Lies of P director Choi Ji-Won has interesting things to say about comparisons between his game and a certain Bloodborne.
Both, of course, take after the game genre made popular by Dark Souls, and now count not only FromSoftware, but also Koei Tecmo and multiple smaller studios as developers in this genre. On top of that, both take on the aesthetic of the Victorian era, exemplified by the art style, setting, environment, as well as the hairstyles and clothing of the characters. The close similarity of their visuals has made it easy for fans to see a connection. What follows is a translated paraphrasing of Ji-Won’s reaction to the comparison.
“I’m feeling so honored that my art is being mentioned together with the name of Bloodborne. So I am very honored.”
Interestingly enough, Lies of P and Bloodborne were both based on the Victorian-era novels The Adventures of Pinocchio and Dracula, respectively. While it’s entirely possible that all of this is completely coincidental as Ji-Won says, it is interesting that that particular era in literature has become an unlikely common source of inspiration for this kind of game. Just to put that in perspective, these games would also share the setting of the Castlevania franchise, as well as Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.
Now, Choi Ji-Won has also made it a point to explain how NeoWiz’s upcoming action game is different from Bloodborne. In particular, when discussing Lies of P‘s inspiration, he has explained that Pinocchio may be best known for the 1940 animated adaptation from Walt Disney studios, but the original story, published as a novel in 1883 but originally serialized in an Italian children’s magazine in 1881, was much darker.
You may be reading that but not quite understanding what that means about how dark the Pinocchio story originally was, so here’s an example. Author Carlo Collodi wrote a scene where the Fox and the Cat hang Pinocchio from a tree. This of course does not kill Pinocchio, as he was still a puppet, but it’s still not something you expect from a children’s story. (It would have been common in Victorian times.) This was obviously a scene Disney’s animators passed on adapting, but it’s certainly intriguing to think about if this scene will be recreated or given homage to in the video game in some way. That’s the promise that Lies of P has–the ability to surpass Bloodborne‘s suggested, often understated violence.
Lies of P will be released this 2023 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows. You can read our prior coverage of the game below.
Lies of P Publisher Release Two Tracks From The Game
Gamescom Shows Epic New Trailer for Lies of P
Lies of P Gets Action-packed First Gameplay Trailer
Lies of P Released Extensive Gameplay Footage
Source: TheGamer
