Games like LISA: The Painful
If LISA: The Painful is your kind of game, the closest matches are Dyztopia: Post-Human RPG, CHILDHOOD GONE - Shadowed Wand and Because The World Died — picked from the ranked list below. Reviewers single out its characters feel human, choices genuinely matter and dark humor balances tragedy. Each pick is ranked by what players of this game also play, shared genres and tags, and review-mined similarity — not a generic popularity list.
Get personalized picks →LISA: The Painful is a 2014 turn-based RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world where players guide a reluctant hero through environmental hazards while managing scarce resources and recruiting a varied party for the journey ahead. The game features morality choices, permanent character death, and numerous side quests that reviewers note shape the experience meaningfully. Players describe the tone as bleak and melancholic, with dark humor providing an unexpected counterweight to moments of emotional weight. The challenging difficulty and substantial length reward those seeking a narrative-focused adventure, and it runs in a playable state on Steam Deck. The game holds a 96% positive rating from 9,948 Steam reviews.
About LISA: The Painful: The miserable journey of a broken man...
Players who liked LISA: The Painful also play
Steam players who put hours into LISA: The Painful also tend to own these titles — a signal called collaborative filtering. imho.run cross-references millions of library ownership patterns to surface games whose real audiences overlap, regardless of whether their genre tags match.
Dyztopia: Post-Human RPG
WHY THIS
Top pick for LISA: The Painful fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and RPG with LISA: The Painful.
It's a game about quitting your job
CHILDHOOD GONE - Shadowed Wand
WHY THIS
Second-strongest match for LISA: The Painful fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with LISA: The Painful.
(Ever heard of this haunted game ...?) This is an adventure-rpg-horror game! Explore the world freely! Get around by using magic such as: floating, water walking, and quakes! Combat the Monster Lords and save the Kingdom! (That is... if the ghosts haunting the software want you to)
Because The World Died
WHY THIS
Shares side quests, resource management and a bleak mood with LISA: The Painful.
Third-strongest match for LISA: The Painful fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and RPG with LISA: The Painful.
Retro pixel art RPG set in a dying world full of coldness, rats, and hard choices. Survive long enough to uncover your past... or die. Nonlinear narrative. Money and resources. Many endings. Zero mercy. Why? Because The World Died.
Misery Street
WHY THIS
Shares turn based combat, resource management and a bleak mood with LISA: The Painful.
Ranked #4 for LISA: The Painful fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with LISA: The Painful.
A place where lost souls go to find the meaning of their lives.
Remnants Of The Witch
WHY THIS
Ranked #5 for LISA: The Painful fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with LISA: The Painful.
Follow the story of Mari, as she becomes a witch hunter and discovers what's really going on in Sthalgrave city. Use various skills in the fast-paced turn-based battles! Use free time after missions to hang out with teammates!
The Last Islands of Man
WHY THIS
Ranked #6 for LISA: The Painful fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Adventure and RPG with LISA: The Painful.
The Last Islands of Man is a retro rpg that forces you to manage your time. The sea waters are rising. Can you save yourself? Can you save your family?
Alter Animus
WHY THIS
Ranked #7 for LISA: The Painful fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and RPG with LISA: The Painful.
Alter Animus is a turn-based RPG with horror elements, mysteries to unveil and a character-driven narrative. It's up to you if these unforeseen and unthinkable circumstances make these people truly come together or if they succumb to the consequences of their actions.
Eredia 2: The Great War
WHY THIS
Shares side quests, turn based combat and a dark mood with LISA: The Painful.
Ranked #8 for LISA: The Painful fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with LISA: The Painful.
A dark fantasy JRPG, sequel to Eredia: Diary of Heroes. Eredia 2 is set in an open-world enemy continent as you are made to partake in a war you are least interested in, but it's the only place where you can find some 'answers'.
Reviewers mention these as similar to LISA: The Painful
Surfaced from review text: when other players write 'if you liked X, try Y', we catch the name and resolve it back to a Steam game.
MOTHER
WHY THIS
Shares resource management with LISA: The Painful.
Reviewers of LISA: The Painful cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie with LISA: The Painful.
MOTHER is a first-person psychological horror game about protecting your children while descending deeper & deeper into madness. Defend them at all costs. Be careful, because their death is permanent!
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
WHY THIS
Shares a melancholic mood with LISA: The Painful.
Reviewers of LISA: The Painful cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares RPG with LISA: The Painful.
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut is a groundbreaking role playing game. You’re a detective with a unique skill system at your disposal and a whole city to carve your path across. Interrogate unforgettable characters, crack murders or take bribes. Become a hero or an absolute disaster of a human being.
BLACK SOULS II
WHY THIS
Shares a bleak mood with LISA: The Painful.
Reviewers of LISA: The Painful cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with LISA: The Painful.
Despair. Fear, Madness, once again. An original work based on "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass." Dark Fairy Tale Fantasy x Psychological Horror RPG focusing on the themes of "Exploration of a Mad World" and "Life or Death Combat against Demonbeasts".
Yume Nikki
WHY THIS
Shares a melancholic mood with LISA: The Painful.
Reviewers of LISA: The Painful cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares Indie and Adventure with LISA: The Painful.
This is a game in which you traverse the extremely dark world inside a dream.
OFF
WHY THIS
Shares turn based combat, resource management and a melancholic mood with LISA: The Painful.
