547 people found this review helpful
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Not Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 23.4 hrs on record
Posted: 24 Apr @ 5:53pm
Updated: 26 Apr @ 7:08pm

Not The Best Soulslike

I've been hearing one significant phrase from many people about Lies of P since it was released: "Lies of P is the best Souls-like aside FromSoftware games." Is that true? Let me share my thoughts with you.

Since Lords of the Fallen 2014, countless studios tried their version of Dark Souls over many years with countless attempts. There have been attempts of the genre in many ways, 2D Soulslikes, Shooter Soulslikes, Metroidvania Souls-likes, Looter Souls-Likes, and so on...Even though some of them were successful games. One thing everybody agrees on is that none of those games is as good as FromSoftware's games. Everyone agreeing on the internet on a topic is a rare topic as you know. That's how good FromSoft's Soulsborne games are.

To begin with Lies of P, the game runs great. I didn't experience a single drop throughout my experience. This is a great achievement for an inexperienced studio in AAA games and probably the strongest side of Lies of P. The graphics in Lies of P are amazing. It's safe to say the game looks way better than any Fromsoftware game. The art design is very good and the game looks beautiful up until chapter 7. After that, environments and enemies look very unimaginative and ordinary.

So Lies of P is inspired by Bloodborne visually, that's true. But this is definitely not a Bloodborne knockoff, like some people says it is. Lies of P has its own originality with its atmosphere, environment design, enemy design, soundtrack, combat, and so on.

While the story was intriguing, I couldn't help but feel that it could have been fleshed out further, with more opportunities for player choice and exploration. I don't know why, but studios are too scared to properly tell a story in Souls-like games. Possibly in order to copy Fromsoftware's formula. Trust me game devs, the success of FromSoft games doesn't come from lore-based stories. Tell us your stories with cutscenes, please. Yes, there are cutscenes in Lies of P but it really isn't enough. I am sick of being expected to learn a game's story by notes and item descriptions.

Enemies in the game have way too much health, and they don't react much when you hit them. Boss battles are especially tough because they have many phases, sometimes too many. When making a game like Souls, it's important to learn from From Software's lessons about making tough but fair fights. I am okay with linear games that don't waste the player's time with repetitive content, but some exploration wouldn't hurt.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3230243674 

The mechanics are kinda confusing. Because i can't understand for sure if this game is trying to be Sekiro, Bloodborne, or Dark Souls. Lies of P has mechanics implemented from all of them, like perfect parrying, but unfortunately, this mechanic neither works well nor feels accurate in this game as Sekiro did. Aggressive Bloodborne playing doesn't work as well, because of enemies' input reading, not getting staggering, or having extremely high health after some point of the game. This is a parry game like Sekiro, so Bloodborne game style is not an option honestly. Dashing out of an attack is also a crucial mechanic that you have to use because you can't parry every attack, in your first playthrough at least. This could be different with speedrunners though. But dashing doesn't feel or play right, even after you upgrade dashing, which shouldn't be a thing in the beginning.

Some bosses feel very badly designed to fight with these mechanics. Also, some attacks are very poorly telegraphed, making receiving a hit inevitable. Even though I played the game with heavy weapons. Some enemies refused to get staggered. Which doesn't make sense since I am taking a risk with landing many long timed charged attacks. The prosthetic arms are pretty much useless, even though I upgraded and scaled them to their fullest and tried many of them.

There are countless aspects to review while talking about a Souls-like game that would exceed Steam's character limit. All in all, even though I had fun until chapter 8, after that it was extremely repetitive and rushed. The combat is severely problematic, the game tries to be 3 games at once and doesn't succeed in any of them. Lies of P is not a bad game, but it's not even close to the Fromsoft games many people say. It's just above the Steelrising/Thymesia tier for me. Despite being an okay game, I am not generous with my recommendations and I have high standards in games. If I don't feel 100% confident with a game, I just won't recommend it. Maybe grab it on a sale, above 50%.

❤️ Lots of kisses and thanks to my dear brother SNUP DUG for gifting me this game ❤️

BRONZE MEDAL

Follow My Curator Page ❤️
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64 Comments
Ferrata 24 Jul @ 3:25am 
Lies of P felt so much more fair for me than FromSoftware games. Here you are always 1 on 1 with a boss and not rushed by many enemies who hit you asynchronously.

Parrying mechanic when mastered make you get micro-orgasms each time you perfect parry a boss, which also builds up their stagger very fast.

Prosthetic arms can be greatly put to use when used with right weapons at the right time, but well, you need to think to make use of it.
Leaf 12 Jul @ 4:28am 
So you want a marvel tier story with constant cutscenes and dialogue, got it
Sad Horse Man 3 Jul @ 11:44am 
I think too many people come into this game getting ready to play it like its a fromsoft souls game and not trying to see the game for what it is and letting the game teach them how it should be played.
Sad Horse Man 3 Jul @ 11:42am 
> Lies of P has mechanics implemented from all of them, like perfect parrying, but unfortunately, this mechanic neither works well nor feels accurate in this game as Sekiro did

I disagree with this, but it took me some time to get comfortable with it. You have to embrace that parrying is much more predictive than reactive and you have to guard just slightly before you think you do, and then parrying becomes very comfortable and fluid.

And you missed an entire fighting style (which is suited for heavy weapons, btw) which is about guarding and stamina management. You can play the game while barely dodging or parrying if you build around guarding since you can get HP back after guarding in this game. Its totally viable, and this is how heavy weapons are better played.
Will 1 Jul @ 3:25pm 
Thanks for your very detailed review.
And for some of the game's fans : you might want to meditate the phrase "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" out of The Friends of Voltaire by Evelyn Beatrice Hall.
Bearsonal 1 Jul @ 2:47am 
@CrimsonCrossJJ No problem at all, thank you for your comment :steamhappy:
Crimson Cross JJ 30 Jun @ 11:56pm 
Good review, thank you Bearsonal. Thinking about buying it, but pretty good details.
Bearsonal 22 Jun @ 2:49am 
Yeah I beat the game easily but they keep calling me skill issue just because I criticized their favorite game lol. These people are definitely weirdos.
STINGR△Y 22 Jun @ 12:03am 
a lot of the replies to this post are the reason everyone will continue to think souls fans are egomaniacal weirdos with the thinnest skin imaginable
Yorgennnn 14 Jun @ 12:07pm 
Bro wrote an essay because he is not good enough to beat the game