Lisa: The Painful
IGDB
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About Lisa: The Painful
Dingaling released Lisa: The Painful on December 15, 2014 for PC, Linux, and Mac. This title sits squarely in the adventure and role-playing genres while using turn-based strategy elements. The story unfolds in a bleak post-apocalyptic wasteland where you control a character searching for his son. The visual style mimics old-school RPGs but features a gritty, side-scrolling presentation that hides dark humor behind its charm. It is not a standard dungeon crawler. The game forces players to confront uncomfortable moral questions through its narrative structure. You explore ruins and engage in combat within this broken world. The developer built this as a single-player experience designed to test your ethical boundaries rather than just your reflexes.
Gameplay
You move the protagonist across a side-scrolling map while managing a party of up to four characters. Combat happens on separate screens where you issue commands for each team member. You must decide who attacks, who heals, or who uses items during every single turn. The core loop involves scavenging for supplies in a resource-starved environment. A unique system lets you equip body parts from defeated enemies. If your main character loses an arm, you can replace it with a prosthetic limb that grants different stats. These choices are permanent. You might sacrifice your own strength to save a teammate or cut off a limb to survive a fight. The game tracks these decisions and alters the story path accordingly.
What Players Think
The PlayPile data shows this title has struck a deep chord with its audience. IGDB lists a score of 90.1 out of 100 based on 139 ratings, indicating strong critical reception. Community moods lean heavily toward "dark" and "intense" with very few players reporting it as "fun." Average playtime sits around 25 hours for a main story run. Completion rates suggest only about 60 percent of users finish the game because the ending requires difficult choices. Review snippets frequently mention the emotional weight of losing party members. The achievement data shows most users unlock standard progression items, but few attempt to get the "perfect" endings that require sacrificing entire squads. Critics and players alike agree this is not a casual experience.
PlayPile's Take
Lisa: The Painful demands time and emotional resilience from anyone who plays it. It costs very little on Steam yet offers a dense narrative that lingers long after you finish. You should only buy this if you want a story about moral decay rather than a power fantasy. The achievement list includes options for running through the game while killing everyone, which is harder than saving them. This is a harsh RPG for people who dislike being told what to feel. The turn-based combat feels functional but serves the narrative well. If you can handle constant loss and ethical dilemmas without quitting, this title delivers a memorable run. Skip it if you just want to grind levels.
Game Modes
Single player
IGDB Rating
90.1
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