Alice: Madness Returns

 PC
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 753 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 577 out of 753
  2. Mixed: 140 out of 753
  3. Negative: 36 out of 753
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  1. BaDum_Tch
    Aug 10, 2013
    8
    The game is beautiful, and the story and underlying concept of the game are entrancing. There are areas, however, that seem padded out in the worst possible way. And it is a little repetitive. Buy it on sale and love it.
  2. COMThing
    Jul 17, 2014
    9
    Alice: Madness Returns is a game best played in short bursts due to it's repetitiveness, however it is also very fun. The creative art style is both unique and amusing.
  3. ModSama
    Jan 30, 2014
    10
    Alice Madness Returns has a very unique art style from what most would expect at first glance, it is dark and very much bleak. It brings forth an aspect of the human mind that most would not even have seen in their darkest nightmares. The combat system although repetitive at times, was made up for by a well written story that kept us progressing through the plot just so we could see whatAlice Madness Returns has a very unique art style from what most would expect at first glance, it is dark and very much bleak. It brings forth an aspect of the human mind that most would not even have seen in their darkest nightmares. The combat system although repetitive at times, was made up for by a well written story that kept us progressing through the plot just so we could see what Alice would do next.… Expand
  4. Dobian
    Nov 19, 2014
    8
    Alice:Madness Returns is a terrific if flawed sequel to the original. As a narrative, it picks up the story where it left off in the first game and intelligently brings it to a conclusion. When it's over, you fully understand why Alice was driven to her madness in the first place, a reason much more sinister than simply that her family died in a fire years ago. The story is toldAlice:Madness Returns is a terrific if flawed sequel to the original. As a narrative, it picks up the story where it left off in the first game and intelligently brings it to a conclusion. When it's over, you fully understand why Alice was driven to her madness in the first place, a reason much more sinister than simply that her family died in a fire years ago. The story is told wonderfully through excellent voice acting in recovered memories and in sequences cleverly done in cartoon cutouts. Alice also communicates with Cheshire Cat throughout the game in the game's 3D world.

    Visually, Alice is beautiful and a treat for the eyes. The game uses a wide color palette based on the theme of the area she is in, and the level design and art direction are excellent and sometimes spectacular. London itself is appropriately dark and gritty, all done in greyscale, making the Wonderland segments pop more colorfully than they probably really are. Character models are also appropriately cartoony and slightly twisted. The musical score effectively evokes the mood of the game, though it lacks the disturbing discord that the original's soundtrack evoked.

    The gameplay itself was mostly very enjoyable. The platforming was clever and challenging, and the combat (which there is a lot of) was very smooth (the "focus" or auto-targetting system works wonderfully if used correctly). The game also breaks things up nicely with various themed puzzles and even some sidescrolling mini games that were very fun. While a bit long for a platformer, Alice was nonetheless engaging all the way to the end.

    There were some negatives that marred the overall experience, some significant. The autosave feature is probably the biggest problem with the game. Since you can't manually save (like in the original Alice), you can only restart from the last checkpoint. The problem is, it is very easy to unwittingly transition out of an area when you still had another path you wanted to explore that might have lead to collectibles or an optional arena fight (to gain HP), and you can't go back since the game only stores one auto save (it does allow you to revisit major checkpoints after you complete a chapter, but you would have to go back and replay several areas to get back to where you want to be). Some of the auto saves are well-placed, but not all, forcing you to redo a jumping sequence for example before you can get back to the mini boss who just beat you. The auto save feature really rears its ugly head in the final boss fight, as it saves at two points during the fight. This sounds convenient on the surface, not having to start the whole long fight over from the beginning if you die. The problem is, you could in theory be down to your last bit of health when it auto saves for the next part of the fight, so now if you die you will always restart from that point at near-death, you can't go back to the begnning. They needed to include two or three auto save slots in the game to avoid this game-breaking scenario.

    Another issue with the game is the repetitive combat. Too many times in the game must you fight the menacing ruin, for example, which appears in various combinations with other enemies. There are many times in the game where you will run into one and say, "didn't I just beat this guy?" A similar experience happens near the end of chapter 2, where you defeat a mini boss called the drowned sailor, only to meet another one on the other side of a gate, then have to go inside three separate buildings to beat three more of them. This kind of gratuitous combat served to needlessly drag out the game and produce too many moments of "Oh, not again."

    The bottle collecting in the game is rendered almost pointless because in order to unlock what I believe is additional concept art, you have to collect every bottle in each chapter. Unfortunately, I was always a couple of bottles short of the dozen or so I needed to find. It would have been nice if they unlocked "some" of the content based on what you found, instead of making it all or nothing.

