If you haven’t played Lies of P yet, the new Overture DLC gives you plenty of good reasons to try it out. This add-on takes everything that made the original Pinocchio-themed Soulslike great and adds 12 hours of new content that feels familiar and fresh. The developers knew what players loved about the main game, so instead of changing everything, they just made it all better while adding some cool new stuff to keep things interesting.
What You’ll Find in Lies of P Overture Review
What I like about Overture is how it feels like a real expansion, not just more of the same old content. The DLC doesn’t just copy what was already there and change a few things around. Instead, it gives us a prequel story that makes the original game’s plot even better while adding enough new gameplay to keep longtime fans happy. It does a great job of giving players what they want while surprising them with twists that make you appreciate the main story even more. Both new players and returning fans will find lots to enjoy here, though you’ll get more out of the story if you’ve already finished the main game.
Going Back in Time to Learn More About the Story
Overture does something pretty smart by being a prequel instead of just continuing where the main game left off. This lets players see what happened before the puppet plague destroyed the city of Krat. The time travel thing isn’t just there for show, it helps you understand the characters and their reasons for doing what they did. The DLC feels huge, kind of like how Elden Ring’s big expansion worked, with tons of new places to explore, tough new bosses to fight, and lots of good loot to find.
The prequel setup lets the developers dig into story parts that were only hinted at in the main game. Players finally get answers to questions that were left hanging, and those answers are both surprising and satisfying. The story doesn’t just fill in background details, it makes you understand the main game’s events better, which makes you want to play through the original again with this new knowledge.
The storytelling keeps that same sad and dark feeling that made the main game so memorable, but it also has some moments of real hope and beauty that make the tragedy hit even harder. The writing shows that the developers understand how to make a good prequel that adds to the story instead of messing it up.
Amazing New Places That Tell Stories Through Their Design
The best part of Overture is the incredible variety of new places you get to explore. Each area feels completely different from anything in the main game while still fitting with the dark fairy tale style that makes Lies of P special. One area that stuck with me is this abandoned zoo where the mechanical plague turned all the animal displays into nightmare battlefields. You’ll fight against corrupted robot apes that swing around the exhibits, huge elephant machines that charge at you with enough force to shake the ground, and this terrifying giant alligator boss that combines the fear of being eaten alive with the creepy wrongness of broken machinery.
Another cool location is this dangerous frozen lake that works as both a puzzle and a fight challenge. The ice keeps threatening to break under your feet, so you have to plan your moves carefully while these pirate puppet enemies try to blast you into the freezing water with their cannons. This area perfectly shows how the DLC mixes different types of challenges, combining jumping puzzles with the usual soulslike combat in ways that feel natural instead of forced. The way these areas look is consistently amazing, with each place telling its own story through small details, great lighting, and environmental clues that reward players who take time to look around.
But not every new area is this creative. Some parts, especially this carnival section, feel way too similar to places and enemies we’ve already seen in the main game. While these areas aren’t bad, they don’t have that special spark that makes the best parts of Overture feel unique. The DLC also uses a lot of the same enemy types we’ve seen before, including those crazy humanoid puppets and the creepy undead dogs with way too many teeth that show up everywhere in this series. These familiar enemies do their job fine, but they feel like missed chances to create more interesting bad guys that match the creativity we see in the DLC’s best moments.
Boss Fights That Show How Great Soulslike Games Can Be
Where Overture shines is in its boss fights, which are some of the best examples of how Soulslike games should work. Each major boss fight feels like a careful dance between your skills as a player and smart game design, with fights that are hard enough to make you work for victory but fair enough that you don’t get frustrated. The variety in boss design is really impressive, going from absolutely huge monsters with weapons so big that it’s almost funny that you can block them with your tiny sword, to super-fast human-like enemies who test your reflexes and ability to learn their attack patterns.
The final boss deserves special praise as one of the best boss fights I’ve ever played. This big finale has some of the most complex and entertaining attack patterns that the Lies of P series has ever created. Learning how to read and respond to this boss’s moves becomes like solving a puzzle that changes as the fight goes on, with each new phase adding new challenges that keep you alert without being overwhelming.
The feeling of finally winning is incredible, giving you exactly the kind of earned satisfaction that makes the best soulslike games so special. The difficulty throughout these fights feels more balanced than some of the punishing battles from the original game, finding a better middle ground between challenge and fairness that makes learning the fights more fun.
