Once upon a time, a genius by the name of Miyazaki Hidetaka made the Souls series of games starting from Demons Souls to Dark Souls 1~3. They started out not being mainstream popular but had a hardcore fanbase. Watching videos, I did not understand why they were popular but the fact that they were difficult games peaked my curiosity. When I watched videos of gameplay, it just seemed like a slow action game with lots of rolling.
I bought Bloodborne and my life changed forever. I finally understood the appeal of Miyazaki and From Software's genius. The best thing about the games were that they had 1 difficulty and the game was designed around that difficulty.
You had a fixed amount of healing items from one save point to the next and it was up to you to learn how to get there. It was about learning from your mistakes and not caring about losing your experience points when you die because learning how to overcome obstacles is more important than experience points. Soulsborne game are about telling the story through weapon descriptions and notes instead of spelling everything out for the audience. Actually without youtube, I would not be able to tell you the story of the Souls games except for Sekiro.
Bloodborne led me to Dark Souls which led to me the greatest action game of all time Sekiro to Demon's Souls and of course Elden Ring. Sidenote, I can play Sekiro every year because the game is just that good and not many games make you want to fight a boss again after dying 50 times because the boss fights are so fun. Soulsborne games became a genre in itself as everyone tried to copy From Software's formula of bonfires and collecting souls. I really wanted to like Nioh and gave it 2 chances but the randomly generated loot system was too annoying.
Soulsborne games are the opposite of randomly generated loot. They are about items being placed at certain areas for certain reasons; usually as bait for traps but you are not overwhelmed with randomly generated loot. Rise of the Ronin aka Ancient Kyoto Simulator was ok but did not tempt me to try any more Koei Tecmo games.
Then I heard about this Pinocchio Soulsborne game made by an unknown Korean developer. I downloaded the demo, forgot about it until it went on sale recently and OMFG Lies of P is the perfect marriage of Bloodborne and Sekiro.
I would buy a system for Bloodborne 2 and Sekiro 2 just like I got a Wii U for Bayonetta 2. I also got a Switch for Bayonetta 3 and that turned out to be such a bad game. While Miyazaki is making some multiplayer Elden Ring game, some unknown company have made the spiritual sequel to his two masterpieces that everyone wants sequels to.
It is amazing how much Lies of P is a homage to all of Miyazaki's games. From the traps to weapons to bosses, this game is new but so familiar. It is a From Software greatest hits wrapped up in one beautiful package. I have not played much imitators but feel of the game from the weight of the weapons to the hitboxes just work.
Lies of P is an amazing must play game. I am going through New Game + to solo all the bosses. Don't use the summons because they make the game too easy. Can't wait for the DLC to and the inevitable sequel. As a gamer, it is amazing when you get what you want, I just did not expect to get it from an imitation.
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