Line #87 VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mcgee_alice.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:Killing makes her ''more'' sane.]]
3	->''Here's a riddle: When is a croquet mallet like a billy club? I'll tell you: Whenever you want it to be.''
4	-->-- '''The Cheshire Cat'''
5
6	A decidedly DarkerAndEdgier take on the source material, ''American [=McGee=]'s Alice'' stars the titular character of the ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' series. Released in late 2000 by Creator/ElectronicArts, and helmed by Creator/IdSoftware alumnus American [=McGee=] ([[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt obviously]]), a former level designer for the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' franchises, in his first role as project lead.
7
8	Alice Liddell's family has died in a fire of which she is the only survivor. The trauma leaves her mostly catatonic and suicidal, and she is institutionalized in Rutledge Asylum. Years later, her White Rabbit plush toy apparently comes to life and summons Alice to aid a radically altered Wonderland, now under the despotic rule of the Queen of Hearts. Alice must fight her way through the twisted dream world in an attempt to destroy the Queen and restore Wonderland to its former glory, and thus heal her mind. Along the way, she must destroy the Queen's minions, many of which are her former friends and companions. Her guide and primary ally is a twisted, emaciated Cheshire Cat, who can be summoned by the player for hints on how to go or just the occasional cryptic quote.
9
10	The game itself is an early action adventure, with Alice using a variety of [[ImprobableWeaponUser deadly toys to kill the inhabitants]] trying to destroy her and solving a number of puzzles along the way. The soundtrack is particularly notable, created by Music/NineInchNails member Chris Vrenna with exclusively Victorian instruments and toys. The trailer for the first game can be viewed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg4FG0kCMBU here]].
11
12	In February 2009, roughly eight or so years after the game was released, EA announced that American [=McGee=] got the band back together, so to speak, and the sequel, entitled ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'' was released on June 14, 2011. In May 2019, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lHi03QrWnE Alice: Asylum]]'' was announced, reportedly dealing with Alice's early days in the asylum. Unfortunately, ''Asylum'' would ultimately be passed on by license holder Electronic Arts in April 2023, resulting in American [=McGee=] [[ArtistDisillusionment giving up on the project and announcing his retirement from game development]].
13
14	A TV series adaptation of the game was greenlit in early 2022.
15
16	----
17	!!This game contains examples of:
18	* AchillesHeel: The Mad Hatter [[spoiler:is incredibly vulnerable to the Jacks (supposedly because he's so orderly, and the Jacks represent chaos) and you can win the BossBattle against him more easily if you exploit this weakness]].
19	* ActionGirl: Despite spending her childhood in a mental institution, Alice is capable of slaying various monstrosities plaguing the wrapped and twisted Wonderland with the assortment of deadly toys and her Vorpal Blade at her disposal.
20	* AdaptedOut: Alice's older sister, who was a character in the original book, does not appear alongside Alice's parents in the opening cinematic, nor is she mentioned as a part of their family. She turns up in the sequel, however.
21	* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
22	** Meta-Essence that respawn after a while in the same spot appear only in boss arenas. These are actually necessary for the last couple of fights, where the only weapons you'll be using are the mana-guzzling Eye Staff and Blunderbuss.
23	** Some BottomlessPits helpfully teleport Alice back onto the platform, rather than leaving her to fall to her death.
24	* AttackItsWeakPoint: The Voracious Centipede, who can only be damaged by hitting the old scar on his underside.
25	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample, Administrivia/TypeLabelsAreNotExamples * AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage: The tentacles of the Queen of Hearts, making it Type 2.
26	* AxCrazy: Everyone in the game, including Alice since the game takes place in her mind. Many of Wonderland's inhabitants have gotten unhinged and murderous, and Alice has to carve her way through them. Her ultimate goal is to ''win'' her sanity back by doing so.
27	* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: Every battle counts, due to Wonderland being Alice's mental world. Solving Alice's problems tends to involve StuffBlowingUp.
28	* BayonetYa: Army Ants like using these to throw Alice around.
29	* BeamSpam: The Queen Of Hearts utilizes such an attack in her throne room.
30	* {{BFG}}: The Blunderbuss. The handle and trigger area are big enough for a two handed gun but the muzzle is exaggeratedly enormous in size.
