Alexx Aplin
Alexx AplinWhen you play games long enough (especially reviewing them) there are a few cult classic, highly acclaimed games that slip through the cracks. These are games that you’ve been told are good, games you’ve been recommended numerous times, but they’ve just never quite made the cut. For a long time, the dystopian RPG known as LISA fit that bill for me. However, after years of recommendations, I’m not sure it is really for me.
Technically, this review covers two stories, but for the sake of time, we’ll review both here since they are a complete package. Lisa: Definitive Edition is Serenity Forge’s release of both Lisa: The Painful, and its DLC, Lisa: The Joyful, in their definitive versions. Both Lisa: The Painful and Lisa: The Joyful have new quests, campfire content, and a variety of other additions to things like the soundtrack and battle systems.
The general premise of Lisa: The Painful (carried on in The Joyful) is that the world has been destroyed by a mysterious apocalyptic event. As a result, the world has turned into a depraved, miserable place. Brad, a man who lost his sister and was abused as a child, finds a baby girl left alone in the wasteland. Girls are almost unheard of in this land and thus he takes on the role of her protector. However, when she is taken by a gang, he must band with others to try and get her back.
Lisa: The Joyful carries on after Lisa: The Painful ends and concludes the overall story. I won’t spoil it here, so if you have the stomach for the game after you read this review, you can discover the rest yourself. While Lisa: Definitive Edition has a wealth of content, I’m not sure I’d recommend it.
Lisa’s selling point is also its detriment, let me explain what I mean. The world Lisa takes place in is miserable, and it translates into gameplay. Through the choices you make, characters you have in your party can permanently die, be maimed, lose limbs, and more. This has a tangible gameplay impact on their stats, but choices also dictate how the story goes.
You can permanently decimate communities, kill NPCs, and do other ruthless, terrible things as a result of the choices you make in the game. Combat is also a tough endeavor, even in “Painless” mode, which is a new mode designed to give more casual players a more story-oriented experience. With all this in mind, that miserable aspect of the world is also off-putting in a lot of ways.
Lisa and its definitive edition attempt to capture the concept of black comedy in ways that mix it with shock value and other macabre varieties of humor. However, when you are thrust into a world of degenerates, perverts, and monstrous entities, it is hard to stomach some of the elements that edge on disturbing rather than humorous. I’m also not sure that its core message makes up for the gross, disturbing things you see in order to get to the end.
In that vein, I think I agree with a lot of Lisa’s critics in saying that Lisa: Definitive Edition is not for everyone. In terms of mechanics, it plays well, and it definitely sticks to its theme. Visually it sells the disturbing, dystopian, apocalyptic vibes that it uses for its narrative as well. There are a lot of people who have said that if you can overlook the disturbing parts, the narrative hits hard and has a profound meaning. I’m not sure I am among the people that have the stomach for it though.
If you find black comedy and disturbing, shock-value humor to be up your alley, Lisa: Definitive Edition is something you might be interested in. If you can handle those elements, there is a solid RPG underneath it all too. However, this is not a game for casual RPG fans, or for people looking for just a typical retro-themed classical RPG or something like Undertale or Earthbound. Either way, if you’re looking to check out Lisa, the Definitive Edition bundle has the entire experience.
A Nintendo Switch review copy of Lisa: Definitive Edition was provided by Serenity Forge for this review.
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Lisa: Definitive Edition
$19.99 USD
Pros
- Two Stories in One Package
- Combat Mechanics are Interesting
- Choices Impact the World
Cons
- Art Style and Gameplay is a Bit Disturbing
- Not for Casual RPG Fans
- Combat is Frustrating Even on Lowest Difficulty
- Characters Aren't Likeable
- Story Doesn't Make Up for Disturbing Elements
