The Painful Realities of LISA

LISA: The Painful

Lisa: The Painful is a darkly comedic story-centric videogame based on the 1992 novel Children of Men. As its subtitle would suggest, LISA: The Painful is an unforgiving journey where the small touches of humor are the only sources of respite from the neverending feeling of struggle that the game cultivates through its themes and gameplay.

The main character, Brad lives in the fictional world of Olathe, one in which all females have suddenly disappeared overnight. The explanation for their disappearance, described by a few as nothing more than a “white flash,” is kept intentionally vague to reduce its importance to the game’s story. LISA is more interested in exploring the hypothetical consequences of an event like this than explaining how it could be possible. Aside from a few flashbacks into the young life of Brad Armstrong, our main character, the entirety of the game takes place long after this “white flash.” Where all idyllic homes with white picket fences have been replaced by dilapidated houses and mud huts.

The world Brad now inhabits has become a perverted, disgusting, and run down parody of its former self with an extreme masculine influence. One of the game’s main sources of humor is in observation of some of the ways this hypothetical world may deal with being completely male-dominated, always to its detriment. This humorous parody is almost whimsically portrayed, with things such such as having dirty magazines as the main currency for the game, and runs in direct contrast to the serious consequences of introducing a female adolescent into this unforgiving world.

The main hook of the story revolves around a character Buddy, which is a baby female that Brad mysteriously finds on the ground outside of his hut. Brad is reminded by her of his abusive childhood, with his father Marty, and his sister Lisa (A character of which the game is named after), and takes this moment as an opportunity to make up for not being able to save Lisa from the horrors of their abusive father. He then raises her in secret, until one day when she is captured, kicking off the game’s adventure. LISA uses the relationship between Brad and Buddy to highlight how child abuse can perpetuate cyclically, despite his supposed intentions to protect her.

This theme of the game is rooted in substance abuse. Reminiscent of their father Marty’s alcoholism in Brad’s flashbacks, our main character Brad is addicted to a drug called “joy”. This drug, which it is entirely up to the player to take, has consequences in the game’s mechanics. When on “Joy” combat is a cakewalk. All attacks deal critical damage and the player’s defense is bolstered significantly. While off the drug, there is a chance that Brad will experience withdrawal, which will render all of his attacks ineffective. This serves to mock other video game “powerups” that help the player advance in the game by bringing “Joy” closer to real life substances.

Throughout the game, players observe that other characters who are addicted to joy, turn into mindless killing mutants when they die. This runs in parallel with Brad’s relationship with the young female Buddy, as she sees him as becoming more monstrous in his attempts to protect her throughout the story. Evently the characters who you have met on your adventure along the way turn on you, insisting that you can only do so much to protect someone before you start to overbearingly control them, or start doing them actual harm.

Games like this which betray the player’s expectations in creative ways are cropping up more recently. Another one with a similar artstyle and surreal world is Undertale, a slightly more popular game which has been gaining a lot of praise recently, topping a lot of “best indie game of 2015” charts. Both of these games are reminiscent of 1994’s Earthbound for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

LISA has a lot to say about things relevant in the real world. It tackles the issue of overbearing masculinity and contrasts it to feminine capability, which ties into Buddy’s confident independence from her overbearing protector Brad. Their relationship also tackles the issue of how, despite intentions, child abuse has repercussions beyond the first generation, especially when cycles of substance abuse are passed down to cloud the minds of good people.