Not 5/5 as in flawless masterpiece, but 5/5 as in they made this game for me, personally.
With a parry system strongly reminiscent of Sekiro's (a game which has a combat system I adore) but a splash of Bloodborne's Rally system retooled to not suck absolute ass (fight me) and all this wrapped up in Dark Souls 1-esque level design except it doesn't shit the bed halfway through? Absolute chef's kiss.
So, you can block in this game, in fact (almost) everything except grabs are blockable, but a portion of your health is lost as chip damage, except you can recover that chip through attacking the enemy. How does this improve Bloodborne's Rally system? Simple, when a boss does a million fuckin attacks in 3 seconds if you have the stamina to block it all then ALL THE CHIP YOU TOOK is stored and can be healed, unlike in Bloodborne where only the last hit is healable (fuck you Ludwig). If you time your blocks well you get a parry, which causes no chip, builds up an invisible "Posture" bar (it works kinda like Elden Ring) so to speak, and if you parry enough YOU CAN EVEN BREAK THEIR WEAPON I CANNOT STRESS HOW FUCKING COOL THIS IS!!! When the boss has taken enough "Posture" damage a fully charged R2 will open then up to a Fatal Attack (Elden Ring Critical Hit). This ensures R2 attacks will always have a place in combat, which is something every Souls game has struggled with.
Bosses, mercifully leave enough time for a fully charged R2 if you know when to go for it, Lies of P maintains a great level of boss difficulty that really made me feel like I was playing Dark Souls 1 again, stuck on Taurus Demon all over. Thankfully, Lies of P does not take lessons from Elden Ring's "make them read every input and just spam a million attacks" school of thought, instead bosses are slow, methodical, baiting you to attack them at the wrong time in a way that ALWAYS feel like YOU (I) fucked up.
Yet, in opposition to these slow, methodical bosses, the game really wants you to keep hitting them, a portion of your damage is dealt as chip, and if you don't hit them they WILL heal that chip back, and if you run out of heals you can generate more by landing hits. In Lies of P, patience may be key but hesitation is (still) defeat. I was originally skeptical of the heal regeneration, but it's so hard to generate more than one extra heal, and frankly, it was more often I generated an extra heal during exploration than during a boss fight. When I did generate a heal during a boss that I desperately needed however, the tension really hits.
Lies of P additionally has many ways to modulate your difficulty, between AI summons, Fable Arts, the Wishstone, and infinite respecs, this feels like the conclusion to the idea that you can adjust the difficulty of a Souls game via the mechanics you interact with. Most of this is mandatory, and what isn't is found with just a little exploring. Lies of P may be the most accessible Souls-like thus far, without eventually making these mechanics feel necessary to progression, which just ultimately defeats the point (looking at you, Elden Ring Spirit Ash).
One of the most common criticisms of the game is that it's perhaps too inspired by Souls-likes, namely Bloodborne, and I couldn't disagree more, what is taken from Souls games are often retooled and reworked in an exploration of the mechanics, not a simple copy paste. Not to mention Lies of P brings its own new mechanics to the table in the form of the separation of weapon blade and hilt, you can put a damn dagger blade on a greatsword handle if you so please. Although, I must admit, this concept was not explored nearly as much as it deserved, it is still inspired game design regardless Also the aforementioned breaking enemy weapons this is still the coolest shit ever I do not care how underdeveloped the weapon creation mechanics are because breaking a boss's weapon is REALLY FUCKING COOL DUDE I'M SO SERIOUS!!!
But I mean, I understand that I can't convince anyone to agree that this is the best Souls-like, and I'm okay with that. I just fell in love with the entire game, the music, the characters, the stories, the gameplay, it all spoke to me in a way I can't write or articulate. I'm not kidding when I say I feel like this game was made for me, this shit really spoke to me, and at times I felt like I could speak back, I feel seen. Fuck.
Please don't let Round8 Studio be a one hit wonder, please let the DLC and whatever they make next be as successful as this, please do not let their next game be another Bless Unleashed I am BEGGING.
