BODY: "Soulslike games look too hard." It's a sentiment that keeps countless players away from one of gaming's most celebrated genres. But according to a first-time reviewer at Japanese outlet AUTOMATON, Lies of P: Complete Edition—newly released for Nintendo Switch 2—is the rare entry point that turns that dread into delight.
Developed by South Korea's Round8 Studio, Lies of P reimagines the tale of Pinocchio as a dark, Belle Époque adventure. You play as P, a puppet created by Geppetto, awakening in the plague- and violence-stricken city of Krat. What follows is a journey of literal and figurative growth: with every brutal encounter and every death, the player—and the puppet—inches closer to mastery.
The AUTOMATON writer, a longtime avoider of the genre, describes exactly the loop that hooks soulslike veterans. Bosses that feel impossible at first become readable, then beatable, through patient repetition. That gradual shift from frustration to triumph—the genre's true "醍醐味," or essence—turned out to be something the reviewer had been missing all along by refusing to try.
The Complete Edition bundles the base game with the Overture expansion and accumulated updates, making the Switch 2 release the definitive way to experience Krat. Portable play also suits the genre's stop-and-retry rhythm, letting players chip away at a stubborn boss in short bursts.
The insider take
Lies of P was a genuine surprise hit in Japan, where FromSoftware's Dark Souls and Elden Ring set an intimidatingly high bar for what "soulslike" means. Japanese players tend to be purists about the label, so a non-Japanese studio earning this level of respect—and being embraced as a gateway title—is notable. The Switch 2 launch matters here too: Japan remains a stronghold for Nintendo hardware, and putting a polished soulslike on the platform meets a huge, portable-first audience exactly where they play.
Originally reported by AUTOMATON (Japanese).