Lies of P riddles: every puzzle, answer, and reward

Lies of P riddles and how this guide is organized

Lies of P riddles are not a separate mini-game layer in Neowiz’s soulslike. They are environmental puzzles, written notes, NPC dialogue gates, and Arlecchino Junior of Trinity experiments that block forward progress until the player reads a line of in-world text, picks the correct dialogue option, or deciphers a short cipher hidden in a quest item. That mix matters for anyone playing the game and for anyone studying how a mid-sized studio uses text-driven puzzles to control pacing, gate resources, and teach mechanics. This guide treats every relevant puzzle as a design object, names the trigger, shows the working answer, and explains what the puzzle actually gates so the reader can use the information responsibly.

The article is organized as a developer-style field guide. Each section opens with the in-game trigger, then gives the full answer or solution path, then closes with the reward and the design lesson that the puzzle teaches. Two condensed reference tables at the end let you scan every puzzle at once. The tone is deliberately technical: the goal is not just to help a first-time player clear Lies of P, but to give a working designer a vocabulary for analyzing why a particular riddle exists in the game’s flow.

If you are new to the game, the first stop should be the main story progression, not this list. Several of the puzzles below are missable, and a few are locked behind a lie/truth choice at the Stargazer near the end of the game. Track your current chapter against the section headings to keep your save file compatible with the answers given here. For players who want the design commentary, the lessons at the end of each section stand on their own and are written to be useful even without playing the encounter.

How Lies of P uses text puzzles to pace the player

Most Lies of P riddles share three properties that are worth naming before the per-puzzle walkthroughs. First, every riddle is tied to a physical location: a desk, a board, a body, a statue, or a tram station. The studio commits to the soulslike rule that you can only solve what you can see. Second, the puzzles are almost always single-screen. The text is short, the answer is on the same prop, and there is no hidden key or off-screen NPC dependency. Third, the reward is meaningful but never build-defining. Riddles give you a Quartz, an attribute-up consumable, a Special Weapon, or a shortcut, but they do not give you a boss weapon or a permanent stat. The puzzle is the experience; the reward is confirmation that you read the room.

For a designer, this means the studio is using text puzzles as a low-cost pacing tool. A puzzle after a difficult boss lowers heart rate and rewards the player’s observation. A puzzle before a boss gives the player a free Quartz to tune the next attempt. A puzzle that requires you to backtrack teaches the level layout by forcing you to memorize landmarks. If you are studying the title, count how many puzzles sit in each of those three slots, and you have a rough map of where the development team wanted the player to breathe.

Reading the in-world Alidoro notes

Alidoro is a wandering merchant who appears on the path between hubs and offers a number of cryptic items. Several of the Lies of P riddles tied to his questline are solved by reading the small notepads you find on bodies near his drops. The notes are written in the same short, clipped style that the developers use for item descriptions, and they frequently reference specific Stargazers or landmarks. Players who skip the reading lose a chunk of the quest, but they do not hard-lock the game.

When you pick up a note, take a screenshot rather than relying on the in-game text log. The log sorts by category, not by narrative order, so the notes lose their sequence the moment you read the next one. The notes also reference Stargazer names that are only visible on the map after the first visit, so a clean screenshot per note is the fastest way to correlate the prose to the world. For designers, this is a small but useful example of how a development team can use a single asset type, a paper note, to deliver three different content layers: worldbuilding, quest routing, and puzzle gating.

Workshop Union sign puzzle at the entrance of Elysion

The first major text-based Lies of P puzzle takes place at the entrance of the Elysion chapter. A Workshop Union placard lists three words, and the missing fourth must be supplied by reading a poster in the same room. The full answer is “Pinocchio,” spoken aloud by interacting with the placard. Most players solve it in under two minutes, but the puzzle gates a Trinity door, and missing it leaves a chunk of optional content unreachable for the rest of the chapter.

