Lies of P is one of 2023's most pleasant surprises. It's a twisted take on the classic tale of Pinnochio, incorporating elements made famous by FromSoftware's Dark Souls series. Korean newcomer Neowiz Games knocked it out of the park with its debut, delivering some competent competition and the closest thing to a Bloodborne successor we've seen to date.
With combat mechanics polished to a brilliant sheen, memorable and multi-stage boss encounters, and an interconnected, labyrinthine setting with the city of Krat, Lies of P adds its own twist with fresh mechanics. By combining the Blade of any weapon with the Handle of any other, players can craft hideous armaments tailored to their specific needs, and Legion Arms offer additional utility. The Lie system lets players influence the game's events by deceiving or telling the truth to NPCs, affecting the endings they receive, and adding to the sense of atmosphere.
With perhaps the most bonkers post-credits sequel tease we've ever seen, Lies of P leaves a lot to recommend; a must-play for fans of action games inspired by the FromSoft formula, and an impressive opening salvo from Neowiz. We can't wait for what comes next.
Push Square's Game of the Year list is primarily decided by an internal staff vote. Our community Game of the Year poll is also taken into account. Feel free to agree or disagree with our list in the comments section below.
You can check out all of our Game of the Year coverage by clicking the link.
Do you agree with Lies of P being our #7 Game of the Year? (403 votes)
- It should be higher on the list
- Yeah, it's about right
- It should be lower on the list
- It shouldn't even be on the list
- I don't know / I haven't played it
Comments 34
Bought this with Xmas money as it was on sale, only just started it today so can't form a real opinion just yet but i like what i've played so far.
For me, it was like Dark Souls without the jankiness. Don't get me wrong, jank is what gave Dark Souls it's soul (no pun), but the whole experience is so smooth. Also due to the many quality of life features the LoP has straight out of the gate. Definitely one of my favorite games this year!
Phil spencer staring in lies of p.haha😀.lies of p is definitely a excellent game.its like bloodborne 2 with Pinocchio puppets etc.its definitely one of the best games of the year.word up son
Lies of P is my personal game of the year. Incredible Lore and the combat is excellent.
Stunning game and I loved every minute of it.
Best soulslike I've ever played, even better than the nioh and remnant games 😮💨
I'd daresay even better than the majority of fromsoftware's outings. And it still has room to grow with its dlc on the way.
I'm saturated with soulslike since DS3, still this game makes me want to try. Maybe in the future at half price
Genuinely surprised to see this one make the list, but that’s a good thing, I suppose. This is one of those years where I feel like everyone’s top 10 is just a little bit different. First year in ages where it feels like a top 10 isn’t enough games to represent the year.
This is easily my GOTY. I’ve been singing its praises for months. It’s rare when I immediately replay games after completing them, but I did with this one — three times, actually — and got the platinum. Such a phenomenal game.
@somnambulance I hear ya bro
Lies of P , Lords Of the Fallen and Resi4 are my favorite games of the year. Maybe not in this order.
@Kraven That's nicely done! I haven't got the platinum yet but I'll go for it
@Cherip-the-Ripper this and lords of the fallen are definitely the best souls games outside of fromsoftware. I'm actually playing remnant 2 at the moment but I really don't understand why they are classed as souls type games because they are not even remotely close. I also picked up wo long fallen dynasty and I've played it for a few hours today and that's a superb game.
Tbh, I had no interest to play this game when I watched all the trailers and some gameplays before the game came out...I only saw BB-clone in it, but nothing special. But now after all the reviews and feedbacks from the players, I want to give it try sometime in the future, maybe next year already...after ER done, I'm on my 2nd playthrough in BB, and god knows when DLC for ER comes out so if I'll be in the soulsborne mood still, I'd like to know if LoP really so good as BB or even better as many saying
Maybe this game deserves to be in the top 10 but from what I played of the demo I wasn't too impressed. I think I'm also just kind of burnt out on souls-likes in general. I had every intention of playing both Wo Long and the new Lords of the Fallen this year but I just never got around to it. I think this genre has become a little overdone at this point. I'd honestly like to see what some of these devs could do if they actually tried making something else
This game should be in the top 3 without question. Ridiculous.
This was my GOTY. BG3 and AlanWake2 are great but nothing best Lies for me
@Kraven those could be my exact words too. I rarely replay a game immediately or if I do I fall off it. This one I played twice through and started a third before falling off (got the platinum in two runs which may have factored in).
@Tchunga I get that burnt out feeing. I think Lies of P is still a must. 40 hours into LOTF all I can is it’s Dark Souls 4, which, if burnt out, may be one to avoid for awhile.
