Lies of P: Overtureis Neowiz’s first crack at a DLC for its flagship soulslike, set to arrive just under two years after gamers first got their hands on this reimagining of Carlo Collodi’sPinocchio. DespiteLies of Pending with a hint of what could come next, Neowiz surprises with a prequel instead, taking players to a time just before the events of the base game, but near enough that the world is still filled with horrific creatures hellbent on tearing puppets to shreds.
With a $29.99 price tag and a two-year wait,Lies of P: Overtureis primed to be a DLC of comparable scope toElden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree, and it’s clear that we only scratched the surface during our time with the DLC. Neowiz was particularly tight-lipped about narrative details and even the expanded role of the P-Organ system in this DLC, only hinting that the game will expand quite dramatically in several ways with Overture’s arrival.
Game Rant went hands-on with Overture’s first hour, which takes place within and around the sprawling Krat Zoo. During the preview, we experienced several new enemy types that smartly leverage the zoo setting, wielded several unique newweapons and Legion Arms, and went toe-to-claw with a particularly nasty boss guarding the end of the demonstration. Alongside the Krat Zoo demo, we also had an opportunity to test out the highly welcome new Battle Memories mode, which should be a hit with boss fight enthusiasts.
A Tour of Lies of P: Overture’s Krat Zoo
We were immediately dropped into the demo with little fanfare, possibly to avoid spoilers regarding exactly how Pinocchio wound up here, although we know that Pinocchio had found an artifact of some sort that enabled the Stargazer to send him into the past. The DLC begins in the snowy forest just outside the Krat Zoo, a mostly linear path that gently eases players into a few of the DLC’s new enemies and mechanics. For example, there’s a new Freezestatus ailment inLies of P: Overturethat’s inflicted by some enemies and comes with a damage-over-time effect and movement speed reduction, along with a consumable that alleviates this. One of the new enemies is a vaguely deer-like creature with antlers that unleashes clouds of Freeze, while this forested area also introduces players to an imposing bear-like creature with a caged head.
Heading further into the Krat Zoo, the level design approaches a more traditionalnonlinear soulslike explorationapproach with plenty of shortcuts, branching paths, and hidden treasures to discover. The massive central structure, the Hall of Adventure, is an opulent multi-story museum-like building, and its polished wooden interior contrasts nicely with the pale wilderness outside. Meanwhile, this structure is surrounded by several wildlife exhibits with various themes, such as a rainforest habitat. This habitat introduces several layers of verticality, with gorillas above hurling rocks at Pinocchio as we navigate up and down the exhibit.
Lies of P: Overture’s Enemy Variety is Impressive
Neowiz went all-in on the zoo idea, unleashing a menagerie of zoo animal-themed enemies with some solid mechanical variety. There are kangaroos that roll up into balls and hurl themselves at the player, corrupted gorillas — which fight as one would expect a giant mutant gorilla to — and even strange elephant creatures that repeatedly charge at Pinnochio like a twisted bull fight. Many of these enemies also have red-colored elite variants that are larger, meaner, and possess expanded move sets. For fans ofLies of P’s combat, the enemy variety introduced in just this first hour should be a treat, as there are quite a few fresh challenges to tackle and new parry rhythms to learn.
Beyond the rainforest habitat is where we found the DLC’s first boss, the Tyrannical Predator, and the end of our demonstration. Essentially a gigantic alligator, the Tyrannical Predator is a fearsome spectacle with a diabolical moveset. The Predator’s signature move is a furious charge with its mouth agape, and failing to dodge this results in being swallowed whole and flung across the arena with a significant loss of health. Swift biting combos, tail swipes that seemingly come out of nowhere, and a few slam attacks for good measure make this achallenging boss fight, but since the DLC seems to be tuned for late-game, players should be adequately prepared for success once they reach it.
