Wasn't really feeling it initially due to the art direction, but it grew on me as the game went on as did the gameplay. The focus on parrying had me concerned at the beginning as I'm usually a dodge/block type of person when it comes to Soulslikes and Metroidvanias, but the window is generous enough that it never felt frustrating and by the end of the game I wasn't even attacking enemies at all and instead relied on the damage the parry was doing because it was a lot more fun. This is, in general, a surprisingly great Metroidvania with great bosses, fun traversal (when the full moveset is unlocked) and fantastic world design. The story kinda falls flat and the music is fine but largely unmemorable, but I think that's about all I dislike about the game? I'm genuinely surprised this flew under the radar. The sequel is definitely a day 1 purchase for me.

Grime is abundant with rough edges but the core design is well done. There are great bossfights here (the Final Performance!) that are worth enduring some odd difficulty spikes and jank. The exploration rewards are fantastic, with tons of cool weapons to play around with. The amount of content here, paired with the surprisingly high level of graphical fidelity, make it bargain and a must play for fans of Soulslikes and Metroidvanias. The biggest shortcoming is the animation work which makes some of the movement & attacks feel floaty.

The game has some of the most unique art direction I've ever seen, the combat is satisfying and the platforming is challenging but never frustrating. It somehow manages to retain most of the mechanics of 3d soulslikes, like stamina, parrying, and weapon scaling, and feels just as 'complete' as its higher budget counterparts as a result. The bosses are simply perfect, with a difficulty curve so expertly designed that every single death felt like an incremental learning experience. A true gem, one of the best in this crowded genre.

played on steam deck - I rate the playability 4/5, some occasional stutters.

I had no idea what this game, at a glance it looks Mortal Shell so I assumed it would be ass. No idea this game was a metroidvania, just assumed bad soulslike. So I am very happy that this game whips some ass. It's also a return to the genre for me after I realized I haven't played any in a while.

Game has souls-like weapons and stats system. Multiple weapons, they all have scaling, you have 5 stats you can level up. I was glad I found some fist weapons early on cause that's all I used.

A core mechanic of this game is also absorbing enough enemies so that you have "researched" them for passive abilities. You get points from elite enemies so you can also level those up. There is quite a lot to choose from for different play styles. I just love "evolve" mechanics like this, even if the abilities don't really represent the enemies they come from.

The combat is really fun I think. It has a parry that you will be asked to used quite a lot. For one, it absorbs enemies for their abilities, and it also gives you some "Breath" which allows you to heal yourself. I also got some abilities that gave me more damage, gave me some stamina, and allowed me to heal off every parry. Hell, you can also find one that gives you more parry time, which is so awesome, its what I want from other parry based games that turn me off (Lies of P ¬_¬).

SPOILERS FOR UPGRADES
The upgrades are so cool honestly. You get the ability to pull objects and enemies towards you. So this involves you doing platforming in which you must like dash (another upgrade) off a platform, then pull it under you mid air. The pull ability also lets you interrupt enemies sometimes mid attack (a big yellow circle appears) and wail on them. You also get a ability that lets you pull yourself towards objects, used for more platforming shit. These two abilities are just really fun. Forgot to say they are controlled with the right thumb stick so it just feels really natural to flick your thumbstick in combat.
END SPOILER

The platforming is all fun. The Bosses fuck hard.

Only negatives I really have are its too dark. Like probably the darkest metroidvania I've played and its probably because its 3D assets, but its not like dark dark, but like slightly getting there.

But yeah, this game fucking rules.

This game does a lot of things really well, but there's one specific mechanic that I just cannot stop thinking about: The singular rechargeable healing item.

Essentially, you can have any number of estus-like healing items and they'll deplete over the course of a fight. However, once you're completely out, you can get exactly one charge of the flask back by consistently dealing damage and landing parries. Once you use that one, the clock resets and you can begin charging up another flask, and so on.

This might be my favorite mechanic in any soulslike game I've played. Everybody agrees that the most memorable and gratifying moments of these games are when you just barely make it through a boss with no healing left, and everything you do feels like a desperate struggle. But with Lies of P's single rechargeable healing item, that feeling can last for close to half of some boss fights. You'll get absolutely obliterated early on, run out of healing items, and then spend a ton of time in emergency mode as you decide whether it's worth it to go in for damage to restore what little health you have left. This also encourages you to play hyper-aggressive when you'd typically be trying to play it safe, so just hanging back when at low health always feels like a risky play. It also gets rid of the feeling of helplessness if a boss hits you hard early on. If you get wrecked by the first phase of a boss in a fromsoft game, you're probably screwed if you're heading into the second phase with no healing. But Lies of P makes you feel like you've always got a fighting chance, even if, realistically, you're still going to get your ass whooped.

Somehow this even makes regular level exploration more rewarding and less frustrating. You never feel like you need to double-back to a bonfire equivalent in order to refill your flasks because, if you simply don't get hit, you're going to get that healing back anyways. It's such an elegant mechanic that leverages everything that makes these types of games good and rewards on-the-fly decision making and keeps you in the fight long after you'd think it was over. And, while it may seem overly generous, this game kicks your ass so hard in most situations that I cannot imagine beating this game without it. The game does have a few issues overall, but whenever I spent half a boss fight carefully managing my one remaining flask and how I was going to recharge it, it was one of the best soulslikes I had ever played.