Lies of P is a Souls-Like game. Which takes place in the Pinocchio world.

The pacing of the game is brilliant. In the intro bosses you can dodge like darksouls and get away with it but after a while the parry mechanic is the better choice however dodge steps are still viable.
In the midgame the diffuculty spikes up and you keep failing the same boss over and over untill you get the attack pattern down and finally defeat him.

The game is very rewarding with the main Perfect Parry mechanic. The gameplay is like any other game souls game hard but rewarding.

The music in Lies of P is amazing and makes the world much more lively that way.

10/10 would recommend the game.

Many games have tried to imitate the formula of Fromsoftware’s Souls and Souls-adjacent games (Sekiro, Bloodborne, Elden Ring). This genre of game, dubbed Souls-likes, attempts to recreate the unique experience offered by these action rpgs. Oftentimes, Souls-likes take the wrong lessons from the source material, whether it be an overemphasis on punishing difficulty, deliberately not explaining crucial game mechanics, or making the narrative too obtuse to be enjoyed on a casual playthrough.

Lies of P is not one of those games. Neowiz has taken many aspects that made Fromsoftware’s games as popular as they are and combined them into a masterpiece of a game. Lies of P is a game with its own unique identity, but for the sake of describing it in terms that fans of the genre would understand, the game is a blend of Bloodborne and Sekiro.

The graphic style of the game, upon first glance appears to take heavy inspiration from Bloodborne’s Victorian/Gothic style, which to this day hold up quite nicely. Lies of P takes a spin on this idea, instead basing its style on the Belle Époque period of France, which serves well to make it feel distinct from Bloodborne. The French influence even extends to the game's soundtrack, which features numerous tracks sung in French.

Gameplay wise, you have all the staples of the genre, rolling, blocking, and running, all of which are perfectly valid approaches to combat. But the true beauty of the system comes from its perfect guard, taking heavy inspiration from Sekiro’s deflect. While perhaps more difficult to pull off than simply dodging the attacks, perfect guards are heavily incentivized, as they break the opponent’s posture quicker, allow you to counterattack more frequently, and oftentimes put you in a better position to counterattack than if you had simply rolled.

Another feature of the combat system that adds to its depth beyond Fromsoftware’s games is a heavier emphasis on strong attacks. In order to stagger an enemy, you must land a fully charged heavy attack in order to “confirm” the stagger and allow for a riposte. I find this system to be a fantastic middle ground between Elden rings combat where staggers can be achieved very easily and earlier titles, where staggers were nearly nonexistent. The game rewards you for being deliberate and looking for longer openings to land slower, heavier attacks.

The game is not without its faults, however. Certain late game areas tend to drag on terribly (although this is a criticism that could be levied with almost all of the Souls genre), and certain boss encounters are baffling with their execution (a certain guardian of doors and a certain endboss with a rather large arm come to mind). Additionally legion arms feel very underwhelming as a whole, with only the shield serving substantial practical combat usage, while the others simply serve as flashy gimmicks or deal pitifully low damage, however I did not spec very heavily into legion arms in any of my playthroughs, which may explain this.

Overall, the quality of Lies of P is on par with Fromsoftware’s games, with a level of polish not often seen in the games industry these days. With a dlc and sequel in the works, I am very excited for what Neowiz has to cook next.

In essence, if you have ever wished for Bloodborne on pc, get this game. If you have liked Sekrio’s combat but been disappointed with the lack of weapon variety, get this game. If you like Souls games, get this game. If you like darker renditions of fairy tales, get this game.

I bought this game to scratch the Soulslike itch I had, but did not expect too much. However, while playing through it, I fell in love with this game. It sometimes feels like playing a fairytale.

While it is the well-known story of Pinocchio, they also do their own thing with this story, which felt refreshing. While, of course, some twists and story arcs you could see coming from far away, it was still entertaining for me.

Gameplay feels great most of the time. Some things feel off, and I felt I had to relearn mechanics just for this boss because the timing was different than what I learned from previous animations. Also, this game throws a lot of game mechanics at you, which might be a bit much for some people. I loved combining them all in the later parts of the game, but in the beginning, I just ignored some of them because there were too many mechanics explained in a short period of time.

The music is beautiful—something you might want to listen to outside the game.

From a graphical standpoint, it looks great and has this fairytale vibe going on. The textures look nice, although I don't care much if a game is in HD or 4K or whatever. It's pretty to look at, and this is enough for me.

Character customization is limited. You can't change the PC since, well, it's Geppetto's puppet, but you can let him wear different outfits and masks.

The difficulty can be tough sometimes, but the game gives you a lot of stuff to help you out when you're stuck on a boss most of the time.

Exploration is limited. You always know where to go. There are some branching paths, but most of them are shortcuts or dead ends with items and stuff, so I never felt lost.

TL;DR: It's a great game. If you enjoy Soulslike games, give this one a try.