Despite the overabundance of “Soulslike” games in recent years, no one has been able to harness the mysterious genre in the way FromSoftware has, but Lies of P sure comes close. One part fever dream adaptation of the original Pinocchio novel, one part Soulslike, Lies of P is one of the best games of the last decade. It’s an experience that succeeds on nearly every level, from getting why the cryptic storytelling of the Souls games works, to providing a uniquely intense combat system that shines in boss battles. With Lies of P now on PlayStation Plus, you have a perfect excuse to play it.
Lies of P takes place in the fictional city of Krat, a booming city of technology and innovation that discovered the technology of puppets — robotic beings that have made life infinitely easier. But a phenomenon known as the Puppet Frenzy has made the thousands of robots go mad and wantonly attack the city, on top of a Petrification Disease that’s swept through Krat. You awaken as a puppet simply known as “P,” with the unique power to lie — something no other puppet can do.
Cryptic is a word you often hear used to describe Soulslikes, but few games outside of FromSoftware’s offerings get what that really means. Souls games aren’t dark for no reason, and simply having flavor text on weapons or notes to discover doesn’t mean a game is “cryptic.” It’s all in a sense of discovery and style, a feeling that permeates every part of the game. Lies of P understands that to a tee, crafting a beautifully deranged world that’s a joy to explore — but it smartly layers that with a character-driven narrative that’s surprisingly emotional.
If you want to hear more about Lies of P’s narrative achievements, we’ve written about that in depth. So for now, we’ll focus on the game’s phenomenal interpretation of the Soulslike gameplay formula. If you’ve ever played any Souls game, you know the basics of what to do in Lies of P. You make your way through various environments while fighting enemies, collecting a resource called Ergo that lets you level up, power up weapons, and more. As is standard for the genre, if you’re defeated, you’ll drop all your Ergo and have to travel back and collect it.
Lies of P’s level design is phenomenal, masterfully treading that line between giving you exploration options, but making sure you always have an idea of where to go. But levels are more than just interesting to explore, they each thematically expand on the game’s world and lore, building out the rich tapestry of Krat’s culture and history. One area has you treading through an abandoned puppet factory, now filled with the shrieks of robots driven mad. Another is a decrepit carnival, the colorful games and tents now twisted visages of the fun they once provided.
The same holds true for the game’s challenging bosses, from a former boxing champ turned into a creature pumped with chemicals like Batman’s Bane, to a team of vigilantes sweeping the streets called the Black Rabbit Brotherhood. Lies of P has all the essential elements of a Soulslike, and it does everything well, but what really makes the game transcendent is the unique mechanics it layers on top.
Foremost among those is the Legion Arm system. P has a mechanical arm that can be retrofitted with a bunch of different options: a flamethrower, a shotgun, a shield, a wire to draw in enemies, and more. Your Legion Arm has its own gauge, but it’s a fantastic system that gives you drastically more options for combat and what kind of build you want to go with.
That’s only increased even more by Lies of P’s brilliant weapon system — one of the most freeing systems the genre has ever seen. Each common weapon has a handle and a blade, and these can be mixed and matched as you see fit. Any handle can be combined with any blade, opening up dozens upon dozens of different options. The copious amounts of options combined with rock-solid gameplay, makes Lies of P one of the most satisfying-feeling Soulslikes out there — it’s a game that can honestly go toe-to-toe with the likes of Elden Ring.
That’s not nearly the end of what Lies of P does well; we haven’t even talked about the mysterious lying mechanic that turns your character more human the more you lie. But that element, and others, are honestly best left for you to discover on your own; it’s far more satisfying that way.
Lies of P is one of those games where every single element comes together in an inexplicable way, every single feature and idea is tuned to the greater whole. It’s simply a masterpiece, and real proof that there’s untapped life in the Soulslike genre for developers that aren’t FromSoftware. The only problem is that you’ll have to join the agonizing wait for the next game after you beat it.
