Lies of P: Overture is a $30 expansion for the Pinocchio-inspired ode to Bloodborne that developer Neowiz shadow-dropped last Friday during Summer Game Fest Live. It immediately started kicking players asses. Even the veterans with tons of gear and multiple New Game Plus playthroughs. The developer says it’s taking a look to see if the difficulty needs to be retuned.
The Lies of P DLC starts at chapter 9, and players coming straight from replaying the base game say they immediately felt the difference, as did those on their third or fourth NG+ playthrough. “Why do I suck again?! Lol” wrote one player on the subreddit. “If you put 25 points into Vitality, and equip Health increase talismans, and put the best defensive puppet parts, you have the luxury of getting 2 shot,” wrote another. Players are fighting for their lives just to survive early kangaroo and elephant mobs.
Two things seem to be going on. 1) the base game of Overture is very hard. 2) enemy scaling for New Game Plus has ramped up significantly. As a result, players who should in theory be the most experienced at the game are finding the DLC the most difficult. “It’s beyond overtuned,” wrote one fan. “Like I’m all for difficulty but my lord is it wild how much more difficult it is from the main game.” Another added, “They messed up DLC NG+ scaling there is no doubt. I think there will be patches that fix this, but for now...We suffer or reduces the difficulty lol.”
Some players have been doing exactly that, taking advantage of Neowiz’s controversial decision to add difficulty options to its Soulsborne, to make progress after hours of hitting their heads against brick walls. The South Korean studio has been taking notice, and released a Lies of P Director’s Letter on YouTube on Tuesday to share cryptic details about upcoming changes to the DLC.
“We identified areas that did not turn out quite as we intended,” Ji Won Choi told fans. “Therefore, we are reviewing various adjustments, including difficulty reduction. However, combat is one of the most fundamental experiences in Lies of P, so any modifications or changes require meticulous work and thorough testing. We are still reviewing the specific details and schedule for a patch, but we wanted to let you know as soon as possible why it’s taking our team some time, and the general direction we’re heading.”
The citizens of Krat can breathe a small sigh of relief than knowing that their slog through Overture might become a little more forgiving in the weeks ahead, though a set release date for the upcoming patch, as well as what Neowiz actually plans to change, remains pending. In the meantime, we can liberate ourselves from our Soulsborne shame and make use of the newly-introduced easier modes.
“The release of additional easier difficulties alongside the DLC almost seems like a justification for how much of a difficulty wall there is between the base game and the DLC—enemies hit stupidly hard, and have stupidly high HP,” wrote one player on Steam. “If you’re into that, great, but I found the DLC far more enjoyable when I went down a difficulty, and it felt like a far more natural progression on the base game.”
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