This is very much true. I had to do this for months to manage an abusive narcissist I couldn't get away from right away. Lots of showbiz hocus pocus to keep things de-escalated and not give that person a reason to keep targeting me. It was gross and felt icky but for the most part, it worked. They didn't know whether to harass me or wait compliantly for the next nugget of validation.

Narcissists love praise since they aren't good at self-soothing, and mostly don't know what to do if someone they've been targeting praises them. If you try this though, keep it real whenever possible, because they can at least sometimes detect when you aren't being real, and they just get more paranoid and toxic.

Mostly, get the eff away as soon as you can, and be really boring, mild, etc. about how you do it. Do not give them stuff to fight with or sink their teeth into if at all possible. There are some good books about going no contact, for anyone who needs ideas about that. One of them is How to Do No Contact Like a Boss.