I understood what was going on when Pinocchio rolled out of the way of an assault and shattered a bottle to heal himself.

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Lies of P is so similar to Souls that it goes beyond imitation and into inspiration. Animations and UI components exist that are eerily similar to FromSoftware’s Bloodborne, even though they are probably not direct copies.

Publisher Neowiz previously told Kotaku that the team at Roung8 Studio was only inspired by FromSoftware’s games and that creating a game that is quite Bloodborne-like “certainly wasn’t planned.”

IGN has released a 12-minute gameplay video, which makes me doubt their assertion. You slash lean boys and fire a gun from your left hand in this third-person action horror game.

You play as Pinocchio in Bloodborne, a 19th-century setting, for whatever reason. It’s not an awful method to produce Bloodborne for PC, but I feel like the creators should have been a little more forthright.

The following items in that video were unmistakably influenced by Bloodborne:

Combat’s entire health, stamina, and item interfaces appear serious and intentional. With bed hair, lanky Victorian Belle Époque foes, levels of darkness and density containing abandoned carts, Text fills the screen as you pass away, and everything else fades to black.

On a hit, status consequences increase. That healing vial animation seems quite recognizable. Items are light on the ground, and the collection animation includes that. During lock-on, a white dot appears. Stats abound on the inventory screen. Weapons are robust.

You can prepare a powerful assault. I’m not sure about visceral attacks, though. Now, try to convince me that Lies of P was created by Bloodborne fans. I believe that everyone at Round8 Studio has a great love for Bloodborne and is working admirably to bring more Bloodborne to the world.

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During Gamescom’s Opening Night Live stream, Lies of P received a huge trailer. It featured Pinocchio searching for his creator, Geppetto, through Paris in a completely non-Bloodborne manner.