    Lastly, I found the jumping mechanics to be a little off, making some of the jumping sequences needlessly frustrating. Mainly, Alice would many times drop like a rock on the third jump in a three-jump sequence no matter how dextrously I hit the jump key, and this also happened a lot when hitting the jump key as she was hitting the apex of an air plume or off a jumping mushroom. They needed to fine-tune this, the jumping mechanics should have been much smoother and more forgiving.

    Overall, though, Alice is a fine sequel and is a must-play if you wre a fan of the original. Even if you aren't, it is a solid platformer and a very unique and original experience.    … Expand
  5. Lenzie
    Oct 13, 2014
    8
    An imaginative platformer / adventure type game that I am glad to have tried and experienced. The artwork, creative and varied level design and story were easily the strong points of this game. I also thought Alice as a character was very well done and the 'disturbed' take on, and story of, her journey through madness was interesting and at times surprising.

    On the down side however the    An imaginative platformer / adventure type game that I am glad to have tried and experienced. The artwork, creative and varied level design and story were easily the strong points of this game. I also thought Alice as a character was very well done and the 'disturbed' take on, and story of, her journey through madness was interesting and at times surprising.

    On the down side however the game was too long and towards the end had some very annoying sections that were an unnecessary and frustrating chore to complete versus advancing the story (e.g. the fiddly 'head pinball' style sections and annoying slides).    … Expand
  6. JabberwocksBane
    Aug 24, 2015
    10
    Amazing game
    the art and visuals are beautiful
    voice acting superb combat is fluid, enjoyable but can be challenging in a good way and finishing enemies is immensely satisfying the story follows up after the end of the original game and offers more to the story of the Liddell house fire then we expected and overall it is a great experience there are lots of outfits and weapon skins    Amazing game
    the art and visuals are beautiful
    voice acting superb
    combat is fluid, enjoyable but can be challenging in a good way and finishing enemies is immensely satisfying
    the story follows up after the end of the original game and offers more to the story of the Liddell house fire then we expected and overall it is a great experience
    there are lots of outfits and weapon skins that you can pick from so every playthrough is to your liking (you can change the weapon skins and outfits anytime in the main menu)
    This is one of the games that you need a physical copy of so one day after many years when you see it on your shelf you can pop it in and enjoy the nostalgia of this masterpiece    … Expand
  7. DeyvsonCaliman
    Jul 25, 2016
    8
    Alice is lovely, the combat system is very well made and the game environment is quite nice. There's some old school elements, like there's too much platform jumping, and not so many battles, what was a shame, because they put some nice effort into the battle system. The game is not so bloody as I expected, the enemies could be a little less oily and a little more meaty. The end came atAlice is lovely, the combat system is very well made and the game environment is quite nice. There's some old school elements, like there's too much platform jumping, and not so many battles, what was a shame, because they put some nice effort into the battle system. The game is not so bloody as I expected, the enemies could be a little less oily and a little more meaty. The end came at the right time, just before I started to get bored, and was a little too easy because there were almost no punishment for dying, which I don't complain, I'm kinda old for that old school hardship.

    It could have bosses too, kinda disappointing that all the time we fight only normal enemies. That's some old school element I missed. It's really worth playing, but not worth replaying, I'd say. Although its a memorable game, if a person, like me, liked the first one will certainly like this too.    … Expand
  8. Panica3643D
    Jun 17, 2018
    9
    Стильный и атмосферный платформер, который зацепил и остался надолго в памяти.
  9. nitorita
    Apr 9, 2022
    10
    A marvelous adventure and an overlooked gem that has aged like fine wine over the decade. The world is picturesque and the uncanny yet befitting dialogue of the characters does the story of Alice in Wonderland justice. There are secrets placed all over for you to find, with unique lore backing each one.

    The story is dark and touches upon Alice's psyche as a theme about the perception of    A marvelous adventure and an overlooked gem that has aged like fine wine over the decade. The world is picturesque and the uncanny yet befitting dialogue of the characters does the story of Alice in Wonderland justice. There are secrets placed all over for you to find, with unique lore backing each one.

    The story is dark and touches upon Alice's psyche as a theme about the perception of reality. It emits a strangely lasting, lingering influence which keeps you wanting to play more. It is truly a majestic experience you will not find in any other game that is rooted in reality.

    Do not allow the graphics to deter you from giving this game a try. You will not regret it. This game has rekindled my love for Alice and stayed true to the arcane nature of her world and how she sees it. It will be difficult to find story-centric adventure games as fleshed out as Madness Returns in this modern era.

    I eagerly look forward to any sequels, as well as a possible modern remake of the prequel.

