When I wake up, I think of this game. When I go to bed, I think of this game. When I daydream, I think of this game. When I focus, I think of this game. When I look in the mirror, I see the game. The walls in my room are made of the game. Every particle of my brain matter is made of it.

In short: the game is a strikingly original and vivid experience. If you were put in a mental asylum in 1800s Britain, you would almost certainly resonate with this game. And when that happens, it will become your very own undulating essence.

Alice: Madness Returns is a sequel to American McGee's Alice, and like its predecessor, both games are platformers with hack-and-slash combat inspired by Lewis Carroll's story and characters. We play as Alice as she explores a twisted version of Wonderland, now even more in ruins. There, she will meet returning characters as well as new ones, as her mind tries to slowly solve what actually happened during the mysterious fire that killed her family.

Despite its age, I think this game still looks really good, mainly because the stylized, Tim Burton-like graphics and how each level has different style, like there's a steampunk level, an East Asian themed level, and a fleshy castle, among others that keeps it fresh. Though some colors may seem undersaturated and some levels are too same-y, like the Dollhouse. Alice herself has many cool dresses that reflects the nature of the levels, and some unlockable ones which have different effects, most good, some bad.

However, there's a major downgrade in this game compared to the first one; the lack of boss battles. Although almost every area has a character that seems like they could be the boss of the level, in the end it's just a cutscene. It may be funny the first time, but its sad when you realize the first one has many cool boss fights, but here the only true boss fight is at the very end. Having more boss fights would really improve this game, in my opinion.

I should also mention that this game needs a bit of tinkering to enhance your experience. It's locked to 30 FPS, no matter how strong your PC is, so you must change some configurations to allow it to run at 60 FPS. There's also some DLC dresses and weapons you can try out, but in order to fix both these you need to change some configuration files. There's a lot of guides on the Internet so I won't explain in detail here.

If you like platformer games with combat, Alice: Madness Returns is a title you should definitely play, and the previous title as well. Too bad the franchise is abandoned, as I would consider this game one of the most beautiful and unique titles I ever played. If you like the Psychonauts franchise you'd also like this title, as both games explore inside minds and each has a different style. If you never played them, you should, as it kinda fills the Alice-shaped hole in your heart... or head.

Good game loved by the baddest biches LOVE