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.
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.