finally reached my first day off this week and spent it finishing bye sweet carole <33 it was incredible, i'll definitely make a full post for it but as it is halloween tomorrow i wanted to play more spooky games 🎃 so i am soooooooo excited to finally bring alice: madness returns out of my old 2015 pinterest boards and onto my pc to play it myself for the first time !!! it's a little ridiculous how cheap this game is when it's /this/ beautiful.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ✎ . . . ❛ 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚 ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨 ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙝 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩.ᐣ.ᐟ ❟ ㅤ٠࣪⭑ my social algorithms are seriously on a roll with the absolute peak, non ai, indie animated media coming to my desk this week holy shit. i was originally going to categorize this as an animated series but if you go and watch it for yourself you too will find that you're in for such a lovely interactive treat. ㅤㅤㅤthere was so much to adore about this first chapter/episode whatever you want to call it. the art and fun use of colors made me think of the great pretender (desperately need to go rewatch that) and the use of silly sound effects gave the story so much more character. i think i'm going to have to join the creator's patreon to get the music used for this too it was so vibey. ㅤㅤㅤi am intentionally not going to go into much detail about the story because once again i highly encourage you to go check this out for yourself it'll take like 20-30 minutes of your time 🙏 but i am sooo excited to see where this story goes in the future i'm so glad this stumbled across my fyp.

ㅤ٠࣪⭑ i have been barely patiently waiting for this game since 2021 when it was first announced at e2. and i was wholly stunned by the trailer it looked sooo up my alley. and then it ended up getting delayed about 50 times which leads us to now! it's finally getting released in april (my birthday month hehe) and they just released a demo for it on the 11th which i only just found the time to play. ㅤ ㅤ now that i've played it i can say i am even more excited for the full game and i don't know how i'll manage to wait the next couple months <//3 the art...soundtrack.....lighting.. mwah mwah mwah. i will say that as cool as the fighting animations were it did feel a little clunky at times, i really hope this can be fine tuned before release. but the platforming and everything else was really fun. i also hope there will be more things to collect in the final game specifically like items and stuff. i love hoarding things 🥀 ㅤ ㅤ anyways this demo is free!!! and i think everyone should try it if not just to look and listen to how pretty everything is.

ㅤㅤ ✎ . . . ❛ what does a small and inadequate ㅤㅤㅤㅤgirl do in a world full of ash, tar, and coal? ❟ ٠࣪⭑ 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆 ㅤㅤ𝅄 dark fantasy ㅤㅤ𝅄 narrative horror ㅤㅤ𝅄 puzzle platformer ٠࣪⭑ 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 ㅤㅤ𝅄 if you like howl's moving castle, the art style/whimsical atmosphere of old disney movies, feminism, and constantly being chased by the horrors, then this is the game for you ! ٠࣪⭑ 𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𖬺 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 ㅤㅤ𝅄 available for 24.99 on steam, xbox, playstation, and switch! this game does require a controller even if you play on steam btw. ٠࣪⭑ 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 ㅤㅤ𝅄 11.5 hours ٠࣪⭑ 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 ㅤㅤ𝅄 completed ! ٠࣪⭑ 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆 ㅤㅤ𝅄 set in early 20th century england, as the suffrage movement begins to reshape society, young lana benton searches for her missing friend, carole simmons. her path leads her through bunny hall orphanage and on to the mysterious kingdom of corolla, a place controlled by the sinister mr. kyn, the ruthless owl velenia, and swarms of ravenous tar bunnies. caught between two worlds, lana must find a way to survive and uncover the dark truth behind carole's disappearance. ㅤㅤ ✎ . . . ❛ know how to let go... had she ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤever really been able to do that? ❟ ٠࣪⭑ 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 ㅤㅤ𝅄 ooooh boy. this game felt like it was made specifically for me. which is so wild because i bought it not even knowing what it was about, i just saw the art style and said hell yeah, but this was a lovely ride from start to finish. in the dastardly age of ai, it was such a treat to enjoy a hand drawn and crafted with care experience like this. i need to go find more hand drawn games to play i think this one gave me a kick for them. and i know this story was put into game form for a reason but maaan i would love a mini short film to go along with it as an epilogue or something. i need this kind of nostalgic hand drawn style to get a resurgence so bad. ٠࣪⭑ 𝒊 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅. . . ㅤㅤ✸ this goes without saying, but the art. obviously. i got this game with zero context aside from a 5 second clip i saw on tiktok. hell i didn't even realize i was buying a horror game when i bought it. this game is so beautiful and atmospheric even with the scary parts. ㅤㅤ✸ the game also has the loveliest soundtrack!!! i listen to 'corolla' and 'overture (a little girl)' a lot. ㅤㅤ✸ lana <3333 her character ended up resonating with me far more than i expected it to at first. her desire to cling on to moments of cherished time in spite of an ever quickly moving world was a little too relatable for me. watching her character develop as the game went on healed something in me i didn't realize i even needed to heal. also side note i need a mr. baesie figure or something desperately, he's so shaped. and speaking of characters, i can't go into detail for spoiler reasons but there is a twist regarding a character that maybe is obvious but wasn't obvious to me that had me jumping for joy 🙏🙏 and of course i adored dear carole. i really wish she was a bigger part of the game i was so happy every time i saw her on my screen <//3 ㅤㅤ✸ the hunters !!! the designs and hunting mechanics was really cool. and the sheer amount of different death cutscenes they animated was crazy they got one for everything it was wild. and the mines section of the game was craazy tense. ㅤㅤ✸ the direction the story took, particularly at the end, had me mostly pleasantly surprised. i will warn that the ending of the game is essentially a movie cutscene if that's something that would bother you, but to me it was perfectly fitting given the disney movie vibe the whole game has. the whole story of the game feels so bittersweet and very ghibli/old disney esque, i highly recommend drinking something warm while playing. ٠࣪⭑ 𝒊 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚. . . ㅤㅤ✸ game did sadly bug out a little for me, namely at only 2 parts of the game that i can remember. it was easily remedied by restarting the game and the game has both manual and auto saves so it wasn't a huge deal. ㅤㅤ✸ stairs.....floor navigation.....soooo many of my deaths were result of me trying to go upstairs but lana deciding she was actually going to stay on the same floor or vise versa. maybe this was user error idk. ㅤㅤ✸ the item combination system 🥀 almost everything i had to google was answered with "u need to combine this item with this completely unrelated item you got 4 chapters ago". also when in doubt try using your screwdriver on everything. ㅤㅤ✸ my only other real gripe with the game was that due to how the story was structured, the game ultimately didn't really fill in every plot hole it created. which didn't effect my enjoyment of the game overall or anything but it was a little disappointing. ٠࣪⭑ 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚.ᐣ ㅤㅤ✸ absolutely !!! bare in mind for the mechanical issues i had with the game that this is still being actively updated by the devs to fix the bugs. there was a huge patch fix that ironically went out right as i finished the game so you probably won't even have the issues i did. i truly do think more people need to play this game 🙏🙏🙏

