Lies of P is an astonishingly spectacular, polished Souls-like experience has become, much to my surprise, one of my favorite all-time games. This game truly blew me away; NEOWIZ understands the Souls-like genre to a T, mastering what makes it so successful to a deeper capacity than any non-FROMSoft developer I believe ever has. Lies of P to Souls-likes is what Hollow Knight is to Metroidvanias—an entry outside of a genre's source franchise that checks every box, (hot take incoming) arguably even better than some, or most, of those original games. Barring perhaps the flawlessness of Sekiro, Lies of P not only has the greatest combat system in the genre, but also some of the best and most accessible customization options.
One of the most noticeable comparisons in Lies of P compared to other Souls-likes is the number of small QoL improvements that make the overall game a better experience without disrupting the subtly that should be expected in a Souls-like. For example, while there is still not quest-log or waypoints or maps, if you have a quest item in your possession or follow-up dialogue from an NPC, the closest bonfire-equivalent is highlighted with a little icon next to it, as so you do not forget about it or have to look up where to go. There are also a number of other small things that add up, such as your lost Ergo (souls) spawn outside of the boss arena instead of in it after death, throwable items are actually all very useful, and there are generous yet reasonable checkpoints and shortcuts as to avoid almost any annoying runbacks after a death at any given point.
My favorite part of this game is easily the combat, which is accentuated by the excellent customization system that still will be familiar to any Souls-like fan (particularly those who have played Bloodborne), but adds even more layers that allow you to use almost any weapon with any build. Every weapon is divided by both it's main attacking part and the handle, and apart from special boss weapons which cannot be disassembled, every weapon can be mixed and matched with different handles, to completely change the scaling and also swap which Fable Arts (a weapon's special ability that requires charged meter to use). A weapon head that is normally on a long, slow swinging greatsword could instead be placed on a short handle and swung around as such. Weapon scaling is tied completely to the handle as well, so if there is a weapon head you are a big fan of that does not match your build, you can cheaply and easily swap it, and then even further change the scaling of that handle with a 'Crank' (which you get plenty of throughout the game) for the specific stat your build is focused on. It is also quite easy to respec in this game if you so choose, unlocked about halfway through and relatively cheap to do several times per playthrough.
The combat itself is nearly perfect, and is also as excellently made as what is likely the greatest action combat system ever in Sekiro. The combination of a parry-focused system and Bloodborne dodge speed (although with less i-frames) feels amazing; NEOWIZ balanced parrrying to be the perfect difficulty, forgiving in that blocking and mis-timing it will simply make you take chip damage, but there are plenty of opportunities where you do need to learn the perfect parry timing for an attack or series of attacks to effectively beat a boss or mini-boss. The window is a bit less forgiving than Sekiro, but much moreso than shield-parries in Dark Souls. This system is what initially made me fall in love with the game when I played the demo back in July, and only did moreso throughout the game. I probably used more weapons in my first playthrough than I have in any Soulslike, even Elden Ring, just because of how easy it was to customize them to my specific build, along with how many great, unique weapon designs there are, for both boss and regular weapons. The Legion arm, your left hand weapon that can be swapped out for a number of different unique tools, tops off the combat quite well, letting you build into element, defense, ranged attack, etc., all of which are genuinely quite strong and not just forgettable gimmicks, which themselves can also be upgraded.
The final piece of the customization puzzle in Lies of P is the P-Organ, which is essentially a multi-layered skill tree. Use 'Quartz', a rare material found in different ways throughout the game, to build into various upgrades, each requiring 2-4 slots to finally unlock. Each of these slots though can be customized with an upgrade in and of itself, from extra healing to doing more stagger damage to decreasing item prices, basically letting giving you two additional customization layers that help you to feel even more powerful as the game progresses.
The boss design, one of the most important aspects of a Souls-like, was easily the best I've seen outside of FROMSoft games, and in many ways surpasses them in consistency of quality in some games. There are a few bosses that, on a first playthrough, were easily the hardest I have ever fought within the genre, with one in particular taking me nearly eight hours of attempts. Throughout that entire time, plus the countless hours spent on the rest of the game's fights, I rarely if ever felt as though the game was being 'unfair', as the fights are all designed quite well to be long endurance battles, where one or two hits where rarely kill you, but instead you will slowly get your health chipped away if you aren't careful and don't memorize parry patterns. The boss formula is excellent, and with one or two exceptions remains extremely high throughout the entire game.
Lies of P also understands the importance of atmosphere within the genre. The environments are all quite beautiful, and this is certainly one of the best-looking games in the genre graphically, still with a generally dark, unnerving tone. Additionally, the NPCs and overarching story is written quite well, and while the world-building does not necessary reach the heights of FROMSoft's ability, it is very effective in the game regardless.
