LISA: Definitive Edition

Lisa: Definitive Edition is the best way to enjoy this tough story that engages and judges you as a player in a way that few games could offer, even among the big budget ones.

Lisa: Definitive Edition is an amazing RPG, that melds the cute and oddness of Earthbound but interjects incredible mature themes. It may even be too dark for some.

While I’m ultimately disappointed by a few of the newer features LISA: Definitive Edition boasts, I’m overall pleased with the finished product. The border art, new songs, Painless mode, text scaling, and more are all incredible quality-of-life improvements to an already great game. Adding extra dialogue, endings, and enemies is just RPG gravy. LISA: Definitive Edition takes a game I’d already recommend playing and makes it that much more accessible.

A diamond in the rough, a unique post-apocalyptic world filled with dark humor, quirky situations, and an intense central story. LISA may not be widely known, but it sticks with anyone who looks past its simplistic visuals.

LISA: Definitive Edition, taken as a whole package, is an RPG unlike any other I have played before. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes it’s a bad thing. This is a very heavy, raw game in terms of its story. It hits on some very tough topics and it pulls zero punches. If you’re squeamish about violence or gore, or just aren’t into the idea of a very rough and frequently cruel narrative, you might want to hold off on this one. But if you’re okay with that kind of thing, I recommend playing this to see what it has to say.

In truth the hardest thing about LISA is talking about it because it’s just one of those titles that’s really better experienced. It’s dark and depressing, but has an amusing sense of humor that makes it easy to smile through the suffering. It’s a title that benefits wildly from making frequent saves, so when Brad gets to an unskippable segment where he has to watch his entire party die through a chance of luck, it’s easy to go back and try again with a hopefully better outcome the next time around. There’s slews of ways to approach a lot of scenarios which makes for unique outcomes as well and LISA is a title that really sells itself on replaying multiple times for those that want to get the absolute most out of it. For those willing to take on the dark tone, visuals and story, LISA: Definitive Edition is well worth picking up for those who haven’t experienced it before.

I may not be the target audience for LISA, but I recognize quality when I encounter it. The mechanics subvert the usual RPG tropes, leaving you tense and scrambling the entire time. The world itself is both funny and awful, with a heavy dose of post-apocalyptic tragedy thrown in. The level design left me feeling disoriented, but I think it was meant to. The graphics get your guard down, setting you up nicely for the brutal writing. The game is tough too, which feels appropriate. I have no idea what to score this game. Although I hated playing it, I can tell it was a well-crafted experience. I can’t honestly recommend LISA: Definitive Edition, but some of you will check it out regardless. To you I say, have fun! You will not soon forget this game.