Lies

As the name implies, Lies of P: Overture is a prequel to the original 2023 souls-like, shedding light on the events that led to the Puppet Frenzy massacre and subsequent collapse of the city of Krat. At its beating, mechanical heart, however, Lies of P’s first DLC expansion is a tale of personal tragedy and vengeance. While developer Neowiz hasn’t implemented any drastic changes to the game’s underlying mechanics in Overture, its storytelling has improved, further building on the atmospheric Belle Epoque-infused world it created as a much darker and more twisted spin on Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio. “Most unfortunately, in the lives of puppets, there is always a ‘but’ that spoils everything,” is a popular quote attributed to the Italian author. In the case of Overture, this is fortunately not the case.

Rather than being a conventional prequel, Overture sees Geppetto’s eponymous puppet travel back in time alongside his faithful companion, Gemini. You can access the DLC from Chapter 9 by heading to the Path of the Pilgrim stargazer, but it feels like post-game content in terms of difficulty, providing a sterner test than the base game’s final act. After emerging in a snowy forest on the outskirts of Krat, you’re challenged almost immediately by a giant, petrified polar bear with a torture cage wrapped around its head. There’s no sort of onboarding process if you’ve been away for a while, but with a moveset combining charges, grab attacks, and rhythmic combos, this angry carnivore is perfect for relearning your parry and dodging skills on the fly.

After the initial confusion surrounding how you ended up in the past, you’re eventually hot on the heels of the Legendary Stalker–a mysterious figure who acts as a guide through Krat’s final days of grandeur. At roughly 15 hours in length, there’s less time to dabble, so Overture’s pacing is tight, with the story’s circumstances providing a sense of urgency and momentum. There’s still intrigue and mystery, but it never drags and remains compelling throughout, even if you could make the argument that too much of the narrative is told through optional notes. While these letters, personal musings, and final words are well-written, it’s the evocative imagery that stands out–particularly the macabre exhibitions staged by the game’s villain with the corpses he leaves behind.

These scenes are horrific, yet they’re also morbidly beautiful in a way–a juxtaposition I haven’t seen since Bryan Fuller’s excellent Hannibal series was on the air. Like that show, where its “Paintings of Death” were inspired by artwork from the likes of Gabriël Metsu, Damien Hirst, and Sandro Botticelli, it wouldn’t surprise me if Neowiz was also influenced by specific paintings or artists when crafting these haunting spectacles. Mix in some other moments of environmental storytelling and Overture does a terrific job of building tension and creating a terrifying sense of unease that permeates its primary villain. It’s a tad disappointing, then, when he turns out to be better suited to being the antagonist of an over-the-top cartoon. It’s a far cry from his characterization in the base game as one of the more interesting characters you come across, but at least this moment is relatively brief.

The art design throughout the rest of the DLC is mostly on par with these lurid scenes, as you explore the other parts of Krat’s crumbling outskirts. While you’ve never been here before, the snow blanketing everything and tumbling from the sky elicits a sense of nostalgia and childlike wonder, which is quite the mood change for Lies of P. Couple this with the inherent dangers lurking around every corner, and it’s another of Overture’s fascinating contrasts. The first location you visit after clearing the woods even feeds into this, as you come face-to-face with the violent chaos of Krat Zoo. Between the frenzied puppets and mutilated carcasses of giraffes and other wildlife, there are the animals being kept alive by the petrification disease. From an elephant with a crocodile’s head bursting out of its dome to dropkicking kangaroos and vicious apes, these new foes pack a punch and are incredibly satisfying to fight.

The same is true throughout the rest of Overture, whether you’re squaring off against robotic circus clowns and strongmen or stabbing a petrified swordfish with no qualms about leaping from the water to fight you on land. Then there are the excellent boss fights, such as Markiona, Puppeteer of Death–a humanoid enemy who fights with a puppet tethered to her at all times. While the souls-like genre has often struggled to strike the right balance when it comes to multi-opponent boss fights–see Lies of P’s own Black Rabbit Brotherhood–Markiona is a shining example of how to nail it. When her marionette is about to attack, for instance, the tether tying them together flashes orange, giving you a chance to dodge or parry the incoming attack even if the puppet isn’t in view. The pair never completely overwhelms you either, with Markiona focusing on ranged projectiles while the marionette opts for melee attacks. It’s still a tough battle, but like most of Lies of P’s boss fights, it never feels unfair, even when the numbers are stacked against you.