31	* BigCreepyCrawlies: In one level, most of Alice's enemies and the boss are giant insects. (Well, ''technically'', they aren't giant; Alice has been shrunk to insect-size.)
32	* BiggerOnTheInside: The Skool.
33	* BigNo:
34	** Alice's response to the Jabberwock's BreakingSpeech.
35	** Also when [[spoiler:the Cheshire Cat dies]].
36	* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: A lot, but a notable example is the Skool, which is [[ClownCarBase much larger on the inside than outside]].
37	* BloodierAndGorier: The source material had no gore to speak of. This adaptation practically drowns in it.
38	* BloodlessCarnage: Compared to the bloody violence throughout the rest of the game, the [[spoiler: White Rabbit's]] death from [[spoiler: being crushed by the Mad Hatter's foot]] is surprisingly lacking in gore. Arguably, this serves to make the scene even ''more'' disturbing.
39	* BodyHorror: Can be found in plenty, as Alice is profoundly disturbed and this reflects in Wonderland's people.
40	** Various deformed children running around in Skool and Hatter's Asylum, some of whom have the ''tops of their skulls'' sawed off.
41	** The [[spoiler: March Hare and the Dormouse]]. Good ''God''. Both are the Mad Hatter's cybernetic test subjects; The [[spoiler: March Hare]] is missing all of his limbs and three been replaced with crude prosthetics, his eyes are held open by staples, and his lower lip is pulled far down his face. [[spoiler: Dormouse]] had his legs removed, his brain is exposed, and most of his tail has been replaced by metal links.
42	** The Queen of Hearts' appearance and [[spoiler: her true form]] are horrific. Both are humanoid, but are mostly comprised of tentacles. [[spoiler:The final form also has Mad Hatter's head in its mouth, and the Hatter head has ''Alice's'' head in its mouth]].
43	* {{Bowdlerise}}: The game's cover art was censored in a couple of ways from it's original release in different regions and later prints. The original cover art featured Alice holding a knife with splotches of blood on her dress, however, in some versions the blood was cleaned off Alice's dress and feature her holding the Ice Wand or the Playing Cards instead, and some versions only removed the blood but kept Alice holding the knife.
44	* BreakingSpeech: Alice carries a lot of SurvivorGuilt due to being the only one who escaped from the house-fire. Her enemies in Wonderland, such as the Jabberwock, The Mad Hatter, and the Queen Of Hearts all viciously remind her of this guilt.
45	* BoringButPractical: The Vorpal Blade. Its alternate-fire has pinpoint accuracy, the longest range of almost any weapon in the game, and enough damage to kill most low-level enemies in one hit, and it consumes no ammunition. Almost every other weapon falls into the AwesomeButImpractical or CoolButInefficient category in different ways.
46	* BossOnlyLevel: Almost all of them, with the exception of the Red King and [[DualBoss Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.]]
47	* BottomlessPits: Many levels have dark voids in which Alice can fall to her doom.
48	* BrokenBridge: More like "blocked tunnel", but same idea. You can approach the passage to the Land of Fire and Brimstone rather early in the game, but breaking through the barrier to access it requires the Jabberwock Eye Staff, a weapon that isn't available for some time.
49	* CatsAreSnarkers: Guess who's responsible for this trope.
50	* CheshireCatGrin: The Cheshire Cat, naturally, though his grin is actually a mix of CheshireCatGrin and SlasherSmile.
51	* ClockworkCreature: The automatons are made from random spare clockwork parts and insane children. [[spoiler: The Mad Hatter turns out to be one of these as well, to go along with the [[ClockPunk clockwork theme]] of his level. To top it all off, the March Hare and Dormouse are at least halfway this.]]
52	* CompositeCharacter: Averted, and quite possibly the only Alice in Wonderland adaptation that does ''not'' combine the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts into the same person.
53	* ConvectionSchmonvection: Areas like the Land of Fire and Brimstone. Justified as it's all in her head.
54	* CrazyPeoplePlayChess: Alice has some adventures on a city of chess boards, including turning into different pieces and only being able to move according to those rules.
