This is the question someone usually asks when they see Lies of P for the first time: a story that mixes Pinocchio’s story (everyone related to the delightful little hat puppet from the ’40s Disney classic) with Bloodborne’s somber, How can a title with a mix of dull and spooky vibes mix? ,Work? Well, by taking the general story of Wood Boy (more like a steampunk-like automaton here) and twisting it until he can face the neo-Gothic horrors of the fictional city of Karat, of course.
When comparing the work of Round 8 Studio (specifically the team led by Choi Ji-Won, all from NEOWIZ) to that of FromSoftware, there is no need to jump through the bushes. You’ll also find many elements here (set design, combat, HUD, difficulty, even the hooks they add to Sekiro). However, as you’ll see in the gameplay below, some details go a step further.
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Considering the aesthetics, while the first impression is that we are back in Yharnam, the truth is that the city of Karat is closer to the Belle Époque than the Victorian era. There are electric lights, street lights dimly illuminating the road when we’re afraid to turn, illuminated signs announcing night shows in theaters, lights in houses… all of this is the result of the Industrial Revolution at full speed.
In a way we don’t know yet, this industrialization got out of hand and turned into a nightmare where automatons took to the streets and killed everyone they found. We can observe it as we walk around the street. Here I must point out that the number of bodies seems to be a bit sparse as they always seem to be the same two or three, with some color variations on the clothes.
Likewise, for an unknown reason, we find Pinocchio, an automaton that didn’t run out of control, looking for his creator, Geppetto, and removing any obstacles he found in his path. We can choose between three different “battle memories” (Balance, Agility or Tough/Strength) in the demo. When choosing agility, our robotic arm gets a rapier and a hook. Motion is fairly smooth, despite being visible in the video. The controller’s response is flawless and direct, which is reassuring here: any action game in this style should have well-polished controls, or it will be condemned before launch. Overcome the first hurdle.
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The enemies we face seem to be of the basic type in the game: few health, limited movement, strong (we’ll die a few times) but instantly recognizable and therefore predictable. On top of that, there are some formidable enemies, and of course the damn “dog” (also automaton) that every action RPG must have. After a few glitches and reboots in Stargazer (we’ll get to that shortly), we’ve got this part under control.
We’ll fire up some stargazers that operate like soul-like (bonfire) checkpoints. There we will be able to upgrade our skills, equip different weapons, use them for fast travel as well as inventory of items. In addition to upgrading them with certain items, we can also add some modifiers based on the slots they have. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to see much more on this front, but it seems very interesting and we think it will be a concept similar to Ashes of War in Elden Ring.
The truth is, we used basic attacks in a lot of demos, but in War of Lies P, there is a charged attack system with skills that can have devastating effects on even the strongest enemies, their There is a bar under the health that is divided into three parts (Fable slots) that recharge when attacking, and each skill consumes a different number of parts. The life regeneration system is indeed inherited from Bloodborne, as we will be using vials (not blood this time) to restore Pinocchio’s life, which we will gain by defeating enemies.
By playing this demo, we can’t see more: we want to learn more about the arsenal, ability upgrades, and more exploration in urban worlds that seem to be filled with different levels of secrets. This feeling is very positive. Innovating at key points, Lies of P could be a major standout next year (no, our noses don’t grow when we say that). If its quality has remained the same so far, and you’re interested in new challenges, this might be the game for you.
Lies of P will be released on PC, Xbox (play day one with Game Pass) and PlayStation by summer 2023.