Been a while since I made one of these reviews, but hey, better late than ever. And I got a good game to review.

Are you a fan of Souls-like games? Any of you a fan of Pinocchio? Anyone a fan of Bloodborne? Well this game is all that and a lot more.

Lies of P is a souls-like game that takes obvious inspiration from Bloodborne, while also drawing upon the story of Pinocchio. Not the Disney one but the original one by the original author. The game is set in the city of Krat, home of puppet automation, from butlers to policemen to workers, almost everything is run by puppets, powered by a mysterious substance called Ergo. With the Grand Covenant to prevent puppets from turning on their masters, Krat and it's people are living the good life.

Unfortunately, something has called all the puppets to go crazy and attack the populace, this "Puppet Frenzy" combined with a plague of something called the "Petrification Disease" is also affecting the people, slowly turning their skin gray and scales, their blood to become blue and organ failure.

You play Pinnochio, or rather Geppetto's Puppet as he is known in-game, where we awaken by a blue butterfly and a voice of a girl Sophie, who urges you to find her at the Hotel Krat. Armed with whatever your weapon you pick up at the start, and a lamp holding a companion named Gemini, you set out to find Geppetto, find out what caused the frenzy, and stop it.

The game is a souls-like, and as such it has the bells and whistles. The stats of the game are simple if a bit confusing. The first three stats govern your Health, stamina and Vitality so you can use heavier weapons, but the last three need explanation. Motivity is the skill that corresponds to Strength, Technique is Dexterity, and Advance is your elemental attacks like Fire, Electricity and Acid. Weapons split between either using Technique or Motivity, but the thing Lies of P does is you can actually disassemble weapons and attach them to the hills of others. The weapons are split between the blades and the handles, and you can take the blade of one and put it into the handle of another, so you can have the blade of a greatsword attached to the handle of a rapier for example. Special weapons you get from bosses however can't be disassembled, so you can use them as they are intended.

You also have access to a function called a P-organ, this let's you add effects such as increasing how many items you can carry in slots, or improving certain things like your Legion or making you dodge when you fall and need to get up. Speaking of Legions, you get this arm that can function as a lot of things, the arm is a lot like the arm in Sekiro, able to change your ability with your Legion, such as having it do electric damage, or having it shoot a bolt of explosives, or even a shield to block attacks.

Lies of P also has side quests through the game, usually collecting from one place and returning to the NPC. Though there are also side quests that span the game with the NPCs in the hotel, those unlock achievements, but doing quests unlock new things to collect, like records to play in the record player. The songs are all unique and amazing, and I will admit the boss songs are also amazing to listen to.

The city of Krat itself is beautiful, I mean despite puppets going crazy, you locate documents and journals that explain the lore of the world, as do the characters, from Vengini the prince of Krat who helped make the puppets, to Lady Antonia who owns the hotel, the world of Lies of P is a beautiful but harrowing and at times sad world that asks a question about the nature of memory and if puppets, and by extension automata, can become human.

The theme of Lies plays heavily in this game, as P is unique as he can lie. From lying to enter the hotel, Lies are prominent in the game. Usually it's fine to tell the truth even if it's hurtful, but sometimes lying, even a small lie to hide a hard truth is acceptable. From giving a blind woman a doll and lying it's her baby, to lying about the identity of someone, both big and small Lies help P grow. The actions you take will make P become more emotionless like a Puppet or have him grow more like a human. Having high humanity has you act and be more human, it also unlocks a few items and even an ending if you want to get it.

Combat itself is fairly standard except you have no poise so you will be stunlocked a lot. It also has the Sekiro parry mechanic in that you need to time your blocks to not suffer damage. If you see a white outline on the enemy health bar you can stagger then, letting you deliver a devastating critical hit. It's all about timing in this game so if you play Sekiro this will be easy, if not be prepared to study and learn timing cues if you want to live. Also there are no summon allies, but you can summon a Specter to help you in boss fights, you will need it trust me.

In short if you are a fan of From Software games and you haven't gotten Bloodborne or Sekiro yet, this will be a good game to try out for either type. Be prepared to die a lot but have fun with it.