When I look back on my playthrough of Lies of P: Overture, the fight with Arlecchino, the Blood Artist, is the one that sticks with me the most. It’s burned into my memory for two very different reasons. On the one hand, the cutscenes, the phase two reveal, and the ending are some of the coolest moments I’ve seen in any video game. On the other, the actual fight itself is a goddamn mess, a perfect example of how not to design a Soulslike boss. The result is this bizarre split where I love everything about the presentation and hate everything about the gameplay.
The first cutscene is absolutely killer. The second Arlecchino steps onto the stage, you know you’re in for something special. The direction is tight, the performance is dripping with menace, and the entire vibe screams final boss. I felt that same nervous excitement I did the first time I walked into Lady Maria’s arena in Bloodborne or when Ornstein and Smough appeared together in Dark Souls. The game nails the sense of theater, making it clear that this fight is more than just another roadblock.
The phase two reveal is just as strong. Lies of P has always been good at cranking up the drama during transformations, but Arlecchino’s shift is especially memorable. The pacing of it is perfect. You’ve just barely started to get a handle on his moves, and then the game rips the rug out from under you. Watching him morph into an even more deranged and dangerous form is both terrifying and exhilarating. Even though I was cursing under my breath at the thought of dealing with another health bar, I couldn’t deny how fucking cool the moment was.
And then there’s the ending. After clawing my way through the fight, the final cutscene felt like a reward in itself. It tied everything about his character together: the obsession with performance, the unhinged personality, the sense that he lived and died for the stage. It felt tragic in the best way, like watching an opera collapse at its climax. Honestly, that cutscene alone would have made the fight memorable, no matter how the gameplay turned out.
But then we get to the meat of the issue, and it’s ugly. The fight itself is a nightmare, and not in the good Soulslike way. Arlecchino’s design feels like a checklist of what not to do. His combos are ridiculously long, sometimes stretching on so far you feel like you’re just waiting forever for him to finally give you a second to breathe. Instead of rewarding you for smart dodges or parries, the fight often forces you into situations where the only real option is to block and pray you don’t mistime anything. That’s not tension, that’s bullshit.
The unblockable attacks are even worse. Soulslike bosses are supposed to be punishing but fair. You see the windup, you know the risk, and if you screw up, that’s on you. Arlecchino throws that out the window with grabs and flashy AoE moves that feel cheap as hell. They’re not designed to test your skill. They’re designed to catch you off guard and make you redo another ten minutes of the same long-ass fight. That’s not good difficulty design, it’s just padding.
Speaking of padding, his health pool is absurd. Long fights can work when they’re balanced properly. Sister Friede in Dark Souls III is brutal, but every phase feels different enough to justify the length. Malenia in Elden Ring is infuriating, but once you learn her patterns the fight becomes almost hypnotic. Arlecchino just drags. You dodge the same stupidly long combos, you wait for scraps of punishment windows, and you repeat until you’re mentally exhausted. By the time I finally killed him, I didn’t feel triumphant. I felt drained. The relief of finishing was stronger than any sense of accomplishment.
That’s the tragedy of this boss. Everything around the fight is genius. The build-up, the visuals, the story payoff — it all screams masterpiece. But the actual gameplay is hollow and frustrating. Arlecchino isn’t the kind of fight I’d ever want to replay. He isn’t one of those encounters where you think “I’ve got the timing down, let me try again for fun.” He’s the kind of boss you suffer through once and then never look back.
To me, Arlecchino is the clearest example of Lies of P: Overture’s strengths and weaknesses. The developers know how to create unforgettable spectacle. They know how to stage a boss fight so it looks and feels iconic. But they still don’t fully understand what makes a Soulslike boss tick. Arlecchino could have been one of the greats. Instead, he’s a case study in wasted potential. Coolest cutscenes in the world, tied to one of the most poorly designed fights I’ve ever slogged through.