You’ve spent thirty hours dragging Brad Armstrong through the literal dirt. You’ve sacrificed his arms, his friends, and maybe even his nipple. You’ve stared at a screen full of Joy mutants and felt that sickening pit in your stomach every time the "Joy Withdrawal" status popped up. And for what?
Most people going into the final stretch of Austin Jorgensen’s masterpiece expect a traditional RPG payoff. They want a "Good Ending" where Buddy is safe and the world of Olathe finds a spark of hope. But lisa the painful endings don't work like that. Honestly, the game is kinda designed to spit in the face of your effort.
It’s brutal. It’s unfair. And it’s one of the most honest depictions of trauma ever put into a video game.
The Three Main Paths (and the Illusion of Control)
Technically, there are three primary variations of the ending in LISA: The Painful. I say "variations" because the core events are set in stone. No matter how many orphans you saved or how many "right" choices you think you made, Brad is going to transform. He has been taking Joy long before the game even started. You’re just witnessing the final crash.
1. The Joyful Ending (The Default)
This is what most players get on their first run. If you used even a single pill of Joy—the blue drug that makes you feel nothing—you get this. After the final battle against Rando and his army, Brad collapses. You see a vision of his sister, Lisa, and the cycle of abuse that defined his life.
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The screen fades to black. That’s it. You’re left with the haunting realization that Brad didn't "save" Buddy; he just became another monster she had to escape.
2. The Joyless Ending (The "Hard" Way)
To get this, you cannot use Joy. Not once. Not on Brad, and not on any of your thirty-plus party members. It makes the game significantly harder because you’re constantly dealing with withdrawal symptoms and lower stats.
If you pull it off, you get an extra scene after the credits. A man (implied to be Dr. Yado) talks to a Joy Mutant. It provides a massive lore dump about the origins of the drug and the "White Flash." It doesn’t make the ending happier—Brad still mutates—but it gives you, the player, the context of why this hellscape exists. It’s a reward of knowledge, not a reward of peace.
3. The Pain Mode Ending
This is exclusive to the game’s "Hard Mode." In Pain Mode, save crows explode after one use. It’s stressful. But if you survive, you get a unique epilogue that overrides the Joyless ending. You see a more detailed interaction involving Buzzo and the tragic legacy of the Armstrong family. It’s the "true" ending in terms of narrative completion, even if it leaves you feeling even more hollow than before.
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What Most People Get Wrong About Brad
There is a huge debate in the community about whether Brad is a hero or a villain. Honestly? He’s both. He’s a victim of horrific abuse who tries to "fix" his past by protecting Buddy, but he does it by becoming an oppressor himself.
Some players think that by choosing the "Selfless" options—giving up Brad’s arms or his items to save his party—they are earning a better ending. They aren't. Austin Jorgensen once mentioned in an interview that the game’s choices are "purely thematic" at a certain point. When you lose control of Brad during those final scripted sequences, it’s because Brad has lost control of himself.
You aren't playing a hero's journey. You’re playing a tragedy.
The Definitive Edition Changes
If you're playing the Definitive Edition released a couple of years back, you might have noticed some extra flavor. While the core endings didn't fundamentally change to give us a "Happy Brad" scenario, the added campfire conversations and the secret boss fights (like the one at the first campfire after getting the boat parts) flesh out the characters.
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- Campfire Scenes: These don't change the ending, but they make the inevitable betrayal of your party members hurt way more.
- The New Joy Mutant: There's a new boss in the martial arts town that adds a bit more bite to the late-game grind.
- Performance: Everything feels smoother, which ironically makes the bleakness of the ending hit faster.
The Meaning of the "Selfless" Choice
Throughout the game, you’re asked to choose between Brad's well-being and the lives of others.
- Selfish: You keep your arms and items, but your friends die or Buddy suffers.
- Selfless: Brad is a stump of a man, barely able to fight, but he "protected" others.
The genius of lisa the painful endings is that neither choice matters to the world. Olathe is still a graveyard. Buddy still hates Brad. The "Selfless" path is just Brad’s way of trying to prove to himself that he isn't like his father, Marty. But by the end, when he's a mass of mutated flesh, he realizes that his "protection" was just another form of cage.
How to Actually "Finish" the Story
If you want the full picture, you can't stop at The Painful. The story concludes in the DLC, LISA: The Joyful.
While The Painful is about a father’s failing, The Joyful is about Buddy’s revenge. To get the "True" ending there, you have to play joyless again and collect all the hidden items to unlock the "Flower" ending. It’s the only moment in the entire series that feels like a breath of fresh air, though even that is debatable.
Actionable Tips for Your Next Run:
- Go Joyless on your first Pain Mode run: Since Pain Mode overrides the Joyless scene anyway, you might as well combine the challenge.
- Watch the party members: Don't just pick the strongest. Use characters like Terry Hintz for the narrative "payoff" (if you can call it that).
- Check the Joy Lab: In Pain Mode, you can finally enter the Joy Lab in the "Nice Neighborhood." It’s essential for understanding the lore behind the endings.
The endings of this game aren't meant to be "solved." They are meant to be felt. Whether you're a "Selfless" stump or a "Joyful" monster, Brad’s journey ends the only way it ever could: with the realization that some things can't be fixed by just trying hard enough.