What Lies Of P Does Well, and What It Doesn’t

Lies Of P is the kind of game that can absolutely eat your week if you let it. It looks sharp, it feels confident fast, and in its best stretches it gives you that dangerous “one more attempt” energy that turns a 30 minute session into midnight. For a busy adult, that’s both the compliment and the warning.

If you’re trying to figure out whether this is worth your limited gaming time, here’s the clean answer. Lies Of P does a lot very well. Combat is weighty, the world is memorable, and the boss fights usually feel like real events. But it also has rough edges that matter more when your playtime comes in short bursts. Some systems are great once they click. Some feel like homework until they do. And a few parts just drag.

This isn’t a game I’d recommend casually to everyone who likes action RPGs. I would recommend it very specifically to people who want a focused Soulslike with a strong central campaign and can tolerate repeated boss attempts. If that sounds like you, it earns its time. If you’re already tired thinking about perfect guards, stamina management, and learning attack strings, skip it and move on.

Why this matters if your gaming time comes in chunks

The biggest question with Lies Of P is not whether it’s good. It’s whether it’s good for the way you actually play.

If you get long weekend sessions, the game fits much better. You can learn a boss, reshuffle your weapon setup, spend Quartz at the P-Organ, and make real progress. If you mostly play in 20 to 40 minute slices after work, the game is less forgiving. A lot of forward momentum gets gated by mastery, not just by checking off objectives.

That matters because Lies Of P is built around friction. You lose Ergo on death. Bosses demand real pattern recognition. Defensive play asks you to commit. Even regular enemies can punish sloppy runs back through an area. This is not a breezy action game where you can half-focus while tired.

At the same time, it is more respectful than some of its inspirations. Areas are fairly compact. Stargazers are placed better than you might expect. Side quests are limited enough that you don’t need a spreadsheet. The story path through Krat is mostly linear, so you’re not wasting hours wondering where the game wants you to go.

So the busy-adult read is simple. Lies Of P is efficient in structure, but demanding in execution. That split is the whole story.

What Lies Of P absolutely nails

The first several hours are excellent

The opening stretch is one of the best things the game does. Krat Central Station, Elysion Boulevard, Hotel Krat, the Workshop Union area, St. Frangelico Cathedral, all of that establishes the game’s rhythm fast. You get the mood immediately. Belle epoque puppet apocalypse is a strong pitch, and the game actually follows through on it.

More importantly for your time, it teaches its core loop clearly. Push through an area. Unlock a shortcut. Hit a Stargazer. Bring Ergo back to Hotel Krat. Upgrade your weapon, level up, tweak your Legion Arm, go again. It feels good early because every system gives you a visible return.

If you only want to know whether the game has a real hook, yes. It does. Fast.

Combat has real weight once you stop fighting it

This is the big win. Lies Of P does not play exactly like Bloodborne, and people who come in expecting that usually have a worse time. The dodge is not the whole answer. The game wants you to mix guarding, perfect guarding, spacing, charged heavies, Fatal Attacks, and weapon durability management.

Once that clicks, combat gets much better.

The perfect guard system is demanding, but it gives fights a satisfying rhythm. Breaking enemy weapons is one of the smartest ideas in the game because it turns defense into offense. Against humanoid enemies and several bosses, landing a string of perfect guards changes the tone of the fight. You stop surviving and start controlling it.

The Rally-style regain system also helps keep things aggressive. If you take a hit while guarding, you can earn some of that health back by striking quickly. That keeps fights from turning into passive shield turtling. You’re encouraged to hold your ground.

When the game is working, it feels fantastic. The Parade Master, King’s Flame Fuoco, Fallen Archbishop Andreus, the Black Rabbit Brotherhood fight, the King of Puppets and Romeo, these are the moments where Lies Of P proves it belongs in the conversation. You learn, adapt, and finally win because you understood the fight, not because the numbers carried you.

The weapon assembly system is actually worth using

This is not a gimmick. Splitting blades from handles and recombining them is one of the game’s best systems, especially for players who don’t want to restart a whole build because one weapon stopped feeling good.

You can keep a moveset you like and pair it with a blade that hits harder, or keep a blade with great damage and attach it to a handle with timing that suits you better. That flexibility matters a lot when time is tight. It lets you solve problems without spending hours chasing a perfect build.

For most players, this system is worth engaging with as soon as you have a few options. Not endlessly. Just enough to find one quick weapon setup and one heavier stagger-focused setup. That’s all you need for most of the game.

