Lies of P can't fool us: It's literally Bloodborne

When Pinocchio dodge-rolled out of an attack and crushed a vial to heal himself, I knew what was going on.

Lies of P is so Soulslike that it crosses the border of inspiration into replication. There are animations and UI elements that are probably not actually stolen from FromSoftware's Bloodborne, but they are ridiculously similar.

Last year, publisher Neowiz told Kotaku that making a game that's extremely Bloodborne "definitely wasn't intentional," and that FromSoftware's games are purely inspirational to the team at Roung8 Studio.

The new 12 minute gameplay video from IGN makes me skeptical of that quote. The game is a third-person action horror game where you slice lanky lads and shoot a gun from your left hand. It's Bloodborne set in the 19th century and you play as Pinocchio for some reason. It's not a bad way to find a way to make Bloodborne for PC; I just think the developers should be a little more honest about it.

Here's a list of things that were clearly inspired by Bloodborne in that video:

The whole health, stamina, and item interface
Combat looks weighty and deliberate
Lanky ~~Victorian~~ Belle Époque enemies with bed hair
Dark, dense levels filled with abandoned carts
When you die, text covers the screen as everything else fades to black
Status effects build up on hit
That healing vial animation that looks very familiar
Items glow on the ground, and the animation for collecting those too
Lock-on effect is a white dot
Inventory screen is full of stats
Weapons have durability
You can wind-up a heavy attack (not sure about visceral attacks though)

Now try to tell me Lies of P is a game made by people who simply like Bloodborne. I think everyone at Round8 Studio loves Bloodborne a lot, and are doing admirable work to make more Bloodborne happen.

Lies of P got a substantial trailer during Gamescom's Opening Night Live stream. In it, we saw Pinocchio totally-not-Bloodborne his way through Paris to find his creator, Geppetto. "Finally we meet, son," the monocled man says in a wizened voice. I wouldn't have disputed a short chuckle after that line if the developers wanted to go all the way with the Dark Souls inspirations, but the fact that he doesn't is a sign that this game, despite its entirely absurd premise and devotion to another popular action game, is taking itself very seriously. I respect that.

Lies of P will probably beat any official Bloodborne port to PC—and might be a sick alternative—when it launches in 2023.

Tyler has covered games, games culture, and hardware for over a decade before joining PC Gamer as Associate Editor. He's done in-depth reporting on communities and games as well as criticism for sites like Polygon, Wired, and Waypoint. He's interested in the weird and the fascinating when it comes to games, spending time probing for stories and talking to the people involved. Tyler loves sinking into games like Final Fantasy 14, Overwatch, and Dark Souls to see what makes them tick and pluck out the parts worth talking about. His goal is to talk about games the way they are: broken, beautiful, and bizarre.