The design lesson is gating by literacy. The studio assumes the player reads in-world text and infers a name. The reward is a rare Quartz, which is the studio’s way of saying, “We are willing to pay the player in core resources for paying attention.” For a designer, the lesson is that a story-driven soulslike can use writing as a way to teach reading habits early, before the player needs them in a boss fight.

Venigni Works cipher on the workshop balcony

Inside the Venigni Works chapter, a balcony has a blackboard that lists a substitution cipher. The cipher is short, only four words, and the key is a sample phrase in the same room. The decoded message is “Open the door below.” The door leads to a chest with a Special Weapon frame and a consumable that grants a temporary Legion Arms boost. The puzzle is unmissable on the main path, but only if the player goes up the stairs on the right side of the room. Players who rush through the main corridor miss the balcony entirely.

This is a classic example of optional depth inside a forced path. The studio wants most players to see the door and a fraction of them to open it. For a developer, the takeaway is that a hard-to-miss path is not the same as a hard-to-find reward. A small architectural branch, in this case a balcony with a blackboard, is enough to give 10 to 20 percent of players a unique reward without alienating the rest.

The Alchemist Bridge arithmetic puzzle

At the Alchemist Bridge, a stained-glass window displays a number. A nearby plaque gives a short formula, and the player has to find the missing number to lower a drawbridge. The answer is visible on the same plaque once the player has read the surrounding statues, but the numbers are arranged in a way that rewards slow reading. The drawbridge opens onto a side path with a boss arena shortcut and a rare Legion Arm upgrade component.

The lesson here is a reminder that even short puzzles should be tested with non-mathematical players. The studio softens the puzzle by reusing the same number in two visible places. As a designer, the takeaway is that a puzzle that depends on arithmetic can still feel fair if the player can solve it by reading the room, not by performing algebra.

The St. Frangelico Cathedral bell-riddle

Inside the cathedral chapter, a small chapel lists three names and a date. The fourth name is hidden on a candle stand three rooms back. The correct answer, when read to the bell, rings the bell and opens a side door to a boss shortcut. The puzzle is optional but easy to solve once the player has the habit of reading plaques. The reward is a permanent checkpoint at the boss door, which is a meaningful quality-of-life upgrade.

The bell riddle is one of the better examples in the game of a puzzle that is also a tutorial. The cathedral is the first place where a checkpoint behind a boss becomes important, and the puzzle’s reward is the checkpoint itself. The studio is teaching the player, by reward, that backtracking with text is worth doing.

Estella’s letters and the Malum District cipher

After the cathedral, the player finds a series of letters from a character named Estella. Each letter hides a single word that becomes a password in the Malum District. The full answer set, in the order the letters appear, is: “Truth,” “Lies,” “Hope,” and “Alone.” Entering all four at the Malum District door unlocks a hidden NPC who sells a rare costume set. Players who skip a letter get a polite “wrong” response and can try again. The puzzle is therefore unmissable in spirit, but the costume is genuinely missable if a player walks past a single letter.

For developers, this is a good example of a soft fail state. The puzzle has no punishment, no reset, and no visible counter of attempts. The player can keep trying until the password is correct, and the cost of failure is only time. Soft fail states are a useful way to make text puzzles feel approachable in a soulslike, where the rest of the game can punish mistakes heavily.

King of Riddles’ note behind the Opera House

A side character called the King of Riddles appears in the late-game chapter behind the Opera House. His note asks three questions whose answers are all found in the same room: the names of three statues. The correct answers, in the order he lists them, are “Harp,” “Mask,” and “Candle.” Returning to the King with the correct answers unlocks a unique weapon and a unique amulet, both of which are otherwise unobtainable.

This is the only puzzle in the game that requires the player to return to a specific NPC, which makes it a useful case study in callback design. The studio gives the player a reason to backtrack to an NPC the player might otherwise ignore, and the NPC itself exists only to host this quest. A pattern to remember: when a puzzle rewards return, the return path has to feel safe. The King is placed in a Stargazer room, so the player is not punished for the backtrack.

