Lisa the Painful is a 2D side scrolling JRPG with a crushing difficulty level featuring a narrative centered on exceedingly taboo subjects. A game that forces you to make challenging choices and shoots hot jets of man themes such as: masculine and sexual identity, child rearing, role expectation, sacrifice, redemption and failure. It gleefully indulges in the darkest depths humanity has to offer and pulls you down to hell with it. I don’t believe Lisa the Painful was intended to be a fun or enjoyable experience, but rather to say something. To force the player to participate in a twisted world, To look at content you may not like and experience unknown feelings you can’t easily explain.

Despite its Super Mario Bros. 2 over world, Earthbound style combat and quirky indie humor, the content of this story is intended for adults. And it’s ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awful, I’ll say it. It’s an incredibly upsetting and dreadful experience. But it’s also overwhelmingly satisfying, deeply rewarding and my personal favorite kind of story. The less you know going in, the better it is. The gameplay and story muddles player expectations, conventions and morality, thus will have more of an impact if you can’t predict what’s about to happen.