Read our interview with Game Director Jiwon Choi from GDC about Lies of P: Overture here.
Lies of P’s storytelling depth and gorgeous visual identity, coupled with the macabre fairytale, was a critical and fan success. With character designs and an environment that never leaves its player behind, this take on the soulslike genre was a critical and fan success. Now, the game’s developer, Round8 Studio, is set to release Lies of P: Overture.
The first Lies of P DLC, published by Neowiz, is a prequel that shows players a glimpse of the world before the Puppet Uprising and tells a revenge story. With new enemies and, most importantly, new weapons to change combat, Lies of P: Overture is an exciting return to the world of Krat.
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For the media preview, we tackled one section, the Krat Zoo. And even though I was busy fighting for my life, walking through the Krat Zoo was an amazing experience. The blending of those stuck with the Puppet Frenzy and mutated animal life against sprawling exhibits is both uncanny and immersive. With interactive plaques throughout the Krat Zoo, this new area took me a while to get through. Not because I was dying, although I was before I entered the Zoo, but because I wanted to make sure I looked at everything I could.
When we spoke with Game Director Jiwon Choi out of GDC, he explained, “When we were developing Overture, we didn’t view it as a separate entity from Lies of P. It’s more like an expansion, and together with the base game, it becomes a complete experience. We want this to be a holistic experience, how Lies of P was meant to be experienced.” Additionally, Choi noted, it is meant to make the experience feel like “the truest version of the game.”
The new Lies of P DLC doubles down on its gorgeous world and design.
And while I can’t tell you much from the story in this preview, we did get to enter combat—a lot. But before discussing the fighting, we have to talk about the world. One of the standout elements of Lies of P was the attention to detail that the art team and level designers put into developing each area of the game. Notes, pictures, posters – everything in Krat felt lived in the first time, and so did the Krat Zoo. While the enemy details have always been a game highlight, the take on animal mutations is extremely inspired.
When I asked Game Director Choi in the Q&A about the inspirations behind the creature designs, he explained that the choice behind picking animals and the Krat Zoo as the location was because they wanted players to have an emotional connection to the location. Ultimately, it’s a success.
Walking through the zoo, you can’t help but be pulled into it. The notes you pick up, old posters, and ads for the zoo all help add a little levity as a window to the past before everything went badly. There are some nice easter eggs, like a nod to Jurassic Park with a “Welcome to Krat Zoo” and that one dog scene everyone remembers from Resident Evil. As much as Lies of P gets compared to Bloodborne, the Krat Zoo feels like multiple entertainment touchpoints have been pulled in. Those cheeky elements also help keep Round8’s creative voice different from others in the genre.
Despite its state of distress, as a familiar place for players, it’s easy for us to understand the new zone and ultimately builds anticipation of meeting the animals that live there. This is especially true when you read the information plaques and realize these are animals you’re about to face.
Combat in Lies of P: Overture varies, and the learning curve will be steep, but it’s all worth it.
Baboons, a silverback, a very stompy elephant, wolves, and kangaroos all call Krat Zoo home. More importantly, once you nail down how to fight these enemies, you just have to devise a different plan when you move to the next one.
The smaller ones are dealt with fairly easily, but the silverback, elephant, and, surprisingly, the speedy kangaroo all push you as a player quite a bit. Some push you constant dodges while others need you to stand and parry to wait for windows. And then, of course, there is a stunningly created crocodile for a boss at the end of Krat Zoo.
When tackling enemies during the preview, we got access to nine new weapons: Pale Knight, Royal Horn Bow, Death’s Talon, Maniac’s Pinwheel Blade + Handle, Silent Evangelists’ Mace Head + Handle, Puppet of the Future’s Welder Blade + Handle, Arche Guardian Blade + Handle, Lorenzini Bolt Blade + Handle, and the La Vendetta Head + Handle. And even then, there are more weapons to come in the DLC.
