Lies of P Review (Sul)
Tragedy Masterfully Orchestrated in Steel.
Lies of P has comfortably enthroned itself as one of my favourite games of all times, and as one of the best games from this proliferating year.
Short Summary;
Lies of P is a game inspired by the ‘souls’ genre of video games, set in the fictional city of Krat – a mesmerizing city filled with Art Nouveau splendor, it soared to the skies thanks to the invention and use of metallic ‘puppets’ powered by an essence called ‘Ergo’ before experiencing a biblical downfall when those puppets went into a frenzy and a plague spread in the city’s populace. The formulation of the world and story follow those cues found in Souls-style games; there is a loose narrative of events, however, there the approach is not identical. Lies of P attempts a unique approach that differentiates it from Souls games in many aspects.
Pros
- Amazing combat that will test your reflexes
- Unique weapon customization system that allows you to switch weapons and handles, offering a lot of potential variety
- Compelling story
- Enthralling collectible music records
- Strong variety of enemies and their types
- Great level design
Cons
- Somewhat forgettable boss music
- Can’t think of anything else, this game is just amazing
Combat
I have played Sekiro for a short while, too short to make a real judgement of it, years ago. I bring this up because I believe Lies of P to take some inkling from a particular vector of its combat system; perfect blocking, or ‘parrying’ if you can call it that, and blends it with movements similar to Bloodborne. The end result is a combat system built around fast reflexes, blocking your enemies attacks at the perfect moment, rather than the dodge-focused combat of Dark Souls series games (and Elden Ring).
What this means is a few things; the combat is far more sharp, your reflexes will be tested to their limits; by extension, this also means this game is harder than most video games of this style. I personally attest to its difficulty; yet at the same time, it’s a very satisfying kind of difficulty. As you master the art of fighting and perfect blocking, your skill expression is all the more satisfying. More satisfying than it was in most other Souls games, in my experience, and makes for exhilarating displays at many turns. Lies of P achieves a state of Nirvana in many ways, combat is one of them.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3036569227
Weapons
The game possesses a wide arsenal of weapons, each unique and different. The majority of them are large rather than small – not to my style – but the arsenal of smaller, fast weapons was enough for me. There are too many types of weapons to mention; not because the number of weapons is huge, but because most of them don’t function alike whatsoever. This offering of variety is quickly surpassed when you realize that most weapons are composed of two parts; the handle, and the weapon itself. You can mix and match most weapons. You can have a spear with a bent lamppost attached to its end. You can have a small cutlass handle with a huge wrench glued to it. Each component of the weapon has its own weapon art, mixing and matching will offering two very different weapon arts. The music doesn’t stop here; the moveset of a weapon is tied to its handle. You can use a huge curved sword in piercing fashion – the style of a rapier – provided you attach it to a rapier’s hilt. This might sound very inviting, but the tradeoff here is that, while your weapon will be so much faster, it still will not be as fast as a normal rapier with its own handle. When it comes to weapons, there's a lot of freedom.
Another weapon in your disposal is P’s legion arm. In Bloodborne you could equip your hunter with numerous firearms, this game includes a similar avenue; the puppet’s left arm is a weapon of its own, you can choose one of eight legion arms, each with their own combat facility (flamethrower, grappling hook, cannon, minelayer, and more) that can be upgraded 3 times with a precious material. Each legion arm has a specific scaling with a specific skill.
RPG systems
The RPG systems in this game will mostly emulate those found in Souls games, you may freely pretend this is a souls game in that regard once you know which is Stamina, which is Dexterity, which is associated with Strength and so on. The only deviation here comes from the fact that the game contains a system similar to a skill tree, peculiarly titled ‘P-Organs’. You unlock one major node in the tree by unlocking a specific number of sub-skills attached to the node. There are 4 nodes per cluster, unlocking all subsidiary skills in a node unlocks the skill contained in the large node itself, and then, increase your progress towards the next cluster of 4 nodes. This repeats for 5 phases; with higher phases containing more subsidiary skills to unlock in each node (3 and 4, respectively). The subsidiary skills unlockable under each node are split into four categories;
Attack Type – governing offensive abilities
Survival Type – governing survival abilities
Ability Type – governing special skills, such as perfect block
Item Type – governing items
You can unlock only one of each type under each node; only one offensive skill in a node and no more, the other(s) will have to be from the other types, etc,. This arrangement means the player will have to utilize one of today’s most eschewed human enterprises; thinking, as each skill unlocked will cost you a rare material called Quartz, and a poorly planned and bungled path in this tree will prevent you from unlocking the next cluster.
Story
Lies of P has an engaging story, it is still shrouded in ambiguity a la souls style, but piecing it together produces the whole; a complete story involving the characters in it, how they relate to eachother, who they were, their former lives, and so on. It’s a highly sentimental, tragic and tender tale. In some of these regards the ‘lore’ and story of Lies of P is far more similar to Bloodborne than Dark Souls or Elden Ring. You will get attached to some of the characters. Each character exudes their own type of personality, there are lies; truths; and the in-betweens. It can be a highly philosophical game at some turns, and there are many moments that struck a strong chord within me, and some characters who I fully resonated with such as Polendina. Many of your actions will formulate the ending. Just thinking about the conversations and moments with some of the characters makes me somewhat dreamy. In this front, the game is a whole and complete success.
World
The Art Nouveau world of the game is nothing if not winsome. It’s a dazzling spectacle and the perfect picture at many turns. The skies are dreary, faded crimson rays piercing its clouds. The skyline of Krat is crowned by a beautiful castle-turned-hotel and the city’s system of suspended railways. Each level progresses time. The game spreads its levels to a respectable amount of variety, portions will be in the city, portions in outskirts villages, portions in a large cathedral, portions in the industry, portions in the city’s landfill, and some more. Some of the levels are intricate and nonlinear.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3041580660
Performance, bugs, glitches, etc
Lies of P is easily the best performing game I played this year. It’s made in Unreal Engine 4, notorious for stuttering, yet somehow here is a game completely free from that; start to finish. I have not encountered any bugs (not any that I would remember, anyway) and the game’s intrinsic visual fidelity is as beautiful as the engine can deliver. I can have an unprecedented 70-80FPS on native 4K with all settings maxed on the following set up;
R5 3600x
RTX 3080
16Gb of DDR4 3200mhz
Verdict; 9/10