Alice: Madness Returns

This game has an amazing esthetic. I love the visuals and music, and for me, that was enough to get me through the game. But in terms of gameplay, I can't really recommend it. Alice: Madness Returns is primarily an action platformer. The action can be breezed through without really needing to think about what you're doing, and the platforming feels more like a way to get from Point A to Point B than anything of substance. At most you'll need to shoot a target under a time limit, but it's not much of a challenge and only really serves to waste your time, which this game loves to do. There are also collectibles: pigs noses, bottles, memories, and roses. You shoot pigs noses to start some kind of scripted event, sometimes leading you to the other collectibles but more often than not just leads to in-game currency, which is used to upgrade weapons. I don't know if the bottles serve as anything but a "You found it!" collectible, but I haven't found a use for them. You collect roses by completing a challenge — sometimes a riddle, defeating a swarm of enemies, or surviving under a time limit — and you gain max HP (represented in roses). If you're playing on a higher difficulty, this is worth it. I personally didn't find increasing this game's difficulty very fulfilling, so I played on the easiest setting. My favorite collectibles are the memories, which are accompanied by an audio clip that hint at the game's lore. The dialogue, in classic Alice fashion, was very confusing, but I was interested enough to know what would happen next. I like some of the parallels to the book, like the main character, Alice Liddel, being named after the real life inspiration for book Alice. You may find the way the story unfolds very interesting; I was intrigued by the progression, but was personally disappointed by the lack of payoff. If you're interested in the esthetic and lore, I would recommend watching a playthrough rather than playing it yourself, as well as seeking out the artbook; I do not think the gameplay is mentally stimulating enough to get any enjoyment out of nor can I justify paying for the experience.