Lies of P

Lies of P is a 2023 action role-playing game developed by Neowiz and Round8 Studio and published by Neowiz. Loosely based on Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, the story follows the titular puppet traversing the fictional city of Krat, plagued by both an epidemic of petrification disease and a puppet uprising. Lies of P is played from a third-person perspective, with the player using melee weapons and a mechanical arm equipped with various tools to fight hostile puppets, factions, and citizens disfigured by the disease. Throughout the game, the player makes decisions at key plot points that affect the story.

In addition to Collodi's novel, the team drew inspiration from the Belle Époque period and the Soulslike genre. The game was released for macOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in September 2023. It received favorable critical reception, with praise directed at its visuals, sound design, and performance, though opinions on its narrative and gameplay were mixed. By June 2025, Lies of P sold over 3 million units. The game was nominated for several year-end accolades, including The Game Awards and the Golden Joystick Awards, and appeared on numerous lists of the top video games of 2023. A prequel expansion, Overture, was released in June 2025. A sequel is in development.

Lies of P is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. The player controls a silent puppet referred to as P, who traverses the fictional city of Krat and fights hostile puppets, factions, and citizens disfigured by the petrification disease. At the game's start, the player chooses one of three combat styles, which determines the character's attributes and initial weapons. The player uses melee weapons and Legion Arms equipped with tools that include a grappling hook. Every weapon, except for boss weapons, consists of a blade and a handle that can be upgraded and combined with other similar components. Upon combining, the weapon gains a unique ability called Fable Arts, activated when the corresponding bar is filled up. Weapon durability decreases during combat and can be increased by grindstones, which also give weapons temporary power-ups. The player can perform light and heavy attacks, as well as parry or block enemy attacks. Parrying inflicts a staggering effect on the enemy and damages their weapon. Blocking causes P to lose a small amount of health, which is partially restored after a successful counterattack.

The player acquires and upgrades weapons at Hotel Krat, which also provides access to other activities as the game progresses. Items are purchased with in-game currency called Ergo, also used to level up P by distributing it among vitality, vigor, and other attributes. The game features a skill tree that gradually unlocks with Quartz obtained after either buying it from a shop or defeating bosses and minibosses. Skills have additional slots for passive bonuses. After reaching a certain point in the story, the player can use Wishstones that grant temporary power-ups, such as increased damage and health regeneration to either P or a spectre. The player can also equip Defense Parts that increase P's defense capabilities. Before a boss fight, which usually has two phases, the player can summon a spectre to provide support. When the boss is defeated, the player receives a Rare Ergo crystal that can be exchanged for boss weapons or amulets with bonuses.

Exploring Krat, the player encounters ringing phones that pose riddles. Correct answers reward the player with Trinity Keys, which unlock locations containing gear and resources. The player can also find Cryptic Vessels, hidden locations with chests that offer various rewards, as well as collectables. Checkpoints called Stargazers are located throughout Krat and can be used to restore P's health and resources. Stargazers also serve as fast travel and respawn points. Upon respawn, P loses Ergo, which is retrievable at the place of death. However, each time P takes damage on the way back, the amount of recoverable Ergo decreases.

Lies of P features a morality system that presents the player with limited-time options: tell the truth or lie. These decisions influence the plot's development, including the ending. The player engages in conversations with non-player characters (NPCs) through a dialogue tree, uncovering additional information about the game world. Certain NPCs offer side quests that reward the player with items like new weapons and resources. P's appearance is customizable with outfits and masks found throughout the game. After completing the main story campaign, New Game Plus becomes available, allowing for replay with gear and upgrades acquired from the previous playthrough. The Overture expansion added new content, including enemies, weapons, side quests, and accessibility options, among other features.

Lies of P takes place in the fictional city of Krat, where alchemists discovered Ergo, a mineral that powered advanced puppets created by Giuseppe Geppetto. Bound by the Grand Covenant to never harm humans, these puppets integrated into many aspects of life, transforming Krat into a thriving city. Soon thereafter, the Petrification Disease swept through the city, slowly blinding its inhabitants, turning them to stone, and ultimately leading to their deaths. As Krat crumbled, the puppets succumbed to a sudden phenomenon known as the Puppet Frenzy, which drove them to madness and led to a massacre of the city's population. Geppetto disappeared, leaving behind a puppet named P.

P awakens in an abandoned train at the Krat Central Station and hears the voice of a woman named Sophia asking him to come to a local hotel. There, Sophia instructs him to find Geppetto. P soon finds Geppetto and rescues him from a mercenary of the group known as the Stalkers. Geppetto asks P to find the inventor Lorenzini Venigni, with whom he once collaborated on the production of puppets. P rescues Lorenzini from his factory and goes to the cathedral, where refugees were hiding. On his way to and inside the cathedral, P fights Carcasses—citizens disfigured by the Petrification Disease who mutated in an unknown way. Sophia asks P to explore the Malum district, where the refugees are likely to have gone. In Malum, P again encounters Carcasses and discovers that the area is controlled by the Black Rabbit Brotherhood. With the help of two Stalkers, the Red Fox and Black Cat, P defeats one of the Brotherhood members. The other three bandits flee, promising revenge. At their base, P finds evidence of the Brotherhood's collaboration with alchemists.

