Lies of P: Complete Edition Review

What is it about dark fairy tales that makes them such fertile premises? In a way, taking a fairy tale and making it dark is a return to form. Reimagining kind-of-dark classic fairy tales into even darker interpretations because clean, sanitised narratives don’t really match complex reality. Walt Disney built an empire on lies, weaponising nostalgia and castrating the brutal, cautionary nature of traditional folklore. To this day, the world has never truly recovered from Walt’s revisionism. Pretty much everyone will grow up with the Disney adaptations of old folk stories, as they have successfully colonised culture into compliance. Thankfully, one arena Disney has repeatedly failed to penetrate is video games. With video games taking over pop culture, nobody could have expected Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio to be reimagined as a brutal, dark, soulslike experience.

Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio and similar European folk tales were full of violence, cruelty, moral ambiguity, and harsh lessons. Mid-century pop culture transformed them into wholesome entertainment for children and families. As these characters became widespread, adults who had grown up with them began to yearn for sharper, more complex narratives that were closer to the source material and resonated more with real-life experiences. Lies of P ramps things up a bit by depicting autonomatons as “puppets”, set in a world of collapsed prosperity, rebellious and violent machines, plague, and duplicitous authority figures.

Lies of P‘s version of Pinocchio is “P”, a unique puppet who looks nearly human and is unbound by this world’s version of Asimov’s Law of Robotics. He looks perfectly human apart from his deadly Legion arm, and he’s quite the dapper dandy. P can lie, kill, and make choices. With Gemini, his friendly mechanical lantern guiding the way, P roams the ruined, blood-stained streets of Krat, battling hostile puppets and other nightmares, searching for his creator Geppetto, and facing the deeper question of what it truly means to be “real.” Anyone familiar with Bloodborne will feel right at home in this rotting metropolis.

Like any narrative involving free will and robots, this story examines themes of free will, the nature of the soul, deception, paternal obsession, and the cost of transformation in a world where both machines and humans have descended into madness. By the finale, the story dives into grand themes of creation and the journey to godhood and how that changes a man. As an adaptation of an old Italian folk tale, Lies of P truly goes above and beyond.

Lies of P is an exceptional soulslike that stands toe-to-toe with FromSoft’s best. When P is set loose in Krat, expect all the typical soulslike-isms: discovering shortcuts, looting for parts or Ergo (Lies of P‘s version of souls), and returning to the central hub to level up, upgrade gear, and interact with survivors. Fighting typically uses the shoulder button for light attacks and the trigger for heavy attacks, offering deliberate, high-stakes encounters that require precise timing, smart resource management, and quick adaptation. It’s a tight combat system that blends aggressive pressure with strong defensive tools and consistent hit-boxes unlike older soulslikes.

Light and heavy attacks form the core combat mechanics, with charged heavy attacks creating significant openings for additional damage. Stamina controls both offensive moves and movement options, while players can regain health through a system similar to Bloodborne’s rally. Striking back becomes more desperate to recover lost vitality since P’s stores of healing items are much tighter than the average soulslike. Like always, a precisely timed parry completely negates damage. In turn, the blue gauge builds for special weapon arts, and can stagger enemies into a vulnerable state for a savage attack. While dodging is available and useful, the game strongly encourages players to stand their ground and parry, particularly against relentless boss combos.

Compared to Bloodborne, the similarities are obvious in atmosphere and pace. Both feature gothic, plague-ridden cities with a sense of decaying elegance, fast and aggressive enemies that punish hesitation, and a combat philosophy that rewards boldness over pure turtling. The rally-style health recovery and the overall feeling of hunting through a nightmarish urban landscape evoke Yharnam strongly. Where Bloodborne largely discards blocking in favour of dodging and gun-parries, Lies of P elevates perfect guarding to a near-mandatory skill, drawing more from Sekiro’s deflection focus.

Perfect guarding or parrying is the best way to truly disable a tough opponent. Depending on P’s build, breaking an enemy’s weapon can be one of the most effective and unique ways to outwit them. What was once a truly menacing mechanical sentry gets rendered nigh harmless when disarmed. Other fun ways Lies of P establishes its identity are P’s legion arms, which can be anything from a fist with an electrical blast, a shield arm, to even an explosive grenade launcher. Each of these mechanisms offers its own upgrade paths and stats to tweak and customise, putting this a step above the standard soulslike. And that’s without even diving into the absolute rabbit hole of weapon customisation, with its countless handle and blade combinations. The range of expression and possibilities truly feels endless.

The storytelling is more straightforward, with a clearer narrative flow and a distinctive lying/humanity mechanic. Lies of P carries a sense of methodical intensity, with combat that delivers a satisfying weight and crunch when blades strike metal or flesh, though it can sometimes feel stiff or locked into animations. Victory comes from studying enemy patterns, nailing the parry timing, and mixing up weapon combinations, rather than relying solely on aggression or constant dodging. There’s no doubt about it; Lies of P is a hard game and makes players earn its victories. Regretfully, all current builds have included two extra easy modes that undermine the challenge. It’s not meant to be easy, as nothing given has value. At least the designers didn’t make P invincible. It’s still possible to lose even on the easiest mode.

The level design is a highlight. The setting is built around a classic soulslike hub-and-spoke structure centred on Hotel Krat. This elegant, multi-story hotel serves as the primary safe zone and hub where players level up, upgrade weapons and the P-Organ, manage Legion Arms, and interact with survivors. From there, the world unfurls across distinct chapters that represent different districts and landmarks of the ruined city. Each major area is largely self-contained, with a clear critical path leading toward a boss or key objective, yet the designers weave in frequent shortcuts, elevators, ladders, and one-way drops that loop back to earlier points or the nearest Stargazer checkpoint. This creates a satisfying sense of spatial mastery without the fully seamless, multi-layered interconnectivity expected from the best soulslikes. The layouts themselves emphasise verticality and layered architecture leaning on gothic industrial flair.

The enemy placement is tightly integrated with the geometry: narrow corridors force careful spacing against groups, open plazas allow room to manoeuvre around larger foes, and environmental hazards like poison pools or elevated snipers add pressure. Shortcuts are organically built into the world and reward exploration by dramatically shortening return trips after death or after opening new routes. While the overall progression remains more linear and chapter-based than the densely overlapping maps seen in FromSoft’s best, the designers still achieve a coherent city feeling.

Certain mid-game sections connect in larger loops that return players toward the hotel, reinforcing the idea that Krat is a single, decaying metropolis rather than disconnected stages. One area might showcase grand, sunlit halls and ornate staircases, while the next drops you into gritty workshops or mist-shrouded outdoor stretches. Along the way, familiar soulslike elements surface: locked doors that later turn into shortcuts, narrow beam runs under enemy fire, and the occasional poisoned swamp, often presented with sharper execution. Yes, it’s true; Lies of P looks and runs exceptionally well. The performance mode is a very stable 60fps, and to the untrained eye, there are no noticeable cutbacks. This was originally a mid-level AA PlayStation 4 game, yet it still looks every bit as polished and dazzling as the latest blockbusters.