LISA: The Pointless follows in the steps of its inspiration and has sad men having sad things happen to them. Unlike the original game, the sadness is more philosophical and existential than it is personal.
- Futility is a recurring theme in the game. Alex does many things that end up being pointless, including (but not limited to) humping trash, trading worthless garbage for more worthless garbage, acquiring a skateboard that has no use, and killing scores of infinity franchisers when more men will always just take their place. It's suggested at multiple points that even the quest for the fabled city is pointless, although this has yet to be shown to be true.
- At the end of the plastic stroking side quest, we see that Alex has gained nothing from the experience besides feelings of disgust. Even though the side quest has been light-hearted and goofy up until that point, the final conversation Alex has with Larry Davis is surprisingly somber. The conversation illustrates just how steeped in despair the residents of Garbage Island (and Olathe at large) really are. Alex tells Larry that humping trash makes him feel horrible. Larry relishes that feeling, explaining that it makes life feel like it still has some meaning. It's clear that living in a world where extinction is imminent has instilled a deep sense of nihilism in what few people remain. Because everyone has given up and existence feels pointless, Larry Davis and his fellow cellophaners hump trash so their lives can have context again. However, as Alex illustrates, any meaning that can be derived from that is totally false. The communion lives in filth and its members routinely commit suicide or go insane. They aren't happy with their chosen lifestyle but have deluded themselves into thinking they are. Ironically, their attempts to escape from the harsh reality of the world are pointless.
- Alex: [On the subject of humping trash] It felt awful, like it was getting under my skin.* Beat*Larry: I like that feeling. I want the world to mean something.Alex: Garbage men take out the trash.* Beat*Larry: Heh, are you blind? It's everywhere. Trash, trash food, trash people, trash sky and worst of all... trash souls. You can't just take the bin out like it was Sunday.
- Players who get attached to Georgy may feel a little down when you remember that he'll inevitably become a joy mutant.
- After defeating Jessie Mack at the ruined farmstead, Alex and Joel find a couple of survivors in the basement of one of the houses: an old poster-carrier and a young boy, revealed to be one of Jessie Mack's many kids. When Alex asks what happened, the boy says that his younger brother went missing, whereupon Mack went out looking for him and returned with an infinity jersey. Looking around the farmstead, which is covered in blood and mulched corpses, it can be grimly inferred that Mack went crazy from the jersey's influence, killed most of his family (save for those wearing jerseys), and butchered them into meat. It's a rather sad and disturbing moment, especially when you inspect some blood-spattered child's drawings in one of the other houses. Doubles as Nightmare Fuel as well.
- The martial arts tournament. Alex is put up against a foe he can't beat. Regardless of whether you go for the cheap kick or not, Alex loses the match and subsequently his one chance at making it big. Him crying in the locker room afterwards is what seals it.
- The sequence where Alex walks through the autumn forest while looking for a trauma kit to help Joel. Although the area is very serene and pretty, there's an undeniably melancholic air to it as well. The ethereal music
and the absence of any NPC's really gives you the feeling that all of Olathe is going to be like this soon. The last remnants of humanity will die off and nature will reclaim the earth.Raymund Pipe: Enjoying the world's last autumn? There's no place quite like this. - When Joel breaks his ribs after falling off a cliff, Alex goes searching for some way to help him out. He finds a trauma kit in a shack, guarded by an old man and his dog. Alex tries to buy it, but the man refuses to sell it. Ultimately, if you want to help Joel, you have to beat the man and his dog to death.
