Inspired by The Adventures of Pinocchio. Lies of P
Lies of P becomes another entry into the Soul-like genre, and it’s fair to say that you don’t get tired of them and probably never will. A few months ago, there was a demo, and we left an impression, and to put it mildly, we couldn’t wait to play the full game. It gets even better when it’s available on Xbox Game Pass.
Inspired by the historic Italian author Carlo Lorenzini’s The Adventures of Pinocchio. Lies of P tells the tale of one of Geppetto’s creations, Pinocchio. A Humanoid who is special from the other puppets, as he developed the ability to lie. Plus, with untrustworthy figures standing in P’s way, things get more complicated as you guide P to unravel the dark secrets of the City of Krat.
You get to enjoy Lies of P from a third-person perspective, navigate the large city of Krat on foot, and overcome numerous species of mechanical enemies. Including the relentless bosses, as the city is plagued with the petrification illness, which blinds its victims, followed by petrifying them, killing them, and turning them into monsters.
When P awakens, as you guide him further down the train, you’ll be given three combat styles: Balance, Dexterity, and Strength to select. Furthermore, as you progress, you’ll come across the lying system, where the choices you make at certain points impact the story’s outcome, leading to one of three possible endings.
You’ll be glad to know that Lies of P has great combat. When it comes to weaponry, you have the likes of swords, axes, throwing objects, and so on for battles. And you’re encouraged to strategise a variety of attacks to take down your enemies, especially during boss fights. During battles, you also have to regularly watch the stamina meter, which is the green meter that’s under the HP bar.
Although just like the HP bar, they can be upgraded as you progress through the story, it’s still quite easy to fatigue your character, especially when you’re spamming attacks. Which should give you more incentive to fight more cleverly. I will talk more about Lies of P’s boss fights in a few moments.
Then there’s the Fable Arts, which are the three blue-coloured slots that are located right under your stamina meter. For Fable Arts, weapons have distinct handles and blades, all of which have their own unique Fable Arts animations of relentless and indefensible strikes against enemies. To be able to fill the slots, you’ll need to strike enemies with your weapon to recharge.
If you didn’t know by now, Pinocchio has a mechanical arm which is called the left arm of steel—a unique and versatile, powerful device. If you want to cook your enemies, you can use it as a flamethrower. Or, if you want to lure enemies, the arm can be used as a grappling hook.
Or it can simply be used for melee attacks as it throws strong punches. And you can perform finishers behind enemies to unleash fatal slice and dice executions. You’ll know when to do it when you see a three-red-striped symbol that’s placed on their backs.
As for the defence, dodging and guarding (blocking) are, of course, the main defences when fighting enemies. Although it’s minimal, you’ll still receive damage and consume stamina when guarding. But if you guard successfully, the minimal damage will be transferred to Guard Regain.
Guard Regain will pile up but reduce steadily over time. Moreover, when you have Guard Regain, you can regain the lost HP by striking enemies. With that being said, along with dodging, these are important, but you’d realise that what’s more important is to practice parrying enemy attacks more often.
Thankfully, the parry mechanic has now been done to perfection. It’s quite funny because, in Lies of P, parrying is called ‘Perfect Guard’. If you have played the demo, then you’d acknowledge that the mechanics were pretty bad. But it’s fixed now, so it’s A-OK.
Moving on to Perfect Guard – if you perform a guard right before you’re getting hit, it activates a perfect guard. When doing perfect guards, zero damage to your HP will be inflicted; however, it’ll take some of your stamina. Perfect guards are particularly important as they’ll get enemies in a staggerable position, and they also obliterate enemies’ weapons.
Another reason to perform perfect guard more often is the fury attacks. This happens when some enemies become red and follow it with a strong attack. And unfortunately, your dodging or guard fury attacks won’t work, and the only way to counter them is with – well, you get the picture.
Lies of P’s boss fights are very well designed and balanced. There isn’t any you’d view as easy peasy, and there aren’t any that warrant pulling your hair out. You’re still encouraged to use many strategies to defeat them.
My favourite part of the boss fights is when they become staggerable. In this stage, during your attack on a boss, there’ll be a thick white outline that surrounds the enemies’ HP bar. When this occurs, you can stagger the enemy with a charge attack or with the Fable Arts, allowing you to take much larger portions of their health, making it quicker to defeat them. And you need to remember that to get them in a staggerable position in the first place, along with the attacks, they need to successfully execute a series of perfect guard parries.
Pinocchio has great resources to not only aid him in combat but to provide health and more. You can check up on your usable items in the inventory menu, along with the equipment, costume, and more, for you to make as many checkups and modifications as you wish. And you have your character info for you to check on your character’s stats.
P has two belts: the upper belt and the lower belt. Both of which can contain items and gestures. Furthermore, you can switch between belts at any point. Before we continue, a quick explanation as to what gestures are in Lies of P – they’re simply emotes that allow you to express yourself. They can also be used to unlock some secrets and memories.
There are two basic items that you should know about. One is the Grinder that repairs weapon durability by sharpening them. This seems like a very useful mechanic, and it can be, but only when you’re not in tougher or longer battles. The only issue with this mechanic is that you can’t use it during combat, especially for some boss fights, because doing so makes you almost completely vulnerable to their attacks.
And it’s bad enough that their strikes take larger portions of health, and some of your weapon’s durability is not that durable. This won’t have a massive effect on your experience with Lies of P, but it can be very annoying at times. Fortunately, you can pair the grinder with Grindstones to provide effects to your weapons.
Another basic item is the pulse cell that recovers HP. Although it isn’t as problematic as the Grinder feature, it’s still very easy to run out of these during combat. You can restock on pulse cells by striking and eliminating enemies to gradually charge and fill the cell. And if you’re worried about space, then don’t worry. You also have an extra bag, providing four additional slots to equip more items and gestures.
For checkpoints, if you play a lot of Soulslike games, you should be aware of how they work – they’re broken into pieces, and you’ll need to reassemble them to restore them. In Lies of P, they’re not much different, and in this game, they’re called Stargazers. A stargazer will fully recover HP, stamina, and pulse cells.
And just like any other Souls game, you’ll be revived at the point you last saved, but it’ll also revive the enemies you’ve eliminated, too. This is why the lock devices that are placed on some doors and ladders throughout Krat are useful. Unlocking a lock device creates shortcuts for you.
Lies of P’s customisation also deserves a shout-out, as there are plenty of things you can modify. You can assemble your weapons with the weapon and crafting system that allows 100 various combinations with 30 different weapons. And an abundance of gorgeous outfits and accessories designed for you to fight in style. There’s so much you can change, it’s unbelievable. Additionally, Lies of P’s visuals are eye-catching and spooky at the same time. The characters are likable and finely designed. The same goes for the enemies, as well as the entire city of Krat.
This goes without saying: Lies of P becomes another gem in the genre. Is the story exciting, exhilarating, enthralling, or all the above? I’d vote for all the above and then some. Once you enter the story, you don’t want to come back.
The combat is immersive, engaging, and devoid of any glaring flaws to spare you from obtaining the ultimate action-packed experience. Again, this can be said for almost every aspect of the game. It’s no surprise that the newest entry to the Souls genre would borrow many mechanics from the likes of Bloodborne. However, at the same time, it still manages to keep its own identity.
With that being said, whether you’re a Souls fan or not, Lies of P is worth playing. And if you’re an Xbox Game Pass member and haven’t installed it yet, then what’s up with that? Go and download that bad boy right now.
