of combat and the button mappings to the incredibly funny usage of L3 to do the most pointless jump imaginable, Lies of P is a Dark Souls game to the same degree Elden Ring is. This lays a benefical foundation, yet I found myself comparing it to Souls unfavourably in more than a few ways.
The biggest core combat change is the adoption of Sekiro's parry mechanics. Blocking is strong here, as you only take temporary damage from most attacks, which can be replenished by going on the offense yourself. Perfectly timing a block will deflect the attack, meaning you take no damage and also lower the enemy's invisible posture guage (which took me some time to catch onto). Your dodges still work the way you'd expect, though, allowing you to i-frame through moves with ease. While I found enemies generally easy to parry, oftentimes I found myself opting for a dodge instead, especially if it opened my enemy up for a bigger punish window. Besides this, it truly does play out like Dark Souls, specifically 3 with its faster foes, special moves and charged strong attacks.
The weapon system is intuitive yet brilliant. A weapon's handle determines its moveset while the blade alters speed and range. This is an oversimplification, but gets to the very core of why this worked for me. You can experiment with different combos effortlessly, and while they're not going to overhaul the game entirely, they set a foundation for fantastic replayability and expression of build, which is otherwise pretty limited. I found combat to be pretty dull for the first few hours, though. The game litters basic humanoid puppets everywhere, and when a new faction of enemies is introduced, they just feel like another flavour of puppets. It takes some time before different shaped and sized contraptions and creatures become frequent, but the game does eventually reach a point I was fully satisfied with. The endgame in particular is constantly introducing unique encounters, and I just wondered why they couldn't have scattered some more into the early game.
As for the bosses, I have mixed feelings. There was a great buildup to Romeo, many fights surpassing the previous encounter. Romeo was the hardest yet, and an incredibly satisfying challenge to overcome. Not exceedingly difficult by any means, but just right for his position in the game. What happened after was a tad awkward, as I found every boss following the king of the puppets to range from easy to a mild challenge. I understand difficulty is subjective, and different builds struggle in different areas, but I'm almost certain I died more to the clown puppet miniboss than I did to any main boss following Romeo, which just felt wrong. The biggest letdown was the Corrupted Parade Master, which the game spends a solid chunk of time building up only to be a cutscene-less follow up to the game's first boss. This is a strong concept, but the game failed to develop the fight in any meaningfully exciting way, and comes off as a truly sad conclusion to one of the game's most heart pumping sections.
This isn't to say I didn't enjoy these bosses, though. The design and spectacle didn't often match how easy some of these foes were to topple, but it did make up for it somewhat. The Puppet-Devouring Green Monster is creepy and creative in all the right ways, whereas Simon Manus blew me away with just how outstandingly over the top his moves and visuals were. With a big difficulty increase, I think he'd be an all-time favourite Souls boss for me. I emphasise difficulty because I feel the moment you defeat a tough (but fair) boss with beautiful design is indescribably fun, and the game only came close to achieving that a couple times. Because there was one boss I've neglected to mention that killed me more than Romeo, and was even more fun: Laxasia. The first phase is a highly punishing brawl with an opponent similar in stature to yourself - a FromSoft design classic. The second phase massively ups the speed, messing with my parry timings and forcing me to better implement dodges and understand her combo strings. The best part? You can volley her projectiles just like Ocarina of Time's Ganondorf. Near flawless action.
Bosses are so integral to the success of this genre, but I'd like to briefly touch on another aspect of the game I didn't love: the areas! The unfortunate thing is that I struggle to verbalize why I didn't enjoy them too much because they're so forgettable. Visually? Brill. Conceptually? Decent. Yet you interact with each level in almost the exact same way. Very few unique environmental hazards, with the ones there (like the poison swamp) being cheap and dull. There's little to explore, with most places having a linear path with a couple branching dead ends throughout. The lack of friction keeps the pace brisk, but utterly meandering. Again, the end of the game remedies this to some degree, providing a captivating tower to climb, but it's too little too late. This world may be as broad as Dark Souls, but it's nowhere near as deep.
Somehow, I've said all of this without mentioning the wonderful story, and I'll be leaving it as just that passing mention. It won't wow you, but it culminates better than any FromSoft title, and several NPCs had me smiling or verging on tears. To me, it encapsulates what the game is: great!! It didn't sweep me off my feet in the same way as a Dark Souls, but it kept me engaged and pleased consistently. I really, really like Lies of P, and if the developers go on to create something new, I'm likely there day one. They have so much room to improve and it's just so refreshing to play something with such high production values and heart from somewhere like Korea, which I personally haven't experienced before. We're in good hands here.
