Lies of P: Overture is exactly what you'd want from more of the game - hands-on

It's probably not a hot take to say that as far as "soulslikes" go, Round8 and Neowiz's Lies of P is on another level compared to most of the other titles not developed by From Software that have hit the market over the last several years. Josh #2 said as much when he reviewed the game back in 2023. So needless to say, we've been pretty excited to go hands-on with the upcoming Overture expansion. Last week in LA, Neowiz allowed members of the media and a number of influencers a chance to check out the DLC ahead of its launch in the near future - and unsurprisingly, it feels like players are in for a real treat when it drops later this Summer.

Our preview session was split into two halves; we had one hour to check out the game's new Boss Memories mode, which lets players revisit boss fights they've already cleared in the story, and during which we got to go toe-to-toe with 3 of the new bosses that are part of Overture's campaign. The other half threw us at the very start of the expansion as we explored the Krat Zoo, including a boss fight that wasn't featured in our Boss Memories session. During both sections we were able to check out some of the DLC's new weapons; one I grew rather fond of was a sort of flamethrower lance that can make short work of bosses and regular enemies alike. Much like the basegame, the new weapons are a mix between "boss soul" weapons that come as a single weapon, as well as standard weapons that can be split between the handle and blade.

Of the bosses we faced, the real stand-out was the first Boss Memory from our un-recorded session. This one was a bit unique, where the boss we faced also commands a puppet to attack alongside her. Whenever the puppet is active, the ergo strings connecting the two of them glow red - giving players a heads-up when to prepare for attacks that may be coming from off-screen. Audio cues also help you prepare when to dodge or block, so even when swooping from off-screen it never felt like I didn't have adequate time to react to attacks.

As for the zoo itself, it compares favorably to areas from the basegame. New enemies such as the gorilla, the kangaroo and the chimerical abomination fit in with the game's overall aesthetic, and offer something truly different from what players faced in the original campaign. Since we only had the chance to check out the first Act of the DLC properly, it remains to be seen what new enemies we might face upon leaving the zoo behind. Things certainly seem promising enough at the start, however, with some of the best level design in the game right out of the gate. As we progress from the museum at the start of the zoo and through different biomes, there's a strong sense of progression even in the opening moments of the DLC, with plenty of variety in the locales.

While we talked about it with today's other announcements, the other noteworthy addition that will launch alongside the DLC are the game's new difficulty modes; while out time with the DLC was limited, we did get a chance to see how a similar system works with Boss Memories. While initially these rematches come with 3 difficulty options from 1 to 3 - presumably corresponding to the game's 3 distinct difficulty options come Overture's launch - you can eventually unlock even tougher difficulties beyond that. We didn't get any specifics about what these change within each fight, and in-fact the development team has kept what any of the new difficulty options change rather close to their chest; they don't want anything they share to dissuade players from choosing the difficulty that works best for them.

Lies of P: Overture launches for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and Mac/PC (Steam) for $29.99 later this Summer. An exact release date has not yet been announced. I, for one, am incredibly excited to play more.