Alice: Madness Returns is a sequel to American McGee's Alice.
Overview[]
This game is played from a third person perspective, the player takes the role of Alice for the entirety of the game in which you run, jump, dodge and attack.
Content Warnings[]
- In the Asylum level it is revealed that all of the adults in Alice's life blame her for her mental illness, chastise her for not “trying hard enough” and threaten to send her back to an abusive asylum to attempt to keep her “in line”.
- A level takes place in a nightmare asylum. Alice is tortured by the nurses and doctors in the asylum.
- The Nurse Witless character is an obvious alcoholic who constantly badgers Alice into getting her more gin.
- The Docks portion requires the player to enter a bar. There are patrons drinking.
- The writer in the Deluded Depths is an alcoholic.
- Most of the sympathetic characters in-game are animals and all of them can and will be harmed or mutilated at some point in the game.
- Dodo birds are used in the one domain as slaves to make the place work. They are skinned and appear to be cooked.
- In the Deluded Depths there is a fish butcher shop. The fish are mangled, put in piles, and hanging from the ceiling. Some of the fish are still alive and moaning.
- There are partially eviscerated owls in the Tundrafall section of the game.
- There are dead bird carcasses around a domain. They are apparently cooked.
- In the Deluded Depths in the fish butcher shop, there are fish that are mangled, put in piles, and hanging from the ceiling.
- Characters in the one domain have been taken apart and re-formed with metal gears in place of body parts and blood on the gears. Very graphic.
- A character is found to be cut up in a bunch of pieces. It is part of the game to put him back together. He is alive during this.
- Teeth are used as currency in the game.
- The second half of Queensland, after Alice becomes a giant, is completely made up of bleeding flesh, bone, and pustules. Some morbid highlights include sliding down a tongue, being eaten, and tongue worms that will lick at you.
- In the Deluded Depths there is a fish butcher shop. In the shop the fish are mangled, put in piles, and hanging from the ceiling. Some of the fish are still alive and being tortured.
- After the asylum level a child chopped in half crawls towards Alice and begs for help.
- In the Dollhouse level there are graphically children mutilated children that bleed and beg the Player Character for help.
- The final boss is twisted, in particular he can detach his hands and uses them to attack the player.
- The doctor in the game brainwashes his patients in to “forgetting” inconvenient memories. In particular he brainwashes Alice into forgetting crimes he’s committed against her family. The doctor also uses this brainwashing to turn children into prostitutes for paedophiles.
- The Duchess character talks about eating other sentient beings. She is unavoidable, but her dialogue can be skipped.
- At the end of the Deluded Depths level, the Walrus eats sentient oyster dancers on screen.
- Alice herself gets eaten after Queensland.
- The doctor in the game uses brainwashing to turn children into prostitutes for paedophiles.
- Alice can be considered a child (teenager) and is harmed in the game, both by enemies and by non-player Characters.
- There are children throughout the London areas that are clearly homeless and abused.
- There are children non-player characters that are graphically mutilated and murdered in the Dollhouse level. You speak to them and they beg you to save them.
- It is revealed that the Player Character’s younger sister was molested, raped, and murdered before the game.
- When Alice shrinks to access certain levels, the player is forced to go through small, confined corridors. These are a core game mechanic and unavoidable.
- Some parts of multiple levels, particularly the Dollhouse level, put Alice in small rooms. The player is able to leave the room via platforming.
- After the one level, two characters die and their corpses are played with by another character.
- In the Docks section a man dies in front of you and his corpse stays there and can be commented on by Alice.
- In the Deluded Depths there is a fish butcher shop in which dead, mangled fish are in piles, and hanging from the ceiling.
- The Mysterious East level is littered with the dead bodies of ant monks.
- One level (Deluded Depths) takes place completely underwater. Alice, however, is safe from drowning.
- The Caterpillar character is implied to smoke opium.
- In order to progress through the Doomed Veil level, the Player Character must smoke on a hookah multiple times.
- If a mini-game is failed it often results in criticism from non-player characters. All mini-games can be skipped if the player does not feel confident in their ability to play them.
- In the Asylum level it is revealed that Alice is the victim of long-term emotional abuse to try to control her. All of the adults in her life blame her for her mental illness, chastise her for not “trying hard enough” and threaten to send her back to an abusive asylum to attempt to keep her “in line”.
- The teapot weapon causes explosions.
- Multiple enemies will throw fireballs that will explode with fire and a minor explosion sound. Those same enemies have an explosion attack that causes a line of fire to shoot towards the Player Character.
- There is a Rabbit Bomb tool that has a countdown and then explodes with a high-pitched noise and minor sparks.
- The boat mini-game in the Tundrafall section involves cannons and mines, all which create large explosions that shake the entire screen (and vibrate the controller if the player is using one).
- In the Deluded Depths there are pirate ghost enemies that attack you with bombs that explode upon impact with fire and noise.