55	* CreepyChild: The insane children, and [[VagueAge possibly Alice herself.]]
56	* CreepyGood: Any of the friendly NPC's. While characters like the Cheshire Cat, the Rabbit, and the Mock Turtle border on having a NightmareFace, they're helpful, relatively friendly and benign.
57	* CuckooNest: The game reinterprets ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' as an actual delusion by an insane and institutionalized Alice. In this case the entire game is based on the presupposition that the original books were mental aberrations, with the different characters representing various personality fragments and psychoses. [[AllThereInTheManual The game's manual]] provides the detailed journal of the psychiatrist who spent years treating Alice for her psychoses and makes frequent mentions of her ramblings and drawings, all of which somehow relate to the events of Wonderland. It's subverted in the sequel ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'', where Alice is completely aware that her excursions to Wonderland are delusions. That doesn't make what she does there [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind any less important.]]
58	* DarkWorld: The Twisted Wonderland, comparing it to the original Wonderland. The original Wonderland was strange but mostly benevolent, with the only real threat to Alice being the Queen of Hearts. Twisted Wonderland is incredibly dangerous and unsettling, in both the landscape and the inhabitants.
59	* DarkerAndEdgier: The whole game, compared to what one would expect from something called ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland''.
60	%% * DeadpanSnarker: The Cheshire Cat.
61	* DeathDealer: One of Alice's weapons is a deck of cards.
62	* DeathIsCheap: The Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse all bite it at the end of their level, yet show up in bonus levels no worse for wear, and the Hatter shows up again [[spoiler: on the train.]] Justified, given [[CuckooNest the setting.]]
63	* DeathSeeker: Alice occasionally delves into this—she was suicidal, and at one point she states that she's not afraid of death, and at times would welcome it.
64	* DeathFromAbove: The Jabberwock in the second encounter. Also the Eye Staff has a secondary fire mode which is basically a [[MoreDakka multi-shot]] artillery strike the longer you charge the shot.
65	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The Pale Realm of the Chess people's world.
66	* DisneyDeath: All of Alice's friends who were killed during the journey are restored to life at the end. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because Wonderland exists in her mind, so all she had to do was want them to come back. Sadly, the sequel reveals that [[spoiler:they didn't all take when Alice's sanity began to crumble again.]]
67	* DoomMagnet: Alice thought of herself as one as her Wonderland friends meet their untimely fate from various circumstances surrounding her.
68	--> '''Alice:''' Everyone I love dies violently-- unnaturally. I'm cursed. Why go on? I'll just hurt others...
69	* DreamLand: The game is taking place in Alice's mind while she lies comatose in Rutledge Asylum. It may be more appropriate to call it a Nightmare Land, which, oddly enough, is what the game's Japanese name went with.
70	* EarnYourHappyEnding: While earning the ending holds true for all video games, Alice literally has to earn her sanity back [[spoiler:by battling the Queen Of Hearts]].
71	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample, character page material * EldritchAbomination: The Queen Of Hearts, especially her final form.
72	* EnergyWeapon : The Bishop chess piece and the Queen of Hearts use these. Also the Eye Staff emits a continuous beam of massive damage.
73	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * EternalEngine: Beneath Queensland.
74	* EyeScream: Guess what makes up the business end of the Jabberwock's Eye Staff? Also, many of the Insane Children have their eyes pinned open.
75	* FanSequel: What the game is, technically.
76	* FearsomeFoot: One of our very first glimpses of TheMadHatter is his foot [[spoiler: crushing the White Rabbit to death.]]
77	* FinalBossNewDimension: In this case, a really dark void with platforms in a circular arrangement.
78	* FungusHumongous: The giant, flesh-eating mushrooms, [[SpringySpores bounce mushrooms]] and various others. Although, technically they're normal size - it's Alice who's shrunk.
79	* GameMod: The PC version has an [[https://www.nexusmods.com/americanmcgeesalice/mods/1 unofficial HD texture pack]] that overhauls the game's textures, revamps the menus and HUD, and has an option "Overkill" add-on that adds more lighting effects, models, more enemies, and an extended cheats menu. This texture pack is also compatible with the 2011 remastered version that was included with the game's sequel, but the cheats menu from the Overkill add-on doesn't work since the remastered version removed cheats and the console entirely.
