In 2021, Round 8 and Neowiz announced P’s lies. P’s lies answered a question no one had thought to ask. When it was released in 2023, it surprised skeptics, overstated in both how amazing its dark fantasy setting was, and how incredibly fun its offensive combat was. Two years later, I was able to spend quality time with Overture, an encore named after the ironically named in the expansion to the Hit Action game. And despite not being able to see the first stage and new boss memorandum mode for over an hour, it was very quickly clear that the Korean team was poised to achieve this again.
The overture is the first part of P’s false event just before the puppet show begins and the robot slaughtering everyone in Krat city. But in the end, many of the ideas, such as settings, weapons, were actually aimed at the base game, but the original release was cut to avoid getting too bloated. Ji Won Choi, studio game director for Round 8, told Passthecontroller in an interview that he and his team were not happy to put these ideas undeveloped and unrealized. Through the translator, he described P’s lie as “complete” by adding Overture in the end.
P’s lies have always been associated with bloodborne mediation. This is mainly because of how it looks, but because combat in both games follows traditions like souls, but refrains from important actions such as blocking. Even releasing a big DLC after boot and putting the bow on the original project has become a Software signature at this point. But Choi’s team is open to comparisons. “It’s our honor (compared to FromSoftware).” He motivated them to make something that could clear that high expectations stick, adding that they could hope that they had done P’s lie and continue it with the overture.
The first step you’ll return with the boots of P, the honorable character, is in a snow-filled area around Krat Zoo. The story details are light, and developers stay tight on things they haven’t seen before. After some preamble from the Runtank Ricket, it was extremely difficult to spend a few seconds swinging one of the brand new weapons of the overture. This is one of several new weapon types that chopped this frozen zoo in one hand over a new weapon from the existing type, and we put away a new, very cool, Legion weapon with a very different but very effective variety of Askicks.
As Gunblades were called, the Pale Knight was my main weapon against monsters attacked by Ergos, both in the outskirts of the zoo and on its walls. It has a similar weight and attack pattern to the Great Sword, but its heavy attack pulls the trigger, and a mounted double-barrel firearm screams at the enemy. The recoil of these shots pushes away P, which is useful when mixing it into the attack string to maintain evasion. A trick that’s way too late in the demo is that you can actually fire your weapon again and come back towards the bad guys for a big follow-up attack. Basically, it’s the coolest weapon ever made.
Another new weapon I’ve got is the bow, the first completely remote weapon in the series. It felt great for thrustling small enemies from afar, but it couldn’t make a reasonable mark on the larger one. Over time, I think there’s a way to exploit that perfect draw mechanic and threaten all sorts of villains from downrange, but I couldn’t manage it in the time I had. Another new type of weapon I spent more time with was the long claws that shredded the enemy with rage, which is normally reserved for what he does. This was clearly a new addition to existing weapon types, and I didn’t damage the surface of the shiny weapons, but it was abundantly clear to me that anyone who really loves the customization aspect of the weapons of the base game has plenty of new toys to mash together in the overture.
The new Legion Arms I tried out also made a great addition to the P kit. My favourite was yet another gun: double version and rechargeable power, spreading, and mitigating the impact on the bad guys. It’s a closer range option, but even half-charge did a short job of feed roaming around the snowy ground and the aging halls of the zoo itself. On a full charge, it was a reliable tool to disrupt larger enemies or to interrupt attacks for at least one second. I came to the second arm late in the demonstration, and it certainly was a strong offensive option in its own right. Like the throwable saw blade items with two differences, they fired a brief swirling blade around the enemy. One allows you to quickly press the button before releasing the flying blade, and fire multiple blades at once to inflict significant damage over time on one target.
Speaking of targets, the cast of enemies in this section was rather unnoticeable outside at the beginning of the level, but became very interesting as I delve deeper into the zone. There were several bitten wolves and glove bee zombies running in the factory, but the outstanding zombies like the elephant troubled by the extremely angry kangaroo and ergo were truly amazed by the elephant plagued by the ergo with the resident-style surprise. I spent so much time on the latter that I just reached the end of the level to see the boss.
In that memo, the boss will gain a new focus on the base game patch. This comes with the overture in two new game modes: Battle Memories and Death March. Death March is a straight boss lash that allows you to create playlists of at least 3 bosses and try to defeat them at once. Meanwhile, memories of the battle allow you to return to the old boss battles and defeat them again. Now with up to five different difficulty levels, each tier is increasing some unique stats these bosses get in this mode. The rewards for conquering these layers are suggested, but not elaborated. I went back to one of the old bosses, Black Rabbit Brotherhood, to see how different it was in Tier 3 from my memories in the base game. The way they beat me and how I killed my rusty fingers didn’t point out any real difference, but I’m sure teasing the mystery comes with many experiments, just like the rest of the lies of P.
Lies of P is one of the standout games of 2023, not one of the best games in its action RPG subgenre and not created by fromsoftware. Although Overture doesn’t play much with the Formula, the new ingredients it adds proves that, like great new weapon types and ridiculous freaking monsters, it never really is very good, even if it’s pretty much the same.
