i'm going to try & keep this short, because i've complained ad nauseum about this already, but it's something that can really ruin a gameplay experience for me -- and in the case of lies of p, HAS ruined -- so i feel i need to reiterate: i really, really, really hate when games are as derivative of their influences as this. it utterly lessens any original pieces of the work by constantly comparing them to their predecessor(s), and i end up spending more time thinking about whatever it's trying to copy than just enjoying the game on its own terms. it's boring, and it often leaves me feeling frustrated or empty when i'm done.

wearing your inspirations on your sleeve is totally fine, but i need people to be thinking about those inspirations creatively & thoughtfully for me to feel content. otherwise, why even bother making art at all, if you're just going to be regurgitating everything someone else has done? outer wilds draws very obvious inspiration from majora's mask, for example, but has reimagined & recontextualized the things it borrows to synthesize a wholly satisfying, wholly unique experience.

lies of p does not do this. nearly every aspect of this game is taken from either sekiro or bloodborne, with very little post-processing done to make it feel like it's its own thing. it's competently made & plays fine, and there are clearly some creative, skilled folks involved here, but it's just so unimaginative on a structural level that i can't feel anything but misery playing it. like ... i don't like that the aesthetics & UI design are taken straight from bloodborne; i don't like how the combat mechanics are taken from sekiro & bloodborne with hardly any creative iterating done between the two; i don't like that even the god damn story structure ( gothic horror -> cosmic horror ) is taken from freaking bloodborne. even the basic worldbuilding is taken from another IP ( pinocchio ), it just feels so intensely bleak.

some of the monster designs & worldbuilding flavor are fun, at least, and the weapon combination system is intriguing ... but i don't know. it isn't much. as i just said, there are obviously people on this team who had ideas; it's just hard to take any of those ideas seriously when the game is trying SO hard to be A Soulsborne Game. it feels hollow. it feels additionally hollow given the fact that this was advertised like crazy as "bloodborne 2", and "bloodborne, but pinocchio -- how weird is that?!" it feels like nothing about this game is daring to do anything, because all it actually wanted to do was sell itself.

there is more to be said about the specifics of why lies of p doesn't work for me, and how its insistence on being perceived as a fromsoft title ( rather than just being part of the "souls-like" genre ) do more to harm it than not, but there's no point. i'll just say, i hope this project was more of a test run for this studio, and that in the future ( with the funding they earned ) they'll be more bold & distinct with their game designs -- they don't have to be good games, they just have to be "them".