Lies of P

I'm not generally a person who plays games for the difficulty. I like a challenge, but for me, the main draw to any single-player game is the story. If the difficulty prevents me from experiencing the narrative, I'm not going to enjoy it.

I have played through Lies of P probably three or four times now.

There's something about this world the developers created, something that keeps making me want to come back, even though I've experienced nearly everything there is to see in this game.

The gameplay is incredibly fun, the characters are engaging, the music is phenomenal, and the twist on the Pinocchio story is beyond interesting. It's gripping.

I cannot wait for the DLC to release just so I have a chance to experience something new in this world.

This is the first review I've ever written for a game. And there are games out there that I love, games that have literally shaped who I am as a person.

But for some reason, I was compelled to write something about this one.

I wonder if that says something more about the game, or me?

Review brought to you by a none Souls/Souls like vet. My only experiences with these styles of games is getting carried through DS and DS2 and learning how to fumble my way through DS2 alone a few times. I can't make comparisons to other titles.
Hands down one of the best and most rewarding games that I've ever played! The world is the story and there's so much to be learned from little snippets of dialogue and conversations with NPC's. More lore can be discovered if you're willing to venture a little off path to explore.. It created an emotional journey that actually made me a little teary eyed and had some pretty memorable characters on top.
The environment is a stunning, gothic fantasy landscape that had me constantly stopping to take screenshots (and getting smacked in the back by a lurking puppet way too many times) There is just so much life to the different areas that it feels like it was a once very lived in city. There was so much attention to detail.
I loved the amount of variety in enemy design! There were quite a few reused enemies in some areas but there was almost always some new types to pop in every area. Not even embarrassed to admit I died a lot trying to just get through to the next area because I got smacked on my ass. Unless you go rushing through, it's not a very gank squad style game so you wont get wombo combo'd to death fighting in many areas (some do exist) unless you carelessly go running.
Bosses were a mixed bag on difficulty. I played on the default difficulty and got through a few of the fights on my first try, a few on my second but did have a nightmare with a few of the bosses which had me stuck for a good while. Design wise, most of them were great and had pretty fun attack patterns to learn... Apart from (redacted)... I got through (redacted) with sheer dumb luck or with some crazy divine intervention of some kind! Screw (redacted)!
Combat feels extremely satisfying and I love how much you can personalise your stats, weapons and abilities to the build that you want. You can mix blades and handles to create a weapon that feels satisfying to you and collect a resource to give yourself limited but additional perks. It relies a lot more on parrying that it does dodging and though it took me some time to pick up, getting perfect parries down in some fights feels sooooo satisfying.
I know this might be a negative for some people but I liked the fact it was linear enough that I never got too lost and knew where to go next. The problem was always getting there in one piece!

Sincerely from the bottom of my heart, Thank You for this update.
THE ABILITY TO CHANGE YOUR DIFFICULTY MID GAME & GET ACHIEVEMENTS is game changing.
Im 33. I have a wife and 2 daughters plus a full time job. I wanted to keep playing the game but I wasn't going to spend the next 5 or so hours learning the exact Parry times for the boss I was on. It was too stressful & gaming isn't something I do to stress myself out now. So at boss 6 I said...great game, I'm too high and slow most of the time..guess I'm not good enough to see the end, & I uninstalled it.
I heard about the update and reinstalled tonight.
I put my game on the middle setting instead of default hard and kicked "VI's" ass.
Let me see the world man. Let me see how it this awesome story ends. Let me search for quest stuff without feeling stressed about dying all the time. I know I suck, but I paid money.
The same thing happened with Hollow Knight. I have one dreamer left but I was 50 hours in and had no urge whatsoever to do the Traitor Lord run and get my ass kicked all week or month. It's just not even fun anymore. I'm not running back and forth across the huge ass map to upgrade my nail. So no ending for me...no biggie, it was still fun and I got my money's worth. I had no idea what was happening anyway.
If I'm lucky Team Cherry will take note so I can finish their game. Doubtful.
Like shit guys..you can even get the achievements on VERY EASY mode...my wife can play now.
I will 100% purchase the DLC now. Thank you so much for setting a new standard. I hope you guys make all your money and more!

One of the best Soulslike so far with a good gameplay, mechanics, story, atmosphere and even the steampunk visuals.
A Bloodborne x Sekiro like, amazing combat, brilliant boss designs with super fair patterns and challenging as well. A must play from me!

Steampunk is one of those settings I love, and Lies of P utilizes it brilliantly in both its environments and enemies. I loved exploring all the game's chapters and never felt like ideas were being recycled lazily.
The weakest point of the game for me is the main bosses, although I still enjoyed all of them. Some bosses can make you feel unfairly punished due to weird telegraphing. However, they are all visually cool and provide the rewarding sense of achievement you're accustomed to if you've played a Souls-like before.
The way you build your character allows for a lot of creativity. Non-unique weapons can be separated into two parts: blade and handle. You can mix and match different weapon blades with different handles, enhancing them to better complement the stats you're investing in. Stats function like a traditional Souls-like—you earn points by defeating enemies and allocate them to attributes such as health or stamina.
For a first entry into the genre, the studio has done an incredible job, and I can't wait for either a sequel or the upcoming DLC to refine the formula further. The developers seem receptive to player feedback on social media, which is a strong positive indicator to me that they'll address this game's flaws in future titles.

Fun, cozy and relaxing game. if you enjoy dying repeatedly while questioning every life choice that you've ever made. Every parry and attack feels like you’ll never live up to your parents' expectations.

if you waiting for Bloodborne to be released on PC (don't know when that will happen), this game would be a great alternative...
this game is quite difficult for me who has played various souls-like games. dodge doesn't seem to be made purely to avoid enemies and the range of movement is very small. the parry also annoying (at least for me). the parry/perfect guard window is very tight and it's hard to predict enemy movements. this makes the combat challenging, make you more masochistic.
the story in this game is presented implicitly (similar to Sekiro), no complaints, overall good.
conclusion: this game may not be for everyone. but if you're a fan of souls-like games, this game is a must play. 100% recommended.
for the developer: you guys make a great game, good job!
im waiting for the DLC. Lies of P was a great start to the genre, and i look forward to you guys making more games like this in the future.