When it comes to exploring these new locales, Overture mostly maintains the same high bar of quality as the base game. Neowiz’s level design remains intricate, presenting semi-open levels with multiple paths and areas that test your skills and strategy with varied combat encounters. You’ll navigate across canopy bridges hanging above zoo enclosures, fight through a fairground with a functional Ferris wheel and carousel, and traverse broken ships lodged in thick ice as the green glow of the Northern Lights looms overhead. These environments are visually splendent, as well as being interesting spaces to explore, often telling tragic stories in between moments of action.

There are some surprises, too, such as the aforementioned fairground. By finding coins, you can purchase entry to themed minigames–from a giant game of whack-a-mole to a classic shooting gallery–and earn various rewards. The only misstep is an underground prison and laboratory that’s operated by Krat’s nefarious ruling class, the Alchemists. With tiled walls, empty and scattered gurneys, and large tanks containing a luminous liquid and floating test subjects, it’s a generic and fairly bland location that’s been done many times before. The level design is still engaging, but it lacks the character that distinguishes Lies of P’s environmental design elsewhere.

Fortunately, even in an area like this, Overture introduces some new weapons and Legion Arms to inject more variety into your arsenal, even if the underlying gameplay mechanics remain relatively unchanged. The first is a bow that lets you keep your distance during fights by peppering your foes with consecutive arrows. It also has a charged shot that can interrupt an enemy’s actions, and it feels pretty balanced–even with unlimited ammo–because it still takes a couple of charged shots to down a regular enemy. The bow might be more of a complementary weapon, but it’s a fun new addition that fills a notable gap for dedicated ranged arms.

Elsewhere, you can get your hands on what are essentially Wolverine’s claws, letting you quickly rip enemies apart, and there’s a Gunblade that wouldn’t look out of place in Squall Leonhart’s hands. Named The Pale Knight, this unique sword has a similar attack pattern to a greatsword, except its heavy attack pulls the trigger on a double-barreled firearm, firing hot lead into your opponent’s face as the recoil sends you flying backwards. It’s a great offensive maneuver that doubles up as an evasive action. However, the coolest part is when you fire again and launch yourself back towards the enemy for a powerful follow-up attack. The only slight downside is that the best weapon isn’t unlocked until the very end, so there’s no use for it unless you plan on starting New Game Plus.

As for the new Legion Arms, one is essentially a shotgun and functions accordingly–and can be charged up and saved until you need to quickly stagger an enemy–while the other unleashes spinning blades that deal continuous damage to one opponent at a time. With upgrades, you can expand the number of blades available to fire at once, and alter it so that retrieving a blade temporarily enhances the power of the next one you launch. It’s a versatile and rewarding tool.

You can also put these new armaments to the test in Lies of P’s new boss rematch modes. These are part of a free update that launches at the same time as Overture, adding two new modes: Battle Memories and Death March. In the former, you can challenge any of the bosses you’ve already defeated in either Lies of P or Overture. There are up to five difficulty levels–with bosses increasing specific stats the higher you go–and you’re scored on how quickly you’re able to kill each boss. The latter is a boss-rush mode where you can choose three bosses to fight consecutively. Your enjoyment of these modes will vary on how eager you are to challenge bosses again, but an online leaderboard would go a long way towards making both modes more compelling.

Gallery

The addition of two easier difficulty modes for the rest of the game is a more significant part of the free update. The default, and hardest, difficulty is now known as Legendary Stalker, while Awakened Puppet and Butterfly’s Guidance both make the experience easier to varying degrees. The descriptions for these difficulty settings are a little misleading, though. Butterfly’s Guidance is described as “A very easy difficulty for players who want a story-focused experience.” It could be because Overture is harder anyway, but after struggling against a boss for a while, I tried the other difficulty modes, and while even the lowest is definitely easier, it’s still not a walk in the park. You hit harder and take less damage, but it’s not the kind of breezy experience you might expect when you see the words “very easy” and “story-focused.” Nevertheless, this is a positive move that should open up Lies of P to a broader audience, which is always a good thing.

It’s also not a bad thing that Lies of P: Overture is essentially more of the same. The base game is arguably the best souls-like to come out of a studio not named From Software since the genre took off. However, I would imagine it’s less than ideal for anyone who’s recently finished Lies of P for the first time. For people like me, who haven’t touched it since it launched in September 2023, I was more than happy to dedicate another 15 hours to more of the same. Overture is a beginning that caps off a fantastic game.

Source link