Alicemare (sometimes referred to as Alice mare) first arrived a few years ago as a Japanese indie game made in the Wolf RPG engine. After a fan translation made its way out, players worldwide got a taste of this gothic adventure game. More recently, publisher Playism brought the cult indie title to Steam so it may garner a much greater audience than ever before. This is as good a time as any to jump into the dark fairy tale world of Alicemare, especially after the Steam launch of other Japanese PC horror indies like Corpse Party and Mad Father. Don’t start thinking it is nearly as terrifying as those, though, as this one's not intended to be quite that type of experience. Rather than being all-out terrifying, it pushes for a more eerie and dreamlike world.

Instead, think of Alicemare as returning fairy tales to their original, dark and disturbing luster. Stories such as Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood make their appearance in modified ways. These familiar tales ensure that you can get clued in on where the stories are headed, but only slightly. They fit in with an overarching tale about a young boy named Allen. Allen has lost both his parents as well as his memory. Freed of a past and relatives, he simply arrives one day at a large home where other wayward children reside. Each of them reports to a teacher who appears to take care of everyone there. With no memories to speak of, Allen’s simply ushered off to make friends and fit in with his peers.

Things suddenly take a turn for the strange as, just after introducing himself to everyone else, Allen is thrust into what appears to be a completely different dimension. With very obvious allusions to Alice in Wonderland, it’s apparent that Allen’s life has been turned totally upside down. Once in this new world he comes into contact with the children one by one. He must work through strange, unreal worlds pulled from their psyches, solving puzzles along the way. This all creates an incredibly unique atmosphere for Alicemare. Although never outright terrifying (and there’s certainly no jump scares to be found) you’ll still feel a little uneasy about exploring.

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Puzzles are really the core gameplay aspect of the whole experience. There’s actually not much in the way of sprawling areas to explore or anything like that. Instead, each child’s “realm” is comprised of just a few screens. Then there are the puzzles which may require walking between areas a few times to get them correct, or simply working out a solution. Many of the puzzles are of the logic variety, meaning you won’t need to obsessively focus on random bits of the environment. For example, one puzzle presented is a very common one dealing with how to shuttle multiple creatures across a river in a boat, without leaving the wrong animals together.

The pixelated aesthetic of Alicemare brings a lot of charm into the equation, but occasionally it proves a hindrance. Because of the game’s origins as an indie title from Japan, its native resolution is downright tiny on modern monitors. You can blow it up, but then the artwork gets a little blurry as a result. The biggest issue with this is some interactive elements in the environment aren’t always obvious when they look so small on screen. For example, a cat or rabbit are barely visible until you really take a good look at the scene. There are also a couple items which are purposefully invisible and require interacting with everything until you finally uncover them.

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It takes around two hours to complete the game (depending on the speed at which you solve puzzles). However, there’s more to see even after beating it once. That’s because there are actually a multitude of endings dependent upon things like nabbing all collectables and how you interact with other children in the end. Provided you have a good save state to work off of, it doesn’t take too much longer to view every ending. Of course, without a guide you may end up missing out on a few key things early on and need to start again fresh.

One aspect which simply can't be ignored in Alicemare is its method of storytelling. Of everything, this is where the game gets creepiest thanks in large part to the vignetted artwork presented during story segments. Instead of showing smiling (or even sad) children, we're often presented with humans devoid of any features whatsoever. The sketch-like quality of the art enhances the weirdness of the whole thing. It's an intriguing contrast from the otherwise friendly chibi pixel art used for characters during gameplay, and as such deserves special mention.

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Closing Comments:

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Alicemare is that it is as engrossing an adventure now as it was upon initial release. This strange story about a young boy named Allen and other orphaned children creates an interesting atmosphere to explore. Of course, the Alice in Wonderland and fairy tale allusions make things all the more unique. Sure, there are issues to be had with the limited resolution or generally simplistic puzzles, but none of these things impede the overall experience to a point where a playthrough becomes annoying. If you’ve enjoyed other creepy indies such as Corpse Party or Mad Father, then Alicemare should be next on your lineup.