Lies of P Guide#

Lies of P is a dark souls-like action game adapted from the classic fairy tale The Adventures of Pinocchio, developed by Round8 Studio and published by NEOWIZ, and released in September 2023. The story is set in Krat: a once-glorious city pushed into total collapse by puppets that went out of control. You play the puppet Pinocchio, moving between rampaging puppets and a dying city, searching for Geppetto’s whereabouts and closing in on the truth of how the city fell.

“Lying” is the narrative core of the game. Choosing to lie or tell the truth at key dialogue points steers the story toward different ending routes, while the souls-like fragmented storytelling hides Krat’s history inside letters, lines of dialogue, and stretches of ruins.

Core Systems at a Glance#

Each system is explained below.

P-Organ: The Quartz-Driven Growth Tree#

The P-Organ is Pinocchio’s ability-growth core. The whole system is split into 7 Phases with 28 upgrades, all unlocked with Quartz, which comes from exploring areas and defeating strong enemies — tying “exploration” directly to “growth.”

• Each Phase corresponds to a new batch of upgrade slots, and the later upgrades affect your combat style more heavily.
• Upgrades cover survivability, damage, and utility; your spending order should serve your weapon and Legion Arm setup.
• Don’t agonize over the “optimal build” early on — putting Quartz into mistake-forgiveness upgrades first makes the run to the credits far smoother.

Weapons: Free Blade-and-Handle Combination#

Weapons in this game are made of a “blade” and a “handle,” and the two can be freely split and recombined:

• The blade decides the basic attack form: attack animations, attack reach, and the type of status anomaly it can carry.
• The handle decides the swing rhythm and the weapon art, and leans stat-scaling in a particular direction.
• Combination is the foundation of every build in this game: put the same blade on a different handle and everything from attack speed to the weapon art changes completely.

Rather than rebuilding your character over and over, mount every new blade onto your favorite handle and feel it out — that is this game’s most distinctive pleasure.

Legion Arms: The Left Arm’s Tactical Extension#

Pinocchio’s left arm can be swapped for various Legion Arms, giving combat a third option beyond weapons: some prosthetics drag distant enemies into melee range, some handle ranged attrition or area damage, and others focus on defensive reinforcement. Legion Arms interlock with weapon arts and status anomalies, forming the build’s other main axis.

Perfect Guard: The Core of Defense#

The heart of defense here is the perfect guard: press block at the exact moment an enemy attack lands to deflect it and gain a posture-damage bonus — fixed at 57 no matter the weapon or the opponent.

• Compared with dodge rolling, perfect guarding rewards standing your ground, and it is the main way to handle puppet enemies’ combo strings.
• A failed block falls back into a normal guard and you still eat posture damage plus partial health damage; learning each enemy type’s attack rhythm is required study.
• Strings of perfect guards stagger enemies into an executable state — a crucial damage window in boss fights.

Dual Status Anomalies: The Other Offensive Dimension#

Blades can carry status anomalies under a dual-anomaly design, with corrosion and electric shock among the common types. Hits gradually build the anomaly gauge, and once an anomaly takes effect it visibly changes the pace of a fight. Weighing and pairing the two anomaly types is a key consideration when putting a loadout together.

Endings and the Hidden Boss#

The game is built around “lying,” with two ending routes — the lie route and the truth route. Every choice you make at the story’s key nodes pushes the tale toward a different finale. On a first playthrough, answer on instinct and let the story become your story.

For players chasing the complete experience, the more important fact is this: completing the true-ending route unlocks the hidden boss, the Nameless Puppet. That hidden boss fight is considered the hardest battle in the entire game, and it is the true epilogue of the whole story.

How to Use This Guide#

The full sub-guides are split by topic, so different entries help most depending on where you are:

• Brand-new players: start with the beginner basics, and pair it with the combat-system guide to build defensive muscle memory.
• Stuck players: check the boss guide and area-exploration entries for where you are, then adjust your build with the loadout recommendations.
• Completionists: work through full collectibles, hidden content, and the achievement list in that order.
• Multi-run players: focus on New Game+ and the late-game entries to plan your post-clear growth route.

DLC: Overture#

The large DLC Overture launched in 2025, adding a new chapter to Krat’s story. The DLC reuses the base game’s weapon assembly, Legion Arms, and P-Organ systems while providing a new stage and high-intensity boss challenges; go in after you are comfortable with the base game’s perfect-guard rhythm.

FAQ#

Hub Update Log#

Related Games#

• Dark Souls 3 — the modern pillar of the souls-like lineage Lies of P draws from
• Sekiro — another game where precise deflection, not rolling, is the answer to enemy pressure
• Elden Ring — FromSoftware’s open-world take on the same punishing combat formula
• Stellar Blade — high-difficulty stylish action with a similarly committed parry game
• Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty — Team Ninja’s deflect-heavy combat built around morale and aggression
• Wuchang: Fallen Feathers — another souls-like centered on precise deflection and brutal bosses

Related Rankings#

Best Soulslike Games · Best Soulslikes of 2026 H2 · Hardest Bosses

Full Guides#

In-depth sub-guides — beginner basics, the combat system, boss strategies, the weapon catalog, Legion Arms, P-Organ builds, loadout recommendations, upgrades, the enemy catalog, area exploration, quests, story analysis, character profiles, full collectibles, hidden content, the achievement list, practical tips, late-game and New Game+, and the Overture DLC — are available in Chinese on NTGame’s Lies of P section.

If you read Chinese, the story-analysis sub-guide there digs deeper into the two ending routes and the Nameless Puppet.