Neowiz has shared an interesting new update about Lies of P that we may take as a choice to step away from what made gamers pay attention to the game the first time.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, the studio is adding a new free update to Lies of P that is coming at the same time as Lies of P: Overture. The update adds three things: a new boss rush mode called Battle Memories, and two new difficulty options, called Butterfly’s Guidance and Awakened Puppet.
Lies of P’s game director Jiwon Choi went on record that these two options are intended to make the game easier. To quote his responses to Video Games Chronicle:
We wanted to make sure a wider audience of players could play the game… we have a lot of feedback from customers, and from our developers.
So by making development adjustments and introducing these difficulty options, we can offer the experience to different types of players. This broadens the base.
As a reminder, Lies of P: Overture is a prequel expansion, where you join P as he follows a Stalker and lives out the events just before the end of Krat. One could interpret that this free update is intended to supplement Lies of P: Overture, as Round 8 Studios is once again iterating on their blockbuster hit.
Given the names Butterfly’s Guidance and Awakened Puppet, we do wonder if these aren’t just simple difficulty levels. For example, it’s possible that these are different options that one can toggle on and off, and one could use both Butterfly’s Guidance and Awakened Puppet at the same time.
Of course, this change is likely to rile up the fans of Soulslike games, as Round 8 was transparent about the inspiration of FromSoftware games in Lies of P. This choice to make Lies of P easier is somewhat an extension of hotfixes and updates that they have already been making to the game, but this formalizes their decision.
Maybe Round 8 was inspired by FromSoftware, but they’re making it clear that they don’t put their games on a pedestal. Round 8 wants to make Lies of P a game on its own, and this could turn out to be an evolution in the same level that differentiates roguelikes from roguelites.
And there are gamers who like rogues, roguelikes, and roguelites, who appreciate the variations in each genre, and what makes each of them fun in their own way. So we do think Round 8 being upfront about moving away from FromSoftware’s dedication to difficulty is a credit to them, since we can now accept that they’re making their own thing with Lies of P.
