Overture’s Upcoming ‘Adjustments’ Risk Missing the Forest for the Trees

Lies of P: Overture introduces a brand-new chapter in Neowiz and Round8 Studio’s beautiful soulslike tale. The expansion brings players an emotional story that is also balanced with the intense combat that soulslike games are so well-known for. Lies of P: Overture further proves just how strong of a soulslike offering the IP is, but some upcoming changes may be missing the point of the overall experience.

The director of Lies of P, Jiwon Choi, recently revealed that Overture will be getting difficulty changes sometime in the future. According to Choi, the team at Neowiz and Round8 Studio, “identified areas that did not turn out quite as we intended.” This is in response to player feedback, particularly the expansion’s difficulty. Lies of P: Overture has brought difficulty options to players, which already isn’t common for soulslike games. The genre is defined by its challenging combat, so if Round8 Studio waters down the difficulty levels too much, Lies of P could be at risk of losing an important piece of its identity.

Lies of P Overture vs Elden Ring Erdtree Difficulty

How Lies of P: Overture’s Difficulty Compares to Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

As the latest major Soulslike DLC, Lies of P: Overture’s difficulty shines a blinding light on how hard Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree can be.

Lies of P: Overture Being Made Easier Could Take Some Wind Out of the Expansion’s Sails

What Difficulty Options Does Lies of P: Overture Introduce?

Butterfly’s Guidance – “Very Easy”
Awakened Puppet – “Easy”
Legendary Stalker – “Normal”

Two out of the three options are labeled as “easy,” but they definitely are not a walk in the park. The current difficulty options offered in Lies of P: Overture still honor the heart of soulslike gameplay, and reducing that may prove to be risky. Also, the DLC is still incredibly fresh. The expansion isn’t even a month old yet, so players still have plenty of time to get their bearings and take on the bosses of Lies of P: Overture until they leave the battle victorious.

Soulslike Games Are All About the Grind

Adding difficulty options to a soulslike game is a major departure from the genre’s formula. The easiest settings still shouldn’t actually be easy. Over the years, soulslike games have been defined by the grind. Players can spend hours, days, or even weeks stuck on a boss. It’s an important part of the experience that makes winning feel even more rewarding in the long run. Soulslike games test a player’s patience, and Lies of P has succeeded at honoring this, so far.

Granted, it’s understandable why Neowiz would want to slightly reduce the expansion’s overall difficulty. Lies of P: Overture brings a lot of fresh content to the base story, and making it a more enjoyable experience could help pull in new players. However, with the genre being defined by putting players through the ringer, taking feedback regarding difficulty to heart this early on may be taking drastic measures too soon.

Lies of P: Overture further proves just how strong of a soulslike offering the IP is.

Lies of P: Overture introduces 10 new weapons.

Lies of P: Overture Expands a Unique and Beautiful Soulslike Story

Ever since FromSoftware started to build the soulslike genre with its games, many developers quickly took note. Properly replicating the qualities of a soulslike game isn’t an easy task, but Neowiz has proven that it has the development chops to really bring something special to gamers. Lies of P: Overture is a solid extra chapter, and potential plans to tweak difficulty hopefully won’t be felt too much.

If anything, it may just be better to add a fourth level that’s even easier than Butterfly’s Guidance in order to avoid changing the current options too drastically. Lies of P: Overture doesn’t hold back, and it shouldn’t have to. It’s also important to note that Choi didn’t give any solid timeframe for when a patch will arrive, but once it’s ready, it will be interesting to see how much of a difference it actually makes.