Despite being released all the way back in 2011, this dark fantasy action-adventure continues to be one of the most unique and visually stunning games ever made. If you haven’t already played it, here’s why you should.
Designed and directed by American McGee, Alice: The Madness Returns combines the whimsical world of Alice in Wonderland with eerily beautiful visuals and disturbing themes. If you’re expecting something like the animated Disney film, think again. This Alice is both vicious and deeply troubled, an orphan with a tragic past and an even more frightening present.
Even though the game has formed a cult fanbase across various social media platforms, it’s still criminally underrated. In this article, I’ll be going through the different aspects of the game—in other words, why you need to play it.
Disclaimer: this game contains violence and dark themes, including PTSD and abuse.
The Story
The game begins in the bleak setting of Victorian London. More specifically, a dreary orphanage for ‘wayward youth’ is where we first meet nineteen-year-old Alice Liddell. Recently released from Rutledge Asylum, she remains under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Bumby, still haunted by the traumatic memories of her family’s demise in a house fire.
Although it is technically the sequel to American McGee’s Alice, it works as a standalone. Alice: The Madness Returns immediately launches players into one of Alice’s visions of Wonderland. Her memories are beautifully displayed in cutscenes with illustrations that resemble those of the original Alice in Wonderland, before morphing into something far more twisted and sinister.
Credit: Electronic Arts
Something is wrong with Wonderland. Pollution infects and corrupts Alice’s world, and she must find out what, or who, is causing it. Venturing into Wonderland, Alice battles monstrous creatures—or Ruins, products of the corruption—collecting fragments of her memory along the way, as she is guided by familiar companions with an eerie twist on her journey to discover the source of Wonderland’s pollution.
Slowly, Alice begins to piece together the truth of her family’s death from the night of the fire, using Wonderland as a way to confront her trauma. In this imagined world, Alice is powerful, slashing through her enemies and even harnessing Hysteria as an ability in battle, a clever twist on a term used to trivialise women’s struggles in the Victorian era. This relates to female rage, which resonates deeply today as media increasingly portrays women’s negative emotions more realistically.
Credit: Electronic Arts
Far from being a silent, passive victim, Alice frequently expresses her anger and grief as she stands up to her abusers. The voice actress for Alice does a great job portraying her different emotions throughout the game. Ultimately, Alice is able to draw on her inner strength from Wonderland in order to overcome her powerlessness in the real world.
The Visual Design
Despite the intriguing storyline and strong overall message of the game, the visual design is by far the best part of Alice: The Madness Returns. This game delivers a completely original take on Wonderland, immersing the player in a rich world of equal whimsy and monstrosity.
There are six different chapters, each taking Alice through different parts of Wonderland influenced by aspects of the original novel. These range from the steampunk Hatter’s Domain to the deck-of-cards inspired Queensland. Alice’s gothic attire also changes with each chapter, reminding the player of the shifting, unreal characteristics of Wonderland. (And, also, of the fact that Alice is a style icon.)
Credit: Electronic Arts
Additionally, the various characters and creatures of Wonderland all have unique—often terrifying—designs, such as Alice’s cryptic guide, the Cheshire Cat, with his signature grin. The enemies range from enormous, deformed black globs of pollution to mechanical teapots, which hiss and spew boiling tea like missiles.
Even outside of Wonderland, the game looks great. In the brief moments of reality, the setting really captures the dark and dingy aesthetic of Victorian London. Alice’s appearance also changes between the real world and Wonderland. This emphasises the contrast between her powerful, imagined self and her vulnerable, fractured reality.
Credit: Electronic Arts
The Gameplay
Alice: The Madness Returns is mostly platforming and combat-based. The player controls Alice in a variety of ways: running, jumping, dodging, attacking, and shrinking. The latter is a clever callback to the Drink Me potion, which causes Alice to shrink in the original novel. This allows the player to see clues and hidden paths through small spaces like keyholes, leading to useful collectables or Alice’s memories. Although some of the platforming can be difficult and/or repetitive, the scenery more than makes up for it.
All of Alice’s weapons are creative twists on items from the original novel or mundane objects. These include—but are not limited to—the Vorpal Blade, the Pepper Grinder, which functions as a machine gun, and the explosive Teapot Cannon. The different weapons create variety in the game’s combat, allowing the player to craft their own strategy based on preference.
One of the coolest fighting mechanics is Hysteria, a state which unlocks when Alice’s health is low. This enables her to fight without taking any damage for a limited time.
Credit: Electronic Arts
However, one of the main flaws for me was the auto-save feature. Instead of allowing the player to manually save, the game saves automatically. This occasionally happens at some quite random and inconvenient moments. For example, every time the player dies in one particularly difficult fight in the Hatter’s Domain, they have to redo an entire platforming puzzle before retrying the fight. This can be frustrating at times.
The controls also take some getting used to. Though you can switch between different enemies, I initially found it overwhelming to face lots of them at once. This is especially true when there are specific techniques the player must use to defeat each enemy. As a tip, I would say dodging is your best friend during combat. This ability allows Alice to teleport a short distance away from an enemy in a flurry of blue butterflies. It’s both pretty and useful!
Credit: Electronic Arts
Conclusion
Overall, Alice: The Madness Returns is a fantastic game and absolutely worth playing. It is available to buy on the EA website and Steam.
