In an unexpected twist, NEOWIZ issued a game update for ‘Lies of P’ that may have accidentally removed the DENUVO anti-piracy measures. This oversight left the game’s executable file unprotected and susceptible.
As a result the game has swiftly been cracked by the group known as RUNE.
Although the game’s Steam store page still mentions Denuvo, it’s important to note that the latest update no longer includes it. As of now, the developers have not replaced this version.
There are two possibilities, either NEOWIZ have officially removed DENUVO anti-tamper DRM, simply due to licensing / costs or they genuinely released a game update that mistakenly wasn’t protected by the encrypted cancer.
Honestly, I’m hoping for the latter because for them to inadvertently leave their game wide open with a title update is a form of retribution for their bullshit actions against the PC gaming community.
This includes sneakily implementing DENUVO DRM with the early access press release just days before the game’s official launch.
From memory I can recall a similar incident if this was accidental, Codemasters, now owned by EA accidentally forgot to incorporate DENUVO into their patch 1.05 for F1 22.
Other instances, such as Capcom accidentally providing a DENUVO-free executable for Resident Evil 2, Bethesda doing the same for Doom Eternal and indie developers “Funcom” accidentally removed DENUVO from Conan Exiles.
Even SEGA were dumb enough to accidentally provided a version of a game, that being Persona 5 Strikers without DENUVO incorporated by mistake.
So I genuinely would not be surprised to hear that NEOWIZ accidentally let the cat out of the bag and released a game update that wasn’t protected by the most despicable and despised DRM solution, but then again countless developers have also removed DENUVO from their games after release because of course piracy doesn’t actually hinder sales.
More rather, incorporating an encrypted DRM solution that hinders performance and frame time consistency just makes everyone hate your goddamn guts.
Now that the Korean-developed shotacon souls-like game has been cracked, I see little incentive for the developers to retrospectively introduce DENUVO into a revised title update or in the future.
The “damage,” so to speak, has already been inflicted. Despite being one of the better titles released last year, the game has regrettably failed to receive the recognition it deserves, largely due to being overlooked by the masses since its launch in favor of Lords of the Fallen which managed more than double the peak concurrent players of NEOWIZ’s title despite barely being operable on even high-end PCs without barbaric upscaling.
On the contrary, Lies of P runs seamlessly even on aging PC hardware, offering a modern gaming experience with 1080p resolution and 60fps on hardware nearly a decade old, and that is of course at “maximum settings”. Turn the presets down and I am sure that you’d get extremely playable framerates if you’ve bought a PC over the past eight years.
For instance, here’s Lies of P running on the recently released AMD Ryzen 7 8700G with its Radeon 780M integrated graphics, averaging over 60 frames per second at 1080p Medium without FSR upscaling.
Such commendable optimization warrants recognition, making Lies of P one of the most optimized PC titles of last year, despite its previous inclusion of DENUVO, which has since been removed.
With an impressive all-time Steam rating of 92%, it’s puzzling why Lords of the Fallen, with its 61% all-time review score, managed to overshadow NEOWIZ’s title. Lies of P is undoubtedly a game that deserves attention and possibly your investment. However, due to their last minute incorporation of DENUVO DRM, I held off.
Now, you have the opportunity to download the game and experience it for yourself, completely free of charge.