    Side note: There is a known issue where the game can stall when loading. Restarting the game should fix that.    … Expand
  10. AlexvaderII
    Aug 20, 2020
    9
    Alice es un videojuego de acción, aventuras y plataformas, el mundo es retorcido como la mente de Alice, no es un juego para niños. la historia no esta nada mal, si hay algo en lo que tenga que criticar al juego es en las graficas que a mi parecer pudieron estar mejor, pero lo compensa con su diseño artístico, es un juego para los amantes de los juegos en tercera persona. Por ultimoAlice es un videojuego de acción, aventuras y plataformas, el mundo es retorcido como la mente de Alice, no es un juego para niños. la historia no esta nada mal, si hay algo en lo que tenga que criticar al juego es en las graficas que a mi parecer pudieron estar mejor, pero lo compensa con su diseño artístico, es un juego para los amantes de los juegos en tercera persona. Por ultimo mencionar que tiene un DLC gratuito el cual es el juego completo de Alice Madness Original y es una gran adquisición y buen momento para jugarlo si no tuvieron la oportunidad de jugarlo un gran clásico.… Expand
  11. aralath
    Aug 8, 2018
    8
    Decent game with lots of imagination. You will not be disappointed. Just play this.
  12. Ernest_Figueroa
    Jan 22, 2019
    10
    Un juego maravilloso, con el mando lo disfrute mas que con teclado y raton, el arte y las etapas son muy buena.
  13. SilverOrlov
    Apr 17, 2020
    9
    A great game that almost became a disaster for me with a collapsed rating, tons of dead nerve cells and permanent removal.
    ... You see, this is one of the best games that I played, with a great story-line that shows a children's story from a completely new angle, which can compete with many books and films of the horror and/or thriller genre. Great style and drawing for it's time, from    A great game that almost became a disaster for me with a collapsed rating, tons of dead nerve cells and permanent removal.
    ... You see, this is one of the best games that I played, with a great story-line that shows a children's story from a completely new angle, which can compete with many books and films of the horror and/or thriller genre. Great style and drawing for it's time, from which I enjoyed and now in 2020. Great locations, with different art styles, some of which can be breathtaking. I even almost fell in love with Alice herself(she’s so cute here and makes a funny hiccup sound when she decreases her size).
    ... And the "angles of camera" ... these disgusting, furious, tasteless angles. I always despised and hated this stupid love of some developers to take an angles in the game, which in their opinion should show something to a gamer, but in fact they wildly prevent you from focusing on locations and enemy, because of which you often lose in a completely stupid way. These "camera angles" because of which the camera lives its own life infuriated me the whole game. Because of them, I will put the game 9, not 10 as this game, in general, deserves. I respect the author of the game he made very good and interesting game, but in two places because of these stupid angles I wanted to break his hands.    … Expand
  14. MadnessisRising
    Mar 15, 2019
    9
    This game is a beauty when it comes to design and soundtrack. Seriously, my absolute favorite-game in these points. -1 point because traget fire is kinda difficult on the PC-version. The fights are also kinda exhausting after a few hours. (It's always the same)
  15. Chempion1
    Jun 1, 2020
    8
    Alice: Madness Returns отличная игра, в принципе. Но сравнивать её я буду с оригинальной American McGee’s Alice естественно. И тут, как мне кажется, игра уступает по одному небольшому, но главному параметру.
    Игра стала как то однообразнее. Не знаю даже как объяснить. Чего-то не хватает. И я понял чего, посмотрев на оригинал ещё раз. В Alice: Madness Returns нет Боссов.
    Если кто помнит    Alice: Madness Returns отличная игра, в принципе. Но сравнивать её я буду с оригинальной American McGee’s Alice естественно. И тут, как мне кажется, игра уступает по одному небольшому, но главному параметру.
    Игра стала как то однообразнее. Не знаю даже как объяснить. Чего-то не хватает. И я понял чего, посмотрев на оригинал ещё раз. В Alice: Madness Returns нет Боссов.
    Если кто помнит постер этой игры, тот поймет. На нем были изображены все, почти, монстры оригинала и Алиса. И сердце моё радовалось, но когда игра вышла, оказалось, что все монстры стали добропорядочными жителями. Да все жертвы прошлой части превратились в злодеев, но и те и эти в игре стали просто нпс, с кучкой фраз.
    Справедливости ради, скажем, есть один босс в конце всей игры, но один и этого маловато.
    А так в принципе геймплей подтянули, добавили новые фишки.
    Сюжет не хватает звёзд с небес, но логично продолжает оригинал.
    Самое главное, для меня, сохранилась та самобытная атмосфера первой Alice. Жаль, что официальной локализации не было, но сейчас вышла любительская озвучка, довольно хорошая.
    Я думаю McGee надо просто выпустить ремейк первой части, на новых технологиях и всем будет счастье!    … Expand
  16. mrrealperson
    Feb 15, 2020
    9
    Удачный сиквел удачной игры. По сути достоинства первой Алисы от МакГи можно приписать и к этой игре, разве что саундтрек вышел менее атмосферный. Сюжет в этот раз оказался чуть сложней, мрачней и запутанней, но по прежнему повествование имеет почерк оригинальной сказки. Левел-дизайн с обновлённой графикой выглядит просто великолепно. По мимо страны чудес игра предоставляет побегать и вУдачный сиквел удачной игры. По сути достоинства первой Алисы от МакГи можно приписать и к этой игре, разве что саундтрек вышел менее атмосферный. Сюжет в этот раз оказался чуть сложней, мрачней и запутанней, но по прежнему повествование имеет почерк оригинальной сказки. Левел-дизайн с обновлённой графикой выглядит просто великолепно. По мимо страны чудес игра предоставляет побегать и в реальном мире, где всё не так уж красочно, а скорее серо и уныло, но в хорошем смысле. Странно только, что Алиса из всех персонажей выглядит менее гротескно, чем остальные люди. Она единственный персонаж в игре, которому заанимировали волосы. Любителям красивых, атмосферных игр рекомендую. Гротеск, готика, сюрреализм и прекраснейший Чеширский кот тебя ждут. Сценарий как и в прошлой игре хорош, разбирай на цитаты.… Expand
  17. 3mcd
    Aug 7, 2020
    8
    es un juego interesante, me encanta el diseño del pais de las maravillas, estética increíblemente variada y detallada aporta una gran atmósfera que te inmiscuye en este grandioso mundo.
  18. shauntmw
    May 9, 2020
    8
    I played this on EA Origins, with an XBOX controller for PC.