With a parry system strongly reminiscent of Sekiro's (a game which has a combat system I adore) but a splash of Bloodborne's Rally system retooled to not suck absolute ass (fight me) and all this wrapped up in Dark Souls 1-esque level design except it doesn't shit the bed halfway through? Absolute chef's kiss.
So, you can block in this game, in fact (almost) everything except grabs are blockable, but a portion of your health is lost as chip damage, except you can recover that chip through attacking the enemy. How does this improve Bloodborne's Rally system? Simple, when a boss does a million fuckin attacks in 3 seconds if you have the stamina to block it all then ALL THE CHIP YOU TOOK is stored and can be healed, unlike in Bloodborne where only the last hit is healable (fuck you Ludwig). If you time your blocks well you get a parry, which causes no chip, builds up an invisible "Posture" bar (it works kinda like Elden Ring) so to speak, and if you parry enough YOU CAN EVEN BREAK THEIR WEAPON I CANNOT STRESS HOW FUCKING COOL THIS IS!!! When the boss has taken enough "Posture" damage a fully charged R2 will open then up to a Fatal Attack (Elden Ring Critical Hit). This ensures R2 attacks will always have a place in combat, which is something every Souls game has struggled with.
Bosses, mercifully leave enough time for a fully charged R2 if you know when to go for it, Lies of P maintains a great level of boss difficulty that really made me feel like I was playing Dark Souls 1 again, stuck on Taurus Demon all over. Thankfully, Lies of P does not take lessons from Elden Ring's "make them read every input and just spam a million attacks" school of thought, instead bosses are slow, methodical, baiting you to attack them at the wrong time in a way that ALWAYS feel like YOU (I) fucked up.
Yet, in opposition to these slow, methodical bosses, the game really wants you to keep hitting them, a portion of your damage is dealt as chip, and if you don't hit them they WILL heal that chip back, and if you run out of heals you can generate more by landing hits. In Lies of P, patience may be key but hesitation is (still) defeat. I was originally skeptical of the heal regeneration, but it's so hard to generate more than one extra heal, and frankly, it was more often I generated an extra heal during exploration than during a boss fight. When I did generate a heal during a boss that I desperately needed however, the tension really hits.
Lies of P additionally has many ways to modulate your difficulty, between AI summons, Fable Arts, the Wishstone, and infinite respecs, this feels like the conclusion to the idea that you can adjust the difficulty of a Souls game via the mechanics you interact with. Most of this is mandatory, and what isn't is found with just a little exploring. Lies of P may be the most accessible Souls-like thus far, without eventually making these mechanics feel necessary to progression, which just ultimately defeats the point (looking at you, Elden Ring Spirit Ash).
One of the most common criticisms of the game is that it's perhaps too inspired by Souls-likes, namely Bloodborne, and I couldn't disagree more, what is taken from Souls games are often retooled and reworked in an exploration of the mechanics, not a simple copy paste. Not to mention Lies of P brings its own new mechanics to the table in the form of the separation of weapon blade and hilt, you can put a damn dagger blade on a greatsword handle if you so please. Although, I must admit, this concept was not explored nearly as much as it deserved, it is still inspired game design regardless Also the aforementioned breaking enemy weapons this is still the coolest shit ever I do not care how underdeveloped the weapon creation mechanics are because breaking a boss's weapon is REALLY FUCKING COOL DUDE I'M SO SERIOUS!!!
But I mean, I understand that I can't convince anyone to agree that this is the best Souls-like, and I'm okay with that. I just fell in love with the entire game, the music, the characters, the stories, the gameplay, it all spoke to me in a way I can't write or articulate. I'm not kidding when I say I feel like this game was made for me, this shit really spoke to me, and at times I felt like I could speak back, I feel seen. Fuck.
Please don't let Round8 Studio be a one hit wonder, please let the DLC and whatever they make next be as successful as this, please do not let their next game be another Bless Unleashed I am BEGGING.