Back in 2023, many Soulslike fans were caught off guard byLies of P. Developed by Neowiz and Round8 Studio, the game is a horror-tinged retelling ofThe Adventures of Pinocchio, and follows P through the plague-and-puppet-infested city of Krat. Players were pleasantly surprised by the robust combat options, the even more versatile Weapon Assembly and upgrade paths backing them up, and the unique atmosphereLies of Pestablished.Lies of P’s exact sales are unknown, but it topped a million in one month, and garnered an impressive seven million players before its first anniversary with the help of Game Pass.
Although a proper sequel toLies of Pwas teased, the current game isn’t out of the spotlight yet. Owing to its success, a downloadable expansion entered production some time around its launch, and is scheduled to come out insummer 2025 asLies of P: Overture. This is slated to be both a prequel and an interquel to the main game via time travel, and will see players team up with Lea the Legendary Stalker to weather the ground zero of the puppet uprising. It sounds impressive, especially if it’s taking after the recently-crowned king of Soulslike DLC.
There Are Plenty of Similarities Between Shadow of the Erdtree and Lies of P: Overture
Lies of P’s DLC Shares Elden Ring’s Goals
High expectations for DLC have been drilled into Soulslike fans thanks to years of FromSoftware delivering hit after downloadable hit, andElden Ring’sShadow of the Erdtreeis its latest. Whether it’s the best one is a whole other debate, as manycriticisms have been levied atShadow of the Erdtree, but it is the most ambitious by far. Set in a landmass equivalent to one ofElden Ring’s huge geographical regions,Shadow of the Erdtreefeels like it still has an entire new Souls game compressed into a fraction ofElden Ring’s space. After all, “a fraction ofElden Ring’s length” can still mean twenty or more hours.
According toLies of P’s director Jiwon Choi,Overtureis aiming for something similar. In a GDC 2025 interview with GamesRadar+, he estimated thatLies of P: Overturewould be 15–20 hours long for experienced players, which is at least halfas long as it takes to beatLies of Pitself. Adding what is essentially a final third to an already meaty RPG may even be more ambitious thanShadow of the Erdtree, as, although both it andOvertureare of comparable length, their fraction size compared to their base games is vastly different.
How Lies of P: Overture Is Following In Shadow of the Erdtree’s Footsteps
There are a lot of similarities betweenLies of P: OvertureandElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, up to the fact that both will have launched around two years after their predecessors.Overtureboasts new areas, weapons, and bosses, as well as fancier abilities for P than what theLies of Poffered, all of which is also true forSotEandElden Ring. As a fullsequel toLies of Pwill likely rename itselfto cover other classic fairy tales, it has joinedElden Ringin turning its DLC into a smaller sequel in the interim.
Lies of P: Overture Still Aims For A Unique Experience
With all of that in mind,Lies of P: Overtureisn’t copyingShadow of the Erdtreebeat-for-beat. WhereasElden Ringdemands endgame feats to enter the Land of Shadow, players have guessed thatLies of P’s DLC could begin halfway through its campaign, which has gained support from recent developer statements. Apparently, there will be some interplay betweenOvertureandLies of P, so it may be implemented as part of the game rather than as a separate challenge. Regardless,Lies of P: Overturehas inheritedShadow of the Erdtree’s ambitions, and it’s one of the few Soulslikes that can realize them.
