The Soulslike space is always expanding nowadays. Developers of all kinds seem to be inspired by From Software’sDark Soulsseries, inspiring them to make their own demanding, gritty action RPGs.Lies of Pbelongs to this list of games, and it looks like a pretty unique addition to the roster of Soulslikes.NeoWizand Round8 Studio’s upcoming game is an intense, violent retelling ofPinocchio,the famous fairy tale about a puppet who tries to become a real boy. Over the course ofLies of P,players will not only battle monsters and puppets in Soulslike fashion, but they’ll tell various lies that change the course of the story.
Perhaps the most interesting piece of the game is Pinocchio himself. The famous puppet is the story’s protagonist, exploring the city of Krat in search of Geppetto, and along the way he’ll find various attachments that help him change his capabilities.Lies of Pfeatures a skill system that’s all about modifying Pinocchio. While that idea works great fora clockwork Soulslike such asLies of P,it could also be a solid inclusion in a cyberpunk Soulslike where players modify a custom cyborg character to adapt to a hostile futuristic landscape.
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Lies of P Skills and Cyberpunk Potential
Fans of Soulslikes are no strangers to learning new skills from equipment. Gaining new weapon skills byapplying Ashes of War toElden Ringweaponsis a key part of character progression, for instance.Lies of Pseemingly has a similar system with different applications. Players can install new parts into Pinocchio as they go along to learn a range of new skills. Round8 hasn’t explained the skills in detail yet, but abilities like the fire attack that Pinocchio uses in one trailer seem like they’re probably associated with this system.Lies of Pwill reportedly teach Pinocchio non-combat skills through modifications too, potentially helping him interact with NPCs or explore.
This entire concept seems easy to apply to a cyberpunk game in the Soulslike genre. Cyberpunk stories often involve lots of characters who are part machine and continually apply new machine parts to themselves in order to become more powerful. Thanks to that, some develop could readilyborrow theLies of Pskill conceptand apply it to a cyberpunk world. Players could find new attachments ranging from mounted shoulder turrets that mow down foes to built-in climbing equipment that helps players traverse the world map.
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The Next Generation of Soulslikes
ConsideringhowCyberpunk 2077has helped expand its titular genre, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a new cyberpunk Soulslike emerge in the near future. Not every Soulslike needs to be set in a medieval world, after all; From Software itself proved that years ago with its Gothic smash hitBloodborne.More genre experimentation in the coming years could be great for the Soulslike space, since each genre niche opens up different lore justifications for surprising new mechanics.Lies of Pproves that with its skill system. Modifying Pinocchio to learn new skills is a great concept that cleverly puts the game’s concept to work in a tangible way.
AlthoughLies of Plooks like it could be a highly influential Soulslike game, fans sadly have a lot of waiting to do before they get to play it. There’s no hard release date yet, and it may take Round8 until 2023 to release the game. Luckily, 2022 does have plenty of games that can tide fans over.Spiders’SteelRising, which releases in September, could be a good game to play while waiting forLies of P,since both games take inspiration from Western European history and feature mechanical protagonists. From Software’sElden Ringoffers Soulslike fans boundless adventure and challenge too. Eventually, though,Lies of Pwill make its debut and hopefully leave its mark by inspiring similarly creative skill systems in new genres.
Lies of Pis in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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