What makes these boss fights even better is how they connect to the story and themes of the DLC. Each fight feels important to the story being told, instead of just being there as a skill test or obstacle to overcome. The bosses themselves are memorable characters with their sad backstories and reasons for fighting, which makes winning feel bittersweet instead of just triumphant. This emotional weight adds depth to what could have been just mechanical fights, turning them into real story moments that stay with you long after you finish playing.
Better Gameplay Systems and Smart New Features
While Overture keeps the main gameplay that made the original so good, it adds several smart improvements that make the whole experience better without changing what makes Lies of P special. The weapon selection has been expanded with some interesting new choices, including these deadly hand claws that work great for players who like dexterity-focused builds. These weapons don’t just do different amounts of damage, they change how you approach fights, encouraging different strategies and giving you new ways to customize your character and try different playstyles.
The biggest new feature is an expanded upgrade system that gives players more control over how their character develops. This new skill tree lets you customize passive benefits more deeply, letting you fine-tune things like damage output, defense, and special ability effectiveness. While this system builds on what the main game already had instead of introducing completely new ideas, it gives you the kind of meaningful choices and progression that keeps character development interesting throughout the DLC. The system finds a good balance between being complex and being easy to understand, offering depth for players who want to optimize their builds while staying simple enough for those who prefer straightforward progression.
Combat encounters benefit from small but important improvements that fix some of the pacing problems from the original game. While the basic combat system stays the same, keeping that deliberate, Bloodborne-inspired approach that focuses on timing and positioning instead of button mashing, the enemy placement and fight design clearly show that the developers learned from player feedback. The difficulty progression feels more consistent, with fewer sudden spikes that could ruin your momentum, and the variety in combat situations helps prevent the repetitive feeling that sometimes affected parts of the main game.
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Great Technical Work and Beautiful Art
From a technical standpoint, Overture shows clear improvement in what the development team can do. The visual quality has gotten noticeably better, with more detailed character models, improved environmental textures, and more advanced lighting effects that bring the dark fairy tale world to life with stunning clarity. The attention to detail in character animations is especially impressive, with boss movements that feel heavy and impactful while staying smooth enough that you can read their attack patterns. Environmental storytelling reaches new heights through carefully crafted visual details that reward exploration and close attention.
The audio design deserves special mention for how it creates atmosphere and helps with gameplay. The orchestral music builds well on the musical themes from the main game while introducing new melodies that perfectly capture the sad beauty of the prequel’s story. Sound effects give you important gameplay feedback during intense combat, helping you read what enemies are planning and time your responses properly. Voice acting throughout the DLC maintains the high quality of the original, with performances that bring emotional depth to even minor characters and make the world feel real and lived-in.
Performance has improved over how the main game ran at launch, with more stable frame rates and faster loading times that help keep you immersed during exploration and reduce frustration during challenging boss fights. The technical polish extends to small details like better hitbox accuracy and more responsive controls that make precise timing-based gameplay feel more reliable and fair.
A Great Addition That Makes the Whole Game Better
Lies of P: Overture works brilliantly both as its adventure and as an important part of the larger Lies of P experience. The DLC shows a clear understanding of what made the original game special while demonstrating real growth in the development team’s ability to create compelling interactive experiences. Instead of just providing more content to extend playtime, Overture offers meaningful additions that make you appreciate the entire series more while giving you enough fresh material to justify the time and money investment.
The prequel structure turns out to be inspired, allowing exploration of themes and storylines that enrich the overall story without feeling like required homework for understanding the main game. New players could theoretically experience Overture as their first taste of the series and still have a satisfying time, though they would miss much of the emotional impact that comes from understanding how these events connect to the bigger story. Veterans of the original will find their investment in the world and characters rewarded with deeper understanding and new perspectives on familiar faces and locations.
Final Thoughts: A Great Expansion That Raises the Bar
Lies of P: Overture represents everything a great DLC expansion should be: big enough to feel like a complete experience, innovative enough to surprise even dedicated fans, and polished enough to stand among the best examples of the soulslike genre. The expansion successfully builds on what the main game established while introducing enough new elements to feel fresh and exciting. While it doesn’t completely change the formula or introduce revolutionary new mechanics, it refines and perfects the existing systems to a degree that makes the entire experience feel more complete and satisfying.
For fans of the original game, Overture is a must-play experience that provides answers to lingering questions while opening up new possibilities for future games. For newcomers to the series, it serves as strong evidence that Lies of P deserves recognition as one of the best soulslike experiences available today. The combination of challenging but fair gameplay, emotionally powerful storytelling, and exceptional production values creates an expansion that not only meets expectations but exceeds them in meaningful ways that will leave players eagerly waiting for whatever comes next from this talented development team.
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