Impressions from playing the demo version of Lies of P

A beautiful English proverb says that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Or admiration. If someone imitates your work, they probably like it. And when this tendency reaches such proportions that it gives birth to its own genre, named, for example, after one of your games, you can be sure that you have written an indelible letter to history.

Soulsborne, Soulslike or Souls as they are commonly known have become synonymous with a whole series of games that have taken inspiration from the legendary Dark Souls series from the creators and unrivaled masters of the genre from the Japanese FromSoftware and tried to repeat their formula in many different ways (and with many different results), including sci-fi variations, which, of course, could not help but appear. We even found a Czech trace in the form of the coolly received The Last Oricr, although during its difficult development it underwent significant changes and from the original, by its own admission, “Czech dark soul”, also called “Lost Hero”, eventually turned into something significantly different, which can be called a soul girl simply out of habit. Of course, this is not a criticism of that game, but simply a statement of what the authors themselves finally admit.

At a certain point, the mania around the Soulsborne games reached such a level that a number of games that were not intended as such were thrown into this box against their will and ended up there, perhaps, only on the basis of some superficial similarity or desire. , which is often the father of the idea. And sometimes disappointment. At the same time, a number of other games quite consciously adopted, if not the concept of Soulsborne as such, then at least some of its typical elements, either because it made the game more attractive, or because they were simply good. In short, soul songs are still a living phenomenon, the imprints and inspiration of which can be found to a greater or lesser extent in many places today, and whoever said that this is not so would be lying. And those who lie can grow a long nose. Like Pinocchio, for example. And if someone asks what Buratino with a long nose has to do with this topic, I will answer in three words: Lie P.

Lies of P not only resembles Bloodborne at the beginning. Visually and emotionally. From the very first moments, various details contribute to this, including the movements of the slender protagonist, his clothes or the environment, which, perhaps, cannot help but remind one of the opening location of the “Iosifka Clinic”. Fans of the aforementioned Bloodborne will also be pleased with a small lantern hanging on the belt, a very familiar graphical interface or a close look at the offer of three starting builds (balance, agility and strength) and the accompanying stats of your character. But, of course, there are differences here. For example, there is a pool of blood on the floor, and instead of it, one mechanical arm. Yours. Left. All you need to do is equip your first cool weapon and go in search of more. And this weapon will come in handy, because, as the mysterious voice of a certain Sophia rather ominously warns you at the very beginning, the streets here are dangerous. Like Yharnam, I ask myself? There is only one way to find out …

The train station-style opening location will quickly answer any questions or doubts about how similar Lies of P is to Bloodborn in terms of gameplay, and not just aesthetics. You will find analogies to everything that is so familiar here. On the first mobs, you can try out basic attacks, movement and cover without much difficulty. But the very first mini-boss that you encounter very soon, significantly tougher and darker than his colleagues, will most likely introduce you to something more important – how death works in this game. You know, when you die, lose the accumulated experience and return to the nearest “bonfire” (and not to some checkpoint), from where you have to fight your way through revived enemies again, it is probably a little strange to be happy about it. But that is exactly what happened to me. Why? Because a Souls game without a challenge is just an empty shell. The best thing about these games is that they want something more from you. That it can make you feel challenged, that it can turn frustration into motivation and test your will and determination, but it can also reward your efforts with a sweet sense of satisfaction. That it is not enough to just play them, you have to learn them.

This is a Rubicon that has been successfully crossed in my eyes, separating the wheat from the chaff, and the first few hours of Lodge P give hope that it has succeeded in this step. The combat system is clearly focused on an aggressive, maneuverable and attacking concept. Although you have cover, it does not provide 100% damage absorption, and so the way to survive is good movement, tricks and good timing. Healing is based on the same principle as in Bloodborne. With timely enemy intervention, you can restore some of the lost health, but beyond that, of course, you also have a limited number of healing bottles or more appropriate energy cells for the mechanical puppet, which you can gradually replenish with a successful attack after they are depleted, so the game forces you to be most aggressive when it is most dangerous for you. Or maybe it motivates you to play a little better and prefer not to get into such a mess in the first place.

The demo version of Lies of P offers about 4 hours of exploration of several locations of the city of Krath on the desktop, the visuals and architecture of which leave no doubt that we are dealing with a completely obvious and recognized clone of Bloodborne, to such an extent that with the right screenshots you might not even be able to distinguish Kratos from Yarkhan, squinting. Similar color palette, street lamps, overturned horse-drawn carriages, dead horses, burning fires or stray dogs (which are really not man’s best friends here) – all this touches the right strings, and the game slowly but surely draws you into its traps. Of course, the general architecture and many elements are original, and the authors are following their own fairly clear artistic, visual and plot path, but so far it seems that they have chosen a very, very similar direction.

However, the combat system itself or the movements of your character, at least at first glance, do not seem as precise and intuitive as you would like in a game like this. Jumps have a strange delay, they are slow and… short. Of course, parrying is always a practice, but in Lies of P it seems a little inconsistent. In addition, the type of dodge differs depending on whether you have an enemy blocked or not. The authors have also added so-called Fable Arts to the game, which are weapon skills similar to Ashes of War from Elden Ring or a prosthetic arm, and all this creates a combination of options that, especially at the beginning, you will have to get used to in the heat of battle. This, combined with the feeling of less control over your hero, can lead to some frustration on the very first boss, but it is true that, especially in games of this type, practice makes perfect, and usually at some point a bug occurs. a critical point when you immerse yourself in the gameplay, and then the real fun begins. At the same time, this is only a demo version for now, and I think that the developers will improve a number of such nuances based on feedback.

Owners of older builds will be pleased with the very good optimization. After all, the recommended (not minimum) requirements include an eighth-generation Core i7 or an RTX 2060 or an equivalent AMD Radeon RX 6700, which is more than acceptable, even taking into account the relatively impressive graphics. The demo version of Lies of P is promising, and if the full version can maintain the same quality throughout the entire double length and avoid unnecessary errors, this soul song could be one of the best. We will see on September 19, when the game will be released for PC (Steam), both generations of PlayStation, and Xbox, where it will also be included in the Game Pass subscription.