Few games have managed to surprise Soulslike fans quite like Lies of P. When it was first revealed, many dismissed it as another attempt to imitate FromSoftware’s celebrated formula. What arrived instead was a confident, stylish adventure that understood exactly what made the genre compelling while introducing ideas that felt entirely its own. With Lies of P: Complete Edition, players receive the full experience, combining the original award-winning campaign with the excellent Overture expansion and every meaningful improvement introduced since launch. For newcomers, there has never been a better moment to step into the haunted streets of Krat.
The premise alone is enough to spark curiosity. Rather than retelling Carlo Collodi’s classic fairy tale, the game twists the familiar story into a grim gothic nightmare. Pinocchio is no cheerful wooden puppet searching for his conscience. Here, he is an elegant mechanical creation wandering through a city where puppets have turned on their makers and humanity itself has begun to unravel. It is a world that feels tragic rather than merely bleak, where beauty and horror exist side by side in almost every location.
Complete Edition also demonstrates the value of patience. Instead of simply bundling downloadable content together, it presents the adventure in its strongest form, incorporating balancing changes, quality-of-life improvements, additional challenge options and the Overture expansion into one seamless package. It feels polished from beginning to end, allowing its remarkable strengths to shine brighter than ever.
Krat Is a Character in Its Own Right
Many action RPGs create attractive settings, but Krat feels genuinely alive despite being on the verge of collapse. Inspired by the elegance of the Belle Époque, its grand boulevards, luxurious theatres and towering factories tell stories long before characters speak a single line. Ornate architecture stands alongside rusting machinery, creating a fascinating blend of sophistication and industrial decay that gives the city its unmistakable identity.
Exploration constantly rewards curiosity. Hidden shortcuts loop naturally back towards familiar checkpoints, locked doors eventually reveal satisfying connections, and optional pathways often hide valuable equipment or fragments of lore. Rather than overwhelming players with enormous open landscapes, the game focuses on carefully crafted environments where every street corner and abandoned building serves a purpose.
The Overture expansion enriches this world beautifully. Rather than feeling like disconnected bonus content, it expands Krat’s history by exploring events that shaped its eventual downfall. Familiar locations gain fresh context, new characters deepen the emotional stakes, and the additional areas maintain the same remarkable level of environmental storytelling found throughout the base game.
Precision Over Panic
Combat is where Lies of P truly establishes its identity. While comparisons to Bloodborne and Sekiro are inevitable, the game blends elements from both without becoming a simple imitation. Every encounter demands patience, observation and precision, rewarding players who learn enemy patterns rather than relying on frantic button presses.
Perfect Guards become the heart of every confrontation. Successfully deflecting an incoming attack not only protects your health but also gradually weakens an opponent’s stance, opening opportunities for devastating counterattacks. Timing those parries never becomes routine, as enemies constantly vary their attack speeds, deliberately encouraging players to stay focused rather than reacting on instinct alone.
Boss encounters elevate these mechanics even further. Each major battle feels like a carefully choreographed duel, where every mistake carries genuine consequences. Victory rarely comes from overwhelming statistics alone. It arrives through understanding, persistence and the gradual mastery of encounters that initially seem impossible. Few feelings in modern gaming rival finally defeating a boss that has tested your patience for hours.
Freedom Through Experimentation
One of the smartest ideas in Lies of P is its weapon assembly system. Instead of forcing players to choose fixed weapons, blades and handles can be separated and recombined to create entirely new combinations. A heavy blade paired with a faster handle can dramatically alter attack speed, while different combinations affect scaling, reach and unique combat arts.
This system encourages experimentation throughout the adventure. Rather than abandoning favourite equipment when stronger alternatives appear later, players can continue refining weapons that suit their preferred playstyle. It creates a satisfying sense of ownership, where every customised weapon genuinely feels crafted specifically for your journey.
Legion Arms add another layer of tactical flexibility. Mechanical gadgets, ranging from flamethrowers to grappling devices and defensive shields, provide useful alternatives when straightforward swordplay is not enough. Used wisely, they create openings against aggressive enemies or help control crowds without overshadowing the importance of mastering the core combat mechanics.
Character progression remains equally rewarding. Investing in different attributes shapes the experience naturally, whether favouring agile dodging, overwhelming strength or balanced versatility. Every level gained feels meaningful because the game continually introduces tougher enemies capable of punishing complacency.
Humanity Hidden Behind Every Choice
The narrative draws inspiration from Pinocchio in clever and often unexpected ways. Rather than simply asking whether lying is right or wrong, Lies of P explores why people lie in the first place. Sometimes deception protects someone from pain. Sometimes honesty causes needless suffering. These decisions gradually shape Pinocchio’s humanity throughout the story, making even small conversations feel surprisingly significant.
This moral system never feels forced. Choices emerge naturally through dialogue and relationships, allowing players to decide whether compassion outweighs absolute truth. Over time, those decisions influence the narrative and character interactions, ultimately leading to one of several distinct endings.
Supporting characters leave lasting impressions as well. Geppetto, Sophia, Venigni and the many troubled souls encountered across Krat all possess believable motivations and emotional depth. Their personal tragedies reinforce the central themes of identity, sacrifice and redemption without descending into melodrama.
Beauty Within Despair
Visually, Lies of P remains stunning. Rain-soaked streets shimmer beneath gas lamps, abandoned mansions echo with faded grandeur, and grotesque puppet designs blend elegance with unsettling mechanical horror. Every district has its own personality, ensuring exploration never grows visually repetitive despite the consistently dark atmosphere.
Performance in the Complete Edition is excellent, particularly with the optimisation introduced for the Nintendo Switch 2. Stable frame rates and responsive controls are essential for a game built around precise timing, and this version rarely falters when battles become especially demanding.
The soundtrack deserves equal praise. Delicate piano melodies contrast beautifully with haunting orchestral arrangements, while several collectable records offer surprisingly intimate moments between the relentless combat. Those quieter interludes give Krat an emotional heartbeat, reminding players what has been lost beneath the city’s mechanical nightmare.
Sound design also excels in combat. Every perfectly timed parry produces an immensely satisfying metallic clash, while heavier weapons land with enough force to make each successful strike feel impactful. Together, the visuals and audio create an atmosphere that remains memorable long after the credits roll.
The Complete Experience
The value of the Complete Edition lies not merely in the volume of included content but in how cohesive everything feels. The Overture expansion enhances the central narrative rather than distracting from it, while post-launch improvements smooth away many of the minor frustrations present at release. New difficulty settings also make the adventure more approachable for players who may have previously found the challenge intimidating, without diminishing the demanding experience that genre veterans expect.
There are still moments when difficulty spikes feel abrupt, and some late-game encounters occasionally rely on overwhelming aggression rather than elegant design. Inventory management can also become slightly cumbersome during longer play sessions. Yet these are relatively minor concerns within an adventure that consistently demonstrates exceptional craftsmanship.
Final Verdict
Lies of P: Complete Edition sits comfortably among the finest Soulslike games ever created. It respects the genre’s foundations while confidently forging its own identity through remarkable world-building, deeply satisfying combat and one of the most imaginative reinterpretations of classic literature in modern gaming. Every duel feels earned, every discovery rewards curiosity, and every lie carries emotional weight.
For newcomers, this is unquestionably the definitive way to experience Pinocchio’s dark transformation. For returning players, the Overture expansion and numerous refinements provide compelling reasons to revisit Krat. It is a haunting, beautiful and unforgettable adventure that proves great stories can emerge from even the oldest fairy tales when placed in the right hands.