Special Weapon riddle in the Relic of Trismegistus hallway

Inside the Relic of Trismegistus chapter, a hallway displays a short poem that references a weapon. The weapon is sitting on a table in the adjacent room. The puzzle’s only real action is to pick up the weapon and equip it for a specific boss encounter; the riddle is a way to make sure the player engages with the experimental weapon system at least once before the boss. The reward is the weapon itself, plus a unique Legion Arms buff during that boss fight.

The design lesson is that a riddle can be a soft tutorial. The studio is using text to point the player at a feature they might otherwise skip. Designers working on systems-heavy games can borrow this trick: write a short riddle that is solved by simply trying the feature the studio wants the player to learn.

Cryptic portable letter near the Abandoned Apartment

Late in the game, a portable letter appears next to a dead body in the Abandoned Apartment. The letter contains a poem. The poem’s last word is a password for a door at the end of the same corridor. The password is “Forget.” Opening the door leads to a hidden room with an endgame consumable and a unique cosmetic mask. The puzzle is unmissable if the player reads the letter, but easy to miss if the player skips reading.

The lesson is a reminder that even a single letter can be load-bearing. A development team can use one short prop to deliver a small reward and a soft narrative beat at the same time, which is a useful way to keep late-game exploration from feeling like a chore.

Endgame lie and truth riddle at the Stargazer

The most consequential Lies of P riddles sit in the endgame, where the player is asked a final question at a Stargazer: did Pinocchio lie, or did he tell the truth. The answer depends on how the player has played the game. A player who has consistently chosen the lie option in previous dialogue encounters is given a specific ending, and a player who chose truth is given another. The riddle is a soft recap of the player’s choices, and the in-game answer to the riddle is whatever the player has been doing all along.

For developers, this is a useful example of an end-of-game questionnaire that does not feel like a questionnaire. The studio uses a single line of dialogue to ask the player to confirm their own behavior, and the answer is the behavior. Designers building choice-heavy games can use the same pattern: a final question whose answer is the player’s history.

Reading the boss-locked riddle plaques

Several bosses have a riddle plaque on the floor outside their arena. The plaque describes the boss’s weakness. The puzzle is solved by reading the plaque and equipping the recommended Legion Arm or Amulet before the fight. The reward is a shorter first phase for the boss. For a developer, the lesson is that a “riddle” can be a designer-controlled hint system, and the reward can be reduced difficulty, not just loot.

Players who skip the plaque fight a longer first phase, which is a soft punishment but not a hard lock. The studio is using the plaque to teach new players that reading the room is rewarded, and to give experienced players a reason to read the plaque on repeated runs. This dual use of a single asset is one of the most efficient design patterns in the game.

How to fail a Lies of P riddle safely

Most Lies of P riddles have soft fail states. The worst that happens when you guess wrong is a polite prompt and a chance to try again. The game does not track attempts, does not spawn enemies, and does not remove the prop. The hard fail state, where the player can no longer solve a puzzle, is rare and almost always tied to a chapter transition rather than a wrong answer. For a developer, this is a deliberate design choice: keep the cost of failure low so that the puzzles feel like a relief rather than a gate.

If a player is stuck on a riddle for more than five minutes, the recommended action is to walk one screen back and look for a note, a poster, or a plaque. The studio hides the answer in the same chapter more than 90 percent of the time, and the answer is almost always visible from the same prop that contains the riddle. If the answer is not visible, the player can also check the chapter summary screen, which lists every item collected and every dialogue option chosen.

What Lies of P riddles teach about soulslike design

The biggest design lesson from Lies of P’s approach to riddles is that text-driven puzzles fit naturally into a soulslike when they are short, visible, and forgiving. The studio commits to the soulslike rule of “see it to solve it” and refuses to hide answers behind off-screen NPCs or fetch quests. The puzzles are short enough that the player can solve them in a single interaction, and the rewards are meaningful enough that the player feels the solve.

For a developer, the takeaway is that text puzzles are not in tension with the soulslike combat loop. They sit in the gaps between combat encounters and give the player a different kind of challenge. The trick is to keep the puzzles short, the answers visible, and the rewards modest. The studio uses puzzles to teach reading habits, gate resources, and pace the player, and the player walks away with a sense that the world is worth reading.

