Let me just start by saying that Lies of P is a beautiful game, the graphics are amazing and it is incredibly well optimised. It is refreshing when you take into account that most games released nowadays run like you'd expect an obese person to. From an artistic standpoint, Lies of P is the type of game that most other strive to be but fail to become. Everything from the world design, the music, the bosses the enemies and even the weapons are completely stunning. This game is appealing to the eye and it certainly helps when it comes to easing you into the endless deaths you'll have to endure if you wish to reach its ending.

When it comes to the gameplay of the game, you'll find that it's rather simple and direct. Combat consists of limited amount of healing, quick attacks, slash attacks and strong attacks (this varies depending on your weapons), blocks dodges and perfect blocks. Let me also add that it adds a fresh component with the arm mechanic. The arm is a powerful tool which you'll get to modify and choose to your liking. The arm can be a shield which deals damage in retaliation, a grapple to bring enemies to you or you to them and more. I personally did not feel the need to explore more of the arms since I personally found the puppet string arm to be the best one of the bunch. Overall, this simple yet responsive combat system keeps encounters fresh and fun. There are consumables in the game but ultimately, I found them rather useless and sold most of them except those which allow you to buff your weapon with elemental damage.

The progression system is very well thought out. By fighting foes, you'll gain ergo which can be used to level up your attributes. Depending on the build you're going for, you'll be able to choose between 6 different area to assign these points. Ergo is dropped when you die but can be recovered by returning to where you died and picking it back up. Thankfully, the developers were smart enough to include a fail safe to protect your dropped ergo from being in zones which would risk killing you over and over again. As the game progresses you'll find Quartz and Components which will allow you to gain new skills from a skill tree, to upgrade your weapons and to upgrade your arm. What I particularity enjoyed with the Quartz system is that they tend to be dropped by mini-bosses, making fighting them worth the effort rather than a tedious worthless task.

Finally, there's the craft system. As you progress in the game you'll find multiple weapons inside of chests. Don't get me wrong the loot is amazing and the combos you can create by assembling a handle and a blade is incredibly interesting. In a way, you get to forge your own tool of mass destruction to play the way you like it. However, by the time you reach the end of the game you'll most likely forget that feature due to the fact that you'll have committed to upgrading a single weapon. Once you're used to a certain play style, it becomes a bit uninteresting to change even if the game constantly throws new blades that are even more good looking from the prior ones you've found.

I feel like Lies of P's story and side quests is one of the more interesting semi-linear story I've seen in a while. Although the world did not give me countless amounts of decisions to reforge it, it gave me the decisions which would reforge me and the way I saw it. You play Gepetto's puppet and you are essentially a robot. However, you are unlike the other puppets because you can lie. This ability can lead you to become something that is much more human. Without spoiling much of this aspect, it is difficult for me to tell you more. However, I can guarantee you that the story kept me more than engaged with the game and that it is a tale I'll remember for a long time.

Although I absolutely loved the game and I did not find it difficult but rather I found it just challenging enough to be fun, there are a few things which I feel were rather annoying. Let's start with the first thing: Disruption. In Lies of P, some enemies inflict debuffs upon your character. Although most debuffs are more than fine and completely balanced, disruption chose to be the black wolf of the bunch and opted to one shot kill you if your gauge fills up. One-hit kills are never a fun mechanic in any games. Disruption is not over used but in the short time span which it was, the encounters were much more frustrating than fun. Then, you've got the loot on the ground. Frankly, the loot in this game tends to be a bunch of worthless stuff which eventually makes you question why you're even picking it up. Consumables aren't interesting or required in a play-through and since the loot pool consists of mostly consumables, it makes the system falls flat a bit.

I've started a NG+ run and so far the whole thing seems alright to me. I'm somewhat disappointed that there aren't many changes to the enemies to create a bigger challenge but I suppose that 33 hours of content is already quite a bit for most games. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if a few updates came along to make the end game more interesting, there's a lot of potential for it at the moment.

In conclusion, Lies of P is a FINISHED POLISHED game. Which means, you won't find yourself fighting against the game itself to have it run decently. The combat system is simple, easy to get the hang of and one of the most fun combat system I've seen in most games. The way progression is handled in Lies of P adds flavour to the overall gameplay and replayability to the eras you've already visited. In my opinion, if it wasn't for Baldur's Gate 3, Lies of P would be the game of the year of 2023, which it would 100% deserve. If you're scared of buying the game because it might be difficult, don't worry it's nothing you won't be able to handle. I had never played a Souls-Like and I managed perfectly fine.

Lies of P is the game that got me into Souls-Like and it was phenomenal. Thanks to it, I plan on going for more than just a dip into the genre.