I really could not believe just how incredible Lies of P was. Anyone that is a fan of this genre I truly believe should and would find this game to be fantastic, at the very least appreciating the achievement in the combat system. I am excited for the future of this IP, and hope/believe that DLC/a sequel is surely in the works, especially based on the game's ending. It truly deserves to be put in the highest regard of the Souls-like genre.
10/10
One of the most noticeable comparisons in Lies of P compared to other Souls-likes is the number of small QoL improvements that make the overall game a better experience without disrupting the subtly that should be expected in a Souls-like. For example, while there is still not quest-log or waypoints or maps, if you have a quest item in your possession or follow-up dialogue from an NPC, the closest bonfire-equivalent is highlighted with a little icon next to it, as so you do not forget about it or have to look up where to go. There are also a number of other small things that add up, such as your lost Ergo (souls) spawn outside of the boss arena instead of in it after death, throwable items are actually all very useful, and there are generous yet reasonable checkpoints and shortcuts as to avoid almost any annoying runbacks after a death at any given point.
My favorite part of this game is easily the combat, which is accentuated by the excellent customization system that still will be familiar to any Souls-like fan (particularly those who have played Bloodborne), but adds even more layers that allow you to use almost any weapon with any build. Every weapon is divided by both it's main attacking part and the handle, and apart from special boss weapons which cannot be disassembled, every weapon can be mixed and matched with different handles, to completely change the scaling and also swap which Fable Arts (a weapon's special ability that requires charged meter to use). A weapon head that is normally on a long, slow swinging greatsword could instead be placed on a short handle and swung around as such. Weapon scaling is tied completely to the handle as well, so if there is a weapon head you are a big fan of that does not match your build, you can cheaply and easily swap it, and then even further change the scaling of that handle with a 'Crank' (which you get plenty of throughout the game) for the specific stat your build is focused on. It is also quite easy to respec in this game if you so choose, unlocked about halfway through and relatively cheap to do several times per playthrough.
The combat itself is nearly perfect, and is also as excellently made as what is likely the greatest action combat system ever in Sekiro. The combination of a parry-focused system and Bloodborne dodge speed (although with less i-frames) feels amazing; NEOWIZ balanced parrrying to be the perfect difficulty, forgiving in that blocking and mis-timing it will simply make you take chip damage, but there are plenty of opportunities where you do need to learn the perfect parry timing for an attack or series of attacks to effectively beat a boss or mini-boss. The window is a bit less forgiving than Sekiro, but much moreso than shield-parries in Dark Souls. This system is what initially made me fall in love with the game when I played the demo back in July, and only did moreso throughout the game. I probably used more weapons in my first playthrough than I have in any Soulslike, even Elden Ring, just because of how easy it was to customize them to my specific build, along with how many great, unique weapon designs there are, for both boss and regular weapons. The Legion arm, your left hand weapon that can be swapped out for a number of different unique tools, tops off the combat quite well, letting you build into element, defense, ranged attack, etc., all of which are genuinely quite strong and not just forgettable gimmicks, which themselves can also be upgraded.
The final piece of the customization puzzle in Lies of P is the P-Organ, which is essentially a multi-layered skill tree. Use 'Quartz', a rare material found in different ways throughout the game, to build into various upgrades, each requiring 2-4 slots to finally unlock. Each of these slots though can be customized with an upgrade in and of itself, from extra healing to doing more stagger damage to decreasing item prices, basically letting giving you two additional customization layers that help you to feel even more powerful as the game progresses.
The boss design, one of the most important aspects of a Souls-like, was easily the best I've seen outside of FROMSoft games, and in many ways surpasses them in consistency of quality in some games. There are a few bosses that, on a first playthrough, were easily the hardest I have ever fought within the genre, with one in particular taking me nearly eight hours of attempts. Throughout that entire time, plus the countless hours spent on the rest of the game's fights, I rarely if ever felt as though the game was being 'unfair', as the fights are all designed quite well to be long endurance battles, where one or two hits where rarely kill you, but instead you will slowly get your health chipped away if you aren't careful and don't memorize parry patterns. The boss formula is excellent, and with one or two exceptions remains extremely high throughout the entire game.
Lies of P also understands the importance of atmosphere within the genre. The environments are all quite beautiful, and this is certainly one of the best-looking games in the genre graphically, still with a generally dark, unnerving tone. Additionally, the NPCs and overarching story is written quite well, and while the world-building does not necessary reach the heights of FROMSoft's ability, it is very effective in the game regardless.
I really could not believe just how incredible Lies of P was. Anyone that is a fan of this genre I truly believe should and would find this game to be fantastic, at the very least appreciating the achievement in the combat system. I am excited for the future of this IP, and hope/believe that DLC/a sequel is surely in the works, especially based on the game's ending. It truly deserves to be put in the highest regard of the Souls-like genre.
10/10