Lies of P does one thing every Souls-like should do

The minute you mention that a game is a Souls-like, everyone automatically assumes a certain subset of mechanics are going to be present. But one mechanic in particular seems to have somehow avoided evolution alongside many of the others that did: dropping your Souls (in Lies of P‘s case, Ergo) upon death.

When you die in Lies of P, you drop a lump of Ergo just as you’d expect. This goes for normal deaths, as well as those you suffer in boss fights. However, the major difference here – and I can’t believe it took this long for a game to do this – is that your Ergo doesn’t stay inside the boss room after you die.

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

This is a huge, and likely very intentional change. It allows you to take back your currency and go invest it on upgrades, or level up, before trying to stomach that boss fight once more.

In most Souls-likes, your dropped currency remains forever trapped in the boss arena. If you happened to roll in with a good chunk of it on you, your only option to get that out of there is to defeat the boss – and remember to pick it up every time you retry the fight. In Lies of P, you can safely try your luck with a boss fight, knowing that your hard-earned Ergo won’t be forever stuck in that boss room if you fail.

While it’s a generally good idea to let go of the fear of losing your main currency in those games, this is nonetheless a very welcome change that I’d like to see in other Souls-likes. No longer do you have to hit your head against a wall in frustration as you try to finish that boss so you can keep a hold of your cash, and it doesn’t change the dynamic much. In fact, it makes things just that bit more forgiving for new players, and removes an unnecessary layer of frustration for every player.

In case you missed it, here’s our review of Lies of P, and our unboxing of Lies of P’s Deluxe Edition.