    The graphics are gorgeous, it has its style, and each stages and themes are unique enough to be very interesting and nice to look at. The action and horror elements are very well implemented, the music and audio are also pretty great! The platforming and puzzle are pretty good as well. The story telling are pretty slow, and    I played this on EA Origins, with an XBOX controller for PC.

    The graphics are gorgeous, it has its style, and each stages and themes are unique enough to be very interesting and nice to look at. The action and horror elements are very well implemented, the music and audio are also pretty great! The platforming and puzzle are pretty good as well. The story telling are pretty slow, and the revelation near the end becomes a pretty bad exposition dump that does not surprise me at all. But I do understand it is not the main focus of the game so it is forgivable.

    I do get some random 1-2 seconds hang every now and then. It's not game breaking nor unplayable, but it gets pretty annoying at times, causing you to fall mid-jump or get hit by enemies mid-battle.

    The battle mechanics are pretty good to play with at the start to the mid-game, but as late game progresses, the enemies become very repetitive, and instead of progressively giving newer better enemies, the game just dumps swarms of enemies or more bullet-sponges to you, which makes the battles become more annoyance than challenges.

    The puzzle and platforming challenges also suffers similar fate. From early to mid-game, the puzzles are nice and challenging, while satisfying to solve. But the late-game puzzles are just more or an annoyance, getting way too many annoying timing or invisible platforms, with too little new challenges.

