There is something vaguely unsatisfying with how few risks Lies of P takes. I unquestionably enjoyed it, and it’s a good video game, but something was missing. The idea of making a full-length action RPG based on The Adventures of Pinocchio is an extremely bizarre pitch, and they really went and made the damn thing, but it sort of feels like, by the end, it really didn’t have to be a Pinnochio game. I think it’s gone forgotten that Pinocchio is a pretty strange and paternalist story. Modern retellings often leave out the murder of the cricket, the death of Lampwick, and the constant didactic morals. While Lies of P embraces a lot of the weirdness, it also ends up telling a pretty trite story, and a pretty rote Soulslike.
The folkloric premise of a living puppet is remade into another steampunk fantasy setting with plagues ravaging 19th-century cityscapes. Plenty of old friends are here, the turquoise fairy, the fox and the cat, and of course, Gepetto, the father figure. Arlecchino of commedia dell’arte also make an apperance. There might be other references but I can’t remember them or don’t know them. And that’s all good fun. The set-up is this: The puppets (robots) fueled by ergo (magic electricity) have somehow broken the Grand Covenant (Three Laws of Robotics) and attacked their masters in Krat (Paris), a city ravaged by Petrification Disease (plague). Y’know it really… ends up reminding me of Atomic Heart in a lot of ways, which isn’t a good thing. It’s a steampunk-y game aping another series very clearly with a plot about automation powered by magic science in a city gone to hell with a chatty sidekick and shephereded by a mysterious father figure. Though maybe that’s unfair; Lies of P is way, way better than Atomic Heart.
Now, to be fair, the game does take some wild swings (including a post-game tease that I cackled in delight at) and does engage in some interesting commentary on the source material. The cute irony of the plague’s symptoms is not lost on me and I apprecaite it. Some of the sidequests (like Arlecchino, or this one married gentleman, or an unfortunate soul found locked in a tower) have a flare of something more exciting. The paternalism present in the source material is subverted somewhat predictably but also sneaks in a religious metaphor, I think even a sort of sacreligious Christ metaphor; I’m reminded of Žižek’s comments on how, on the cross, Jesus had himself lost faith in God. I’m sure you could come up with an interesting perspective on the morality stuff going on here, but it never quite feels all together. At one point, a character tells you that lies are weapons humans use, and you would be wise to do the same. It’s one of the best lines in the game. But lying in Lies of P never seems to cut into anything, never reveals anything about its subject or its world.
And listen, I don’t think it’s fair to force this game to stand up against Bloodborne, or other games that is clearly pulling from. But at the same time it is begging you to. So many design choices seem to come from the fact that “well, those games had it!” Why does this game have gestures? I have no clue. But largely it pulls this off pretty well. The game feels good, the level design is precise, and I think the idea of mix-matching weapon parts pretty cool. My only major complaint is that some of the bosses feel a bit spongey, but maybe my build just sucked.
But I think the precision of design actually ends up being part of its downfall. All the builds and upgrades can be balanced just so. There’s always a shortcut when you need there to be. Every level is not only linear but choreographed; I can’t think of many points in the game where I felt like I was exploring. Instead, you are expertly led down the path from obstacle to obstacle, level to level, boss to boss. Make no mistake: this is good design, but it also lacks texture. Every room seems to have a directionality, and so the purpose of the space is a known quantity: go forward. The game needs more friction, more imbalance, more roughness to give me something to grip. Or maybe I’m full of shit.
Despite my smugness I do think Lies of P is a good game. But it needs more texture. All the mechanical friction that made its inspirations so memorable is sanded away. It contorts its source material into something edgy but without anything to slice. It’s a good game, but it feels too slick. The heart that beats under Lies of P runs like clockwork. It is mechanical, precise, reliable. But there’s not enough blood pumping through it. Maybe if they can find a rougher edge, maybe then the next Pinnochio will grow up to be a real game.
The folkloric premise of a living puppet is remade into another steampunk fantasy setting with plagues ravaging 19th-century cityscapes. Plenty of old friends are here, the turquoise fairy, the fox and the cat, and of course, Gepetto, the father figure. Arlecchino of commedia dell’arte also make an apperance. There might be other references but I can’t remember them or don’t know them. And that’s all good fun. The set-up is this: The puppets (robots) fueled by ergo (magic electricity) have somehow broken the Grand Covenant (Three Laws of Robotics) and attacked their masters in Krat (Paris), a city ravaged by Petrification Disease (plague). Y’know it really… ends up reminding me of Atomic Heart in a lot of ways, which isn’t a good thing. It’s a steampunk-y game aping another series very clearly with a plot about automation powered by magic science in a city gone to hell with a chatty sidekick and shephereded by a mysterious father figure. Though maybe that’s unfair; Lies of P is way, way better than Atomic Heart.
Now, to be fair, the game does take some wild swings (including a post-game tease that I cackled in delight at) and does engage in some interesting commentary on the source material. The cute irony of the plague’s symptoms is not lost on me and I apprecaite it. Some of the sidequests (like Arlecchino, or this one married gentleman, or an unfortunate soul found locked in a tower) have a flare of something more exciting. The paternalism present in the source material is subverted somewhat predictably but also sneaks in a religious metaphor, I think even a sort of sacreligious Christ metaphor; I’m reminded of Žižek’s comments on how, on the cross, Jesus had himself lost faith in God. I’m sure you could come up with an interesting perspective on the morality stuff going on here, but it never quite feels all together. At one point, a character tells you that lies are weapons humans use, and you would be wise to do the same. It’s one of the best lines in the game. But lying in Lies of P never seems to cut into anything, never reveals anything about its subject or its world.
And listen, I don’t think it’s fair to force this game to stand up against Bloodborne, or other games that is clearly pulling from. But at the same time it is begging you to. So many design choices seem to come from the fact that “well, those games had it!” Why does this game have gestures? I have no clue. But largely it pulls this off pretty well. The game feels good, the level design is precise, and I think the idea of mix-matching weapon parts pretty cool. My only major complaint is that some of the bosses feel a bit spongey, but maybe my build just sucked.
But I think the precision of design actually ends up being part of its downfall. All the builds and upgrades can be balanced just so. There’s always a shortcut when you need there to be. Every level is not only linear but choreographed; I can’t think of many points in the game where I felt like I was exploring. Instead, you are expertly led down the path from obstacle to obstacle, level to level, boss to boss. Make no mistake: this is good design, but it also lacks texture. Every room seems to have a directionality, and so the purpose of the space is a known quantity: go forward. The game needs more friction, more imbalance, more roughness to give me something to grip. Or maybe I’m full of shit.
Despite my smugness I do think Lies of P is a good game. But it needs more texture. All the mechanical friction that made its inspirations so memorable is sanded away. It contorts its source material into something edgy but without anything to slice. It’s a good game, but it feels too slick. The heart that beats under Lies of P runs like clockwork. It is mechanical, precise, reliable. But there’s not enough blood pumping through it. Maybe if they can find a rougher edge, maybe then the next Pinnochio will grow up to be a real game.
2 Comments
(Having spent alot more time with Lies Of P, I feel compelled to revise my previous statement a bit: I think the few ideas they had on their own would be really good if not shackled to their adaptation of other peoples ideas. In being afraid to fly on their own, they fail to fly very far.)
_YALP
4 months ago