The first expansion for "Lies of P" that everyone has been waiting for is entitled "Overture", and it is finally here, promising to pull players once more into its dark, Pinocchio-inspired world. It is, however, fair to say that its debut reception is not an ovation by any means in the gaming community as the verdict on the matter is a complex one.
On Steam, "Overture" is sitting at around 74% positives from above a thousand reviews at present. Not a disaster by any means, but a pretty lukewarm reception for a loved title. Whats causing friction
The bulk of the players claim that "Overture" not only adds new content; it also carries forward, in some cases amplifying the original game problems. Some players feel that the DLC might have been hurried in response to the hype revolving around the game.
Here is a small taste of what players have been saying:
"Its a bit pricy, but still pretty good. The biggest downside-about it You can only start the DLC after chapter nine. My condolences to anyone whos already started New Game Plus."
"All the things I hated about the base game just feel worse here. They got criticized for having clunky hitboxes, and they feel even more off. The character really doesnt respond to much-even parries and dodges-causing it to feel unresponsive."
"I dont really understand why we went through all this story-wise. The effect feels a bit less than minimal on the main timeline. Still a bit satisfied though since I did get some emotional moments out of it."
Of the many complaints, one complaint that is repeated most often is the fact of forcing reaching chapter nine of the main story in order to have access to the DLC. For players who happen to finish the game already and go to New Game Plus, it means possibly an extended replay just to go into the "Overture". This design choice has definitely ruffled some feathers.
Other topics of concern are balance, especially in New Game Plus, and bringing so many difficulty levels to a soulslike experience, which some consider a miss for a title.
"I have to give my favorite game a negative review for this, unfortunately. Locking the DLC behind chapter nine forces so many to replay huge chunks of the game. And they completely broke the balance in NG+."
"Having players replay through the entire game just to get some DLC is hard to sell. It becomes even worse with the added difficulty settings introduced to a soulslike experience. And then, to top it off, the final balance feels jarringly different from the original - thats a critical error."
Curiously, several players with positive reviews still quip that they would rather vote against the $29.99 price tag attached to the DLC. The general opinion seems to suggest to most that theres probably more caution warranted on the title "Overture" and mostly that it should be recommended for true-blue diehards of "Lies of P" that have yet to buy it. For others, waiting for it to go on sale might be the wiser choice.
It appears that "Overture" has struck a dissonant note with quite some percentage of its audience who wonder whether the encore was worth the wait or the price.