Reviewers of LISA: The Painful cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares RPG with LISA: The Painful.
“I’m the Batter. I’ve been entrusted with a sacred mission.” -- One of the most influential RPGs of the last 20 years is finally coming to Steam. Take control of the Batter as he seeks to purify an uncanny and hopeless world haunted by specters, guided by a cryptic, grinning cat called The Judge.
DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake
WHY THIS
Shares side quests and turn based combat with LISA: The Painful.
Reviewers of LISA: The Painful cross-mention this title as a similar play. Shares RPG with LISA: The Painful.
DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake is a stunning reimagining of the beloved masterpiece and narrative beginning to The Erdrick Trilogy.
Cheaper alternatives
Games in the same vein priced at least 40% below LISA: The Painful at current Steam store prices.
Garry's Mod
WHY THIS
Priced ~58% under LISA: The Painful on Steam right now. Shares Indie with LISA: The Painful.
Garry's Mod is a physics sandbox. There aren't any predefined aims or goals. We give you the tools and leave you to play.
Vampire Survivors
WHY THIS
Priced ~58% under LISA: The Painful on Steam right now. Shares Indie and RPG with LISA: The Painful.
Mow down thousands of night creatures and survive until dawn! Vampire Survivors is a gothic horror casual game with rogue-lite elements, where your choices can allow you to quickly snowball against the hundreds of monsters that get thrown at you. Be the bullet hell!
Slay the Spire
WHY THIS
Priced ~48% under LISA: The Painful on Steam right now. Shares Indie with LISA: The Painful.
We fused card games and roguelikes together to make the best single player deckbuilder we could. Craft a unique deck, encounter bizarre creatures, discover relics of immense power, and Slay the Spire!
Cookie Clicker
WHY THIS
Priced ~58% under LISA: The Painful on Steam right now. Shares Indie with LISA: The Painful.
An idle game about making cookies! Originally released in 2013 on the web, and actively developed since then. This is the official version for Steam.
WEBFISHING
WHY THIS
Priced ~58% under LISA: The Painful on Steam right now. Shares Indie with LISA: The Painful.
WEBFISHING a multiplayer chatroom-focused fishing game! Relax and fish (on the web!)
POSTAL 2
WHY THIS
Priced ~92% under LISA: The Painful on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Adventure with LISA: The Painful.
Live a week in the life of "The POSTAL Dude"; a hapless everyman just trying to check off some chores. Buying milk, returning an overdue library book, getting Gary Coleman's autograph, what could possibly go wrong?
Buckshot Roulette
WHY THIS
Priced ~75% under LISA: The Painful on Steam right now. Shares Indie with LISA: The Painful.
Play Russian roulette with a 12-gauge shotgun. Four enter. One leaves. Roll the dice with your life. Good luck!
OneShot
WHY THIS
Priced ~50% under LISA: The Painful on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Adventure with LISA: The Painful.
OneShot is a surreal top down Puzzle/Adventure game with unique gameplay capabilities. You are to guide a child through a mysterious world on a mission to restore its long-dead sun. The world knows you exist.
Free alternatives
Free-to-play games that recommended players of this title also tend to enjoy.
Doki Doki Literature Club!
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with LISA: The Painful.
The Literature Club is full of cute girls! Will you write the way into their heart? This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.
Life is Strange - Episode 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Adventure with LISA: The Painful.
Episode 1 now FREE! Life is Strange is an award-winning and critically acclaimed episodic adventure game that allows the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future.
Ultimate Custom Night
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with LISA: The Painful.
Welcome to the ultimate FNAF mashup, featuring 50 selectable characters and custom difficulties!
Bongo Cat
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with LISA: The Painful.
Bongo cat needs your help. Bongo cat needz more hatz!!! Every time you press a key, Bongo cat will punch your taskbar. Type, click, play, work to collect more points. Which hats will you find?
ENA: Dream BBQ
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with LISA: The Painful.
Experience surreal environments and inexplicable characters as ENA in a new wild world.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with LISA: The Painful.
Sonic the Hedgehog...was murdered!? Get to the bottom of the mystery in this brand-new adventure!
Indigo Park: Chapter 1
WHY THIS
Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with LISA: The Painful.
Explore the abandoned childhood wonder of Indigo Park! Guided by Rambley the Raccoon, help restore power to the destroyed amusement park while you run from the reason it shut down.
Narrow it down
Head-to-head comparisons
Frequently asked about LISA: The Painful
- Does LISA: The Painful run on Steam Deck?
- LISA: The Painful is rated Playable on Steam Deck — it runs, but expect some manual adjustments (control remapping, text size, or graphics settings) for the best experience.
- How much does LISA: The Painful cost?
- LISA: The Painful is listed on Steam at 11.99 USD (current store price; Steam sales may reduce this temporarily).
- What games are most similar to LISA: The Painful?
- Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside LISA: The Painful are Dyztopia: Post-Human RPG, CHILDHOOD GONE - Shadowed Wand, Because The World Died.
- Who developed LISA: The Painful?
- LISA: The Painful was developed by Dingaling Productions and published by Serenity Forge.
imho.run ranks Steam game alternatives using a mix of collaborative filtering (ALS / iALS / EASE / LightGCN), content scoring over genres, categories, Steam tags, developers, and publishers, plus AI-extracted vibes mined from review text. The page above is generated in seed mode anchored on LISA: The Painful.
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