There are not many games I have played, I'll admit -- I don't go through story games as much as I used to, and usually my routine involves me playing 1 or 2 games for maybe a whole year until I've done all I can with it. This year Crusader Kings III and Mewgenics fill that role, but I have had lazy years with nothing to play, which involved me taking desperate measures and picking out games I'm completely not familiar with. In the year of 2024 I picked up Lisa after remembering I had watched the Dunkey video on it. My thought process was "This'll be a fun and light-hearted RPGmaker game about the apocalypse, like a weird dark humor comedy game or whatever," and so I prepared to complete it within a week or so.
Now I consider Lisa to be my favorite game of all time. It just does so much things well that you wouldn't expect out of a game that LOOKS and SEEMS like that, with almost all of the story wrapping around together to create what I would call an emotional masterpiece; I do think too, that the best part of any artform is what it can incite in the player emotionally. This game has become my all-time obsession, and I hope Tarnished will become the Lisa in someone else's life as the original was in mine. This short analysis will delve into some things I think this game does very well.
To truly parse what makes Lisa a great experience, you need to look at the game's sense of humor. This game is FULL of jokes and light-hearted moments; silly things often happen that make no rational sense, party members have the ability to do disco thrusts and dance so well they ignite the battlefield, there's a magical group of power ranger people that roleplay battles with villains, etc. Lisa is advertised as a game that will make you hurt, so it might seem a bit jarring to see so much silly stuff happen even in the first area. I believe that the humor is the first step to making a painful experience.
Games with serious tones -- such as Fear & Hunger (no disrespect towards this game) -- often shroud their games in misfortune and tragedy straight from the get-go. It makes sense, of course, and it can be used well if the author knows how to apply it... but I find games like these are hard to attach yourself to while playing, as everything often feels like it isn't worth much. Lisa does not have this problem because it paints itself as a mostly humorous game after the first chain of serious cutscenes. Brad has to fight guys with goofy one-liners as he assembles a misfit party with a fellow who talks too much and a guy who can't do anything right. There are moments in this game that make me laugh tremendously, and that is by design in a game like this. Humor is used as a powerful tool... it is used as bait to get the player attached to the violent and unforgiving wastes.
Picture this: You just got past the first area with your members-now-family, fortunately with everyone still alive. There were some hard fights but you can handle it. Surely the worst has come, and the second area will have more antics to get up to, right?
As you lay your guard down, you see an odd fellow point at you, and run back into a hole as you make your way to Area 2. Then it happens. You get knocked out, and you are forced to play Roulette with the lives of your kin. You use Percy first. Percy dies. You use Fardy next. Fardy dies. You reluctantly use Mad Dog, someone you like to switch into your party from time to time. He dies. Now you find yourself forced to pick one of the three party members you use all the time. El Rage wins a round, which delights you! You love that guy, of course he'll be your champion.
You use him again and watch as the screen flashes and he disappears from your party member list. You put Nern up, and he dies too. Terry goes and wins the next two rounds, but you have already lost so much. You walk out with your Mags and force yourself to carry on. This is the way of the wastes... but El Rage... that guy was funny as fuck...
Moments like the Dojo bombing, the Buzzo sacrifices, even a special moment at the end of the game are meant to spend the attachment points the game got from you. They're meant to spit in your face after you get used to things and remind you that this is, indeed, an apocalypse where people die early and psychopaths kill each other just to have their way with a little girl. Humor is not a liability -- it is one of the many parts of the human experience, and to make a human game like Disco Elysium, you need to include it so the downs can go even lower. The ups are there for a reason.
Rest in peace...............
Besides what is undoubtedly suggested and included in the game, I believe people often overthink Lisa's messaging and themes. I don't really think AJ was trying to make a feminist game -- though it is easy to apply those ideas to Lisa, and this game indirectly proves that men's obsession with women can drive them mad, I think AJ just wanted to highlight how these irrational men would act in the face of imminent extinction and hopelessness. Though the fact that it's the women who disappeared, that there's a war going on over just one girl makes it a lot more of a meaningful message. It shows that even if they are extremely independent, most men can't do without their lust, without feeling they need to conquer something be it a little girl or a country. Also the way people view Buddy as a character is inappropriate -- I liked Undone for this reason, as I think it was a nice view of her story, but she wasn't treated as horribly as I would've assumed a girl in her position would be. There are the lustful people in Area 1 during the night (no spoilers!) but it seems kind of like... not well executed. Like it's there for faithfulness alone. Undone does a lot of things right and I may make a review for it later.
The way Lisa handles abuse and the way it affects people's actions is done really well for a game of its time. I am an abuse survivor, and I find Brad's lifestyle and the way he acts sometimes relatable. He's broken -- he seems stoic, but he is handling the leftover hurt he had from his horrible life, from his guilt, and he is handling it poorly. No matter how much you think you improve those times will stay with you and shape you. I do like how the Marty and Buddy sequence highlights the cycle of abuse, where the abused inherit the worst traits from their parents despite rebellion or hatred. You can tell in this cutscene, if you haven't before, that he targets Buddy not because he wants to help her but because he wants to help himself. I love this portrayal of trauma a lot more than the first Lisa game.
The Joy Mutants are such a smart way to symbolize addiction... but I've not much words to say on it that are verbose or interesting. Just another thing I really liked from the game.
This is a very subjective segment that I draw from completely personal opinions (if the rest weren't just opinions already) so keep that in mind.
Upon my first playthrough of Lisa, I found the small, crude artstyle kind of appealing. There was something about the graphics that exuded sentimentality through me. It just looked like a human game -- I like when mistakes are made to a charming degree and not a detrimental one. This feeling never persisted when I played any of the fangames, though Undone gave me a sentimental feeling due to the beauty of its enviornments.
One of my friends described the OST as "shitty in a good and polished way" which I don't AGREE WITH but I find describes how people view the soundtrack in a roundabout, vulgar manner; the sounds chosen and the composition are so backwards, which works wonders for making the game's OST memorable! The music is excellent... I remember when I heard that AJ used a demo version of FL studio I thought I could make good music too, and look where I am now. He has a natural affinity for making these odd songs that sound so homemade and fit the game's dark yet goofy aesthetic so well. My favorite tracks are Go Home Johnny and Exploding Hearts.
Though there is so much more to say about what makes Lisa a great game, that'll be up to you to find out. The moments that hurt the most usually appeal to personal things. I encourage you to play, okay? I encourage you so much that I won't even delve into my favorite story elements and party members because you SHOULD TOTALLY PLAY IT IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!! Since I have a lot of bias for this game you shouldn't trust me for an objective review, but I would give it like S tier in the tier thing. That tier thing they do. Well, toodaloo! See you next time.