Beloved indie CRPG Lisa: The Painful is getting a definitive edition that is set to release on both PC and the last two console generations, publisher Serenity Forge said Tuesday. Its announcement arrived shortly after Xbox surprised some fans by completely deleting an achievement from one of Serenity Forge's latest games.Made by one-man studio Dingaling Productions, the Lisa series is commonly referred to as a trilogy, although it technically consists of two titles and one standalone expansion. It started in 2012 with the aptly titled Lisa: The First, which was released as freeware, followed by Lisa: The Painful in 2014. The second game received near-universal critical acclaim and fan adoration, with many praising its compelling atmosphere, writing, and Earthbound-inspired gameplay formula which earned it "overwhelmingly positive" reviews on Steam. A year into its release, Lisa: The Painful was treated to a standalone piece of DLC called Lisa: The Joyful.The newly announced definitive edition of Lisa will include the base game and its sole expansion, both of which will be updated with HD graphics, UI tweaks, 20 extra songs, 12 localizations, new enemies, additional quests, and more story endings. Serenity Forge also promised a variety of quality-of-life improvements such as support for the PlayStation DualSense haptics, light bar, adaptive triggers, and speaker, as well as compatibility with Nintendo's HD Rumble tech built into the Switch controllers.
Other notable features confirmed for Lisa: Definitive Edition include a 120fps mode for PC and current-gen consoles, music player, and a new Painless difficulty setting intended as a story mode of sorts. Serenity Forge also revealed that the re-release will include an option for pixel-perfect graphics scaling.
PC gamers who already own Lisa: The Painful on Steam will receive this updated version of the game free of charge once it releases on July 18, while those who don't will also be able to pick up Lisa: Definitive Edition from the Epic Games Store. Switch owners can already pre-order the game via the eShop, whereas Xbox and PlayStation gamers will apparently have to wait for it to launch. The publisher made no mention of a potential physical release, so it would appear that Lisa: Definitive Edition will be a digital-only title.
The announcement of Lisa: Definitive Edition comes at the heels of Serenity Forge's environmentally conscious farming sim Homestead Arcana, which hit PC and consoles in April. Apart from an updated version of Lisa: The Painful, the Colorado-based publisher currently has three other games in the works: space adventure Lifeless Moon, tactical RPG Arcadian Atlas, and horror gacha puzzler Roman Sands RE:Build.
Lisa: Definitive Edition launches July 18 on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