The biggest core combat change is the adoption of Sekiro's parry mechanics. Blocking is strong here, as you only take temporary damage from most attacks, which can be replenished by going on the offense yourself. Perfectly timing a block will deflect the attack, meaning you take no damage and also lower the enemy's invisible posture guage (which took me some time to catch onto). Your dodges still work the way you'd expect, though, allowing you to i-frame through moves with ease. While I found enemies generally easy to parry, oftentimes I found myself opting for a dodge instead, especially if it opened my enemy up for a bigger punish window. Besides this, it truly does play out like Dark Souls, specifically 3 with its faster foes, special moves and charged strong attacks.
The weapon system is intuitive yet brilliant. A weapon's handle determines its moveset while the blade alters speed and range. This is an oversimplification, but gets to the very core of why this worked for me. You can experiment with different combos effortlessly, and while they're not going to overhaul the game entirely, they set a foundation for fantastic replayability and expression of build, which is otherwise pretty limited. I found combat to be pretty dull for the first few hours, though. The game litters basic humanoid puppets everywhere, and when a new faction of enemies is introduced, they just feel like another flavour of puppets. It takes some time before different shaped and sized contraptions and creatures become frequent, but the game does eventually reach a point I was fully satisfied with. The endgame in particular is constantly introducing unique encounters, and I just wondered why they couldn't have scattered some more into the early game.
As for the bosses, I have mixed feelings. There was a great buildup to Romeo, many fights surpassing the previous encounter. Romeo was the hardest yet, and an incredibly satisfying challenge to overcome. Not exceedingly difficult by any means, but just right for his position in the game. What happened after was a tad awkward, as I found every boss following the king of the puppets to range from easy to a mild challenge. I understand difficulty is subjective, and different builds struggle in different areas, but I'm almost certain I died more to the clown puppet miniboss than I did to any main boss following Romeo, which just felt wrong. The biggest letdown was the Corrupted Parade Master, which the game spends a solid chunk of time building up only to be a cutscene-less follow up to the game's first boss. This is a strong concept, but the game failed to develop the fight in any meaningfully exciting way, and comes off as a truly sad conclusion to one of the game's most heart pumping sections.
This isn't to say I didn't enjoy these bosses, though. The design and spectacle didn't often match how easy some of these foes were to topple, but it did make up for it somewhat. The Puppet-Devouring Green Monster is creepy and creative in all the right ways, whereas Simon Manus blew me away with just how outstandingly over the top his moves and visuals were. With a big difficulty increase, I think he'd be an all-time favourite Souls boss for me. I emphasise difficulty because I feel the moment you defeat a tough (but fair) boss with beautiful design is indescribably fun, and the game only came close to achieving that a couple times. Because there was one boss I've neglected to mention that killed me more than Romeo, and was even more fun: Laxasia. The first phase is a highly punishing brawl with an opponent similar in stature to yourself - a FromSoft design classic. The second phase massively ups the speed, messing with my parry timings and forcing me to better implement dodges and understand her combo strings. The best part? You can volley her projectiles just like Ocarina of Time's Ganondorf. Near flawless action.
Bosses are so integral to the success of this genre, but I'd like to briefly touch on another aspect of the game I didn't love: the areas! The unfortunate thing is that I struggle to verbalize why I didn't enjoy them too much because they're so forgettable. Visually? Brill. Conceptually? Decent. Yet you interact with each level in almost the exact same way. Very few unique environmental hazards, with the ones there (like the poison swamp) being cheap and dull. There's little to explore, with most places having a linear path with a couple branching dead ends throughout. The lack of friction keeps the pace brisk, but utterly meandering. Again, the end of the game remedies this to some degree, providing a captivating tower to climb, but it's too little too late. This world may be as broad as Dark Souls, but it's nowhere near as deep.
Somehow, I've said all of this without mentioning the wonderful story, and I'll be leaving it as just that passing mention. It won't wow you, but it culminates better than any FromSoft title, and several NPCs had me smiling or verging on tears. To me, it encapsulates what the game is: great!! It didn't sweep me off my feet in the same way as a Dark Souls, but it kept me engaged and pleased consistently. I really, really like Lies of P, and if the developers go on to create something new, I'm likely there day one. They have so much room to improve and it's just so refreshing to play something with such high production values and heart from somewhere like Korea, which I personally haven't experienced before. We're in good hands here.