Review: Lies Of P: Complete Edition (Switch 2) - No Strings On This Superb, Immersive Soulslike
Little puppet made of pine, awake
by Ollie Reynolds · Nintendo LifeDevelopers Neowiz and Round8 Studio get it. I mean, they really get it. I’ve played plenty of Soulslike games in my time - titles like Nioh, Lords of the Fallen, and The Surge that pay homage to FromSoftware games but never fully understand what makes them tick. Lies of P: Complete Edition is different.
The game launched on other platforms in 2023, and this is as good as anything FromSoftware has made in the past, providing an immersive world in which to get lost, endless layers of depth, and a host of enemies and boss characters that want nothing more than to see you six feet under. It’s glorious.
Taking place within the city of Krat, a devastating event known as the Puppet Frenzy has caused puppets to revolt against humans and cause a city-wide massacre. You play as P, a puppet with remarkably human traits who can lie and fight his way through multiple unique environments to resolve the city’s plight.
If you’ve played the likes of Dark Souls or Bloodborne, then the way in which Lies of P delivers its story will feel familiar. Very little is outright spelled out to you, and you’ll have to discover much of the narrative yourself by way of documents, statues, and optional characters. That said, it never feels quite as abstract as its inspiration, and you can often gain valuable insight into the world through character interactions at the main hub area, Hotel Krat.
There’s a nice balance to the story, then. If you want to really dig into the nitty-gritty, you’ll have to put in the work and scour every inch of the environment. But really, you’ll receive ample context if you simply read what you find along the way and talk to NPCs like Geppeto, Sophia, and your constant companion, Gemini. Fail to do any of this, then yeah, you’ll find yourself feeling quite lost.
This balance also makes its way into the core gameplay. Make no mistake, Lies of P is a challenging experience, but it rarely feels quite as punishing as some of the other games in the genre. For starters, you’ve got three difficulties to choose from, the highest of which will provide that ‘classic’ rock-solid experience, while the two lower options provide some respite with much weaker enemies.
Even if you go for the highest option, there are plenty of ways to turn the tide in your favour during combat. Levelling up is crucial, which is accomplished by spending ‘ergo’ obtained from enemies and throughout the environment. You can also use grindstones to imbue your weapon with elemental power, upgrade key abilities with rare quartz, and equip multiple stat-boosting items.
One of the coolest features, however, is the ability to combine and enhance weapon blades and handles independently. So let’s say you’ve picked up a rather ferocious-looking Bone-Cutting Sawblade, but you’re not keen on how heavy and slow it is. You can dismantle it and attach the Sawblade itself to the lightweight Puppet’s Saber Handle, making it much more manageable to wield at speed.
I’m barely scratching the surface with this example, and the options available as you obtain more weapons are staggering. It really encourages you to experiment and find which one works best for you in a way that I’ve frankly never seen in a Soulslike. Forgive the obvious comparison, but it’s similar to how Zelda: Breath of the Wild pushes you into trying new things with its weapon degradation system.
In addition, you also have access to the Legion Arm, which is basically P’s version of the Devil Breaker from Devil May Cry 5, giving you access to unique abilities depending on which one you have equipped. So you have one that lets you pull enemies toward you, another that shoots out flames, and even one that spreads acid across the ground, potentially damaging multiple foes at once.
Just like your regular weapons, you can level up your Legion Arm at the relevant vendor in Hotel Krat, but you’ll need rare items to do so. It’s worth investing the time to improve it, however, as I’ve lost count of the number of occasions it’s saved my skin in the middle of a brawl.
But of course, the real meat of the combat lies in your ability to balance offence and defence effectively. Lies of P sits somewhere in the middle of Dark Souls and Bloodborne in how it approaches this: you can block attacks, but you’ll still take some damage doing so, opening up a small window of opportunity to counter-attack and regain your lost health. Only by executing a perfect block at the exact moment an enemy’s attack lands (indicated by a dazzling flash of red from the clash of blades) can you completely nullify any damage.
It’s not easy to achieve at the best of times, and when you’re up against enemies that come at you with ludicrous combo attacks, sometimes your best tactic might be to either roll out of the way or just take the heat and hope you can regain some health with a counter. Seriously, screw the Mad Clown Puppet.
The bosses in general are truly magnificent, even if many of them had me tearing my hair out at multiple points. Not one design felt boring or generic, and defeating them delivers an unmatched sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, especially when you venture into the game’s Overture DLC, included as standard with the Switch 2 port. Of course, if you’re really struggling, you can call upon a spectre to help you out, and the game is actually quite generous in dishing out Star Fragments required to do so.
The city of Krat makes all of the hardship worth it, though. Exploring the various biomes, from dirty, swamp-like areas to the rundown entertainment districts, is a true joy. Just like the very best Soulslikes, spending hours weaving your way through complex, maze-like streets only to find you’ve discovered one of many shortcuts back to an earlier area is exhilarating, and a true showcase of the studio’s talents in creating this world.
The superb design extends to the music, too. While most of your journey will be shrouded in silence, boss encounters are accompanied by suitably grand, daunting orchestral scores to really nail the sense of danger and urgency. On the flip side, the first time I entered Hotel Krat, I stayed there for way longer than necessary thanks to the gorgeous theme. Equal parts calming and haunting, it nestled its way into my mind long after I put down the controller.
On Switch 2, you’ve got a few different performance modes to choose from. Handheld comes with Performance and Quality, while docked has Performance, Balanced, and Quality. So really, it all comes down to how much you value high frame rates. Even in performance mode, I can’t say for sure whether the game stays at a consistent 60fps all the time — it certainly doesn’t in handheld — but it remains acceptably stable and playable throughout.
What I will say is that while balanced and quality modes in docked are both acceptable, I wouldn’t recommend playing on Quality mode in handheld – it’s pretty rough. It’s also worth noting that a day-one patch will be available at launch that should improve performance mode in handheld even further, so that’s something to keep an eye out for.
Conclusion
I absolutely adore Lies of P. I foolishly ignored it back in 2023 because I thought it would be just yet another Dark Souls clone. But while it certainly borrows heavily from FromSoftware's catalogue, it does more than enough to stand on its own two feet with exceptional world design, awesome boss characters, and a wonderfully customisable weapon system.
Performance isn't perfect on Switch 2, and I wouldn't recommend playing in Quality mode, but experiencing Lies of P on the go has been an absolute blast. FromSoftware better watch its back; there's a new player in town, and it's gunning for the Soulslike crown.
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