Thanks to the trailer, the first I ran with was the bow and arrow, Royal Horn Bow. While this is an effective weapon for smaller enemies, you have to dodge. Whether you’re using a light or heavy attack, timing is everything, and it’s extremely easy to be overwhelmed. Additionally, it was next to impossible to use without aim assist. And even with the hit marker on, it’s still the most skill-based weapon in the new kits.
That said, your speed as you dodge is pure advantage, especially with a new “freeze” damage over time effect in play. When you walk into the icy air released by an enemy, you can be frozen if you stay in it too long. If you do get that frost hitting you, your health will be stuck at the level it was at while it was active. This means all of your emergency heal pops just stop working at a certain time.
New combat elements make clearing Krat Zoo exciting and challenging.
Moving away from the light to the heavy was my next call. After dying, and dying, and dying some more, I switched to the Maniac’s Pinwheel Blade weapon. It’s not only a behemoth of a heavy weapon when it comes to doing damage, but it also has a projectile attached that can stagger enemies just long enough to put some space between you and them. This was the most effective method to just brute force your way through encounters with mini-bosses. It also felt the most natural as someone who loved using the fire-axe, no matter how many other weapons I found (well, except the circular saw).
With only about an hour of playtime with Lies of P: Overture, I didn’t get to invest more time into the rest of the weapons. One of which was a solid melee choice, Death’s Talon (cat claws akin to Voldo’s in Soulcalibur). Like the bow and arrow, the cat claws take getting used to, and timing is everything, given how close you need to be to the enemy. Then there was a large lance fashioned out of a pipe and a spear with a little rocket kick too. With each weapon pulling in its unique flavor to combat, the most balanced was Round8’s take on the gunblade.
As a noted Gunbreaker hater, thanks to too many bad tanks in Final Fantasy XIV, I avoided this weapon until the very end. But once I had it equipped, I was mad I hadn’t played with it longer. Despite its size, this blade moves faster than the other large weapons in the game.
By chaining together lights and heavies, you can easily use the propulsion from the gun part of the blade to push you closer to the enemy and then follow it up with a heavy that pushes you back. Once you’re in the groove with the weapon, you can easily avoid attacks while ensuring damage simultaneously.
The new gunblade is hands down the most balanced and fun of the new weapons coming in Overture.
Overture is a stunning addition to the game. Visually, it embodies why I picked up the game for the first time. While I’ve talked about the environment and creature design, the combat animations for powered-up attacks are all stellar. Not to mention our protagonist puppet’s new costume.
Despite fitting right into the world we saw when the game initially launched, Lies of P DLC doesn’t feel like it’s retreading any ground. Regarding combat and visuals, seeing the ripples it causes in the base game as a prequel will be interesting. But new weapons, settings, and combat styles aren’t the only new things coming to Lies of P when Overture launches.
Lies of P is clearly inspired by the soulslike genre that FromSoftware coined. However, Lies of P: Overture is taking a major departure from a genre defined first and foremost by its difficulty. With two new difficulty levels being released as an update, the game will now let players who are looking to explore Krat in a more cinematic way at their own pace. These two new difficulty settings are called “Butterfly’s Guidance” and “Awakened
Puppet.” Additionally, this makes the default difficulty setting “Legendary Stalker.”
And to be honest, it should come as no surprise. In the same GDC interview referenced earlier, Jiwon Choi spoke at length about the dialogue he and the Round8 team like to have with their players and, ultimately, how they make development decisions based on their feedback. This allows them to not view Lies of P in a “formulaic way,” confining it to the Soulslike genre.
“We see it as a collaborative experience between us as developers and our players. We’ve been receiving a lot of feedback, and as we go, we’re improving the experience based on what players share with us. We don’t want just to follow a strict formula; we want to build trust with our fans by providing a satisfying experience that they enjoy and reflect it in the design,” Game Director Choi said.
Lies of P is opening the game to even more players with new difficulty tiers.