80	* GirlWithPsychoWeapon: Alice is best known for her first weapon, a knife, called the "Vorpal Blade" in-game.
81	* GlasgowGrin: All the Insane Children appear to have these cut into their faces. The fan-made HD texture pack also redesigns Alice's demonic form to feature one.
82	* GoingThroughTheMotions: Play this game now and be embarrassed at the quality of animation.
83	* {{Grimmification}}: One that takes an already surreal and bizarre children's story to a darker direction with macabre imagery, twisted character interpretations, and themes of mental health problems.
84	* GuiltBasedGaming: The Quit screen, which shows the Mad Hatter glaring at the player and accusing them of running away from the fight.
85	* GustyGlade: Inverted in one area of the Hatter's Domain, where you can get sucked into machinery drawing in air. Played straight inside Queensland where visible gusts can blow you off while riding steam vents.
86	* GutPunch: The first few parts of the game are pretty violent, but not overly so (at least not compared to similar games), ''until'' you reach the part where the White Rabbit is crushed by the Mad Hatter's foot. ''Then'' you start to realize how dark this game is, and that it's only going to get darker from here.
87	* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: The White Rabbit. The Army Ants also fit this.
88	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample, Administrivia/NotASubversion * HappyPlace: Subverted. This is what Wonderland ''used'' to be.
89	* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Throughout his life allegations of pedophilia plagued both Lewis Carroll and his family. The truth of the matter has never been verified, as the only primary source, Carroll's Diary, was altered by the family after his death. American firmly believes the rumors, to the point he was genuinely upset Lewis Carroll's picture was included in the final game.[[spoiler:Exaggerated in the sequel where Professor Bumby is a deeply unsubtle expy of Carroll. In a direct parallel with Carroll's life Bumby becomes obsessed with the daughter of his College's Dean. However, again, actual evidence of any misconduct by Carroll was never proven. Bumby however...]]
90	* HopelessBossFight: Alice can't defeat the Jabberwock without the Jabberwock Eye Staff, which she doesn't have the first time she confronts him. Thus, her goal the first time is to simply survive his attacks long enough for the Gryphon to come, tear his eye out, and send him running, giving her what she needs to assemble the weapon. (Ironically, while she can't win, this is a ''much'' easier battle to clear than the rematch, where she can - and must - defeat him.)
91	* AnIcePerson: The Ice Wand lets Alice freeze enemies solid or erect protective walls of ice.
92	* IdleAnimation: Looking down the barrel of the blunderbuss, prying open a jackbomb, burying a card in her own skull, playing with knives ... Alice is ''dangerous'' when she's bored. A lot of the enemies have them as well, such as the Boojum removing and holding up its head to get a better view of the area.
93	* ImAHumanitarian:
94	** The Duchess. She's implied to be a cannibal right from the first time someone mentions her, and it proves to be true: right before the BossBattle starts, she comments on how delectable Alice looks. Plus, her most dangerous - and most disturbing - attack consists of liftning Alice up and biting her on the head. (She can only do this if Alice comes within close range, which is ''not'' a good idea with this Boss, or most Bosses in general.)
95	** Tweedledum and Tweedledee appear to have cannibalistic tendencies too, but aren't as anxious to eat Alice as the Duchess is, claiming she's too "scrawny" when the see her. (Alice's response is darkly sarcastic.)
96	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Alice's "toys" are mighty lethal. Decks of cards, flamingo-shaped croquet mallets, explosive Jack-in-the-boxes, dice which summon demons... the list goes on.
97	* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: Possibly justified, since American [=McGee=]'s Alice is very different from Creator/LewisCarroll's, but even so it has been said of the game that if you're going to put your own name in the title, it's better if people actually know who you are. The game had amazing graphics for its time, and it was heavily publicized that it was built on the then-cutting edge id Tech 3 MediaNotes/GameEngine that powered ''VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena''. American [=McGee=] had been a designer for Creator/IdSoftware and worked on the earlier ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' games, as well as its predecessor franchise ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''. A good portion of the target audience -- 3D action gamers -- were well aware of who he was. American [=McGee=], however, was actually ''not'' a fan of having his name in the title, he wanted to call the game just ''Alice''. According to him, it was the publishers who wanted to put his name in the title, since "made by one of the masterminds behind Doom" would carry more weight with gamers than "a dark version of Alice in Wonderland". He got his wish with the second game, which is ''not'' called ''American [=McGee=]'s VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns''. It still has "An American [=McGee=] Game" in smaller letters at the bottom of the case.