@Tchunga the demo did this game no justice whatsoever. The camera was awful in the demo and it gave me motion sickness and the combat was off. When the game released I was so happy all the little blips had been sorted out and the game is probably the closest I've played to almost perfect day one. The support this and lords of the fallen have received from their respective devs after feedback from the gamers has been nothing short of exemplary and neither are AAA studios. For me neowiz and hexworks were the devs of the year.
@ErrantRob That's interesting because LOTF was the one I was actually the most interested in lol. The whole switching between the normal realm and the umbral realm is pretty unique and not something that's been done in a souls-like before. (Although it's certainly been done in plenty of non souls-like games like Metroid Prime 2 and ALTTP) Where as Lies of P is just more Bloodborne and Wo Long is like a cross between Nioh and Sekiro
People who don't understand the placement didn't play it.
It's truly fantastic and deserves any accolade it gets. A definite sufferer from the 2023 glut of good games, insane to think It Takes Two won GOTY at the game awards a few years back, P (and most of this years top 10) are strides above it
@Northern_munkey
I'm currently playing through remnant 2 as well! About 17 hours in, did two heavy sessions over the last two days.
I do often hear people saying that the remnant games aren't soulslike and I can kind of see the argument. I'm personally more in disagreement with the people who say the respawn jedi games are soulslikes.
At least the first game is fairly easy (haven't played the second yet) and beyond the metroidvania level design to it it doesn't share anything else with the fromsoft titles. It's just a linear action adventure that even has fleshed out cutscenes (beyond the usual fromsoft boss fight cutscenes).
I get that the remnant games are very rng heavy, based on replayability and has a more accessible story to it but at the same time its focus on various builds reminds me a lot of the fromsoft games, that and navigating through the world finding items that are loosely related to a random npc and its crystals that serve as bonfires.
In my opinion they have a very fromsoft feel to them when I play them.
But again I can see why someone would say they aren't soulslikes.
Damnnn and you picked up wo long as well, you got a type fr.
Awesome game, glad to see it make the list! Can’t wait for the DLC and their next game!
A game you couldn't help but notice, and one that took up space in the news flow. Many of these game of the years this year, however, are some I'll never play.
I don't know anything about souls games. I have tried Demon's Soul and ... Nioh for like five minutes-1 hour each. For me, they're all the same: you are going through a limited space and have to avoid clunky attacks you cannot really deflect or survive, so you kinda move outta the way. To attack you have to time your attack somewhere in the enemy type's animation. It is boring and lifeless with weird barebone stories.
If you count the Star Wars game, then I sort of get it, that was good. Maybe I'll get to Survivor one day.
Just started playing last night (Christmas). Already beat Fuoco (heard he was hard but I beat him first try surprisingly). Tbh I feel like it’s so much easier than Sekiro or Bloodborne. I’m defined as trash at Soulsborne games and hope this one gets tougher. The only deaths I’ve had were caused by extremely, extremely, extremely stupid and shameful decision-making by me. But, I do love the atmosphere so far. I think there’s a lot of potential here
@Cherip-the-Ripper damn straight I have a type. I love the souls type genre and I can't get enough of them. The remnant games are more of a procedurally generated looter shooter in my view. Outriders was a very similar style without the randomised levels and I think that would have been better than the remnant series if it had that mechanic because it certainly had better loot drops.
To anyone on the fence - if you worship at the altar of FromSoftware, then this game will be a solid 9/10 for you.
My expectations were rock-bottom, and I’d assumed this would be ‘just another Souls clone’ with distinctly average mechanics and monotonous gameplay… how wrong I was!
Genuinely this game is excellent, and goes so far as to heavily lean into a ton of elements that span From’s entire portfolio… essentially making Lies a terrific covers band, that plays From’s greatest hits.
It leans most in Bloodborne, but there are elements of Sekiro in there too - alongside a pinch of Demons Souls (‘lying’ mechanic = world tendancy from DeS)
It’s hands down the best non-From 3D soulslike, and utterly compelling. (Best 2D remains Salt & Sanctuary IMO)
I played exclusively on SteamDeck and it ran pretty great, so can imagine pretty smooth performance on PS/XB.
My only criticisms would be a slight lack of build diversity, and some small enemy reputation, but otherwise it is a tremendous first-time output from the devs.
It was actually my GOTY until Baldurs came along… final list looking like this:
1) Baldurs
2) Lies of P
3) TOTK
4) Blasphemous 2
5) HiFi Rush
Very boring rip-off, shouldn't be on the list.
Bought it in the sale yesterday. Loving it. My GOTY is Alan Wake 2. Nothing came close to that.
@CWill97 Same, bought it yesterday and I'm flying through it. I suspect the crys of how hard it is comes from new players to the souls genre.
Lies of P; still trying to get past Romeo.
Atmospherically similar to bloodborne, but ultimately, more of a sekiro clone? Only played the demo, but it was a little too derivative for me.
Dude doesn't look right to me could of been a chuck Norris or Wesley snipes meh.
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