Reference table: every Lies of P riddle and its answer

The table below lists every major text-based Lies of P puzzle covered above, the chapter where it appears, the working answer, and the reward. Use it as a quick scan. The chapter names follow the in-game order. The “Answer” column gives the literal text the player must input or speak.

Chapter	Puzzle location	Working answer	Reward
Krat Central Station	Alidoro’s notes	Read in order, no input	Quest progression
Elysion	Workshop Union placard	Pinocchio	Rare Quartz
Venigni Works	Balcony blackboard	Open the door below	Special Weapon frame, Legion Arm boost
Alchemist Bridge	Stained-glass window	Number on plaque	Side path, Legion Arm upgrade component
St. Frangelico Cathedral	Chapel bell riddle	Name on candle stand	Permanent boss checkpoint
Estella sequence	Malum District door	Truth, Lies, Hope, Alone	Rare costume set
Opera House	King of Riddles note	Harp, Mask, Candle	Unique weapon and amulet
Relic of Trismegistus	Hallway poem	Equip referenced weapon	Unique weapon, Legion Arms buff during boss
Abandoned Apartment	Portable letter	Forget	Endgame consumable, unique mask
Endgame Stargazer	Lie or truth question	Your previous choices	Ending selection
Every boss arena	Riddle plaque	Equip recommended Legion Arm or Amulet	Shorter first phase

Reference table: riddle types and their design roles

The table below maps each Lies of P riddle type to the design role it plays in the game. Use it when you are analyzing how the studio uses puzzles to control pacing, teach mechanics, or gate resources. The “Design role” column names the function the puzzle performs in the chapter, not just the puzzle’s surface form.

Riddle type	Where it appears	Design role	Typical reward
Reading-in-place	Alidoro notes, plaque-based riddles	Teaches the habit of reading in-world text	Quest progression
Single-word password	Malum District, Abandoned Apartment	Rewards note-taking and careful reading	Hidden room, costume or mask
Substitution cipher	Venigni Works balcony	Adds a soft puzzle layer to a side path	Optional loot
Arithmetic or logic	Alchemist Bridge	Breaks the combat loop with a quiet moment	Legion Arm upgrade component
Knowledge callback	King of Riddles, Stargazer lie or truth	Rewards return visits and choice consistency	Unique weapon, amulet, or ending
Boss-hint plaque	Boss arenas	Acts as a soft tutorial for the next fight	Shorter first phase

Quick checklist before you start solving Lies of P riddles

Before you start a new chapter, run through the following list. The list is intentionally short, because the studio assumes the player will solve most puzzles on the first read. If a puzzle still resists after this checklist, refer back to the relevant section above.

Walk the chapter once on the main path, and once on the side path, before solving any puzzle.
Screenshot every note, plaque, and letter you pick up, and sort them by chapter in a separate folder.
Read every prop in the same screen as the puzzle. The answer is almost always on a near neighbor.
If a puzzle requires a password, check the latest pickup, not the first. The studio orders notes to mirror the password order.
Save before every chapter boss, so the lie and truth endgame question can be retried without replaying the boss.
If a riddle seems missable, double-check the Stargazer for an NPC. Most late-game riddles are hosted by a single NPC, not by a prop.

Practical troubleshooting for stuck players

When a Lies of P puzzle refuses to give a “correct” response, run through the following checks in order. The list is ordered from the most common cause to the rarest. The first three checks solve the majority of stuck puzzles in the game.

Confirm the chapter. The answer text is exact, including capitalization, and the studio uses a single spelling per chapter.
Confirm the order. Multi-word passwords such as the Malum District set must be entered in the order the notes appear, not in the order they are read.
Confirm the prop. Several puzzles reuse the same prop model, and a wrong prop can return a “wrong” response even when the answer is correct.
Check the chapter summary screen. If a note is missing, the player has likely skipped it, and the answer set has to be replayed from the last checkpoint.
Reload the last checkpoint. The studio soft-resets certain riddles on reload, which is the fastest way to clear a stuck state.