98	* IndyEscape: A large mechanical beetle drops a massive marble down into the hole Alice is in. She outruns it past an icy floor through which the marble crashes. Comes back later to chase her after she gets the Ice Wand.
99	* InfinityPlusOneSword: Two of them. First, the Jabberwock's Eye Staff which is obtained in pieces throughout the game. When completed, it can fire a continuous, high-damage laser beam, or summon a whole comet rain around you. The second one, the Blunderbuss, is a {{BFG}} that, at the cost of a full will bar, will cause a room-clearing explosion. The Blunderbuss is only available during the FinalBoss unless you happen to find a hidden switch on your second visit to Caterpillar's Plot. To some, having such a long firing delay (Eyestaff) or completely exhausting what is essentially ammunition in one shot (Blunderbuss) brings them straight into AwesomeButImpractical territory.
100	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * IronicNurseryTune
101	* ItsPersonal: Well, it was personal to begin with, but it becomes much more so after the deaths of [[spoiler:[[AndYourLittleDogToo the Rabbit and especially the Cheshire Cat]]]].
102	* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: The basic premise of the game.
103	%% LethalLavaLand: The Land of Fire and Brimstone.
104	* LifeMeter: The "Sanity" Meter, represented by the red life meter on the left side of the HUD.
105	%% MacroZone: The Vale of Tears and Wonderland Woods segments.
106	%% MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Dormouse and March Hare, especially Dormouse.
107	* MakeMeWannaShout: The Boojum only attacks by screaming, which would not only damage, but also push Alice backwards, potentially [[BottomlessPits off the platform to her death]].
108	* ManEatingPlant: The Evil Mushroom. Okay, not actually plant, but plays the role. It even digests Alice if she gets too close.
109	* ManaMeter: The "Will" Meter, represented by the blue magic meter on the right side of the HUD.
110	* MarketBasedTitle: In Japan, the game was titled ''Alice in Nightmare''.
111	* MatryoshkaObject: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum can open up and spawn smaller, weaker copies of themselves.
112	* TheMaze: Queensland, a giant maze made of rosebushes.
113	* MentalStory: It takes place largely in Wonderland - in this case, the corrupted HappyPlace of a catatonic girl who blames herself for the death of her parents.
114	* MentalWorld: The entire game takes place in Alice's [[MadnessMakeover deranged and twisted idea]] of Wonderland caused by her traumatic experience of losing her family in the house fire that left her catatonic and suicidal.
115	* MindOverMatter: The Queen Of Hearts can pull Alice up with her mind and deliver a crushing blow with tentacles.
116	%% MindScrew
117	* MinecartMadness: Yur Mine, though the whole minecart ride is just a cutscene.
118	* MissionControlIsOffItsMeds: Some of the Cheshire Cat's clues are cryptic to the point of being false. For example, he implies the Jacks are dangerous to Alice if she uses them without enemies around, like the Dice, when in fact they're perfectly harmless.
119	* MysteriousBacker: Humpty Dumpty. When Alice speaks to him, he doesn't tell her anything useful... Or ''does he?'' [[spoiler: It's not what he says, but what he does. If the player goes in the direction where he points to, Alice will find the blunderbuss, the most powerful weapon in the game, which is easy to miss otherwise.]]
120	* MythologyGag: The White Chess Castle features a few illustrations from the original Alice books, along with a portrait of Lewis Carroll.
121	* NestedMouths: The Queen of Hearts monster has the Mad Hatter's face inside her mouth, with Alice's face inside his. See this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9tDTj6ltL8#t=4m05s in this video.]]
122	* NeverTrustATrailer: In the game's trailer, Alice and the Mad Hatter are shown having a tea party together, Alice glaring daggers at him as she grips her knife - just as the Hatter pulls on a lever and a circular saw comes out behind Alice to cut her in half. It's a dramatic and frightening scene, but there's nothing in the actual game that resembles it.
