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"Alisa", PS1-style RE-clone set inside a doll house
- Thread starter aweigh
- Start date
Wunderbar
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2015
- Messages
- 8,825
https://caspercroes.itch.io/alisa-demo
Christmas demo is now available.
Christmas demo is now available.
throwaway69420
Savant
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2017
- Messages
- 248
It released. I beat it in about 6 hours. I had a lot of fun. No replayability though. Dev is planning on adding more weapons and costumes for NG+ as well as different endings. Alisa in the fish scale outfit is hot.
Greek Anime God
Scholar
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2021
- Messages
- 110
The game is on sale. Worth picking up?
Wunderbar
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2015
- Messages
- 8,825
Finished this game. It's pretty rough around the edges, but at the same time very inventive and tense.
The good:
The meh:
The bad:
Overall the game is a bit of an amateurish mess, but i had a good time with it. I recommend getting it on Steam winter sale if you like the genre.
The good:
- It's a survival horror with fixed camera angles, pre-rendered backgrounds and puzzle solving - they don't make games like this anymore. The presentation is great - the music, the art, animations. Aside from the annoying low-res filter (presumably added so the 3d models wouldn't stand out on 2d backgrounds) everything looks impressively faithful to the late 90s/early 00s era games, without crappy VHS effects.
- You may think that the "dollhouse" is a main theme of the game, but it's actually not. Each new major location differs from the previous one - you start in a dollhouse with porcelain dolls your as main enemies, then you enter a circus with creepy clowns, then there's a hedge maze with hedge monsters, etc etc. The setting is quite creative.
- The game has a lot of different enemy types, there are even non-boss enemies that can be encountered only once. Every location introduces a completely new roster of foes, which is especially good for a survival horror since it makes encounters consistently unpredictable throughout the whole game.
- There's some inventive use of fixed camera angles to ratchet up the tension. It doesn't always work - for example, at one point you traverse through a maze with the camera angles intentionally positioned to make navigation more maze-like than it really is, but in the end it only made that place vomit-inducing. But for the most part the exploration is very tense without going into unfair territory of getting attacked offscreen - all enemies make distinct noises, so it's easy to predict where they are and whether they spotted you or not.
- You may think that the "dollhouse" is a main theme of the game, but it's actually not. Each new major location differs from the previous one - you start in a dollhouse with porcelain dolls your as main enemies, then you enter a circus with creepy clowns, then there's a hedge maze with hedge monsters, etc etc. The setting is quite creative.
- The game has a lot of different enemy types, there are even non-boss enemies that can be encountered only once. Every location introduces a completely new roster of foes, which is especially good for a survival horror since it makes encounters consistently unpredictable throughout the whole game.
- There's some inventive use of fixed camera angles to ratchet up the tension. It doesn't always work - for example, at one point you traverse through a maze with the camera angles intentionally positioned to make navigation more maze-like than it really is, but in the end it only made that place vomit-inducing. But for the most part the exploration is very tense without going into unfair territory of getting attacked offscreen - all enemies make distinct noises, so it's easy to predict where they are and whether they spotted you or not.
The meh:
- Unlike the older RE games, Alisa doesn't put emphasis on inventory management. Your "key items" inventory is unlimited, you can carry as much medkits and ammo as you find, and the only thing that's limited is the amount of weapons (2 max). The item box is only used to swap guns and change your outfit (different outfits give you passive bonuses - like quick reloading, damage reduction, faster movement while in the water, etc).
- Unlike older RE games, Alisa actually encourages you to kill enemies, because they drop toothwheels - a currency that can be exchanged for new weapons, ammo, medkits and saves in a safe room. There are only two weapons that you can find in the wild - starting pistol and a crossbow (which I missed), the rest of the guns can only be bought. Because of that I got into a very strange for a horror game situation, where near the end i had a ton of weak pistol ammo and zero currency, and in order to buy ammo for better guns I had to scour through the entire game and clear the remaining enemies with my pistol. Thankfully, the enemies do not respawn and merchant's supply is limited, so you can't grind.
- The game doesn't allow you to save into different slots. Because of that I even had to restart from scratch - wasted too much resources and didn't have enough ammo and medkits to defeat the boss. I didn't mind it since the game isn't very long and with the use of metaknowledge I was able to get to where I was before in less than 40 minutes, but it's still a very questionable decision.