Geppetto, suspecting the King of Puppets of causing the Puppet Frenzy, sends P to the opera house, the King's lair. After the King's defeat, another puppet emerges from its shell: Romeo, who also suffered from the Petrification Disease and acquired a new appearance after Geppetto's experiments. Trying to speak to P in a language he doesn't understand, they fight, and P ultimately kills Romeo. Geppetto, having met P near the opera house, sends him to the Great Exhibition, where, according to rumors, alchemists have invented a cure for the Petrification Disease. At the exhibition, P meets Simon Manus, the leader of the alchemists. Simon tells him that exposure to Ergo caused the disease and that the mutations, which he considers the next stage of human evolution, are a result of the alchemists' experiments with this mineral. Simon also explains that Ergo is the crystallized form of the human soul that forms after death, and invites P to the Isle of Alchemists.

To reach the Isle, P needs a Golden Ergo crystal, located in the Barren Swamp, to power Lorenzini's submarine. After obtaining the crystal, P receives a message from Sophia about an attack on the hotel. He returns to discover that the attack was carried out by the Brotherhood and the Red Fox and Black Cat, and that Geppetto has been kidnapped. Meanwhile, Lorenzini deciphers Romeo's message, which reveals that Geppetto, as the puppets' creator, initiated the Puppet Frenzy and has always controlled them. P heads to the submarine but is ambushed by the Brotherhood. He defeats them and departs for the Isle. On the shore, he encounters Sophia, who confesses to being a projection. Her real body, disfigured by Ergo, lies in the Isle tower after Simon exploited Sophia's ability to control Ergo, connecting her to a machine that spreads the Petrification Disease. Sophia reveals that she revived P so he could end her suffering.

After defeating Laxasia, Simon's henchman, P enters the tower. He finds the real Sophia and faces a choice: leave her alive or end her suffering. Later, P encounters the Red Fox and Black Cat, who either let him pass in exchange for Gold Coin Fruit or fight him to the death. Eventually, P frees Geppetto, who tells him that Simon has gathered enough Ergo to activate a powerful relic called the Arm of God and achieve divine power. P climbs to the top of the tower and fights the mutated Simon. Victorious, P returns to Geppetto, who asks him to give him his mechanical heart to turn P into a real human.

• If P agrees, he dies, and Geppetto uses his heart to revive another puppet based on his son Carlo, who had died from Petrification Disease. Geppetto then orders Carlo to kill the survivors in the hotel and replaces them with puppet copies. Eventually, Geppetto leaves the hotel to "rebuild" the city for Carlo.

• If P refuses, Geppetto activates the Nameless Puppet to take his heart by force. When Geppetto loses control of the puppet, it begins to act on its own and overpowers P, preparing to stab him in the heart. Geppetto rushes toward P, shielding him and sacrificing himself, which gives P a chance to destroy the puppet.

• If the player gains enough Humanity and gives Sophia peace (with the addition of grey hair), a second ending plays out where P brings Sophia back to life by placing her Ergo into a puppet duplicate.

In the post-credits scene, Paracelsus, disguised as the merchant Giangio, reports the results of the "Krat experiment" to the woman on the phone, calling P "a new type of humanity." The woman points out that eternal life can take many forms, and they agree to continue their observations. Paracelsus expresses his intention to find another "key"—Dorothy. Back in Krat, a girl wearing ruby slippers appears on the rooftops and clicks her heels three times.

During his journey through Krat, P comes across an unusual Stargazer that transports him to a past version of Krat shortly before the Puppet Frenzy occurred. He finds himself in the Krat Zoo before it was destroyed in the chaos of the Puppet Frenzy, where all of the animals were turned into Carcasses and set loose by Markiona and her Alchemists as part of their experiments. They also find signs of the presence of Lea Florence Monad, the Legendary Stalker that disappeared before the Puppet Frenzy, who is pursuing the Alchemists due to the kidnapping of her apprentice Romeo. After killing Markiona, P follows Lea's trail through the Alchemists' hidden labs, fighting his way through their Carcass experiments and Stalkers who are cooperating with them. Along the way, he discovers that the mad serial killer puppet Arlecchino, who had previously been destroyed by Lea, had been rebuilt by the Alchemists. Focused on getting revenge on Lea, Arlecchino betrayed the Alchemists, went rogue, and captured Romeo as bait.

P journeys to the Rose Estate, where Arlecchino is hiding. He finally catches up with Lea on the way, who is already infected with the Petrification Disease. Realizing she is too weakened to fight Arlecchino on her own, she decides to team up with P. Working together, P and Lea defeat Arlecchino and rescue Romeo, with Lea finally recognizing P resembles Carlo before he is sent back to the present. Shortly after P's disappearance, Geppetto arrives and used the Nameless Puppet to kill Lea so he can transform Romeo into the Puppet King.

Upon returning to the present, P can find some minor events have changed due to his actions in the past, and can find a secret room that reveals Carlo was Lea's other apprentice alongside Romeo, and she had always regretted being unable to prevent Carlo's death.

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