Neowiz announced a Lies of P demo during Summer Game Fest 2023, but we had a chance to go hands-on with the PC game ahead of time and walked away intrigued by the gothic fairytale world – even if the gameplay is perhaps a bit too much of an homage. If you watched the new trailer and thought “Oh, it’s Pinocchio meets Bloodborne,” you’re basically right.
The Soulslike game’s demo starts with our hero, who you’d be forgiven for thinking is Timothee Chalamet, waking up on a train at the prompting of a blue butterfly. He grabs Gemini, a computer program inside a glowing canister that’s pronounced Jiminey – as in Cricket – and then it’s time to choose your combat specialty. You have balanced, speedy, and powerful, which correspond to the same initial weapon styles in Bloodborne, and a phial of health that you inject when you take damage, again, just like in Bloodborne.
Our hero has a fast attack and a strong attack. He can – and should – block, dodge, and parry, and you spend Ergo (read: runes or souls) at save points to level up. You also have almost identical stats as any Soulslike hero that do basically the same thing.
It all seemed a bit too familiar – and then I stepped off the train into Krat Central Station.
The scene our hero finds himself in looks more like something out of Resident Evil 2 than Yharna. The vast, gilded station is smeared and dripping with blood, while puppet policeman stagger awkwardly around the foyer, beating lifeless human corpses with their truncheons. It’s an unexpectedly disturbing scene, made even unsettling so by the fact that Lies of P just dumps you right in it with no explanation.
Who are these murderous creations? Why are they killing people? You’ll find out eventually, but it’s time to bust up some puppets first.
Combat feels a little less hefty and crunchy than most FromSoft games and certainly less substantial than Bloodborne. You eventually get into the same routine of dodging and strategic strikes as you do in FromSoft games, but there is a slight twist: your left arm. It unleashes a different kind of attack depending on what device you attach to it, though in this early portion of the game, those options were limited. Fights were tense enough to keep me interested, though I’m eager to see how more abilities help Lies of P establish an identity of its own.
One area that certainly feels unique is the setting. Where Bloodborne is just straight-up gothic, Lies of P gilds the edges, fills Krat with machines, and goes all-in on the fin-de-siecle grandeur and, presumably, decadence as well. It’s an exciting setting you don’t often see used in games, and there are hints of something equally exciting in a few other aspects of the setting.
Your save points, for example, are Stargazers, objects encouraging you to grow by looking skyward and out of yourself. Collectible currency is called Ergo – presumably inspired by “Cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am). These ideas fit perfectly with the concept of Pinocchio struggling to find an identity and a place in the world, though how these ideas play out is anyone’s guess.
It’s difficult to say what Lies of P might do with this setting, since the demo focuses on atmosphere and battle more than actual story. The potential is there for something special and perhaps even meaningful commentary on the nature of life and experience, and it’s certainly more optimistic than Bloodborne, despite the death, blood, and evil puppets everywhere.
If you’re keen to check all this out for yourself, the Lies of P demo is available now, and the full game launches on Sep. 19, 2023.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
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