- Unlike older RE games, Alisa actually encourages you to kill enemies, because they drop toothwheels - a currency that can be exchanged for new weapons, ammo, medkits and saves in a safe room. There are only two weapons that you can find in the wild - starting pistol and a crossbow (which I missed), the rest of the guns can only be bought. Because of that I got into a very strange for a horror game situation, where near the end i had a ton of weak pistol ammo and zero currency, and in order to buy ammo for better guns I had to scour through the entire game and clear the remaining enemies with my pistol. Thankfully, the enemies do not respawn and merchant's supply is limited, so you can't grind.
- The game doesn't allow you to save into different slots. Because of that I even had to restart from scratch - wasted too much resources and didn't have enough ammo and medkits to defeat the boss. I didn't mind it since the game isn't very long and with the use of metaknowledge I was able to get to where I was before in less than 40 minutes, but it's still a very questionable decision.
The bad:
- For some reason the developer thought it would be a good idea to make combat much more involved than it was in older horror titles. Not only the game doesn't have autoaim (RE2 on PC didn't have one either and it wasn't a big deal for me), but in addition to not having autoaim "Alisa" also features a free aiming (both horizontal and vertical). That's right, it's not just "hold aim button" like in SH, and not "hold aim button and either aim straight, upward or downward" like in RE - you must tap up and down to adjust your aiming, and you can't score headshots by simply pointing a gun into a ceiling.
- Bossfights are a lot more actiony than in older horror games, to a mixed result. Some of them aren't that bad, but the first one is fucking horrible - the boss randomly knocks you on the ground, and you must fight him while standing on a rotating platform with constantly changing camera angles. Some bosses can stunlock you to death if you were unlucky with positioning, and almost every boss was designed in such way that you can't reliably avoid getting hit. In a game about conserving limited resources, having mandatory and lousy combat is a big NO.
- Like i've said earlier, the game is quite janky. The movement is slow and unresponsive, and the game suffers from the usual indie jank like inconsistent controls (like you can't exit inventory by pressing Esc and must use backspace, etc etc). This, combined with a rather high difficulty, makes combat very frustrating. Although, I was playing on a keyboard, so there's a big chance that the game actually plays fine on a controller.
- The game has a lot of cut content: there are some doors that cannot be examined and lead to nowhere; there's a door that teases you with a possible puzzle, but the game never gives you a key to open it; there's an NPC which can either die or survive, but it's never brought up again and it doesn't affect the ending. The story ends quite abruptly and leaves a lot of loose threads too, although it may be intentional.
- There's quite a lot of minor technical issues. The game is fully playable from start to finish and i never experienced a game-breaking bug, but i had to Alt-F4 out of the game on numerous occasions - a few times the game decided not to show "you died" screen and just continuted showing protagonist's dead body, one time the game got stuck on an inventory screen. Nothing too major, but still annoying.
- Bossfights are a lot more actiony than in older horror games, to a mixed result. Some of them aren't that bad, but the first one is fucking horrible - the boss randomly knocks you on the ground, and you must fight him while standing on a rotating platform with constantly changing camera angles. Some bosses can stunlock you to death if you were unlucky with positioning, and almost every boss was designed in such way that you can't reliably avoid getting hit. In a game about conserving limited resources, having mandatory and lousy combat is a big NO.
- Like i've said earlier, the game is quite janky. The movement is slow and unresponsive, and the game suffers from the usual indie jank like inconsistent controls (like you can't exit inventory by pressing Esc and must use backspace, etc etc). This, combined with a rather high difficulty, makes combat very frustrating. Although, I was playing on a keyboard, so there's a big chance that the game actually plays fine on a controller.
- The game has a lot of cut content: there are some doors that cannot be examined and lead to nowhere; there's a door that teases you with a possible puzzle, but the game never gives you a key to open it; there's an NPC which can either die or survive, but it's never brought up again and it doesn't affect the ending. The story ends quite abruptly and leaves a lot of loose threads too, although it may be intentional.
- There's quite a lot of minor technical issues. The game is fully playable from start to finish and i never experienced a game-breaking bug, but i had to Alt-F4 out of the game on numerous occasions - a few times the game decided not to show "you died" screen and just continuted showing protagonist's dead body, one time the game got stuck on an inventory screen. Nothing too major, but still annoying.
Overall the game is a bit of an amateurish mess, but i had a good time with it. I recommend getting it on Steam winter sale if you like the genre.
