One of the stand-out games of Gamescom this year is the delightful, if not horrific, take on the Pinocchio story, Lies of P, out of Korean studio Neowiz Games.
In this title, you play as Pinocchio—but not the cute Disney-like version of the character. Instead, you play as a puppet mechanoid in the hellish dark Belle Époque world. All humanity is lost in a once-beautiful city that has become a hellish landscape, and it’s up to you to unearth the secrets and creatures that are out to cut you down in your path.
At first glance, the game has obviously taken inspiration from the Fromsoft series of games, such as Dark Souls, Demon Souls, and of course, Bloodborne—which has captured the community’s attention throughout Gamescom, making Lies of P one of the standout games of the show.
Despite many of its gameplay elements being Souls-like with the difficulty that fans of those games love—along with the array of items, weapons, and mysteries—the game is far more than just a love letter to Fromsoft’s titles. It forges its own path in the genre.
Retelling Greatness
Within the first few minutes of playing Lies of P, you’d be mistaken for thinking this is nothing more than a Souls game. The layout of the items on the screen, the controls, the menus, and the unforgiving nature of the game is all akin to what you have come to expect. But it’s only when you scratch the surface of what’s on offer that you come to truly discover what Neowiz Games is trying to accomplish with its creation.
To recreate anything FromSoftware has done or come close to that formula is an achievement in itself. Where the game truly shines, though, is its combat system.
Through weapon harmonization, you can combine the 30-some-odd weapons in the game together to create different combinations of weapons that feel unique and offer something for every playstyle, regardless of if you’re a player who wants to take down each enemy methodically or speedrun through the crowds to beat the game as quickly as possible.
There are also different methods and finishers to take out foes, with some bosses even having specific weaknesses that can be exploited—if you can find out what they are, of course. Not to mention the world, despite it being Bloodborne-like, has its own distinct themes with the android and automation enemies that fit the world and the narrative the team has created.
It feels like an evolution of the Souls formula, something that’s everything players love but with its own twists and turns to put its own spin on the genre, and it should not be ignored.
The game is incredibly fun, and one that we hope you will be able to play and enjoy in the future like we did.