Lies of P: Overture’s New Weapons Are a Blast
Lies of P’s arsenal has been expanded with this DLC, including a range of new weapons and Legion Arms. The biggest game-changer is probably the new bow weapon, which gives Pinocchio a fully ranged approach to combat. This can be used as a primary weapon, unleashing respectable damage given the distance advantage it affords. It doesn’t consume ammo and is instead repaired like melee weapons, and Pinnochio can still parry and perform Fatal Attacks with the bow after closing the distance. Itspowerful Fable Artis a lengthy supercharged arrow attack that can stagger an elite enemy in one shot.
Additionally, there’s anew gunblade weaponwhich fires an explosive shot at close range with heavy attacks, dealing significant poise damage. This is offset by somewhat lackluster swing damage, but it’s able to stunlock weaker enemies with repeated heavy attacks. Next up, a large pinwheel weapon gave us incredible reach and respectable damage, balanced by some slow windups on swings. Pinocchio also gets access to a full-blown flamethrower, which leaves him quite vulnerable in the process, but deals constant fire damage. The flamethrower can also be used as a thrusting weapon for tight spaces. On the other end of the spectrum, wolverine-like claw weapons enable blazing-fast attacks at the cost of minimal range.
Lies of P: Overture’s Battle Memories Mode Adds Tons of Replayability
After concluding the campaign portion of the demo, we had some time to check out the new Battle Memories mode. Here, players can re-challenge all the bosses from the main game and DLC, with five tiers of difficulty. The first three difficulties are unlocked by default, while tiers four and five (which yield special rewards) must be earned in sequence.
In this mode, we got to take on three bosses that weren’t part of the main demonstration. Markiona, Puppeteer of Death, was an instant favorite: aclassic gank fight done right, players fight Markiona alongside a puppet she controls with magical strings. Whether Markiona or her puppet is about to attack is clearly telegraphed by the color of the strings she’s holding, making the fight one of the most intuitive 2v1 soulslike boss encounters in recent memory.
The next boss was the Two-Faced Overseer, an interesting boss that alternates between two phases. One is a slower, more methodical phase where players will get most of their hits in, and he then transitions into a red-colored phase that’s a frenzy of devastating impaling blows and frantic dodging. It’s a great fight for fans ofLies of P’s parrying, with clear windows and easy-to-learn patterns.
Lastly, there was the Anguished Overseer. This is a more typical “humongous boss where you also fight the camera” encounter, with some mechanics that felt nearly impossible to avoid due to the sheer size of its attacks. This boss style is difficult to pull off in soulslike games, but it wasn’t overly tedious. While the Overseer was the least memorable of the day, it was an experiment worth trying. After all, it’s not a soulslike DLC without at least one supersized boss.
Lies of P: Overture Introduces Difficulty Levels
Although it wasn’t available in the preview, it’s also worth mentioning thenew boss rush mode, Death March. In Death March, three or more bosses can be chosen to be fought in sequence, with limited health and items available during the bout. These can be taken on through three difficulty levels, and can also be done cooperatively.
This ties intoLies of P’s new difficulty modes that will be available to base-game players, as well. The current default difficulty is to be renamed Legendary Stalker, while two lower difficulties, Butterfly’s Guidance and Awakened Puppet, make the game far less punishing for those just interested in some soulslike comfort food and Pinocchio vibes. In Battle Memories, Difficulty tier three seems to be the baselineLies of Pexperience, while the ones below and above range from laughably easy to maddeningly brutal.
We also noticed one very welcome new quality-of-life feature: on the level-up screen, players can now spend Ergo consumables right in the menu, foregoing the inventory navigation and arithmetic that has long plagued the genre in this area. It’s a feature that, hopefully, every soulslike to follow will steal.
Overall,Lies of P: Overturelooks to be a promising addition, with greatly expanded enemy variety, a strong collection of unique weapons, accessible difficulty modes, and its boss fight modes that introduce tons of replayability. Based on its first hour alone, Overture shows signs of being a DLC worth the two-year wait.
Game Rant was provided travel and lodging for the purpose of this preview.
