Lies of P (PC) Review – There Are No Strings on P

We’ve all seen Disney’s take on Carlo Collodi’s classic children’s novel about a wooden puppet who eventually becomes a real boy. But I’m pretty sure none of us ever imagined we’d get a game based on that story, let alone one that turned out to be one of the best Soulslike experiences I’ve ever played. Yet that’s exactly what we got with Round8 Studio’s Lies of P, and damn, I can’t get enough of this game. Find out why in our Lies of P review.

Game Name: Lies of P
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed), PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Publisher(s): Neowiz
Developer(s): Round8 Studio
Release Date: September 19th, 2023
Game Length: 30-35 hours for the main quest, more if you like finding stuff

Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s classic fairy tale, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Lies of P is a Soulslike game developed by Neowiz and Round8 Studio. Players take on the role of a marionette named “P” in the aftermath of a mysterious and deadly puppet uprising that has devastated the Belle Époque-era-inspired city of Krat. To uncover the truth behind the revolt and the other strange occurrences plaguing the city, players will guide P, customize his build, battle hostile foes, and work to unravel the dark secrets at the heart of Krat’s downfall.

Fans of Soulslike titles such as Dark Souls, Elden Ring, and Bloodborne will feel right at home with Lies of P. The game features all the familiar elements of the genre: deliberate combat, dodging, a stamina meter, healing items, deep RPG mechanics, and an unforgiving save-and-respawn system. As players progress, they’ll collect Ergo, the in-game currency, which can be used to level up P and purchase essential items. Leveling up allows you to improve attributes such as health, stamina, capacity, equipment load, and more. Additionally, core stats—Motivity (Strength), Technique (Dexterity), Advance (Elemental/Legion Arms), Vitality (Health), Vigor (Stamina), and Capacity (Weight) —influence how effectively you wield different weapons. Much like in Dark Souls or Bloodborne, the more you invest in a specific stat, the more proficient you’ll become with weapons that scale to it.

In addition, there’s a skill tree system that can only be upgraded when you find a specific item called Quartz. Once obtained, you can choose a perk and slot the Quartz into one of the available bonuses. The system can be a bit confusing at first, as the game doesn’t clearly explain how it works—you’re left to figure it out on your own. What makes it worse is that once you slot a Quartz, it’s permanent. You can’t remove or reassign it, so if you realize the upgrade path wasn’t what you wanted, there’s no way to undo the change. Since Quartz isn’t tied to progression and can be missed entirely during exploration, this means you might lose out on potential perks altogether.

While Lies of P doesn’t include traditional magic, it does introduce Fable Arts—special abilities that can be used during combat. To activate them, you’ll need to build up a Fable Arts meter by attacking enemies. It’s an interesting system, but it can become frustrating in practice. The meter fills inconsistently depending on the weapon you’re using, as some weapons generate more energy than others. On top of that, Fable Arts consume varying amounts of energy, which adds another layer of unpredictability. Ultimately, I often found it more practical to rely on items instead, as they were more reliable and less of a hassle. I genuinely think the Fable Arts system could benefit from some tweaking to make it more accessible and worthwhile.

What Lies of P brings to the table

Every time I play a Soulslike, it’s always interesting to see what new ideas the developer brings to the table in an attempt to stand out. With Lies of P, it feels like Round8 Studio took a masterclass in “How to Emulate FromSoftware” because this game is packed with fresh mechanics unique to its world, alongside a few borrowed concepts that have been refined in clever ways. I promise I’ll try not to geek out too much over this, but no guarantees.

Let’s start from the top: yes, Lies of P includes weapon durability. I know—I can already hear you groaning. But unlike other games that make you fumble around in your inventory for repair items, this one lets you restore durability on the fly. Thanks to the grinder mechanic, you can simply sharpen your weapon mid-combat to restore its condition. Later in the game, you can even upgrade the grinder to apply temporary elemental buffs, adding another layer of strategy. It’s a unique spin that makes the durability system feel meaningful instead of annoying.

That said, if you let your weapon break completely, you won’t be able to sharpen it and will have to use an item to repair it instead. Thankfully, the game provides a clear visual cue when your weapon is close to breaking, so there’s no excuse for it to happen during a boss fight unless you’re pushing your luck. Still, it’s something you’ll want to keep an eye on.

