Welcome to Krat
After I defeated the first boss in the Lies of P demo, available now on Steam, I set my controller down anticipating that was all we got out of it. And I would’ve been delighted because it was already enough to pique my interest even more after playing 5 minutes of it at PAX last year. But instead that first boss fight opened up into 2 more glorious hours that allowed me a glimpse into the twisted world and systems of Lies of P.
I pushed open the doors to the city of Krat and was immediately impressed by the vibe this place gave off. Lies of P is set in an interpretation of the world of Pinocchio. Not the Disney one we’ve all become so familiar with, but something darker and more sinister. Geppeto created more than just Pinnochio in this world. Thanks to his engineering feats, Krat was able to advance and prosper with the help of their automated puppets, but something has caused them to go awol. Citizens of Krat are forced to hide out or flee. Carriages litter the streets, their wheels and doors ripped off, and the steeds that once lead them around are slaughtered and laying in the streets. It’s a bleak sight, but it evoked similar feelings to my initial moments in Yharnam.
The inevitable comparisons to Bloodborne are apt. The shambling, once servant puppets who helped Krat become a bustling, successful city evoke the Huntsmen from Bloodborne with their movements and attacks that rush forward with rudimentary weapons raised above their head. You heal quickly by using a Pulse Cell in your left hand, similar to using a blood vial in Bloodborne.
The city is dark and spooky, with windows lit up the sides of the very vertical, Belle Époque-inspired city. These comparisons are all valid, but Lies of P somehow manages to feel fresh all the same. For every element that seems pulled straight from FromSoftware’s catalog, another idea is new and exciting.
Become the Puppet Master
Lies of P is a challenging soulslike that combines many systems to create a combat system that takes the weight of Dark Souls and injects a bit more speed and aggressiveness that we’ve seen from Bloodborne and Sekiro. Your main hand weapons each have a blade and a handle that determine its base stats and Fable Arts, unique weapon skills that cost Fable to initiate.
The unique part of this system that I’m excited to dive into more when the game releases in September, is the ability to mix and match blades and handles from different weapons to change their stats, attack styles, and Fable Arts. It was interesting to take the handle of a police baton and combine it with the rapier blade, as it no longer stabbed but swung like a club. That wasn’t a very practical use but it made me excited for the combinations to come in the full game. In your off-hand, you have P’s Legion Arm, a puppet arm that can be outfitted with a variety of tools to help you in combat. The demo offered a couple of different arms, including a straightforward powerful punch and a harpoon that pulled enemies towards you. It appears that these arms can be upgraded and tweaked further in the full game too.
While there is no traditional parry in Lies of P, it is replaced with Perfect Guards. If you block at the exact moment an enemy hits you, you will block their attack for full damage reduction, while dealing damage to their weapon. Do enough Perfect Guards and an enemy’s weapon can break completely, rendering the damage they do to you minimal. For stronger enemies, Perfect Guards can also build up a stun on enemies, called Groggy in Lies of P, that opens them up for a brutal attack. Mastering the Perfect Guard felt essential to surviving the demo’s two boss fights. Each was visually interesting, challenging, and fun to overcome.
A recipe that it needs to nail for the duration of the full game to be placed in the same tier as Bloodborne and Dark Souls. A unique wrinkle to Lies of P’s combat that really changed the way I fought each boss was weapon degradation. Now weapon degradation isn’t unique to Lies of P, but it implements it in an interesting way.
As you use your weapon, its durability decreases, as does the damage you deal. As the durability reaches zero, you won’t be able to perform combos, just single attacks. Luckily, P’s Legion Arm is equipped with a Grinder that can repair your weapon. It takes time to complete though and deciding when to create distance between a boss to repair your weapon added an extra thrill to already tense boss fights.
After this demo, I’m anxiously awaiting September 19th! It’s looking to be just the thing we Bloodborne fans have been craving over these last few years and we tirelessly wait for Sony to give us a remaster.