It stays focused better than a lot of action RPGs

One underrated strength here is that Lies Of P rarely wastes your time with bloated side content. Hotel Krat acts as a clean hub. Eugenie handles weapon upgrades. Venigni and Pulcinella support the main progression flow. Geppetto and Sophia anchor the story. The whole thing stays pretty readable.

Even the side content is usually tied to clear NPC threads, like the Weeping Woman, Toma’s whistle, the Rosa Isabelle Street singer Adelina Corday, the test subjects around the Grand Exhibition, or finding specific records for Antonia and the hotel. These are not giant faction quest chains that sprawl out over 80 hours. Most are small, manageable, and either emotionally effective or materially useful.

That’s good news if you hate open-world bloat. Lies Of P is a campaign game. It knows it.

What it bungles, especially if you’re tired after work

Perfect guard is satisfying, but the learning curve is harsher than it needs to be

This is the biggest loss. The game clearly wants perfect guard to be central, but it takes too long before many players feel confident using it. Enemy windups can be awkward, delayed, or visually strange in a way that feels designed to trip your timing rather than teach it.

That creates a rough middle phase where you understand what the game wants but don’t consistently enjoy doing it. For busy players, this is where frustration spikes. You can spend multiple sessions just trying to internalize a boss’s timing without getting that much farther.

When people bounce off Lies Of P, this is usually why.

The later game is still good, but it gets more exhausting

The game starts strong and stays interesting, but it does slow down in a very real way. Areas like Arche Abbey and some of the endgame stretches feel longer and more attritional than they need to be. Enemy density and encounter pressure go up, and the game leans harder on extended boss fights that demand precision over a longer period.

You will feel this after a few hours.

The early game gives you that clean “learn the space, open the shortcut, beat the boss” cadence. Later on, the friction stacks up. More status effects. More awkward enemy combinations. More deaths where you know exactly what you did wrong, but still don’t want to repeat the whole lead-up again tonight.

If you’re the kind of player who loves a brutal final stretch, great. If you’re trying to squeeze this into weeknights, the back third is where the game stops feeling elegant and starts feeling like work.

Not every narrative choice earns the seriousness

The Pinocchio reinterpretation is a cool premise, and the broad strokes work. Krat has identity. Simon Manus is memorable enough as a late-game threat. The truth-versus-lie theme gives the game a decent moral spine. The record collecting and humanity system are neat touches too.

But the storytelling is still very much Soulslike storytelling. Lots of atmosphere, partial explanations, item flavor, and NPC melancholy. If you like that, fine. If you need stronger scene-to-scene momentum to stay invested, this won’t fully deliver.

Some NPC threads land. Sophia does. Antonia does. The Hotel Krat cast works because they give the game a human center. But a lot of the plot is carried more by mood than by dramatic payoff. That’s enough for the setting. It’s not enough to make every hour feel urgent.

What is worth doing, and what you can safely deprioritize

Absolutely worth your time

• Main story progression through the core bosses. This is the reason to play. Parade Master, Fuoco, Archbishop Andreus, Black Rabbit Brotherhood, King of Puppets, Champion Victor, Green Monster of the Swamp, Laxasia, and the endgame sequence are where the game justifies itself.
• Weapon assembly experimentation early and midgame. Spend a little time here. Not a whole evening. Find combinations that make your guard timing and reach feel natural.
• P-Organ upgrades that support your actual habits. Prioritize survivability, Pulse Cell efficiency, guard regain, and quality-of-life bonuses over overly cute niche perks. If you die with healing unused, fix that first.
• Legion Arms that solve problems simply. Puppet String is excellent for mobility and pressure. Aegis is useful if you need more defensive stability. Fulminis has strong situational value. Pick one or two and commit.
• Short NPC quests that happen along your route. The Weeping Woman and Toma’s whistle is worth doing because it’s quick and memorable. Adelina Corday’s quest is worth checking if you’re already in Rosa Isabelle Street. Records are worth collecting if you care about the humanity route and extra atmosphere.

Safe to skip or not obsess over

• Perfect completion of every NPC outcome. Don’t turn this into a guide-chasing run unless you’re specifically hunting endings. The game is better when you’re moving forward.
• Constant weapon swapping. Once you find a setup that works, stop fiddling. This is not a loot treadmill game.
• Grinding Ergo for levels. A little top-up before a boss is fine. Dedicated grinding is usually a bad use of your time. Learn the fight instead.
• Forcing yourself to master every Legion Arm. You won’t use most of them enough to justify the investment.
• NG+ unless you truly loved the combat. The first run is the value proposition. New Game Plus is only worth it if you want alternate choices, more P-Organ development, or just more reps with the combat.

