Easily my favourite game since Bloodborne... But also my favourite combat style in any game this far. Great story. Love the Learning curve and how the game teaches you by learning the gameplay yourself. No cheap handholding or overly simplistic gameplay.

If you miss Bloodborne love the Elden Ring bosses and love Sekiro. Love level design that folds in on itself giving shot-cut progression type levels this is most definitely the game for you.

This is the same as the base game BUT, it will have more of an Assassin's Creed vibe when it comes to difficulty on hard. And it takes away the hard earned feeling of achievement when finally defeating a boss or level.


Well where to start.
I loved the idea of a Soulslike Pinocchio. In the end I gotta admit they did so much to respect the source material and make it their own. It's an insanely well-done fresh take on it. But it never fails to stay close enough to it not to alienate you from the get-go or to divert so much from it it is unrecognisable. That said, as with all stories you either like it or don't. I'm really glad I can count myself among the people who likes it.
The world building, references and history of stuff'n'thangs found in item descriptions and collectables really ads to it like a FromSoftware game proper does. It really gives that feeling. They clearly Took inspiration from them and did it quite well. More on that later. All and all the game really gave me a story that felt fresh and new. I went in and thought I'd try to skip the story and descriptions. And ended up soaking it all in from the start till the end.
As stated in short review the game most clearly took a lot of inspiration from FromSoftware games. And let's be clear, I know what I'm saying. Inspiration. Saying this is a copy of those games is certainly selling it short. There are things they did take from those games. But they added on so much fresh feeling stuff new stuff I haven't seen in other games to make it feel like its own thing. And not a copy at all. The enemies, weapons, fable arts, bosses and abilities really have their own identity.
The game is hard. Don't get me wrong I loved the difficulty and really felt a sense of achievement when I beaten a certain boss. That is why we play and love these games. No compensation and no quarter given. Just pure skill and getting good at it. Feel the dread of failing and getting better. And getting a rush of pride when you finally pull through and do what felt impossible.
But not everything is positive though.
To be fair to the game I won't compare it to the gameplay of Sekiro or Bloodborne. Those are games by an experienced studio that knows their fan base and what makes a Soulslike a Soulslike. Hell they are the originals how could they not. But I with refer to them not to compare but to illustrate why it doesn't work in Lies of P. The biggest problem I found with the gameplay was the fact that deflecting and blocking are the same thing in the game. Your block deflects/perfect blocks within a certain set of frames. this is all fun and dandy but it doesn't work well cause when an enemy does a flurry attack the game doesn't always register what you are doing. And it has become a guessing game if it will work. There are instances you have you spam deflect so many times but your character just looks like it's blocking. In Sekiro this works cause it has and starts it's own animation every time. So you have a visual cue of what is happening. In Lies of P you just don't know if you're safe or in danger till it is too late or you feel like you just got lucky.
When it comes to specifically bosses I have experienced something I didn't know existed. Boss fatigue. There aren't that many bosses not more than necessary. But there are quite a few of them that have a bull$hlt second phase that is just a complete other bossfight altogether. Not at all building of the moveset of the first phase. Just another bossfight. In FromSoftware games this works cause it has a story related purpose and feels logical and necessary. In this game it's just practically half the main bosses who do that. It doesn't feel good or fair. It just feels like you got cheated out of your progression in the fight and development. The first boss who does this felt great and new and was well done and well placed. The ones after felt like the game cheating the player cause it happened too much. On top of that when you stagger a boss you have to do a charged heavy and the last hit of that attack leaves you with half stamina at best. That is if you even get a window to do it. That is great and feels rewarding when you take the risk. But the game out of nowhere decides at a certain point that bosses must do a bull$hlt attack you're defenceless against if you don't level stamina through the roof. And worse than that there are bosses who do a flurry attack before they stagger, an AOE or both. It feels unfair and as if you're cheated out of your hard-earned visceral attack on the boss. Just for a cheap win for the boss.
The bosses are well designed and have cool attacks. But nearly all boss feels like an Elden Ring boss. Not a copy but just a big enemy that has stupid delayed attacks. So that you're just guessing the seconds it takes to land the hit rather than react to it. What makes games like Bloodborne and Sekiro so great is the continues aggression and pressure you feel. The quick reactions and skills you need. Elden Ring and Lies of P are more like learn to count to 3 or 5 and block and you will perfectly deflect absent skill.
Lastly between 1 and 3 more frames for a perfect deflect would make the game less punishing and more fun for people who don't have the time to spend hours in bossfights perfecting them or simply don't have that reaction.
I went from weight limit 59% to weight limit 51% over night, bosses were made easier, levelling was made easier cause you got more Ergo/Experience. This all results that this self advertised Soulslike is all of a sudden an Assassin's Creedlike. It's not what we want or payed for. I get the insecurity from the studio. But FromSoftware shows they don't need to be. Now given this cakewalk to the community there is no way back. We were promised a Soulslike we got it. And days later it was taken back from us. Such a shame.
I highly recommend playing it without updates if you can for the proper experience.
If the game stays like this I hope there won't be DLC. Cause I like the game at 100% and don't fancy a cakewalk part 2. If this was overcompensating and in future patches we get a middle ground I will give it a second chance. Until then I'm out.
Do you want a tip for what to buy if not this Armored Core VI.