- The Crab enemies fight by shooting explosive cannon balls at Alice.
- In Hysteria Mode Alice’s eyes go away and are replaced with bloody sockets. It is required once to use hysteria, but it is not required any other time.
- The Teapot enemies can only be defeated by attacking their single eye.
- A character at the end of a cutscene talks about sticking metal in one’s eye.
- The guardian of Queensland has tentacles coming out of his eyes.
- In the Queensland and Dollhouse levels, staring eyes are used as decoration on the walls and used on levers. They move realistically and stare at Alice.
Gore:
- The game involves a lot of gore. Almost every enemy, every level, and every cutscene involves some sort of gore.
- Blood is a result of fighting and appears in multiple cutscenes. The cutscenes are skippable but the battle blood is not.
- In Hysteria Mode there is extra blood all over Alice and she spouts blood in an explosion attack. Hysteria is required to be used once.
- In the Deluded Depths there is a fish butcher shop. There is an extreme amount of blood all over the walls and ground.
- The second half of Queensland, after the Player Character becomes a giant, is completely made up of bleeding flesh, bone, and pustules. The Player Character must wade through puddles of blood and monsters become made of blood.
- The Asylum level is particularly bad for blood. There are extreme amounts of blood in every room.
- The entire game consists of graphic violence against enemies, the Player Character, and the scenery. Every level involves some sort of violence that is graphically rendered.
- Slug-like enemies can hide inside breakable items. They do not make noise when they come out, but they can be surprising when they attack you.
- In the Tundrafall section of the game, there are monsters underwater that will jump up and try to attack the Player Character.
- An entire unskippable level takes place in a nightmare asylum. Alice is tortured by the nurses and doctors in the asylum. The game also depicts in graphic detail these tortures, including lobotomies and leeches.
- A character is found to be cut up in a bunch of pieces. It is part of the game to put him back together. He is alive during this.
- In the fish butcher shop. The fish are mangled, put in piles, and hanging from the ceiling. Some of the fish are being tortured and not dead. All fish are presented as sentient and having clothing.
- In the Dollhouse level there are several children that the Player Character must interact with that have been severely mutilated.
- The female oyster characters in the Deluded Depths do not wear clothing. They have no visible sex characteristics.
- Babydoll enemies in Dollhouse level are defeated by tearing off all their clothing with weapons. They have no visible sex characteristics.
- There are statues in the Mysterious East level with exposed breasts.
- After the Dollhouse level, the Player Character is turned into a doll and stripped naked. She has exposed breasts, but no visible genitalia.
- The Nanny character is clearly suffering from long-term abuse from her pimp. She has a bloodied face and a black eye when Alice meets her. The Nanny is also abused on screen. She is seen cowering in a corner while a man beats her. Alice is also beaten by this man on screen. The cutscene is skippable however the scene begins with Nanny being beaten, so it is difficult not to see some of it.
- In the Asylum level several inmates can be seen banging their heads against the wall.
- In the extra content “Past Matters” it is revealed Alice often hurt herself in the asylum.
- To defeat the Babydoll enemies, the player must tear off the clothes of the doll with a weapon.
- It is revealed piecemeal throughout the game that the Alice's sister Lizzie was molested, raped and then murdered prior to the game. The game does not depict the assault but does show the perpetrator sneaking around Lizzie’s home.
- Collectable memories in later levels have Lizzie speak about her abuse.
- Children are sold as prostitutes in-game.
- After a level Alice awakens to be leered over by two men who imply they are going to rape her.
- Two men outside the Mangled Mermaid in the Docks section proposition Alice for sex.
- It is revealed piecemeal throughout the game that Alice’s sister Lizzie was harassed and molested by one of her father’s students. The harassment and molestation is verbally described by Lizzie.
- Two characters treat the denizens of Wonderland as slaves and call them slaves.
- It is revealed piecemeal and via collectable memories that Alice’s sister Lizzie was stalked by a man who eventually molested, raped, and murdered her. The stalking is described verbally and the shadow of the attacker is shown sneaking through Lizzie’s house in a cutscene. One memory also relates the man following Lizzie into the ladies’ room.
- In the Doomed Veil, Alice briefly contemplates suicide.
- A character kills himself so the player can progress in the game.
- In the Deluded Depths is a fish butcher shop. Some of the fish are not dead and clearly being tortured; some of them moan. All fish are presented as sentient.
- In the Asylum level Alice is brutally tortured by the nurses and doctors. The tortures are graphic and shown in great detail.
- Multiple characters tell Alice that it is her fault that she is “crazy” and that she has mental health issues purely because she isn’t trying to get better. This happens in cutscenes and when the Player Character passes certain non-player characters.
- Alice often verbally blames herself for what happened to her family.
- The lawyer character Radcliff blames Alice for the death of her family, even though Alice was uninvolved and suffered from it.
- In a cutscene, a rapist tells Alice that her sister deserved to be raped because she was "a tease".