If you’ve spent any time getting bullied by the Scrapped Watchman or trying to figure out why a puppet is crying in Krat, you’ve probably heard of Overture Lies of P. It’s not a DLC. It’s not a secret patch that makes the parry window wider (though we can dream). It is actually a digital prequel comic that most players completely missed because, honestly, the game doesn't do a great job of shouting about it.
The lore in Neowiz’s hit Soulslike is already a tangled mess of strings. You’ve got Ergo, the Frenzy, and Geppetto’s questionable parenting skills. But before P ever woke up in that train car, a lot of blood—or whatever blue fluid puppets bleed—was spilled. The Overture Lies of P comic is basically the "how we got here" guide for the fall of Krat.
It’s short. It’s grim. And it answers a few questions that the main game leaves dangling like a broken marionette.
The Puppet Frenzy wasn't just a random "glitch"
Most people start the game thinking the Puppet Frenzy was just a sudden mechanical failure. Like a Windows update gone horribly wrong. But the Overture Lies of P narrative makes it clear that the tension was building long before the streets were littered with bodies.
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The comic centers on characters we barely see or only hear about in passing notes. It highlights the sheer arrogance of the Alchemists and the Grand Covenant. You see, the people of Krat weren't just using puppets; they were addicted to them. It was a golden age built on the back of Ergo, and the comic does a great job of showing the transition from "this is a miracle technology" to "oh no, the butler just ripped someone’s arm off."
What’s wild is how the comic portrays the initial confusion. There wasn't an immediate realization that the puppets had turned. It was a slow, creeping horror. Imagine your Roomba starts acting weird, then it kills the cat, and then it's knocking on your bedroom door. That’s the vibe.
Why the Overture Lies of P matters for the lore
You might be wondering if you actually need to read this thing to understand the game. Technically? No. You can finish the game and get the "Rise of P" ending without ever touching the comic. But you’d be missing out on the specific tragedy of the Stalkers.
The Stalkers are these weird, animal-masked mercenaries you meet throughout Krat. In the game, they’re mostly just NPCs who either help you or try to stab you for your Ergo. In Overture Lies of P, we get a better look at their role as the city’s cleaners. They were the ones trying to contain the mess when the puppets first started "malfunctioning."
The Alchemists and their secret sauce
The Alchemists are the real villains here, and the comic doesn't mince words about it. While Geppetto gets a lot of the heat in the game’s community—rightfully so, the guy is a piece of work—the Overture Lies of P focuses on the institutional rot.
- The discovery of Ergo wasn't a blessing; it was a curse they invited in.
- The social divide in Krat was reaching a breaking point even before the puppets went nuts.
- Simon Manus and his lot were experimenting with things that should have stayed buried.
Honestly, seeing the city of Krat while it was still "alive" makes the ruins you explore in the game feel much heavier. You realize that those piles of luggage and abandoned carriages aren't just set dressing. They were people’s lives.
Is the Overture Lies of P still available?
This is where it gets a little tricky. Neowiz released the Overture Lies of P comic as a promotional piece leading up to the game’s launch. It was featured on platforms like Tapas and GlobalComix.
If you bought the Deluxe Edition of the game, you might find digital artbooks or extras that reference these story beats, but the comic itself was a standalone digital release. It’s meant to be a quick read—a "taster" for the world-building.
The art style is noticeably different from the game’s hyper-realistic, Belle Époque aesthetic. It’s got a more traditional, dark-fantasy comic look. It’s gritty. It uses a lot of deep blues and oranges, mirroring the Ergo and fire themes we see in the game’s combat.
Connecting the dots to the DLC and Sequel
We know a DLC is coming. We also know, thanks to that post-credits scene (no spoilers, but follow the yellow brick road), that the universe is expanding. The Overture Lies of P sets a precedent for how Neowiz wants to handle their storytelling.
They aren't just making a game; they’re building a "Lies of" universe. By looking back at the Overture, we can see clues about how they might handle other fairy tales. The way they twisted Pinocchio into a dark, industrial nightmare is exactly what we can expect for future entries.
What you should do next
If you're a lore hunter, don't just stop at the boss fights. To get the most out of the Overture Lies of P and the game's world, you should change how you interact with the environment:
- Read the descriptions of the "Memory" items. These often link directly back to the events depicted in the Overture comic.
- Re-visit the Malum District. After knowing the history of the Stalkers from the comic, the Red Lobster Inn and the Black Rabbit Brotherhood feel much more significant.
- Watch the background details. Look at the posters on the walls of Krat. Many of them are direct nods to the events that happened during the "Overture" period.
- Track down the digital version. Search specifically on Webtoon or Tapas for official Neowiz uploads to ensure you’re getting the canon translation.
The story of P isn't just about a puppet becoming a boy. It's about a city that sold its soul for convenience and the "Overture" is the contract they signed in blood. Go find the comic, spend twenty minutes reading it, and then jump back into New Game Plus. The world will look a lot bleaker—in the best way possible.