Going Hands-On With Lies of P: Overture—Your Springs Are Reacting

Yahoo

21 hours ago

When I first saw the announcement trailer for Lies of P: Overture, is was met with mixed emotions. Initially, I was a little disappointed that it wasn't the add-on I was hoping for—if you got the 'Rise of P' secret ending, then you know what I'm talking about. But of course, I was more than happy for more Lies of P content in any way, shape or form, so even base-game DLC is good enough for me.
I honestly didn't realize how much I loved Lies of P, even after the first time I played it. I had gotten reasonably far into it before I wrote my review for it, but—as is the nature of game criticism—other matters took my attention and I didn't really get back to it. That was until last November when I decided to pick it up again and fell so hard back in love that I finished it in under a week.
So I was incredibly fortunate to be invited to LA by Round8 and Neowiz to get an exclusive hands-on first look at Lies of P: Overture. It was a remarkable experience, held at the Paramour Estate—which felt incredibly appropriate to the aesthetic of the game. We were surrounded by antique statues and classic paintings, much like Lies of P and the city of Krat, it felt like we were frozen in a forgotten pocket of time.
At the end of the little greeting room sat a vintage puppet, dressed in P's new winter attire, who was brought to life by a puppeteer—which felt a little against the spirit of the character, but hey, this is real life—and they even recreated a Trinity Room, although I would've loved to have had to solve one of the King of Riddle's brain-teasers to get into it. As we snacked on charcuterie and sipped cocktails, Herman Li took the stage to perform 'Quixotic' and 'Feel' in a shred-metal way that only he could.
It really was an unbelievable event that Round8 and Zebra Partners really put a lot of love and care into, in order to capture the spirit and soul of Lies of P. But once the sun set and the libations were consumed, it was time to step back into the city of Krat. The demo itself was split into two parts: a brief introduction to the new story-driven addition and the 'Battle Memories' boss rematch mode. When I asked what goes into the design philosophy behind Lies of P, not just in its gameplay but its story, Game Director Jiwon Choi said, 'First and foremost, we want you to experience the craftsmanship.'
And this was certainly present in the demo. As was stated by Choi, the new story DLC integrates into the main story around Chapter 9, rather than acting as a direct sequel or post-game story. 'So, when we developed the base game, there was a huge amount of content that we wanted to fit into the base game. Obviously, there are limitations,' Choi said through his translator. He continued, 'So, once that work was complete, we had the opportunity to build the DLC part of it where you could actually bring in many of those elements and content that we couldn't fit into the base game.'
Similar to what was shown in the announcement trailer, the game began with P finding himself in a strange version of Krat, now covered in a blanket of snow and outside the once magnificent Krat Zoo. Gemini informs P that there must be some mistake, as he remembers going to the zoo on a snowy day, before it was reduced to ash and rubble in a great fire—the two have been sent into the past.
'You know, you're well familiar with the Puppet Frenzy, and then how that transpired, and how it transformed creatures or living things…So we want you to be able to kind of guess and imagine how they were before that, and how they are now,' Choi said through his translator. He continued, 'So that you can kind of guess, and that will create sort of an emotional connection for this particular version.'
It was only a small taste, but we got to see some incredible new enemies themed around the haunted managerie. Great apes, Kangaroos and hulking Elephants corrupted by Ergo and twisted into malformed monstrosities. What's more, the demo introduced a new status ailment that was thematically connected to the new setting: Freeze, which not only does damage over time, but slows P's movements.
Thankfully, we had been given plenty of new weapons to deal with these newfound threats. The primary weapon we were equipped with was an honest-to-goodness Gunblade pulled straight out of Final Fantasy VIII. Outside of just looking cool, the weapon itself had a great degree of balance and versatility despite being a weapon that scales with Motivity. Players can combo into a heavy attack that uses a massive gunshot to blast them back—essentially acting as a dodge. However, players can also follow up with a second heavy where P aims backwards and blasts himself forward into a wide-reaching slash.
Some of the other weapons included the bow and arrows shown in the announcement trailer which did take a little getting used to. Despite having a pretty fair range, there was a unique rhythm to attacking that needed to be mastered to keep enemies from closing the distance. One of the more interesting weapons was a massive club with two pinwheels that acted like sawblades. With every swing and dodge, the pinwheels spun faster, allowing for more hits. And despite being a fairly large weapon with a pretty big windup, this weapon scales with Technique, which will certainly make things interesting for more nimble players.
And of course, there were P's new Puppet Arms. The first one, aptly named Icarus, allowed P to throw out up to five boomerang-like blades that could be charged and spin in a single spot, dealing massive damage to enemies. The second, named Cataclysm, was an arm-mounted Elephant Gun that P could charge for a devastating blast to blow back enemies or deal immense damage. This was a real risk vs. reward kind of arm since the charge time was pretty substantial, but the trade-off was certainly worth it.
The second part of the demo, the aforementioned 'Battle Memories,' gave us a taste of the newest feature coming to Lies of P via an upcoming patch: selectable difficulty. This game looks to be the first of its kind—a Soulslike with difficulty , what a concept. I say this as a joke, but one of the questions that was asked of Choi specifically referenced how certain gamers take umbrage with the idea of difficulty options in Soulslikes, and how Lies of P would approach such a concept.
Choi essentially said the reason they're making Lies of P: Overture more accessible is that there are a lot of people who love the game, but don't really enjoy it because of the difficulty, saying, 'So, I felt really bad about that. On the other hand, we do a lot of tests with the developers, but there are people who can't do it because of their skills, so we adjust the balance and do tests.'
As to how difficult options would affect the game, Choi's answer was interesting, without giving too much away, saying, 'For that very purpose, actually…we kind of hid the overall kind of elements of that so that you don't immediately see the details of the difficulty.' He continued, 'It's not just simply higher HP or difficulty. We wanted to make sure with the variety of different play styles, the different characters, you enjoy the game in different ways.'
What these changes may or may not be, I honestly couldn't say at this time. When I sat down to attempt the three new bosses that were made available to us for the demo, out of the five selectable difficulties, I played them on Difficulty Three—being the Hardcore Gamer™ that I am. My interest wasn't so much in the raw difficulty of these bosses, but in their style and substance, and they definitely didn't disappoint.
Ranging from a quick and nimble Alchemist whose weapon was an angelic puppet tethered to her by a string of light, a hulking behemoth with a club made of bones who would enter an enraged state with expanded movesets and much more aggressive attack timing, and lastly a goliath monster that was a twisted amalgam of a human using both weapons and its colossal size to deal devastating damage.
While the bosses in the Lies of P main game leaned more towards robotic enemies that were thematically appropriate for the story and setting, this small glimpse at some of the new opponents not only felt appropriate for the DLC but showcased a lot of the creativity and capacity that the creators have for this game. 'I focused a lot on expressing the romantic memories that we have from the main episode in a completely different way,' Choi said.
While the demo was as brief as the trip itself, Lies of P: Overture looks to be as sizable and resonant as the main game itself. The love and care the team put into crafting both an in-person and gameplay experience shows just how meaningful this game is to them, and how much they want a wide variety of gamers to experience its beautiful and brutal world.
Lies of P: Overture is set to release in the Summer of 2025.