Lies of P’s first content DLC, Overture, brings our favorite real boy back to the past, at a time when Krat’s mighty zoo was still standing. The zoo might be overrun with murderous puppets and fleshy monstrosities, but this is the closest that Pinocchio gets to a field trip, so we take what we can get.
Featuring a new coat of paint with its snowy regions and a mysterious legendary stalker for us to follow, Overture promises to expand our knowledge of Krat as a whole, as well as give us some insight into its past.
Lies of P‘s base game is an incredibly tough act to follow, so it makes us wonder: Is Overture capable of meeting our high expectations? Does it bring the game into new and exciting territories? Do we get to lie some more? Read our full review to find out.
Lies of P: Overture
Developer: NEOWIZ
Publisher: NEOWIZ
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Microsoft Windows (Reviewed)
Release Date: June 6, 2025
Players: 1
Price: $29.99
For its first act, Overture drops us into a new snowy region, which visually sets itself apart from the base game’s gloomy and rainy areas with a wintery coat. Krat’s zoo is rich in visual storytelling and environmental details while also being well-paced and fun to explore, with the DLC as a whole seamlessly leading us into new and old areas that are equally exciting to visit.
These new areas extend beyond a simple change of scenery, though, as the zoo backdrop gives developer Neowiz a lot to work with, expanding upon the carcass designs seen in the base game by turning them into animals. Lies of P didn’t have many animal foes aside from a couple of variations of dogs and the occasional giant scorpion, so it’s a fun change of pace to fight these new enemies.
Overture at points even feels like Neowiz turning back the clock and adding things they wanted to feature in the base game. We encounter new enemies like mutated monkeys, bulked-up kangaroos, and diseased elephants, but also new variations of the carnival puppets, something we originally didn’t get to see a lot of aside from the Parade Master boss very early in the game.
We should also discuss Overture‘s biggest point of contention—its difficulty. Players have found the DLC to be unforgiving, especially citing the high amount of damage that enemies deal, and while they aren’t incorrect at a first glance, it’s a combination of factors that creates this feeling, a lot of it having to do with the way we initially encounter this content.
The first issue arises from when players are given access to the DLC. Overture is unlocked by beating the ninth chapter in Lies of P‘s story, which has annoyed some players due to being reasonably late in the game.
This is a valid complaint for people who already played through the game and jumped into NG+, but unlocking the DLC at that point makes a lot of sense from the perspective of a new player in their first playthrough. In fact, I would argue it should be unlocked even later, either alongside NG+ or before you fight the final boss for lore reasons.
Estimating minimal ergo loss, players will be at around level 60 to 70 when they beat chapter nine, which doesn’t feel like enough to tackle the DLC in Legendary Stalker difficulty. Leveling up certain stats in Lies of P feels mandatory, as the player needs to strike a good balance between their chosen damage stat, weight capacity, and vitality, which might not have been achieved yet at that point.
Players who opted for combat upgrades and neglected the increased ergo acquisition nodes in their P-organ will also find themselves underleveled, as Lies of P is notably stingy with its currency. The base game doesn’t suffer as much from this, but Overture‘s existence throws a wrench into that delicate balancing, as the player essentially needs an endgame build to tackle the DLC.
The second issue is that animals are often some of the most dangerous enemies in souls-likes, especially due to their fast and unpredictable movesets, something that Overture fully takes advantage of. The bosses and elite enemies found in the Krat zoo are huge tests of the player’s ability to parry, with the Tyrannical Predator, the DLC’s first boss, especially being a rough fight.
The Tyrannical Predator is Overture‘s biggest difficulty spike, a massive carcass crocodile that players have to face inside of a criminally small arena. The boss’ attacks are quite challenging to parry due to their unique timing, while also featuring overwhelming knockback. The camera essentially gives up during the fight, forcing players to blindly parry some of the hardest patterns in the game.
The average player starting Overture will immediately get vigor-checked by the basic enemies, and if by some chance they decide to grit their teeth and continue through the DLC, they are going to encounter an unbelievably aggressive boss placed inside of a very small arena, who will knock them around until they start writing angry forum posts, making for a weird first impression.
Overture is undeniably harder than the base game, but it is entirely beatable if you level up properly and don’t neglect the game’s important systems. The DLC is filled with challenging bosses and real tests of skill, but its real “balancing” issues come from the fact that players are given access to it too early and immediately have to fight a brutal boss.
It’s easy to forget that every boss in Lies of P feels overwhelming at first until you learn their patterns and manage to parry them into submission. The Tyrannical Predator is a slight exception to that rule, remaining that way regardless of how well you understand the fight, but it is still a fun and exhilarating experience if you manage to encounter him in a proper manner.
Neowiz has announced that they are going to nerf certain aspects of Overture, although we don’t know any specifics just yet. Even if I do enjoy the smugness that comes with being able to say: “I beat it pre-patch, btw,” an overall damage reduction and health tweaks to some of the later bosses would fix the leveling issues that the DLC introduces, making it actually playable by chapter nine.
When it comes to its unique additions, Lies of P also follows the popular Souls-like trend of saving its most unique weapons for the DLC. The game’s first and only ranged weapon, the Royal Horn Bow, is encountered early on and is a game-changer in how the player approaches boss encounters, featuring a flashy moveset that fits perfectly in technique builds thanks to its versatility.
Other notable examples are the Puppet of the Future’s Welder Blade, which is a ridiculously strong flamethrower for advance builds, and the Pale Knight greatsword, which is the closest we’ve seen to a gunblade outside of the Final Fantasy series, Squall’s stance and all.
The DLC also gives us access to two new legion arms, Cataclysm, a hand-mounted shotgun that deals absurd damage up close, and Icarus, which launches ricocheting sawblades at a surprisingly long range. Cataclysm is a much-needed upgrade for motivity builds, while Icarus’ combination of utility and high damage is incredibly useful.
Overall, Overture is a solid expansion to Lies of P‘s homerun of a base game, giving players gorgeous locations to explore, multiple unique weapons to mix and match, as well as a healthy dose of challenging fights and exploration.
The way the DLC was implemented into the game might not have been perfect, but the content we find inside more than makes up for that slight issue, which Neowiz is already planning to correct.
Overture shows us that Lies of P wasn’t a fluke; Neowiz absolutely understands what they are doing and their foundation remains strong. It’s exciting to watch them build this shared fable universe in real time, and even though we don’t know what’s next for them as developers, it’s difficult to imagine it being less than excellent.
Lies of P: Overture was reviewed on Microsoft Windows using a game code provided by NEOWIZ. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Lies of P: Overture is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Microsoft Windows (through Steam).