How to play Lies Of P efficiently without making it your whole month

First, pick a style and stay with it. Technique or Motivity both work. What matters more is consistency. You do not need a perfect meta build. You need a weapon setup whose timing makes sense to your hands.

Second, stop treating dodge like your primary answer. Use it, sure, but learn to guard. Even a decent guard is better than panic rolling through half the game. Perfect guard if you can. Regular guard if you must. Then punish.

Third, use Specters on bosses if you’re getting stuck and you care more about seeing the game than proving a point. This is one of the easiest ways to keep momentum. No shame here. If your goal is finishing a strong 30-ish hour campaign instead of spending three nights on one boss, summon the help and move on.

Fourth, bank Ergo when you have enough for a meaningful level or upgrade. Don’t carry large piles into unknown areas unless you’re deliberately scouting.

Fifth, repair your weapon before it becomes a problem. The durability system is not hard, but it will punish lazy momentum.

And last, if a boss is ruining your night, quit for the evening. Lies Of P is one of those games where sleep actually helps. Come back fresh. You’ll often beat it in two or three tries.

Can you play Lies Of P well on handhelds?

Yes, with caveats.

On Steam Deck, Lies Of P is one of the more playable modern Soulslikes because the structure suits handheld sessions. Areas are segmented well, Stargazers are frequent enough, and you can make progress in 20 to 40 minutes. If you’re doing a level clear, a shortcut unlock, or a few boss attempts, handheld play works.

The catch is precision. This is a game where input timing matters a lot, and that means handheld comfort matters too. On Steam Deck, it’s very playable, but I would still prefer a docked setup or a standard controller for the toughest bosses. Perfect guarding Romeo or Laxasia while cramped on a couch isn’t impossible. It’s just not ideal.

On streaming setups like a Backbone One, I would be careful. If your connection adds noticeable input delay, don’t bother for serious progress. Lies Of P is not forgiving enough for that. Remote play is fine for light farming, area cleanup, shopping at Hotel Krat, or one exploratory push through a familiar zone. It is not where I’d choose to learn a hard boss.

So the handheld verdict is practical. Steam Deck is good enough for the full game if that’s your main option. Streaming handhelds are only worth it if your setup is excellent and you’re not depending on perfect timing.

If You Only Have 20 Minutes, Do This

Don’t start a fresh, unknown area unless you have a little more time. That’s the easiest way to waste a short session and end it annoyed.

Instead, pick one of these:

• Do focused boss reps. Three to five serious attempts on your current boss is plenty. You’re building familiarity, not forcing a win.
• Run from your last Stargazer to the next shortcut. This is one of the best uses of a short session because even partial progress matters.
• Clean up Hotel Krat admin. Spend Quartz, upgrade a weapon, tune your Legion Arm, use records, talk to NPCs, and then stop. Boring answer, but efficient.
• Test one weapon handle and blade combo. Not ten. One. Figure out whether your current setup is helping or hurting.

The key is to give yourself a session goal that survives failure. If you only feel good about a session when a boss dies, Lies Of P will wear you down.

The honest bottom line on whether it’s worth your time

Lies Of P is worth your time if you want a tight, well-made Soulslike campaign and you’re willing to meet it on its terms. It gets a lot right. The combat has real identity, the weapon assembly system is genuinely useful, Krat is memorable, and the best bosses are excellent.

But it is not easy to recommend to every busy adult just because it’s polished. The middle and late game can be tiring. Perfect guard asks for more precision than many people want after a workday. Some of the challenge feels invigorating. Some of it feels like friction for friction’s sake.

So here’s the friend-level advice. Play Lies Of P if you actively want a demanding action game and can handle progress that sometimes comes in inches. Skip it if your ideal weeknight game lets you relax, improvise, and make steady progress no matter how sharp you are.

If you do jump in, don’t chase perfect play. Use the systems that keep you moving. Build around consistency. Summon when needed. Keep the main path front and center. Done that way, Lies Of P is one of the better time investments in the Soulslike pile.

Just don’t mistake “good” for “easy to fit into real life.” Those are not the same thing here.