

So far, it feels like Lies of P is mixing these features in a way that hasn’t made things too convoluted, though I’m not sure adding equipment load to the mix was the right move when dodging already feels very tricky to get the hang of. Lies of P also seems to favor slightly faster-paced combat that draws close to Bloodborne (although stopping to parry feels essential), and even borrows the ability to recover health lost by pressing the attack. Each of the main-hand weapons I found had their own special “arts” which reminded me of the weapon arts from Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring. There’s a prosthetic arm you can swap out with different modifications reminiscent of Sekiro, giving me the choice between utility and power in limited doses. More than once I found myself stopping to stare at the carnage and ask, “What the hell happened here?”, which I remember doing quite often while exploring in Bloodborne.īeyond its creepy setting, Lies of P also functions as a well-realized action-RPG that almost seems to encapsulate a “greatest hits” of mechanics found in From Software’s staples. I enjoyed taking my time exploring the city’s various alleys, courtyards, and broken interiors that juxtaposed nicely with the still shining and spotless Hotel Krat, which serves as your main base of sorts to return to and level up. Bodies are piled everywhere, seemingly due to both the savagery of the puppet uprising as well as some mysterious plague that’s hinted at a few times.

So far, Krat has done a pretty good impression of Bloodborne's Yharnam - and even hints of Bioshock’s Rapture - as an unnerving (yet graphically impressive) depiction of a once-prosperous and decadent utopia fallen into ruin and slathered in gore.
