Every generation or so, a new game genre ascends in popularity, carving out a spot in player’s hearts, with its breakout hit spawning countless imitators: think the Platformer, the FPS, the Open World, the Soulslike.
While dozens of games have followed the path blazed by FromSoftware’s seminal Souls games, very few have approached the bar set by Hidetaka Miyazaki and co. Lies of P, with its blend of tight, challenging action and a haunting take on Carlo Collodi’s “The Adventures of Pinocchio,” is one such genre standout.
Now 18 months since its initial release, Neowiz is finally sharing what’s next for Lies of P, the expansion Lies of P: Overture. At last week’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), I was able to sit down with Game Director Ji-won Choi to talk about what we can expect.
Xbox Wire: Before we get into the new stuff,I want to ask about the team and what the last 18 months have been like. I think it’s a year-and-a-half since Lies of P first came out, and so I would love to just sort of start there.
Ji-won Choi: If I had to choose one distinctive change from the beginning and then now, 18 months later, it’s that for the fans, there was a sentiment of worries and concern and that changed to trust, support, and expectation.
In our case, that sort of switch also happened to us. First, the worries and concern to modesty, because the lovely reaction and the feedback the fans actually share with us became a constant source of motivation for us to do better.
Xbox Wire: Lies of P was a fantastic addition to the Game Pass library in its first year. What was the Xbox/Game Pass partnership experience like in helping to bring Lies of P to the global stage?
Ji-won Choi: So, thank you so much for all the love and support that you have shared with us on Xbox, we really appreciate it, and we also want to share our love and appreciation for the fans of Xbox and Lies of P on Xbox. Our goal was always to bring our content to as wide a set of audience around the world as possible and Xbox allowed us to make that happen, and we are very grateful for it. And because of that, we have now heightened expectations to really continue to satisfy and improve our content to an even broader fanbase around the world- so we now have a lot of work to do.
Xbox Wire: Let’s talk about Overture, the recently revealed DLC expansion. So – and I’ll try to avoid super spoilery things here – at the end of Lies of P, which by the way I wear it as a badge of honor that I did beat the game, there’s a scene that seems to imply where Lies of P could go next. I found it a bit surprising that Overture will take us back in time. How was the decision made to see the city of Krat before it fell?
Ji-won Choi: Congratulations on beating the game! And yes, the character that we teased about, I can definitively say that that the character is not going to be in the expansion this time. For the expansion, we were putting all our effort into delivering Lies of P’s base game at first when we launched. Even before that, we had an even bigger vision and narratives that we wanted to put in. But because we had to focus on really completing the base game experience as a solid experience without issues, we had to cut out a lot of branches at that point.
Now, thanks to all the fans’ support and love and reception that you shared with us around the world, we now have a chance to really complete the experience that we couldn’t deliver at first when we launched the base game. So please consider this extension not as a separate entity, but it is actually the experience Lies of P was supposed to be delivered at first. Now you have the complete experience.
Xbox Wire: I’m curious how Overture integrates within the main game of Lies of P. Do you need to have completed the main game and then something happens that sends P back in time? Or is this something where a new player can enter as part of their original playthrough, and even bring the new Legion Arms and new moves in the expansion and bring them back to the main game?
Ji-won Choi: I cannot quite share with you exactly how the mechanism of how you jump into the expansion, but if you go and play to just about Chapter 9, with all the knowledge base and capability up to that point, it will let you very seamlessly jump into the world of the expansion. That is for the same for anyone who even completes the game at the end; even if you join in after completing the game, or if you join in by just simply playing up to the chapter 9ish, you have a satisfying experience together. So, the content itself is going to be both for the fans who are familiar with the franchise, and for brand new players.
Xbox Wire: I watched the recent Overture trailer and then I went and watched some very detailed fan videos that broke down every bit of the trailer frame by frame, to try to guess what’s happening. What do you want people to take away from the trailer? Anything they should be paying extra special attention to?
Ji-won Choi: I also saw those frame-by-frame analyses from the fans. First of all, that made me realize how much love that we have been receiving from our fan base around the world. I was deeply touched by that. What we wanted to really convey to the fans was quite simple: we wanted to let the fans know that we have gotten a lot of feedback, very meaningful feedback and reception of all kinds for a very long time. And we wanted to deliver content for the fans that they will intuitively know that we listen to them. And that’s what we wanted to deliver in our trailer.
Xbox Wire: I’m very curious about that. Lies that P was made, I would expect, with not a lot of expectations, externally. I mean it looked good, but nobody knew really what to expect. Now people know how good Lies of P is, and are anticipating Overture, so when you hear the fan feedback, I’m curious which things you are taking into account, or do you have to shut some of that out to complete your vision?
