Re-Enter The World Of Survival Horror
HIGH It’s a time machine back to the ’90s.
LOW The instant-fail stealth section.
WTF Sock puppets that the main character thinks are real people.
I’m an easy mark for nostalgia. Now firmly entrenched in my mid-30’s, anything that reminds me of simpler times is a welcome salve against the pre-apocalyptic nightmare of 2024. It’s ironic that I found this solace in horror, but such was the case with Alisa Developer’s Cut.
Originally releasing in 2021, this expanded version is an almost pitch-perfect rendition of pre-millennium survival horror, and for me, it’s effectively a portal back to a younger, less anxious version of myself. At first, I simply basked in the familiar sights and sounds of the late 90’s, but the more I played, the more I considered the value of these throwback titles, and how imitation and innovation can work together through a retrospective lens.
From the mysterious, monster-filled mansion to the fixed camera angles and obtuse puzzles, it’s clear that Alisa owes an enormous debt to the Resident Evil series, and more specifically, the 1996 original. These similarities are no accident, and the developers wear their admiration on their sleeves with a playful self-awareness in the storytelling, dialogue and set pieces that perfectly capture the awkwardness of this period. By also drawing on the surreal imagery from the 1988 film Alice, Alisa crafts an aesthetic sensibility inspired by the past, but one that still feels unique in its own right. However, it’s not what inspired Alisa, but rather how the developers have used that inspiration that makes it so effective.
During my first foray into its world, I was immediately struck by Alisa’s steadfast rejection of modernity. Presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio with fixed camera angles, and wobbly, pixelated polygons, I genuinely don’t see anything in Alisa that couldn’t have been accomplished 28 years ago. As I guided the titular Alisa through the pre-rendered hallways, solving puzzles and fighting clockwork monsters, the only clue that I wasn’t back in the Clinton era was that I was staring at a handheld OLED screen instead of a humming CRT television.
That’s not to say that there are no concessions for a more contemporary audience – as I progressed and the systems began to unveil themselves, I discovered a thoughtful integration of lessons learned from three decades of survival horror. Rather than advancing from a technological or aesthetic perspective, the developers have instead chosen to integrate more modern player progression systems to soften the abrasive edges so deeply associated with the genre.
I distinctly recall my first experiences in survival horror – with resource scarcity being a primary tenant of the genre, I was often afraid to shoot my gun, or even to save my progress for fear of needing those supplies later. While these restrictions certainly heightened the tension at the time, they feel overly hostile in today’s world and serve as a barrier to engagement. Alisa wisely takes cues from later entries in the genre by introducing vendors that function as save points and will trade weapons, supplies, and gear in exchange for currency earned by defeating enemies. While the core mechanics of Alisa hew very closely to the original Resident Evil, crucial abilities such as auto aim, or dodge can be purchased from these vendors as permanent power ups.
Building on these systems is a renewed emphasis on melee combat – while most of Alisa’s forerunners featured some form of melee or unarmed attack, it was rarely effective, and generally served as a last resort. Alisa, on the other hand, features a plethora of close combat weapons – from swords and shields to hammers and spears. I ended up forgoing guns in most cases and primarily utilized these weapons for the majority of my playthrough. This offered a new way to engage with a classic formula, and all but removed any anxiety about conserving ammunition.
By retrofitting later innovations into a classic framework, Alisa manages to preserve its authenticity while reducing friction for its players. Despite clunky controls and an archaic interface, I rarely felt that the combat encounters were unfair, and if I found that my approach wasn’t working, I had the freedom to try another. Alisa is intended to be a mood piece, capturing a moment in time from videogame history, and these smart tweaks turn that into a much more palatable affair.
While the developers generally benefit from the mistakes of their predecessors, there are some cracks in the rose-colored glasses. The most egregious of which is the baffling decision to include a mandatory pass/fail stealth section.
The ‘stealth segment’ has long been a blight on the medium, and to include one where failure means instant death feels misguided. Also, since it appears near the end of the experience, it left an extra bad taste in my mouth.
Additionally, while puzzles have often been a core component of the genre, some puzzles in Alisa lean a little too far into obscurity with leaps of logic that I wasn’t always able to follow. Generally, I was able to progress through trial and error, but for the moments where I wasn’t on the same wavelength as the developers, I was left with no recourse but to consult the internet. It could be argued that these negatives fit within Alisa’s retrospective framework, and while they didn’t break the experience for me, they did create unnecessary points of frustration and would have been better left on the cutting room floor.
These minor quibbles aside, and in an industry that is seemingly allergic to any form of historical preservation, titles such as Alisa should be celebrated as an interesting alternative to the real deal. The choice to stick so closely to the aesthetics and mechanics of yesteryear makes Alisa feel like a game out of time, but it provides a perfect means to engage with the past in a genuine, more digestible way. At the risk of sounding wistful, for me Alisa is a window back to a period in my life that feels safe and warm, where the scariest thing is what lies waiting behind a digital doorway.
Rating: 8 out of 10
— Ryan Nalley
Disclosures: This game is developed by Casper Croes and published by Top Hat Studios. It is currently available on XBO/X/S, PS4/5, Switch, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 13 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Suggestive Themes and Violence. While there is no blood or gore, there is violence throughout with the player character using guns, swords, spears, etc. This is a horror game, and while most of the enemies in the game are clockwork dolls, there are also more grotesque monsters with explicit horror theming that may be scary or disturbing for younger audiences. Additionally, the main character can be equipped with several different outfits, and while there is no nudity, some of these costumes are more revealing than others.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. This game was completed twice, once entirely without sound, and unfortunately there are some significant issues from an accessibility standpoint. First, there is no attribution in the subtitles, and when there are multiple characters speaking it can be difficult to tell which subtitles are for each character. The second issue has to do with the fixed camera angles. When entering a room there are often enemies that cannot be seen but can be heard – there is no visual indicator to accompany these noises, and without sound these enemies can more easily get the jump on the player. This doesn’t happen frequently, but could lead to some unfair moments. Tying into this, there is a very powerful enemy that stalks the player throughout the game – this enemy appears randomly, and with the fixed camera angles cannot always be seen when entering a new area. There is a specific piece of music that plays to indicate this enemy’s presence, but there is no visual cue to accompany this music. When playing without sound there were numerous occasions that I lost progress due to being surprised and killed by this enemy. The final issue has to do with the instant-fail stealth mission mentioned in the main body of the review – for a good portion of this section, the enemies that have to be avoided are offscreen. The player must listen for the noise of their footsteps to know when it is safe to proceed, and again there is no visual indicator for these noises. These enemies move in a specific pattern, and it is possible, through trial and error, to memorize these patterns to proceed, but I found this section extremely frustrating without sound. As such, this game is not accessible.
Remappable Controls: Certain functions are remappable. The game offers four distinct control schemes, but none of the individual buttons can be re-mapped within these schemes. What the control diagram does not state is the difference between the modern and tank control scheme variants. For the modern scheme, the character will always move in the direction that the left analog stick is pushed. For the tank control scheme, pressing the stick forward will move the character in the direction they are facing, with left and right on the analog stick turning the character, and back making the character step backwards.
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