I both loved and hated this game while playing. The game is slick: combat feels amazing after you master the weird time of its parries. The lighting and scenery are both gorgeous. And despite all this flair, the game runs with absolute consistence. This is a game that released in a pretty much finished state, and is kind of sad to recognize how amazing this feels, to be able to play a recently released game.

Some of its bosses are VERY hard. I spent hours and hours in some of them. I needed a week to beat the Green Swamp Monster. I've fought the King of Puppets countless times. And the last boss, damn. I can't even believe that I've beaten it.

Maybe the game is too hard? Lies of P feels like the idea of Dark Souls of people who haven't played Dark Souls. Lies of P enforces getting gud. It's linear (you'll visit its words in an order that's set in stone) and it's brutal.

I can't dismiss what Lies of P achieves, though. This is a very consistent "soulslike" experience. Even the later levels are still somewhat good. It has high highs and pretty decent lows. You add that to the technical prowess, and you get a great game that is a joy to play if you enjoy soulslike brutality.