We may receive compensation if you make a purchase after clicking one of our links. Get familiar with our standards of editorial integrity here.
Release of Lisa’s definitive edition on PC has occurred.
Lisa: The Painful was previously described to me as Undertale. Or Mother 3 following Mother 2 (or Earthbound 3). Lisa’s bizarre setting, goofy humour, and serious consequences made it an instant classic among fans. And by “ruthless effects,” I mean your party members can lose entire limbs or turn into heaps of drooping flesh. Is that a rebuff or what? But now that the Definitive Edition is available, maybe the “cult” reputation it formerly held may finally blossom into mainstream popularity. New enemies, employers, tales, and endings, as well as a much simpler “Painless” mode, are all included in Lisa: Definitive Edition, in addition to the original game and its expansion, Lisa The Joyful.
Everything else you’d expect from a remaster is present, including improved visuals and user interface, a 120 FPS mode, additional language support, and a slew of brand new border art overlays. Oh, and more than 20 new tracks are being added to Lisa’s already great soundtrack. Not to mention, the impending vinyl release of the game features a beautifully weird artwork.
Lisa has also been made available on consoles for the first time, including the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Switch, with minor feature changes exclusive to the PlayStation 4 release. Warning: “Lisa may be unduly censored in order to adhere to the guidelines… in a manner that damages its humour, world, or creative stability,” from Dingaling and Serenity Forge. The changes mostly affect suggestions for consuming alcoholic beverages, illegal narcotics, and cigarettes, which are now referred to as the much cooler sounding “cigarette sweets.”
In a recent Have You Played, our own Rachel provided a concise summary of the game’s structure.
Set in a dystopian future where women have all but vanished, you take on the role of Brad, who stumbles upon a young girl he names Buddy and raises her as a trickster. Brad pulls the trigger when a militia kidnaps Buddy years later. Put that way, the story doesn’t sound like much, but there’s actually a lot more to it than meets the eye. It’s a really different kind of gloomy RPG due to the absurdist humour of the universe and the dreadful decisions you’ll have to make.
Lisa—Definitive Edition is available now for £17/$25 on Steam and platforms. While the Steam website may not explicitly name this the Definitive Edition, Serenity Forge’s storefront does. Both Lisa: The Painful and Lisa: The Joyful are available for purchase separately on Steam, and existing players will automatically receive the second game’s content as it becomes available. The original Lisa: The First is coming back, but in “a various method,” according to the FAQ website.