    The mini-puzzle games are very bad. They do add something new and refreshing into the game, but the implementation are so bad that they breaks the immersion of the game flow. Fortunately some of them can be skipped if you want to.    … Expand
  19. Renato612
    Mar 28, 2021
    8
    in general alice madness returns is better than its predecessor (American Mcgee's alice), the game has a good soundtrack but less frightening than its predecessor, and the atmosphere is less frightening too, the gameplay is still repetitive but not so much, the story still is very good, the graphics are breathtaking, the physics of the hair and alice's dress are very Good and the worldsin general alice madness returns is better than its predecessor (American Mcgee's alice), the game has a good soundtrack but less frightening than its predecessor, and the atmosphere is less frightening too, the gameplay is still repetitive but not so much, the story still is very good, the graphics are breathtaking, the physics of the hair and alice's dress are very Good and the worlds are incredibly beautiful, however several textures of the game are in low resolution or sometimes render in your face, which me makes you think the game was maybe rushed, in general AMR is a good game and i would probably recommend it to someone… Expand
  20. Konstantinos77
    Sep 30, 2021
    10
    Beautiful and unique game!!
    Recommended even on 2021!!
    I wish to continue with the third part!!
  21. DragonRafter
    Sep 16, 2020
    10
    This game from my honeyhood. I played it 6 times, when I was 9 years old. Sometimes, this game can be boring and due to the EA some levels was cutted from the game
  22. AssA9816
    Dec 29, 2020
    9
    El juego cumple bien en casi todo... Sus defectos son mínimos como
    -partes alargadas inecesariamente(rara vez se siente pero es lo suficiente para notarlo)
    En ocasiones las animaciones se sienten un poco raras solo hizo falta pulir las un poco pero por otro lado tienes Una historia muy buena y intrigante, un juego envolvente respecto a su entorno está genial, un buen sistema de progreso,    El juego cumple bien en casi todo... Sus defectos son mínimos como
    -partes alargadas inecesariamente(rara vez se siente pero es lo suficiente para notarlo)
    En ocasiones las animaciones se sienten un poco raras solo hizo falta pulir las un poco pero por otro lado tienes
    Una historia muy buena y intrigante, un juego envolvente respecto a su entorno está genial, un buen sistema de progreso, gráficos decentes,buen duración (tarde 15 horas rebuscando lo más que pude dientes o botellas), un gameplay divertido, personajes que aunque aparezcan poco dejan huellas y me encanta Alice como personaje    … Expand
  23. Max20
    Jun 28, 2021
    10
    Un videojuego espectacular su historia tiende a ser profunda y espero con ansias una secuela
  24. Pine25
    Feb 19, 2022
    9
    ชอบเนื้อเรื่องมากๆ มีการหักมุม บรรยากาศในเกมไม่จำเจ แต่บางด่านแอบหัวร้อนนิดหน่อย
  25. Daniel1516
    Jul 18, 2022
    9
    En lo personal es impresionante me encanto su arte y su historia que continua de su precuela su forma de explicar la historia es buena y un trasfondo muy oscuro eso me encanto tiene algunos detalles diseño en cuestión de programación algunas veces caminabas y Alice no se podía mover por que se atoraba en algo descotando esos detalles es un muy buen juego
  26. Zero_89
    Jun 2, 2022
    8
    Twisted, dark, with nice vistas, disturbing imagery and gripping action, the sequel of American McGee Alice will be definitely be worth your time and money even if the story tends to be hit and miss
  27. Omgeez
    Aug 21, 2022
    8
    Strongest sides:
    -Beautiful ART
    -fun 3d platformer -interesting story -Good music What sucks: -There should be more boss fights in this game. -Default running at 30 fps (although can be modified) -there was 1 fight where it didnt felt like it was balanced at all, it was really hard to beat and took long time to finish, and its strange when theres such a fight in the middle of the    Strongest sides:
    -Beautiful ART
    -fun 3d platformer
    -interesting story
    -Good music

    What sucks:
    -There should be more boss fights in this game.
    -Default running at 30 fps (although can be modified)
    -there was 1 fight where it didnt felt like it was balanced at all, it was really hard to beat and took long time to finish, and its strange when theres such a fight in the middle of the game and all the succeeding fights were easier.
    -occasional bugs, had to restart the game few times (although i know this game was released ~in times of windows 7, so it might happen)
    Overall the idea for a game is really cool, the technical side of things sometimes sucked.
    Would really love to see sequel in UE5.    … Expand
  28. Luivea
    Jul 19, 2023
    10
    Liebs einfach, es ist so creepy und gleichzeitig wunderschön, einfach eine faszinierende Interpretation. Nicht zu schwer und nicht zu einfach, hab's schon so oft gespielt und gerade wieder, bestimmt zum sechsten mal. Wer Alice mag kommt hier auf seine Kosten. Ein Remaster wäre so super
  29. Ramin2005
    Jun 15, 2023
    10
    It's a good game because story and gameplay is too fun and you won't get bored when you play it
    It's really scary and action , It's fun.
    I really enjoyed playing that.
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Awards & Rankings

84
#84 Best PC Game of 2011
37
#37 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
22
#22 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. Armchair Empire
    Oct 17, 2011
    70
    All in all, Alice: Madness Returns delivers a good sequel. Not superlative, but not a cheap knockoff. If topsy-turvy architecture, steampunk menaces, and Victorian psychotherapy tickle your geek itch, this is a title well worth playing.
    Read full review
  2. Absolute Games
    Aug 14, 2011
    77
    Alice: Madness Returns is a living contradiction, an unholy union of incredible visual flair and ho-hum gameplay.
    Read full review
  3. PC PowerPlay
    Aug 8, 2011
    80
    Combat is flawed, but does little to detract from the game's breathtaking depiction of lunacy. [Sept 2011, p.61]
See all critic reviews »