While the push for varying difficulty levels in challenging games has been moving steadily forward, it’s how Choi spoke about the addition of these levels during the media preview event that stood out uniquely among others in the genre. Across the room in the Q&A, multiple people asked about what the development team had explicitly chosen to adjust for each of the levels. However, Choi wouldn’t answer it directly.
No, he wasn’t being coy about a secret players can find out, or something that was a spoiler. Instead, he noted that often people are bad at changing the difficulty in games like this, and for Lies of P: Overture and the base game, he wanted every player to find enjoyment without worrying about how their experience differed from those around them. Their experience in Krat would be no less valid or important simply for not pushing themselves at the hardest difficulty.
Additionally, during the event, Choi also noted that the developers themselves used different difficulties and even preferred them. While it may not seem big to some, in a genre that has had many people stress that it isn’t for everyone, it was refreshing to hear a Game Director so invested in creating an equitable experience for his players. But more importantly treat them no different than players braving Krat on “Legendary Stalker.”
For many like me, Lies of P was an introduction to soulslikes. Drawn into the game’s world by its adaptation of Pinocchio, its gorgeous protagonist, and the dark fairytale steampunk world. As a prequel, Lies of P: Overture stands as a perfect entry point into the game, and with the new difficulty levels, even more players are welcomed to Krat, which should be exciting for a game propelled by its community.
Neowiz and Round8 are bringing in even more difficult challenges for players looking for brutal challenges in Lies of P: Overture.
But you’ve made it this far into my preview impressions, and you’re wondering if Round8 and Neowiz are looking to cater to their existing fans and hardcore soulslike players looking for a challenge? The answer is yes, they are. With Lies of P: Overture, the development team is also introducing a new mode called Battle Memories.
After you’ve beaten a boss in the game on standard difficulty, you unlock the ability to face them again by returning to the Hotel Stargazer and selecting them. This mode features fallen foes, and the difficulty you can rematch them is expansive. Where only three new difficulties were added to the base game and DLC, Battle Memories features increasingly difficulty tiers in total, allowing you to test your skills with combat that proves to be more brutal and more precise than even the standard game’s base difficulty.
The first three of Boss Memories’ difficulty levels are initially available, with the last two unlocked by clearing the first three. Without the ability to summon help, these boss battles are radically different. The parry windows are smaller, the damage taken is less, and the damage dealt is clearly increased. It’s an addition that highlights the importance of understanding that there are two core reasons that we have all been playing Lies of P: the challenge and the world.
Playing through this section at the media event, I died against many bosses but could only beat one. The difficulty here is something you must prepare for, and with a bevy of new combat additions, finding your core combat style will be important. And of course, the new bosses from Lies of P: Overture will enter these boss-specific modes once players defeat them in the expansion.
With this prequel, it’s clear that the future is wide open for this game.
The last element of the new Lies of P DLC is a boss rush mode called Death March. While we didn’t get to attempt it, if Battle Memories is any indicator, it will be a grueling gauntlet. It’s a scary name and promises to be a difficult push. Here, you’ll challenge a consecutive series of previously defeated bosses with limited player health and items. Players can set up these custom scenarios by choosing a minimum of 3 bosses per challenge. By default, bosses can be added to a Death March scenario at up to tier 3 difficulty.
This Lies of P DLC is a bridge between increasing difficulty, making the game accessible to new audiences, and ultimately, all of the mechanical elements are highlighted through a gorgeously dark world where craftsmanship steals the show. Lies of P: Overture is a DLC that the Game Director says will complete the story they set out to tell, and the changes that this next chapter stands to introduce are exciting.
Lies of P: Overture takes all of the beauty and challenge of the base game and switches up the environment, enemies, and weapons in an exciting way. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started playing, but this is a journey that I’m happy we get to see more of. While we may be looking to the past, in just what we saw at the media event, the innovation and ambition of the developers are clear, and it will keep me asking for more.
