Lies of P

The Soulslike genre is crowded. To stand out, a new entry needs more than just punishing difficulty and a somber world; it requires a hook, a unique identity that justifies its existence in the shadow of giants like Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Round8 Studio’s Lies of P, published by NEOWIZ and released on Steam on September 18, 2023 for $59.99, finds that identity not by reinventing the wheel, but by polishing it to a mirror shine and setting it in one of the most compelling worlds the genre has seen in years. The game casts you as Pinocchio, reimagined not as a wooden boy but as a sophisticated mechanoid, awakening in the ruined city of Krat.

This isn’t the whimsical Italy of the storybooks. Krat is a fallen utopia of the Belle Époque, a city of clockwork wonders now drowning in blood and rust, its puppet servants having turned on their masters in a bloody frenzy. The aesthetic is immediately arresting—a fusion of 19th-century European elegance with the gruesome body horror of malfunctioning automatons. The quest is simple on its face: find your creator, Geppetto. But the journey spirals into a dark conspiracy, forcing you to fight through legions of mechanical monstrosities and make narrative choices that question the very nature of your humanity. Lies of P wears its influences on its sleeve—the gothic horror and aggressive combat of Bloodborne are its most obvious touchstones—but it distinguishes itself with a weapon-crafting system of impressive depth and a commitment to its grim fairytale premise. It’s an audacious project that could have easily been a derivative mess, but instead emerges as a confident, challenging, and worthwhile entry for anyone passionate about the genre.

• Weapon Assembly System: The game’s standout mechanic. Players can mix and match the blades and handles of different weapons to create hundreds of unique combinations, each with its own stats, scaling, and special “Fable Arts” attacks.
• Perfect Guard & Stagger: Combat revolves around a demanding but rewarding parry system called Perfect Guard. Successfully deflecting enemy attacks allows you to break their stance, opening them up for a devastating “Fatal Attack.”
• Lying System: At key moments in the narrative, players must choose to tell the truth or lie. These choices have tangible consequences, altering NPC interactions, the items you receive, and ultimately steering the story toward one of three distinct endings.

The Brutal Ballet of Combat

Lies of P is an action RPG defined by its combat, and the combat is an intricate dance of aggression and precision. The DNA of FromSoftware’s catalog is unmistakable. The deliberate pacing, the emphasis on learning enemy attack patterns, and the crushing punishment for failure are all here. Yet, Round8 Studio cleverly cherry-picks and combines elements to create a rhythm that feels both familiar and distinct. The system reads as a direct descendant of Bloodborne, encouraging a forward-pressing offense, but it integrates the posture-breaking parry mechanic central to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

This is where the Perfect Guard comes into play. It’s a high-risk, high-reward parry that demands precise timing. Mistime it, and you take massive damage. Land it consistently, and you negate all damage, wear down the enemy’s invisible posture bar, and eventually leave them “Staggered” and vulnerable. It’s built to force an aggressive-defense posture that should be exhilarating once its rhythm clicks. It’s less forgiving than Sekiro‘s deflect, with a tighter window, but the payoff is designed to be just as satisfying.

Layered on top of this is the excellent Weapon Assembly system. This is not mere customization; it’s a fundamental pillar of gameplay. Separating a weapon into its “blade” and “handle” allows for true experimentation. The blade determines the attack power and damage type, while the handle dictates the moveset and how the weapon scales with your stats. Want the powerful, slow-hitting blade of a greatsword on the fast-swinging handle of a dagger? You can build that. This system encourages a level of strategic creativity that even its inspirations lack. It turns every new weapon found into a kit of parts, a new set of possibilities for your arsenal, giving the player immense agency in crafting a playstyle that is truly their own.

A World Woven from Lies

The narrative framework, a dark reimagining of Pinocchio, could have easily been a shallow gimmick. Instead, the game commits to it with surprising success. The central Lying System is the most direct expression of this. While some choices feel binary and their immediate impact minor, their cumulative effect is palpable. Telling a lie to comfort a dying citizen or to deceive a suspicious hunter slowly builds your “Humanity,” subtly changing P’s mechanical heart. It’s a clever mechanic that ties character progression directly to role-playing, making you consider the ethical and philosophical implications of your actions in a way that feels meaningful.

The world-building is where Lies of P shines brightest. The city of Krat is a strong achievement in environmental storytelling. From the opulent, gilded halls of the Opera House, now stalked by deranged puppet divas, to the grimy, plague-ridden alleys of the Malum District, every corner of the city tells a story of ambition and decay. The enemy design is exceptional, a menagerie of twisted clockwork horrors that are as terrifying as they are imaginative. Hulking police puppets, spidery marionettes, and grotesque circus performers all feel like they belong to this broken world. The lore is delivered through item descriptions and environmental cues in classic Soulslike fashion, weaving a tragic tale of a city that flew too close to the sun on wings of clockwork and ambition.

Aesthetically, Lies of P is a strong point. Built on Unreal Engine 4, the game presents a world that is both beautiful and deeply unsettling. The Belle Époque architecture provides a striking backdrop of ornate ironwork, grand theaters, and lavish estates, rendered with sharp textures and careful use of lighting. This beauty makes the subsequent corruption all the more effective. The character and enemy models are highly detailed, from the intricate gearing visible inside P’s arm to the chilling, porcelain-cracked faces of the puppets. The atmosphere is thick and oppressive, a constant visual reminder of the city’s tragic downfall. The art direction is clearly the priority here, and it shows.

On Steam, Lies of P ships with a wealth of graphical options to tailor performance to a wide range of PC hardware, and a game of this scope is not especially demanding by modern standards. While keyboard and mouse controls are supported, this is a game designed from the ground up for a controller. The precise timing required for the Perfect Guard and the fluid movement of combat are built around an analog stick and shoulder buttons. The PC version also allows for higher frame rates and resolutions, which should serve the detailed world of Krat well.

Lies of P is a strong showing from a studio that has clearly done its homework. While it stands on the shoulders of giants, it is not content to live in their shadow. By combining some of the best elements of the genre and adding its own innovations like the Weapon Assembly system, Round8 Studio has crafted an experience that is polished, challenging, and engrossing. It is a brutal, beautiful, and confident debut that earns a place among the better Soulslike titles of recent years. It doesn’t just pull the strings of nostalgia; it weaves them into something new and compelling. We recommend it, with the caveat that its derivativeness and punishing difficulty are real reservations.