Ji-won Choi: Really meaningful question. We see this whole process as a collaboration and we take it seriously – a collaboration between developers and the customers. We carefully study all these elements all together and the key is to understand what we are doing well is resonating, and to understand what we’re doing wrong and how we identify it and improve upon it. So, when we get this type of feedback to ourselves, there are elements that are easily acceptable, and there are other elements that are sort of debatable, but we don’t just discard them. What we usually do is we bring those elements internally to our development team and we get to write it down and we start testing very quickly. Based on that, we can validate if those claims work out well for us or it doesn’t. We take it seriously: we test it, and we validate.
Xbox Wire: Going back to the trailer, my personal take away is that in the base game, it’s a very lonely experience most of the time. Yes, you can come back to the Hotel Krat and you get to see other people, which is great. But when you’re out in the world, you’re alone. And in this trailer, P is not alone very often – P blows the horn, and and I think it’s Aladoro comes smashing through the window, we see this masked stalker fighting alongside P. Is Overture going to be a less lonely affair?
Ji-won Choi: The whole feeling of loneliness and any other emotion, that’s something that’s hard for me to sort of predict… What we really focused on was to really elaborate on the attractive characters we started developing. When you play the base game, you see many different characters… or actually you only heard of through some hints throughout the game. When you experience the expansion, you will get to learn far more about these characters that we have hinted quite a bit. We want you to make sure that you have a much more thorough and complete experience of the attractive characters that we begin to introduce here again.
Xbox Wire: Any final thoughts?
Ji-won Choi: To emphasize, Overture combined with the base game is going to be the holistic experience of Lies of P – how it was meant to be experienced. Because of that, it’s highly intertwined together, so what I recommend or suggest to the fans would be to take time, experience the base game in time for our Overture launch, and enjoy.
Xbox Wire: This summer, right?
Ji-won Choi [enthusiastically!]: “This summer!”
Lies of P: Overture
NEOWIZ
Lies of P: Overture is a dramatic prequel to the acclaimed soulslike action RPG, Lies of P. It transports you to the city of Krat in its final days of haunting, late-19th-century Belle Époque beauty. On the brink of the Puppet Frenzy massacre, you follow a legendary Stalker—a mysterious guide—through untold stories and chilling secrets. As Geppetto’s deadly puppet, you’ll journey through Krat and its surroundings, uncover hidden backstories, and face epic battles that shape the past and future of Lies of P.
As Geppetto’s Puppet, you encounter a mysterious artifact that transports you back to Krat in its final days of grandeur. In the shadow of an impending tragedy, your mission is to explore the past and uncover its dark secrets—haunted by surprises, loss, and vengeance. The choices you make ripple through the past and present in the world of Lies of P, revealing hidden truths and leaving lasting consequences.
Embark on an unforgettable adventure where the symphony of steel clashes with the haunting melody of the unknown. Dare to unravel the mysteries of the past, for in the heart of darkness lies the key to unlocking the secrets of a timeless tale reborn.
“Geppetto’s puppet… We need your help.”
Lies of P
NEOWIZ
You are a puppet created by Geppetto who’s caught in a web of lies with unimaginable monsters and untrustworthy figures standing between you and the events that have befallen the world of Lies of P.
You are awakened by a mysterious voice that guides you through the plagued city of Krat – a once lively place that has been poisoned by madness and bloodlust. In our soulslike, you must adapt yourself and your weapons to face untold horrors, untangle the unfathomable secrets of the city’s elites and choose whether to confront predicaments with the truth or weave lies to overcome them on the journey to find yourself.
・ A DARKLY ELEGANT AND CRUEL WORLD
Unearth the secrets of the city of Krat – a place soaked in the style of the Belle Epoque era which once thrived due to its puppet industry and now sees its streets covered in blood.
・BATTLE WITH TWISTED INSTRUMENTS
Develop a unique combat style to counter vicious enemies and terrain by weaving together dynamic weapon combinations, utilizing the Legion Arms, and activating new abilities.
・WHAT’S IN A LIE?
There will be times when you will be confronted with choices where you can give comfort to others in sorrow or despair by lying…or you can choose to tell the truth.
Carve your own path.
・A CLASSIC REIMAGINED
Experience the beloved fairy tale of Pinocchio reinterpreted as a dark, grim narrative that allows players to discover the secrets and symbols hidden within the world of Lies of P.
The post Lies of P’s Future Begins with a Journey into the Past appeared first on Xbox Wire.
1: Khaos Reigns Kollection
