Like any Soulslike worth its salt,Lies of Pis held in high regard for many reasons but chief among them are its wide breadth of enemy variety and thrilling boss designs. Wholly robust in every feature it brings to the table,Neowiz’s bold and looseAdventures of Pinocchioadaptationachieves an eerie whimsy that drew early attention for its striking resemblance toBloodborneand earned curiosity for its unique lying system, charming and eccentric NPCs, and combat with dynamic builds revolving around an assortment of weapon handles and blades.
Much likeSekiro: Shadows Die Twice—and evenBloodborneto a degree—Lies of Pis ruthless in its examination of whether or not players are skilled enough to parry and dodge consistently. Indeed, while a Motivity-leaning or Technique-leaning build will favor one over the other, parries and dodges areLies of P’s bread and butter and a skill check tempering players’ steel arrives as early as the Mad Donkey. However, as is learned by consecutively parrying even the first puppets players come across as they emerge onto Krat Central Station’s train platform, there is usually a wonderful incentive to parry humanoid enemies wielding melee weapons of their own.
Perfect Guard Weapon Breaks are Lies of P’s Secret Sauce
Parrying—Perfect Guarding asLies of Prefers to it—is vital in general because it is the only defensive guarantee players have that they will thwart any incoming damage.
Players will simply block an attack if their Perfect Guard is mistimed, and such an error is devastating since blocks fail to repel that much damage anyway. This encourages practiced and learned Perfect Guards as well as calculated evasive maneuvers with both mechanics contributing to players’ stamina management as some attack strings are more effectively or efficiently dodged than parried and vice versa. That said, parrying can be far more worthwhile than simply avoiding damage or even dealing posture damage to an enemy whose attack is perfectly guarded.
In cases where a humanoid enemy wields a weapon, such as the cleaver-wielding Walker of Illusions, the axe-wielding Robber Weasel, or thebroadsword-wielding Eldest Brother, many of these weapons can be broken after dealing enough damage to them via Perfect Guards. Being able to break enemy weapons is fascinating for a few reasons: most importantly, a weapon broken by Perfect Guards does less damage and has a smaller hitbox; a broken weapon is a rewarding cue that players’ Perfect Guard skill is exceptional; and it’s simply satisfying to connect a Perfect Guard and see the enemy’s weapon fracture permanently for the remainder of the fight along with a sound cue.
Lies of P’s DLC Should Continue to Splinter Enemy Steel
Enemies inLies of Pcan still be formidable with shattered weapons, but there is a huge sense of gratification knowing that players’ Perfect Guards have been worthwhile and it even mirrors P’s own ability to routinely repair weapons on a Grinder before they become pitifully futile as well. Enemies have no such Grinder in their possession, and therefore players who’ve mastered Perfect Guards against humanoid onslaughts can exploit that weakness with impunity.
Allowing a weapon to fully degrade inLies of Presults in it needing to be repaired by visiting a Stargazer, which cleverly incentivizes the mindful use of a Grinder during opportune moments in combat.
It’s important to know which enemies have weapons that can break and which don’t, andLies of P’s upcoming DLC will hopefully unveil a whole host of threats who wield such weapons. There is sure to be a handful ofghoulish monstrosities like Fallen Archbishop Andreus or the Green Monster of the Swamp, but having a wealth of Stalker mini-bosses like Owl Doctor or the Atoned would be fantastic as it could flesh out the number of foes whose weapons are breakable. The mechanic itself is sure to be reprised inLies of P’s DLC if it echoes the same gameplay as the base game anyhow, and it’s absolutely a function in combat that future Soulslike games could employ to their advantage.
