Only a few Soulslike games have been able to gain an esteem similar to the original Dark Souls games or even Elden Ring, and Lies of P is one of them. If you didn’t know any better, it’s actually easy to mistake Lies of P as a FromSoftware game. That’s why Lies of P getting an “Easy Mode” has become a controversial topic for Souls fans and Soulslike gamers. After all, the oppressive difficulty is a core DNA for a Soulslike.
The announcement itself came from game director Jiwon Choi of Neowiz, Lies of P‘s developer. Alongside the release of the Lies of P: Overture DLC, the devs will also be adding a difficulty slider. Now, the game’s difficulty will come in these flavors:
| Butterfly’s Guidance | Easiest or Easy |
| Awakened Puppet | Likely Medium |
| Legendary Stalker | The default difficulty, or Hard |
The good news is, Lies of P veterans can relish in the thought of having beaten the game at its hardest. The new difficulty settings, meanwhile, are aimed at newbies or bringing in beginners to the franchise, according to Choi.
Immediately, the new move from Neowiz has reignited the discourse for difficulty sliders in video games, particularly Soulslike games. In fact, one of the top-rated comments in a highly upvoted thread is about that very same discourse of whether Soulslike games should be more “accessible.”
The Difficulty Slider Seems to be Lies of P’s Plan All Along
I, for one, think that the decision is up to the developers– without care for player backlash, as it’s their game. After all, they’re not exactly designing a Souls sequel anyway, so there’s no need to be puritanical about it. However, it appears an old mod has already stated that Lies of P was already designed around a difficulty slider anyway.
That mod for Lies of P is none other than Easy Mode (Original Hidden Settings). The mod’s author, GutsBerkman, stated that the game already has “hidden difficulty settings” in place and simply weren’t activated by the developers. So all the mod does is activate them via the game’s “.ini” file.
If this mod author’s words are anything to go by, then Lies of P‘s devs already had that kind of balancing in place before the game was even released in 2023. What’s interesting, however, was that Neowiz didn’t have such difficulty settings on release. Perhaps they were aware of the hardcore Soulslike taboo and were afraid of the backlash.
It’s not clear what Neowiz changed from these supposedly “hidden difficulty settings” in Lies of P, particularly for the upcoming Easy Mode. Still, it’s a good thing the devs have straightened the record by saying the hardest difficulty is the default; that still gives the Souls purist something to be proud of, doesn’t it?
