Lies of P does something every Souls-like should do

As soon as you mention that a game is Souls-like, everyone automatically assumes that a certain subset of mechanics will be present. But one mechanic in particular seems to have somehow managed to avoid evolution, just like many others: Drop Your Souls (in Lies from P‘s case, ergo) after death.

As expected, when you die in Lies of P, you drop a lump of Ergo. This applies to both normal deaths and those you suffer in boss fights. However, the biggest difference here – and I can’t believe a game took this long – is that your Ergo doesn’t stay in the boss room after you die.

Instead, you return and find it just outside the arena. Ergo, it is also the main currency in Lies of P, which makes it all the more valuable.

This is a big and probably very intentional change. It allows you to recover your currency and invest it in upgrades or leveling up before attempting to endure the boss fight again.

In most Souls likes, your dropped currency will remain trapped in the boss arena forever. If you happen to arrive with a large chunk of it, your only way to get it out of there is to defeat the boss – and remember to collect it every time you retry the fight. In Lies of P, you can confidently try your luck in a boss fight, knowing that if you fail, your hard-earned Ergo won’t be stuck in the boss room forever.

While it’s generally a good idea to let go of the fear of losing your main currency in these games, it’s still a very welcome change that I’d like to see in other Souls likes. You no longer have to bang your head against the wall in frustration trying to take down the boss so you can keep your money, and it doesn’t change the dynamic much. In fact, it makes things a bit more forgiving for new players and removes an unnecessary level of frustration for every player.

In case you missed it, you can find our review of Lies of P and our unboxing of the Deluxe Edition of Lies of P here.