ㅤ✎ . . . ❛ i want to forget!! who would choose to ㅤbe alone, imprisoned by their own memories..? ❟ ٠࣪⭑ 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆 ㅤㅤ𝅄 action adventure platformer with psychological horror elements ٠࣪⭑ 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 ㅤㅤ𝅄 people who love alice in wonderland (obviously), the movement/ability gameplay of infinity nikki, psychological horror, and also people who really love forms of media that tackle how human minds process trauma (me 🙋‍♀️) ٠࣪⭑ 𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𖬺 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 ㅤㅤ𝅄 available on steam, xbox, and playstation 3. ٠࣪⭑ 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 ㅤㅤ𝅄 19.5 hours ٠࣪⭑ 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 ㅤㅤ𝅄 completed :] ٠࣪⭑ 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆 ㅤㅤ𝅄 eleven years ago a horrific fire took alice's family from her and left her mind horrifically scarred. afterwards she was confined to rutledge asylum, where she struggled to confront her demons by slipping further into her fantasy world of wonderland. now, after ten years, she has finally secured her release-yet she still bears the heavy psychological burden of that tragic event. ㅤㅤwith her mind in tatters, she is unable to resolve the fear prompted by her strange memories, dreams, and visions. perhaps she'll do better in wonderland. she always has. she travels there, seeking what the "real" world can't provide: security, knowledge, and the truth about the past. but in her absence, wonderland too has suffered. something has gone horribly wrong, and now a great evil is descending upon what once was her beautiful refuge. can alice save wonderland-and herself-from the madness that consumes them both? ㅤㅤ✎ . . . ❛ forgetting's just forgetting, except ㅤㅤㅤwhen it's not. then they call it something ㅤㅤㅤelse. i'd like to forget what you did. i've ㅤㅤㅤtried, but i can't. ❟ ٠࣪⭑ 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 ㅤㅤ𝅄 ooooooooooooh boy. it took me a lot longer than i had planned to finish this, i think i started it around halloween? but i didn't get to finish it until today due to holiday busies and /wow/. what a game to start my 2026 with. i hadn't read any reviews for this game and my only knowledge going in was that it's beautiful but this ended up being such a fun experience and it makes me want to implode knowing that we will never be getting anything more. ㅤㅤalso if you enjoy infinity nikki you really do have to play this, the platforming and abilities being used to solve puzzles is so similar it feels like inikki was a love letter to a:mr mechanics honestly. and from further research i think a lot of the developers who worked on a:mr have done work for inikki too which makes so much sense. ٠࣪⭑ 𝒊 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅. . . ㅤㅤ🂱 the art. obviously. i included a handful of pictures below but i didn't truly capture just how visually stunning this game is. there's also several different art styles utilized, the story cutscenes and also special 2d platform sections had varying and equally beautiful art styles it was just such a feast for the eyes. ㅤㅤ🂱 combat 🤺 i can't believe i'm saying i had fun with a combat system what on earth has happened to me.. but this game gives you sooo many options and ways to play, everything just felt so fluid and intentioned. my favorite thing to do was swap back and forth between the pepper grinder and the teapot canon, i felt like a god. ㅤㅤ🂱 the shrinking ability that also allows you to see "invisible" things from platforms to even hidden messages on the walls with hints as to what you need to do if you get lost. it didn't feel too hand holdy either because it was entirely optional to look at. just very neat and a cool way to go about in game help. ㅤㅤ🂱 the outfits!!!!! so many of them and all so pretty, i tried to unlock the dlc ones but i must've missed a step in the process because it didn't work, i might retry to unlock them when i go back to 100% every level. ٠࣪⭑ 𝒊 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚. . . ㅤㅤ🂱 the asylum flashback. 😃✋️✋️✋️ ㅤㅤ🂱 speaking of the real world though i wish there could've been more to do in it. i understand the game is abouut wonderland but enough time is spent in the real world that it made me wish it wasn't just walk from point a to point b. it's not a huge issue just felt like wasted potential. ㅤㅤ🂱 because of the game being so old it did crash mmmm about 86 times during my playthrough even with my fancy expensive pc. because the game autosaves it really didn't effect me at all but just a heads up if you're trying to play this on an old laptop or something good luck. ٠࣪⭑ 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚.ᐣ ㅤㅤ🂱 go get it. now. unless you really hate puzzle platformers i guess. but even then i still think you should give it a try.