Alice: Madness Returns

About Alice: Madness Returns

Alice: Madness Returns dropped in June 2011 from Spicy Horse Games after Electronic Arts picked up publishing duties. This title lands on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC as a single-player adventure. You play as nineteen-year-old Alice Liddell returning to a twisted Wonderland one year after her asylum release. The story picks up while she lives under the care of Dr. Angus Bumby in Victorian London. A sudden hallucination pulls you back into that nightmarish version of Lewis Carroll's world where the Infernal Train causes destruction. You fight to uncover the truth behind your family fire and stop the corruption eating this land. The game blends dark fantasy with psychological horror elements to tell a story about trauma and memory loss.

Gameplay

You control Alice through third-person platforming sections that shift quickly into combat encounters. The core loop involves exploring corrupted zones, solving environmental puzzles, and fighting grotesque creatures with a pair of scissors blades. You switch between walking in London and battling within Wonderland to progress the narrative. Combat feels weighty as you dodge attacks while chaining slashes against enemies like giant tea cups or monstrous dolls. Each area hides collectibles and lore entries that flesh out the backstory. The game forces you to navigate vertical environments using wall jumps and grapple points. You also manage a sanity meter that influences which weapons are available in certain zones. Sessions involve backtracking through ruined landscapes while piecing together clues about the Dollmaker's influence.

What Players Think

The PlayPile data shows an IGDB score of 73.1 out of 100 based on 314 ratings. Players who finished the campaign spent an average of 12 hours and 45 minutes inside this world. Community moods lean heavily toward "melancholic" and "dark" with only 18% of users rating it as "fun." Review snippets mention the combat feels stiff compared to modern titles but praise the visual design. Only 34% of completers unlocked all achievements, suggesting some puzzles or boss fights cause significant roadblocks. The average playtime for those who quit early sits at just over four hours. Critics and users alike note the story hits hard but the gameplay mechanics feel dated by today's standards. Many players describe the final confrontation as emotionally draining rather than exciting.

PlayPile's Take

This game is worth playing if you want a dark narrative about trauma wrapped in a gothic setting. The price is standard for older titles but the 12-hour runtime feels short for some budgets. You will face stiff combat and frustrating puzzles that might test your patience. The story delivers a heavy emotional punch regarding child abuse and memory loss without pulling punches. I do not recommend this for players seeking fast reflexes or modern controls. It stands as a unique visual experiment rather than a polished action game. Buy it only if you can handle grim themes and don't mind the clunky fighting system.

Storyline

Within events of the first game, Alice Liddell, believing herself responsible for a fire that consumed her home and her family, escapes into a twisted version of Wonderland. While held at Rutledge Asylum for treatment, Alice was able to conquer her doubts, and eventually was released from the ward. Madness Returns takes place in 1875, a year after Alice's release. Alice, now 19 years old,[6] resides at an orphanage in Victorian London, under the care of Dr. Angus Bumby, a psychiatrist who uses hypnosis to help his child patients forget their memories. Though she believes that she is fine, Alice still suffers from hallucinations of Wonderland. During an errand, Alice is struck by a hallucination and believes herself to be in Wonderland again. Though initially idyllic, the peaceful land quickly becomes corrupted by the Infernal Train that rampages through it, leaving behind the Ruin, a force that attempts to stop Alice. Alice meets with the Cheshire Cat who affirms that it is some outside force, not Alice, that has caused this corruption, and urges her to seek out former friends and foes to discover the source of the Train. Throughout the rest of the game, Alice briefly returns to reality between episodes occurring within Wonderland. In the real world, Alice learns from the family lawyer that her sister, Elizabeth (nicknamed "Lizzie"), was first to die in the fire, despite being the farthest from its source, and had been locked in her room. Within the corrupted Wonderland, Alice attempts to learn more from Wonderland's various citizens, including the Duchess, the Mad Hatter, the Mock Turtle, the Walrus and the Carpenter, and the Caterpillar. She is ultimately told that the Queen of Hearts still lives despite her defeat at Alice's hands before, though in a diminished capacity. At the Queen's castle, Alice discovers the Queen's true form, which resembles her younger self. The Queen reveals that an entity called the Dollmaker has taken over the Infernal Train and is corrupting Wonderland. Returning to London, Alice starts to recall her memories of the night of the fire and realizes that Dr. Bumby was there. He is responsible for the death of her sister and her whole family. She comes to the conclusion that Dr. Bumby is attempting to erase the memories of the fire from her mind and, as he has done with other children, trying to leave her as a "blank toy" to be taken by abusive masters and child molesters for a price. Furious, Alice confronts both Dr. Bumby in the real world at the Moorgate station and Dr. Bumby's Wonderland counterpart, the Dollmaker, in her fantasy on the Infernal Train. Dr. Bumby admits to his crimes, and even attests to setting Alice's home on fire after Lizzie refused his advances, removing any witnesses to his having raped her that night. He points out that by wiping out her Wonderland, he will make her forget the events of that night, while he will continue as a member of high society. Alice defeats the Dollmaker in Wonderland, giving her the strength in the real world and in her mind to push Dr. Bumby into the path of an oncoming train, killing him. As Alice leaves the station, she finds herself in a hybrid vision of London mixed with Wonderland, Londerland. Alice wanders into the unknown terrain as the Cheshire Cat monologues that Alice has found the truth that was "worth the pain fighting for", and Wonderland, though damaged, is safe for the time being.