Then there’s the prosthetic left arm, known as Legion Arms. While this might sound familiar to fans of Sekiro, Round8 Studio takes the concept a step further. Early in the game, you start with a basic ability that lets you punch the hell out of enemies. But as you progress, you’ll unlock and equip various other arms with unique functions—like flamethrowers, artillery shells, lightning cannons, a shield, and more. Once you’ve obtained the necessary materials, you can even upgrade these arms to become more effective. And speaking from experience: get the shield as soon as possible. I won’t say why—just trust me on that.

One of the coolest mechanics in Lies of P is the weapon assembly system. Weapons are divided into two parts: the blade and the handle. This allows you to mix and match components to create entirely new weapons, altering their range, speed, and damage output. It’s a great way to experiment and discover new playstyles. Unfortunately, this customization doesn’t apply to special boss weapons, but even so, I managed to put together some pretty wild builds. I only wish the system went a bit deeper.

The game also features key narrative choices. At various moments, you’ll be asked to respond to certain questions or take specific actions that directly impact how the story unfolds. These decisions influence the characters you meet and ultimately determine which ending you receive. From what I understand, there are three different endings, and I fully intend to go back and figure out how to unlock the other two.

There’s also a ton of hidden content. If you’re a completionist, you’re going to have a field day. I’ve barely scratched the surface, but now that the review’s done, I can finally dive back in and spend hours trying to uncover every last secret this game has to offer.

Parry, block, or dodge, it’s all in the mind

It seems like more and more Soulslikes are adopting a parry-focused system to encourage aggressive gameplay, and Lies of P is no exception. While you can block, there are no traditional shields in the game, and nothing allows you to block 100% of incoming damage. That makes dodging and parrying far more important, especially in the early stages.

That said, blocking isn’t useless. It’s still a viable option in certain situations, but it’s clear the developers want you to parry, parry, and parry some more. Think of it like blocking, but with tighter timing. You need to wait until the very last moment to execute what the game calls a perfect guard. If you time it right, you’ll not only negate damage but also hear a distinct audio cue—a sharp, metallic sound—that lets you know you nailed it.

Parrying is cool when you pull it off, and it comes with some great payoffs. Enemies—especially puppets—react in dramatic ways, like looking stunned or watching in horror as their weapon shatters in their hands. It’s a great touch. But as fun as it is, parrying also has its downsides, and it can definitely backfire if you’re not careful.

The biggest issue is that parrying is tied to your stamina. If you spam it, you’ll burn through your stamina bar fast, and no stamina means you can’t dodge, attack, or even block. On top of that, if you mistime a parry, you’re going to eat a hit straight to the face and lose a chunk of health. That’s why it’s crucial to learn when to parry, when to dodge, and when it’s safer to just block.

Speaking of blocking, it’s not a bad fallback option. Unlike other Soulslikes, blocking in Lies of P doesn’t immediately chip away at your health. Instead, it causes “chip damage,” which you can recover from by landing hits afterward. If you don’t counterattack, though, that chip damage becomes permanent. It’s a smart risk-reward system that encourages an aggressive playstyle, but you’ll still need to judge if it’s worth the risk in the moment.

Now for the bad news: Parrying still feels off. Sure, it feels better than what was in the demo, but if I compare it to Sekiro, the parry window is still smaller than I’d like it to be. Maybe it’s because I’m playing on a review build, or maybe Round8 Studio will need to revisit this yet again. Maybe check that dodging as well while they’re at it.

Decent PC performance

I’ve clocked over 35 hours on the PC, and the performance has been nothing short of stellar. No stuttering, no texture pop-in—none of the issues we’ve come to expect from many recent AAA PC releases. Lies of P’s PC performance easily outshines most of what I played in 2023.

I tested the game on two setups: a high-end rig with a Ryzen 7 7700X and an Nvidia RTX 4090, and a mid-range build featuring a Ryzen 5 3600X and an RTX 3060. On both machines, I was able to run the game smoothly—4K at 60fps on the high-end build and 1440p at 60fps on the mid-range setup. Even more impressive? Despite Lies of P being an “AMD partnered” title, it still includes support for Nvidia’s DLSS. Imagine that?

