Alice: Madness Returns was developed by American McGee in collaboration with Spicy Horse studio, and in June 2011, Electronic Arts released the game. It launched in the summer of 2011 simultaneously on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox. The distribution of the English-language game in Russia was handled by the company "1C-SoftClub".
The game is a sequel to the cult classic about a girl who fell down a rabbit hole into a strange place, telling the old story in a new modern, more rendered way. As in reality, the game takes place approximately ten years after the events of the first part. The game turned out to be mad, colorful, but different in mood, revealing new sides to the fairy tale and the author's intent of Lewis Carroll. The game, along with its heroine, has grown older, scarier, and more dynamic, losing the fairy-tale hue that appeals to children or to people who look at the world through childlike eyes.
The game begins with a hypnosis session, after which the heroine goes to the pharmacy for medicine and meets a cat that leads her off the right path. And then, at some point, the hallucinations return, madness once again takes over the girl's mind. She returns to Wonderland.
Alice has grown up and become more twisted in her methods of revenge against her enemies, but more monotonous. There are no surprises, unexpected discoveries of new wonders. The surroundings are colorful, but there are no revelations, everything is predictable. Alice has become more brutal, outwardly emotionally neutral; she has turned into a demoness-huntress, now only interested in her goal - to find herself, her "memories" that complement the game’s storyline and help learn more about the heroine's past.
The game lacks a parameter like "willpower." Players have to settle for Alice's “life level” and the upgrade of the obtained weapons. The combat mechanics of the game have become quite simple.
The arsenal of the former dreamer has become more modest and consists only of the Sharpening (or Pointed) knife, a pepper mill, a clock bomb in the form of a mechanical toy rabbit, a Wooden Horse, a Tea Gun, and an Umbrella.
Nevertheless, Alice can learn "Hysteria." In this rage mode, which was also present in the first game, Alice can tear apart her enemies.
An interesting decision by the developers was the function for reducing Alice's size. When reduced, you can access numerous hidden places with bonuses, as well as solve some puzzles by activating "Shrink View," which allows you to see necessary clues.
In one chapter, there is also Enlargement. At the moment of death or when dodging enemies, Alice starts transforming into a swarm of butterflies. Another interesting find in the game is several locations in 2D style, allowing Alice to fight enemies as if within a painted picture.
The main component of the gameplay in "Madness Returns" has become platform jumps, sometimes overshadowing both the story and the combat system of the game. These jumps carry the imprint of the Unreal Engine 3.5 game engine. Updated high-resolution textures and support for "PhysX" technology improved the design of locations. Flowers, lavishly placed by game designers throughout the levels, can quickly restore Alice's health.
The game features both old acquaintances - the Cheshire Cat, the mouse Sonia, the March Hare, Dodo birds, the Mad Hatter, and the Admirable Turtle, as well as new unusual heroes - the Walrus and the Carpenter, and other characters from Lewis Carroll's works.
The game introduced completely new enemies – several types of Ruins, various types of wasps, but at the end of the game, the familiar Card Guards from the first game appear.
All opponents in the game are grotesque in appearance, but sometimes clumsy, and when Alice finds their weak spots and how to deal with them with your help, they quickly give way to the heroine.
The game also includes small mini-games and simple puzzles. Alice's appearance changes in each chapter, and she can enhance her wardrobe with costumes from DLC.
The entire game consists of six chapters. For a "clean" playthrough of the game, the player will need about 20 hours.
The game's dark and heavy sound design consists of 22 compositions from Jason Tai and his collaborators Marshall Kratcher and Chris Vrenna.