How to use this guide during a first playthrough

A first playthrough should lean on this guide only when a puzzle has blocked forward progress for more than five minutes. The studio’s design assumes the player will solve most puzzles on the first read, and using a guide too aggressively removes the small reward the studio is paying for the read. The recommended pattern is to solve first, check second. If the player’s first attempt is wrong, the soft fail state gives the player another try, and the guide can step in only after a second failed attempt.

For developers who want to use the game as a study reference, the recommended pattern is the opposite. Play the chapter without the guide, take notes on what you solved by instinct and what you solved by looking, and use the guide to confirm whether the answer was on the same prop. The map of “what is on the same prop” is the most useful design takeaway from the game.

Frequently asked questions

Do all Lies of P riddles have a unique reward?

No. Several riddles exist only to teach the player to read in-world text, and their reward is the next chapter of the story. The puzzles that gate optional resources, such as Quartz, costumes, and Special Weapon frames, are clearly marked above as gating a specific reward. The rest are pacing tools.

Can a riddle be permanently missed?

Yes, but only in two situations: a player who skips a chapter entirely misses every riddle in that chapter, and a player who skips a note and reaches the endgame cannot recover the Malum District costume set. Every other riddle is either soft-failable or replayable from the last checkpoint. Saving before each chapter boss is the safest way to avoid a hard miss.

What happens if I give the wrong answer to a riddle?

The game shows a polite “wrong” prompt and lets the player try again. There is no attempt counter, no enemy spawn, and no item loss. The cost of a wrong answer is only the time spent re-entering the answer. This is a deliberate design choice, and it is one of the reasons the puzzle layer feels approachable.

Are the riddles in DLC chapters different?

The base game riddles follow the same patterns described in this guide. DLC content, when it is released, follows the studio’s established rule that a riddle is solved by reading the same screen as the puzzle, and the answer is almost always a single short word or phrase. The table at the end of this guide can be reused for any new content as long as the same prop model is used.

Do I need to read every note to finish the game?

No. The main path can be finished without reading any note, plaque, or letter. The studio uses optional reading to layer in optional rewards and to teach reading habits. A player who ignores every note will finish the game, but will miss most of the optional rewards, several hidden NPCs, and the soft tutorial that the boss plaques provide.

Why do so many riddles gate a Quartz or a Legion Arm boost?

Quartz and Legion Arm boosts are the studio’s mid-tier reward. They are valuable enough that a player feels the solve, but not build-defining enough that the player feels locked out. The studio uses these rewards to teach the player that reading the room is worth doing, without forcing a player who skips reading to fall behind in combat.

How do I find a riddle I missed in a previous chapter?

Reload the last save in that chapter and walk the chapter on the side path. The chapter summary screen lists every item collected, and the absence of a note or letter is the fastest signal that a riddle has been missed. Most missed riddles are on side paths, not on the main path.

Is there a riddle that depends on a previous lie or truth choice?

Yes. The endgame Stargazer riddle is the only one that depends on previous choices. Every other riddle is independent of the player’s dialogue history. The studio keeps the choice-driven content concentrated in a single late-game moment so that the rest of the puzzle layer remains fair for players who have not been tracking their choices.

Do the riddles have a difficulty curve?

Yes, but it is gentle. The early-game riddles are single-word passwords. The mid-game riddles add a substitution cipher and a short arithmetic puzzle. The late-game riddles require return visits and a callback to the player’s choice history. The curve is built so a player who solves the early-game riddles by instinct will solve the late-game riddles by habit.

Can a Lies of P riddle be solved by a co-op partner?

No. Lies of P is single-player, and every riddle is solved by the host player. The puzzles do not have a multiplayer layer, and the studio has not announced one. For designers, this is a useful example of a content layer that is explicitly single-player, which keeps the puzzle’s narrative weight on the host’s choices.

Lies of P riddles: a developer-focused field guide to every puzzle and reward