Inspired by the Soul-Like games that came before, Lies of P has more than one ending that the player can achieve via different decisions made throughout the game. These endings aren’t quite as varied, or as abstractly complicated, as the various endings in Elden Ring, but it is still interesting for players to be able to compare and contrast the different things that happened at the end of their playthroughs.
What makes Lies of P unique is the way Pinocchio’s lying characteristic is implemented into the story. At various points throughout the game, the player will have the option to lie or tell the truth to different characters, having some effect on the story each time. The ultimate ending choice to the game is surprisingly not a truth or lie decision, but it is still affected by the truths or lies players made previously, so it’s important for players to know all the possibilities they can achieve.
Lies of P Ending: Give Geppetto Your Heart
Once the players have beaten Simon Manus on the Isle of Alchemists they will be reunited with Geppetto. That’s when Geppetto asks Pinocchio to give up his heart in order to become a real boy. Players are then faced with the decision to either willingly give up Pinocchio’s heart or withhold it. If the players willingly choose to give Geppetto their heart, they will get the associated ending regardless of any prior decisions made in the game. In this ending, Geppetto effectively kills Pinocchio in order to revive his previously dead son Carlo, who looks effectively identical to the puppet. Geppetto and Carlo leave Krat after murdering everyone at the hotel.
This does wind up being the most “standard” ending to the game as a result of the fact that previous lies or truths told have no effect on the ending cutscene initiated by the players giving up Pinnochio’s heart. It can maybe feel a little dissatisfying because the lying system implemented throughout the game does wind up feeling fairly unimpactful, unlike the other decision which can result in multiple endings based on Pinocchio’s lies.
Lies of P Ending: Withhold Your Heart
If the player decides not to willingly give up Pinocchio’s heart to Geppetto, the master puppet inventor will become determined to take his creation’s heart by force, and the player will have to face the game’s true final boss, the Nameless Puppet.
What happens after the Nameless Puppet fight is dependent on the number of lies the player has told throughout the game. If the player has told any truths at all, Geppetto will sacrifice himself to save Pinocchio from the Nameless Puppet and will then scold his creation before dying.
Lies of P Ending: All Lies
This is a variation of the ending where Pinocchio withholds his heart from Geppetto. If the player has done nothing but lie at every opportunity prior to making the decision to withhold Pinocchio’s heart, it will trigger a different ending from the previous one. Geppetto will still sacrifice himself to save Pinocchio from the Nameless Puppet, but rather than scold Pinocchio before dying, Geppetto will apologize.
This will also trigger an extended ending where Pinocchio saves Sophia after the Nameless Puppet fight by transferring her Ergo into a puppet. Sophia wakes up to see Pinocchio either unconscious or dead in her arms, although Pinocchio’s actual fate here is left ambiguous.
Interestingly enough, the “best ending” for the game may just be the one where the player does nothing but lie as Pinocchio. It is a little debatable, considering there’s the possibility that Pinocchio dies saving Sophia, meaning the only ending where Pinocchio lives is the one where he doesn’t save Sophia and Geppetto scorns him. If Pinocchio is just unconscious from exhaustion after saving Sophia though, that would mean the All Lies ending is the one where he both saves Sophia and gets closure with his creator before the end of the story, which would make it the most heartwarming end to the tale.
It is ultimately up to the players to decide which ending they want and how they choose to interpret its meaning. Thankfully, Lies of P is a game that allows for a lot of interpretation and discussion around its story.