I also tried it on the ASUS ROG Ally, and it performed better than the demo version, which was already impressive. Thanks to AMD’s FSR 2, both the performance and visual quality exceeded my expectations. Here are the performance numbers I tracked:

• Low settings, 1080p, 25W (Turbo): 50–60fps
• Medium settings, 1080p, 25W (Turbo): 45–55fps
• Best settings, 1080p, 30W (Turbo): 30–45fps

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to test it on my Steam Deck, but I imagine the numbers would be comparable, though limited to 720p due to the display.

The PC port also offers a wide range of options: customizable key and button bindings, robust visual settings, and ultrawide support. The only real omission is an FOV slider, and I’m not sure why that’s missing. Still, this is one of the most polished PC ports I’ve played in a long time. I don’t know what kind of technical magic Round8 Studio pulled off, but they’ve put a lot of other developers to shame.

Multiplayer, yes?

Multiplayer, no! There’s no multiplayer whatsoever. None. There are no plans to add it either. It’s just you and the CPU-controller idiot, who isn’t always worth the effort, but does a decent job keeping the bosses off your ass… mostly.

Concerns and Frustrations

Alright, we’ve arrived at the part where I get to talk about the stuff that rubbed me the wrong way. And despite all my gushing, trust me—there’s still plenty here to get mad at. Mad as a mad hatter… get it? Okay, Dad Joke quota filled. Moving on.

As you progress, the difficulty ramps up in ways that feel less “challenging” and more “cheap.” I’ve played just about every Soulslike out there and beaten most of them with only moderate issues. But Lies of P? Some of its mobs and bosses feel overtuned—not in a “Git Gud” kind of way, but in a “why is this fair?” kind of way.

Take the unblockable attacks, for example. Some enemies will spam them like it’s going out of style. Sure, technically you can parry them—but what happens when they chain those attacks while you’re still recovering stamina? Or worse, when you dodge one cleanly, only for them to pivot mid-animation and hit you anyway? It’s aggravating. Add to that the fact that certain weapons—especially the heavier ones—require such a huge commitment for every swing that it feels like you’re being punished for liking them. Meanwhile, the boss gets in three or four hits during the time it takes you to land just one or two, assuming you don’t get decapitated in the process.

And let’s talk about chip damage—because even the bosses get it. Unlike you, they can recover that chip damage over time just by keeping you at bay. So if they start spamming combos you can’t counter or parry, you’re forced to back off… and in doing so, you get to watch all the hard-earned damage you inflicted just melt away. It’s demoralizing. There’s a fine line between difficulty and frustration, and Lies of P crosses it more than once.

Sure, it’s challenging, but there were times I had to put the controller down and walk away. Others, I was screaming bloody murder throughout the night. I’d like for Round8 Studio to take a look at the encounters and adjust them accordingly. Outside of that, the character movement in battle is still a bit clunky, but better than the demo. But it still feels like it could be a bit more refined.

I’m also a bit saddened that there’s no multiplayer option. I couldn’t care less about PVP; the game was designed for that. But I would love to summon someone into my game or vice versa. While you can summon a CPU-controlled character, you have no control over what class they are, and most of the time, they die faster than anything else. Here’s to hoping that they get buffed at some point so they are a bit more useful.

Overall

I couldn’t get enough of Lies of P. As I’ve said before, it blows my mind that a studio with no prior experience in the Soulslike genre managed to create a game that feels like it came straight from the genre’s originators—FromSoftware. Honestly, if you had someone play Bloodborne and then jump into this, they might assume Lies of P was a follow-up. It’s that good. The visual style, mechanics, tone, and pacing all echo the best parts of other Soulslikes, while still delivering its own identity.

Yes, some enemy mobs feel overtuned—sometimes hitting harder than actual bosses—and the boss fights themselves can feel unfair in certain situations. But that doesn’t take away from how incredible this game is overall. It’s a challenging experience, and at times, it’ll test your patience.

If you’re on the hunt for your next Soulslike fix, Lies of P should be on your list. As a die-hard fan of the genre, I can honestly say you won’t be disappointed. People have asked me, “Is Lies of P hard?” And I won’t sugarcoat it—yes, it’s one of the tougher Soulslikes I’ve played. But it’s not impossible. And if you’re already familiar with the genre, you know exactly what that means.

Review Disclosure Statement: Lies of P was provided to us for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

Affiliate Link Disclosure: One or more of the links above contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, we may receive a commission should you click through and purchase the item.