123	* NoSell: In the BossBattle against the Centipede, he's immune to every weapon Alice has at her disposal [[spoiler:except when he rears back before charging, exposing an old scar which is his weak point]].
124	* OrderliesAreCreeps: A pair of twin brothers who bully Alice in the asylum and threaten her with leather straps, as mentioned in the doctor's notes [[AllThereInTheManual in the manual]]. They manifest in Wonderland as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
125	* OrcusOnHisThrone: Although the Queen of Hearts' shadow falls over the whole game, she really doesn't do much at all until Alice actually reaches her. [[spoiler: This is further emphasized by the fact that the first BossBattle against what seems to be the Queen is actually a fight against a decoy, and the real Queen does not bother with Alice until the fake is defeated.]]
126	%% OurBansheesAreLouder: The boojums are essentially these.
127	* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Alice can summon them with her dice. The lesser and greater demons are your standard horned, winged fare, but the middle ones are bizarre worm creatures that throw fireballs. The Land of Fire and Brimstone also introduces Fire Imps that rush at Alice with pitch forks.
128	* OurGnomesAreWeirder: The Torch Gnomes (who wear heavy glowing balls on their backs) and the Gnome Elder.
129	* OurGryphonsAreDifferent: The Gryphon is an important character.
130	* ParachutePetticoat: Alice's dress by which it is used to ride steam vents.
131	* PlanetHeck: Though not exactly Hell itself, the Land of Fire and Brimstone comes close enough, complete with small, pitchfork-wielding imps.
132	* PlayingWithFire: The Jackbomb weapon. Enemies include the Jabberwock.
133	* PopculturalOsmosis: Some of the elements claimed to be from the original story are actually lifted straight from the Disney adaption, such as her parachute dress and only specific food altering Alice's body shape, and only in specific proportions. In the books every food eaten in Wonderland (except for a bit of tea she has with the Mad Hatter) altered the shape of her body, and not always in proportion.
134	* PopStarComposer: Chris Vrenna for the game's score.
135	* PressurePlate: One instance where it controls a gate blocking your way to the endgame.
136	* PsychologicalTormentZone: Wonderland goes from an ideal escapist realm for Alice to this, providing the setting for the game.
137	* PublicDomainCanonWelding: The game is a DarkerAndEdgier follow-up to ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'', showing Alice's psyche as she grows up [[spoiler:after losing her family in a house fire, which rendered her catatonic]].
138	%% PuzzlePan: Inverted.
139	* RayGun: In the form of a staff. Complementary explosive projectiles for a finisher as well.
140	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The Red Queen gives one to Alice, proceeding to break her into tears as her voice gradually mutates into the VoiceOfTheLegion:
141	--> '''I''' rule Wonderland alone. Your interference will not be tolerated. This realm is for grown-ups. Raw, well-ordered, ruthless, careening on the jagged edge of reality. Self-pitying ''dreamers'' are not wanted here. They cannot survive here. You fear the truth. You live in shadows. Your pathetic attempts to reclaim your sanity have failed. Retreat to the sterile safety of your self-delusions or risk inevitable annihilation. If you destroy me, you destroy yourself. Leave now and some hollow part of you ''may'' survive. Stay, and I will break you ''down''. You will lose yourself. '''FOREVER'''.
142	* RoomFullOfCrazy: Though it's more like an asylum full of crazy; look at the walls in the Hatter level and you can faintly see he's been scribbling on them. (And there's the bloody "You're Next" warnings to boot.)
143	* RuleOfSymbolism: LOTS. Most major characters that Alice encounters and many of the locations represent someone or something that caused her madness or something she encountered after being driven insane. Some examples include the Vorpal Blade, which is the spoon used to feed her at the asylum (which she had tried to use as a weapon in one brief time that she was conscious) and the Land of Fire and Brimstone, which symbolizes the fire that destroyed her house. Boss enemies and some monsters represent employees and patients at the asylum or figures from her past.
