Lies of P, the punishing Soulslike about Pinocchio searching for his dad Geppetto, has loads of powerful enemies ready to fulfill you. They’re all terrifying, starting from a poison-imbued slug beast to a dude who literally thinks he’s God, however there’s one mini-boss who sucks a lot I can’t wait to fulfill it in Hell in the future.
Out now on PC, PlayStation consoles, and Xbox methods through Sport Cross, Lies of P attracts lots of its gameplay influences from famously brutal FromSoftware video games similar to Bloodborne and Sekiro. You’ll block, dodge, parry, and slash your means by a bloodied Nineteenth-century France to seek for Geppetto and remedy the thriller of the petrification illness that’s killing the remainder of the people who haven’t been murdered by the puppets. You’ll meet some eclectic characters and fearsome enemies alongside the best way, and whereas most of the fights you’ll end up in are no-bullshit, one mini-boss you encounter within the sport’s third chapter (out of 11 complete) has made some players slightly furious.
Lies of P’s shovel guard is a fiery menace
Chapter 3 has you trying to find Lorenzini Venigni, a self-proclaimed genius of expertise who’s performed an important function within the universe’s marionette creation. He’s holed up within the Venigni Works Management Room, which is deep throughout the Workshop Union, a steampunky location plagued by stacked buildings, industrial piping, and puppets—so many rattling puppets. You’ll weave your means by this space, defeating dolls right here and gathering objects there and unlocking paths over there, whereas retaining your eyes peeled for Venigni. You may’t progress the story with out discovering him, so looking the mustachioed maker down is paramount. Whereas searching for him, you’ll run into what I’m calling the shovel guard: a big-ass flaming robotic simply begging to burn all of your electrical wirings.
This enemy sucks. It has a shit ton of well being and, like most goons in Lies of P, takes your assaults with out flinching a lot. It offers a bunch of injury and, at any time when it lands a strike (even in the event you block), it causes the overheat standing impact to construct up which slowly chars P’s wooden as soon as the gauge is totally full. It’s additionally received some combos that may stunlock (an animation lure that stops you from reacting to something) you to demise in the event you’re not cautious. And making issues worse, you battle this jerk in a slim pipe, which means there isn’t a lot house so that you can keep away from the shovel guard’s painful, wide-arching assaults.
So, you’ve received an enormous enemy in a small enviornment that swings vast and hits arduous. That’s already a recipe for Gamer Rage™. Nevertheless, keep in mind once I mentioned the shovel guard can stunlock you to demise? Effectively, it’s received this one overhead strike that—whereas sluggish and telegraphed—has an extended attain, offers large injury, and ends in a flurry of floor slams that immobilize you. It’s this assault that’s killed me and plenty of many other Lies of P players on Reddit, partially as a result of the sport’s dodge mechanic sucks at first. At this early level within the sport, you’ll possible have two to 4 Quartz, a uncommon improve materials used to unlock skills in P’s P-Organ skill tree. To outlive the shovel guard’s combo string, you need the Rising Dodge talent, which helps you to roll after getting knocked to the bottom. This is a crucial talent to unlock, as animation restoration right here takes without end, however you’ve gotta spend 4 Quartz within the talent tree to even attain the power. Until you’re adept at exact dodging and excellent guarding, put together to look at your self get beat over and over. It’s actually not a reasonably sight to behold.
When you get the dangle of the shovel guard’s assault patterns, although, the concern begins to dissipate. In the event you do not forget that Lies of P has the aesthetic of Bloodborne however the mechanics of Sekiro—in that it calls for you grasp the proper guard to negate all incoming injury and break your opponent’s weapon as an alternative of dodge spamming—you’ll ultimately wipe this asshole out with out a lot of an issue. However, in fact, that necessitates you die loads to see and memorize the shovel guard’s strikes. And this was simply your first style of the shovel guard, because the enemy pops again up in the identical stage and a bit later within the sport, too. The opposite occasions, it respawns with a number of different enemies while you relaxation at a Stargazer (bonfire), bringing all that trauma dashing again once more. Ugh.
Lies of P isn’t an ideal sport by any means. It’s a bit sluggish at occasions, and issue spikes seem considerably random. That mentioned, I’m nonetheless having fun with the sport, significantly for its story, characters, and setting. It’s simply changing into one in every of my fave Soulslikes of 2023. I simply want the shovel guard wasn’t such a jerk.
