If you know my tastes, you know I have a love-hate relationship with the soulslike genre. Well, like a hate-hate relationship. Historically, I’ve never had the patience for critical darlings like FromSoftware Bloodborne Which forced me to bang my head against difficult bosses for hours. Elden Ring would ease a lot of my frustrations with the genre thanks to its open-ended structure, but it didn’t rush to give it back to me. Ax: Shadows Die Twice One More Chance.
So this is a personal surprise I’m obsessed with right now P’s lie. At first, I was sure I wouldn’t click with a game that looked like Bloodborne Clones from an uncertified developer; I was into it mostly because of its weird Pinnochio premise. However, the more I’ve played, the more engrossed I’ve become in atmospheric action RPGs. What once made me angry has eventually become a motivator in my quest to kill a city full of deformed puppets.
The deeper I dig, the more I begin to realize that my problem was never with the Soulslike genre: it’s entirely with FromSoftware.
new spark
My first introduction to the Soulslike genre came through developer FromSoftware – how could it not be? The studio is responsible for inventing a breed of action RPG that has been copied to the ground ever since. Games like Dark Souls have earned their place on “Best Games of All Time” lists thanks to their impact on the industry. Although I’ve always admired the studio for this reason, I’ve had a hard time fully connecting with its games.
FromSoftware is a powerhouse when it comes to atmosphere and art design, but it can be stubborn when it comes to gameplay. Anyone who has played any of its games may be familiar with “FromSoftware junk”. It’s a blanket term that can be used to describe a variety of quirks, from enemies attacking walls to cameras getting stuck in massive bosses. Even a game as impressive alden ring is full of such moments, as the studio hasn’t done much to polish any of its rough spots since it started making Souls games.
For some players, this is part of the attraction. but not for me. When a game expects perfection from me, I expect it to give me the tools to make it possible. Even in the best FromSoftware games, I still regularly encounter scenarios where it feels like deaths aren’t entirely my fault. alden ring‘Fire Giant’ isn’t a hellish fight because of his flaming attacks; This is because I have difficulty keeping the camera focused on it.
my experience with P’s lie It has been very different so far. It’s been five chapters and I still haven’t reached the moment where death is out of my control. That’s because developers Round8 NeoWiz have created an exceptionally well-polished game considering the studio’s size. Performance on my Xbox Series Most of the big bosses I’ve encountered have been in open spaces, making them easy to keep in focus. My attacks are always exactly how I expect them to be and I’m never surprised if a boss hits me with a pole. (Some of these issues have also been affected this year Armored Corps VI: Fire of the RubiconDespite it being a completely different style of game).
With so much friction out of the way, I’m more easily able to lose myself in the mysterious world. I feel myself moving about more boldly, because I am not afraid that a cheap death will take away from me my precious Ergo. Harsh bosses no longer feel frustrated; I’m actually able to improve on each attempt rather than struggling to work around left-field design quirks or looking for easy exploits. Even small thoughts related to quality of life are very useful. Being able to refill healing flasks by attacking enemies gives me a good reason to jump straight into battle instead of running away.
That experience confirmed what I started to feel while playing the PS5 demon’s souls Remake last year. While the original game was created by FromSoftware, developer Bluepoint handled the remake very expertly alden ring There is shortage. It will quickly become my favorite Soulslike due to its incredible polish and intuitive gameplay. I won’t beat it just like that; I would master it completely, defeating some major bosses on my very first try thanks to how much control I had over it. This is an ideal scenario: it maintains the attractive art design at which FromSoftware excels, while letting an outside developer tackle the genre’s quirks with a pair of fresh eyes. P’s lie Same trick and it’s working for me so far.
granted, P’s lie It’s not without its own rookie mistakes that a company as accomplished as FromSoftware wouldn’t dare to make today. Long animations and lack of cancellation may aggravate the problem. My more frustrating deaths occurred after I was knocked down and locked into a lethal attack pattern before I could even get up. Plus, all of its strengths are based solely on FromSoftware’s ideas rather than featuring its own innovations. This isn’t going to break any ground, while FromSoftware’s games remain leaders in this regard.
Still, I hope so P’s lieThe success of the company gives rise to some healthy competition. The gaming industry is at its best when developers are interacting with each other. If the end result of Pinocchio Soulslike is that it puts pressure on FromSoftware to add even the slightest bit of quality-of-life improvement to their games, that will be enough of a win for me.
Lies of P is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One. xbox series x/s, and pc.