Comment on Perspectives on the LISA Series?
Elevator7009sAlt@ani.social 6 days ago
I can usually read anything without having issues, but I just read the tropes page for this and this depressing game lived rent-free in my head for too long. And some of the themes are things I can usually read about no problem but actually seeing? Not sure if the game would show it on-screen, but if it did I know I would handle it poorly. Finally, I do not want to play something that depressing, and I am already familiar with some of the themes in real life so I don’t need a good art game to teach me about it or make some commentary. Dark things are usually not cathartic for me, just another painful reminder about the bad things in the world. So I am going to avoid this series and I think others might have the same reasoning. Of course, I’m aware others can like it and that’s totally fine! It’s just extremely not for me.
andros_rex@lemmy.world 6 days ago
I think the things that make it as good as it is, are the things that also make it really difficult to play and recommend to people.
When I think of sexual violence being handled in video games, I think of True Crime: Streets of LA and the weird gross animation for you to interrupt, or the way that everyone laughs at the Daedra in Morrowind with the necrophilia line. (Or hentai games, but that’s a dark world) Drugs are minor joke items in most games, even with games that have addiction mechanics don’t make your time harder for not doing drugs.
The surrealism and comedic relief break up some of the despair. There is also a lot of catharsis in it. Probably the most important scene in the game is when you confront your father, who is an unspeakable monster, and the player is given a choice whether they want to kill him or not. Regardless of what the player chooses - the character cannot forgive him and will attack. It’s a false choice, which ties so well into the themes of trauma and powerlessness. There’s something about that that is so honest and validating.