Last edited:
KeighnMcDeath
RPG Codex Boomer
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2016
- Messages
- 15,481
Look at those ratings
Very Positive (90% of 245) ALL TIME
Very Positive (100% of 62) RECENT
Hey GOG! Get this,
Very Positive (90% of 245) ALL TIME
Very Positive (100% of 62) RECENT
Hey GOG! Get this,
Generic-Giant-Spider
Guest
Despite dolls being the gayest horror stereotype to confess to being scared of by any real man, I may have to give this a try next time the survival-horror need rears its stupid fucking head.
Duraframe300
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2010
- Messages
- 6,395
Saw Chucky when I was around 6, had nightmares for weeks. Couldn't watch any of the movies thereafter, even with the comedic spin. Haven't tried for years though.
That said I have no fear of the classic white porcelain like dolls associated with horror.
Generic-Giant-Spider
Guest
The key thing there is you were 6. If you were 20 years older you'd realize you could just punt the dumb bitch into the wall.
Man when I was 6 I was scared of tons of dumb bitch ass things too. Think I was scared of impressionist paintings from Renoir my granny had in her living room. Think it was gonna come to life and rape me. Shit.
Man when I was 6 I was scared of tons of dumb bitch ass things too. Think I was scared of impressionist paintings from Renoir my granny had in her living room. Think it was gonna come to life and rape me. Shit.
Wunderbar
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2015
- Messages
- 8,825
I had nightmares about creepy dolls too, that was after i watched this X-Files episode. Come to think of it, I was 6 yrs old too :D
Generic-Giant-Spider
Guest
Some Final Fantasy 8 shit going on here.
Frank Capicoli
Arcane
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2018
- Messages
- 7,478
This, but it was Puppetmaster instead of X-Files.
Nifft Batuff
Prophet
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2018
- Messages
- 3,584
I was 6 years old when I saw Alien. (To be honest, I didn't finished it. I runned away right after the famous chest burst scene.)
I just finished the demo for this and immediately bought it. Thanks Tacgnol for the heads up on this existing.
I really like the bare bones feel here. Rooms, monsters, puzzles, ammo, etc. and that's it. It really gives me that nostalgic feel and it's refreshing to see so little cruft.
Also I really like the general style: clean and colorful without being garish. It's such a nice contrast to all the dark, messy horror games. Instead of zombies with super detailed rotting flesh and dripping fluids, enemies are animated porcelain dolls and creepy puppets. The setting is a spotless mansion where interactive items are visually obvious, no piles of garbage or collapsed ceilings blocking fake doors. The protagonist wears a clean, childish Alice in Wonderland dress.
It's still scary because with the minimal design you just know there's no level scaling or safety net. If you run out of bullets, fuck you. Aiming is with tank controls and there is no auto-aim*, and no way to quickly turn around, so if you're going to run away from something you have to get started long before it gets close enough to hit you.
*There is a small indicator next to the ammo counter that lights up when you're pointed at an enemy though, so despite the fixed camera it shouldn't be too tough to stop wasting bullets.
Very much looking forward to the full game. It's only supposed to be around 7 hours long.
I just finished the game and it is a goddamn masterpiece. Such a brilliant setting, with a note-perfect mixture of horror and whimsicality; tight, focused scope; well-balanced, varied, and challenging combat; enough surprises to keep you guessing; actual scarcity and resource management.
I was surprised to learn the game isn't quite finished yet! with some locks that have no keys and a few other ideas that haven't been fleshed out. I look forward to a replay in a few years with some of the blanks filled in. But it didn't truly hurt the experience as the beginning to end content that is there is perfectly solid.
Note to Wunderbar I played with a controller and indeed experienced zero jankiness.
Can't recommend enough. Full Steam review
Last edited:
LarryTyphoid
Scholar
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2021
- Messages
- 2,233
Developer's Cut update dropped a few days ago. Shitload of new features, including two new endings (plus a hidden variation of one of the endings, accessible only through new game plus), and a Nemesis-like stalker enemy. I definitely recommend anyone who hasn't played this game yet to buy it now.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1335530/announcements/detail/3315234367104853684
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1335530/announcements/detail/3315234367104853684
LarryTyphoid
Scholar
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2021
- Messages
- 2,233
Also, why is this in the JRPG forum?
By the way, the Developer's Cut update dropped in September, and a Halloween Update last week added a couple new costumes and a few bug fixes. There's never been a better time to enjoy this brilliant game. Did you not play it yet? What's wrong with you?
fork
Guest
Yeah, I guess it's time to finally play this.
At release it was mediocre at best.
At release it was mediocre at best.
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