Would you enjoy this game? This is a good combination of Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro, plus an interesting story with interesting characters. If you enjoyed any of those, you'll likely enjoy Lies of P as well. Even if you didn't, it's not quite as difficult as any of those (still not easy though), so you might still enjoy it.
Moment to moment play: Other than the occasional moment of making a choice of what to say, or picking out your loadout, you'll be spending most of the game fighting a variety of enemies. Combat focusses pretty heavily on blocking or parrying and then retaliating. Blocking still hurts but then gives you a chance to recover if you can hit the enemy in time, so it really encourages you to be aggressive. Some enemies really reward getting your timing down though as a perfect block gives you so many benefits. (There is a dodge, but it doesn't feel nearly as useful as in Dark Souls.)
Gameplay experience: The game is pretty much running from one fight to the next, stopping every now and then to talk to someone or turn in a quest. There's very little backtracking (the map loops back through the hotel regularly, but there's not often a reason to revisit anywhere else), or exploration (you need to figure out how to navigate through some of the buildings, but there's never a side path that's all that long with only one or two exceptions). The story is compelling though, and you want to beat that next boss to see what else is going to happen, and the bosses themselves are interesting to fight.
Should you buy this for the story? Maybe not just for the story. It's certainly interesting, and fairly well told, but I don't know if I'd struggle through the game to see the story if you didn't enjoy the combat. But if you do enjoy the combat, the story certainly keeps you interested.
Should you buy this for the aesthetics? The graphics aren't quite as polished as it perhaps could be, but there's certainly nothing wrong with it. The voice actors give good performances. The character designs are interesting, appealing, or disturbing as appropriate. The world they created is intriguing. All that said, again, I wouldn't buy the game just to hang out in this world unless you also enjoy the combat.
Should you buy this game for the gameplay? Yes, if you enjoy tense, souls-like melee combat. I don't know that this would convert all that many people into souls-like fans, but it might let a few people on the fence enjoy a full-blown souls-like game. Overall the combat felt a little less punishing than Dark Souls or Sekiro, despite how much it draws from those games. (Perhaps healing and blocking are a bit more common, or the enemies do a little less damage, or maybe I just lucked into a really effective build.) But I do think it's worth your money if none of that scares you off.
Moment to moment play: Other than the occasional moment of making a choice of what to say, or picking out your loadout, you'll be spending most of the game fighting a variety of enemies. Combat focusses pretty heavily on blocking or parrying and then retaliating. Blocking still hurts but then gives you a chance to recover if you can hit the enemy in time, so it really encourages you to be aggressive. Some enemies really reward getting your timing down though as a perfect block gives you so many benefits. (There is a dodge, but it doesn't feel nearly as useful as in Dark Souls.)
Gameplay experience: The game is pretty much running from one fight to the next, stopping every now and then to talk to someone or turn in a quest. There's very little backtracking (the map loops back through the hotel regularly, but there's not often a reason to revisit anywhere else), or exploration (you need to figure out how to navigate through some of the buildings, but there's never a side path that's all that long with only one or two exceptions). The story is compelling though, and you want to beat that next boss to see what else is going to happen, and the bosses themselves are interesting to fight.
Should you buy this for the story? Maybe not just for the story. It's certainly interesting, and fairly well told, but I don't know if I'd struggle through the game to see the story if you didn't enjoy the combat. But if you do enjoy the combat, the story certainly keeps you interested.
Should you buy this for the aesthetics? The graphics aren't quite as polished as it perhaps could be, but there's certainly nothing wrong with it. The voice actors give good performances. The character designs are interesting, appealing, or disturbing as appropriate. The world they created is intriguing. All that said, again, I wouldn't buy the game just to hang out in this world unless you also enjoy the combat.
Should you buy this game for the gameplay? Yes, if you enjoy tense, souls-like melee combat. I don't know that this would convert all that many people into souls-like fans, but it might let a few people on the fence enjoy a full-blown souls-like game. Overall the combat felt a little less punishing than Dark Souls or Sekiro, despite how much it draws from those games. (Perhaps healing and blocking are a bit more common, or the enemies do a little less damage, or maybe I just lucked into a really effective build.) But I do think it's worth your money if none of that scares you off.