Summary
- Lies of P distinguishes itself from Bloodborne in many ways, such as by introducing a unique healing system based on Pulse Cells.
- The rally mechanic in Lies of P, inspired by Bloodborne, allows players to recover health while simultaneously replenishing exhausted Pulse Cell charges, creating a satisfying and fluid combat experience.
- The demo of Lies of P showcased the game's progression and introduced important features, including substantial boss fights, indicating a smooth development process and exciting gameplay possibilities.
Lies of P will forever be known as a Bloodborne-like game with artistic and gameplay inspiration seemingly pulled from it, but its distinctions can hopefully make it much more unique and differentiate itself from that simple comparison. Bloodborne is known as one of FromSoftware’s most intriguing and eccentric games, abandoning many of Dark Souls’ staple mechanics for gameplay that revolves around dodges, gun parries, and rallying health back by being aggressive after taking damage. Lies of P’s rally mechanic is similar, but one feature allows it to have a doubly beneficial effect.
Lies of P gave players a few hours with the game in what felt like a startlingly lengthy introductory demo. Players now have about as much knowledge about the game’s opening hours as they could ask for, and several important features were introduced in this time, as well as a few substantial boss fights. Not only did this insinuate that the game was coming along smoothly, but Lies of P going gold recently has now cemented that fact. The demo also taught players that Lies of P would not be mimicking Bloodborne’s blood vials, and instead it has a much more exciting healing system.
Bloodborne’s Blood Vials Create a Punitive Farming Issue
Bloodborne is easily one of FromSoftware’s most difficult games, but its difficulty does not come from intimidating foes and gruesome bosses alone. Because players don’t have a number of self-replenishing Estus flasks as they do in a Dark Souls game or Healing Gourd uses in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, every encounter is made that much more tumultuous knowing that the player’s salves and other resources are constantly dwindling. Players can only hold 20 blood vials on their person at a time before Communion runes are considered, and while they will be collecting more if they are successfully killing enemies and looting items as they see them, it is still a grueling farming experience.
Players will surely die to bosses often, for example, and any blood vials imbibed in an attempt to stay alive and learn more of the fight results in a loss of a precious resource upon death that they will have to go out of their way to then purchase or earn back. Lies of P may appear to take a lot of influence for its own gameplay formula from Bloodborne, but it’s arguably a boon for Lies of P that it declined to adopt blood vials for this reason.
Lies of P’s Pulse Cells and the Rally System Reward Players Equally
Instead, Lies of P’s healing revolves around Pulse Cells. These charges behave essentially like Estus flasks until they are completely diminished, but at that point players will gradually be able to replenish charges by attacking enemies. This way, players are actually encouraged to exhaust their Pulse Cell charges sooner than later and earn back their healing salves. Then, in tandem with the rally system Lies of P implements from Bloodborne, players will actually be replenishing charges at the same time that they recover the health they recently lost.
This could go a long way in helping aggression feel satisfying in a way that even Bloodborne struggled with, and even though Pulse Cells will be limited early players will have opportunities to increase their carrying capacity all the while. Regardless, Lies of P having Pulse Cells is a great alternative for blood vials that won’t require the arduous farming that Bloodborne can entail.
Lies of P launches on September 19 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.