Soulslike Lies of P cuts 'All Puppets Are Bastards' sign

Lies of P screenshot showing combat with woodland creature — (Image credit: Neowiz)

Lies of P's developer has removed an in-game sign reading 'All Puppets Are Bastards' for fear of the game being judged "based on any trends."

As Sports Illustrated first reported, early gameplay for Lies of P featured a decapitated puppet on a bridge, wearing a sign with the phrase "APAB" scrawled across it. This was obviously meant to stand for 'All Puppets Are Bastards,' a play on the ACAB acronym, meaning 'All Cops Are Bastards.'

However, that text has now vanished from Lies of P. In the more recent gameplay seen just below (as first noted by PC Gamer), the player can be seen approaching the same decapitated figure on the bridge, only this time, the text on the sign reads "Purge Puppets," with the acronym being nowhere to be seen.

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Lies of P game director Ji-Won Choi confirmed to Sports Illustrated that the sign had been altered, with the original text removed from the game entirely. "That was one of the messages we were going to use in the game, but we ended up taking it out," Choi explained to the outlet.

"We took it out eventually because we wanted everyone to enjoy the game exactly how we intended it to be enjoyed, and not judged based on any trends. We really wanted the world that we designed to be interpreted by the players exactly how we aimed it to be, so we took out factors that could be a little risky," Choi continued.

"We respect everyone who might want to play this game, and we wanted everyone to get the best experience out of it," the game director concluded.

Lies of P launches later this month on September 19 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One. It's also a day one launch title for Xbox Game Pass.

You can head over to our own Lies of P preview to see what we made of the game's latest hands-on offering from Gamescom 2023.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.