Lies of P: Overture Review

NEOWIZ has surprise-dropped the highly anticipated DLC to their incredibly successful soulslike title, Lies of P. Taking control of Pinocchio once again, it's time to head back to Krat, but this time, in an entirely different time.

Lies of P: Overture is a post-game DLC that essentially works as an expansion, but make no mistake: calling this a mere expansion feels like an insult to what it truly is. Clocking in at about 15 to 20 hours long, Overture feels more like a sequel to the title than a simple DLC, bringing in several new areas, eight bosses, and many new enemies to fight against, all filling the return to the beautiful Belle Epoque setting.

The base game has a HowLongToBeat estimated time to beat between 29 and 36 hours, which is a pretty lengthy time to travel across Krat and fight the numerous bosses. With this in mind, Overture brings in a little more than an extra 50% of gameplay content to enjoy, and NEOWIZ nailed it once again, proving that it wasn't luck with their soulslike debut.

Going down the expansion route was a genius move all around, and it's something I hope to see more soulslikes adapt. Steering from creating an entire sequel, Overture instead allows for the opportunity to test endgame builds in another brutal landscape, challenging players with all-new bosses that tackle some of the most annoying mechanics introduced in soulslikes... and mostly acing them.

Battling through the DLC is a relatively arduous challenge, but it's all too easy to deflect blame to NEOWIZ's choices of foes and effects throughout it. Bringing back my least-favourite status effect and offering up bosses that follow obnoxious trends, it's truly applause-worthy that Overture isn't just balanced, it's fair.

It may be the first time in years I've had to take a break from a game to cool down from rage (after two hours, the finale got to me), but looking back on all of the areas, enemies, and bosses, it's hard to say that any of them were truly unbalanced. Lies of P nails to be a perfect mixture between DARK SOULS and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and it feels like the team doubles down with this design philosophy and knocks it out of the park.

It's hard to balance some of the tropes NEOWIZ added to the experience: giant animals, two bosses at once, gargantuan foes with ridiculous range, multi-stage boss fights... yet each one felt fair enough that once I grasped the concept and battle rhythm, I could get through it. The careful balancing between incredibly obnoxious tropes and keeping the game playable was impeccable, and it made for some of the most memorable boss fights that stuck with me even past the credits rolling.

While I criticised the base game's boss fights a tad in my review of the original title, Overture more than made up for the frustrations I had against the Black Rabbit Brotherhood, King of Puppets, or Lexasia the Complete. Whether it was a skill issue (it was; let me have my copium) with the base game becomes entirely irrelevant in Overture, which made the boss fights feel varied, enjoyable, and very distinct from the base game variations.

Though the expansion still struggled with a bit of common enemy variety, with not a whole lot of new regular foes introduced to keep the new areas feeling fresh, they didn't get stale, as NEOWIZ instead focused on bringing variety in the forms of compositions. Narratively, it was interesting to fight against puppets, knowing full well what comes in the future post-Frenzy, and the other common foes felt more similar to what you may be used to in the genre: glorified zombies.

Maybe zombies are just a glorified him?

It's not a complaint, as it's serviceable at worst when having to fight against an otherwise poor enemy variety: it gave room to get through the areas easily enough to experience the bosses, which is where the expansion truly shone. New enemies and the new Freeze status effect didn't feel frustrating, and it worked as a nice refresher, having come back without having played in the last two years since the launch of the game.

Though common enemies were aplenty, I really liked the small skill checks that NEOWIZ places throughout the areas, ensuring you know enough and can do enough to earn your place against the location's boss. The abundant use of mini-boss-like foes that don't respawn felt welcome, as it offered a fun challenge that wasn't quite as hard as a boss, but still welcomed you to fight for your life, or die and try again.

It's a nice middle ground and break between fighting common foes and bosses, not bloating the experience with tough-as-nails encounters that leave you dazed after them. These mini-bosses were introduced after the ever-dreaded "walkback" culture that soulslikes have, which is definitely a welcome trope, so long as it didn't have a multi-stage boss fight waiting out the other side of ten foes, all waiting to take your healing items away.

This is why I cannot praise Overture enough: NEOWIZ tackles some of the scariest and absurd sections of soulslikes masterfully, not letting them get frustrating in the slightest. Walkbacks are only for mini-bosses, bosses with obnoxious skills, and sets have clear tells; it doubles down on the learn, adapt, and improve mentality.

On paper, sections can feel stacked with annoying mechanics that are too easy to get angry at, but in actual practice, these were enjoyable, almost puzzle-like elements that welcome the player to think and adapt. Even the return of my most-hated mechanic in the base game — Decay, which I'd say was abundant in Overture — gave me a new perspective on fights.

It's hard not to herald NEOWIZ for a masterful expansion launch, but Lies of P: Overture manages to do everything and surpass the base game. It's evident the team learned a lot from their original launch, and their newfound skills and confidence is omnipresent in the expansion. For just £24.99, 15 to 20 hours of post-game content, all-new weapons and skills you can take into New Game+, and just more Lies of P, it's easy to say that Overture is a must for fans of the base game.