144	* SanityMeter: You get more sane by drinking the ''essence'' of your kills! Try explaining this to your therapist after you finish the game. The developers said that this was used because it was better [[RuleOfCool and far more interesting]] plot-wise than using a standard health meter and having Alice restore her health with medicine and bandages like the hero does in most games like this. (And frankly, having such stuff lying around Wonderland would make even less sense.)
145	* SaveScumming: One way to ensure you don't redo frustrating sections of platforming or to-and-fro tedium just because of a mis-step later on. It helps that the game gives you two ways to do this: either manually creating a new save, or using the built in quick save function which essentially acts as a save state.
146	* SecondaryFire: Many of Alice's weapons have a secondary attack it can use, such as the Vorpal Blade being used as a throwing weapon, the Cards firing a burst of multiple cards at once, and the clown in the Jackbomb spewing flames around in its vicinity before denotating.
147	* SceneryAsYouGo: A few of the puzzles work this way.
148	%% SceneryPorn / SceneryGorn: Looks gorgeous for its day. Madness Return's level designs also look ''fantastic.''
149	* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The "Icy Reception" stage in MacroZone, though it depends on the exact platforms whether or not you slip or slide.
150	* SpringySpores: Plenty in the shrunken levels. Only one specific type of mushroom is springy, though.
151	* StrappedToAnOperatingTable: At one point, Alice wakes up in an operating theater... turned on its ''side''. Additionally, the March Hare and Dormouse can be found on operating tables, horribly experimented on. There's nothing you can do to help them.
152	* SuperMode: In the first game, Alice can occasionally find the Rage Box that when touched sprays... something in her face which painfully transforms her into a demon. This PowerUp causes Alice to do more damage to her enemies and causes her to take less damage from their attacks for the duration.
153	** There are also other items, like a rare grasshopper teapot that turns Alice into a super agile bug-girl, and even rarer dark looking-glass that turns Alice invisible.
154	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: As in the novel, Hatter is obsessed with tea. So much so that if the clock strikes twelve during the boss battle with him he will immediately run off for his teatime.
155	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: The game [[AllThereInTheManual comes with the journal]] of Alice's psychiatrist, who's gradually drawn into her descriptions of Wonderland and their disturbing synchronicity with the asylum's own mysterious characters.
156	* TruthInTelevision: Sort of. The manual describes what you'd think were imagined and torturous treatments for various patients in the asylum, from pricking fingers, to bullying, to experimentation. A patient dies and the Doctor comments on it rather casually. But lunatics in Victorian England were third-class citizens and it all happened with nobody batting an eyelid.
157	* TooAwesomeToUse: The Blunderbuss, a gun that fires off a huge, powerful bullet that explodes and reduces most enemies to smithereens. The catch? It requires a full Will meter to fire it, leaving Alice with only her Vorpal Blade and Mallet if there are any strugglers around.
158	* UnderTheSea: The Vale of Tears once Alice follows the Mock Turtle underwater, complete with a few UnderwaterRuins.
159	* UpdatedRerelease: The PC version had an updated version of the first ''Alice'' as a pre-order bonus for ''Alice: Madness Returns'' and was bundled bundled as part of the ''Complete Collection'', which touched up some of the game's textures, added compatibility fixes for modern systems, Xbox 360 controller support, and native widescreen options. Unfortunately, this updated version of the game as well as the ''Complete Collection'' was pulled from all digital distribution platforms. American [[=McGee=]] himself has stated his intent to re-release all the ''Alice'' games on Platform/PlayStation4, Xbox One, and the Switch, though time will tell if this happens.
160	* WeaponizedOffspring: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum [[MatryoshkaObject can open up and spawn smaller, weaker copies of themselves]].
161	* WhatTheHellHero: The basis of the Jabberwock's BreakingSpeech.
162	-->'''The Jabberwock''': You selfish, misbegotten and unnatural child! YOU smelled the smoke! But you were in dreamland taking tea with your friends, you couldn't be bothered! Your room was protected and spared while your family upstairs roasted in an inferno of incredible ''horror''!
163	* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: Essentially the backstory.
164	* WombLevel: The Queen Of Hearts' castle. Creepily organic, it's like you're working your body up through some intestines, through a ribcage, and up a cerebral column into the 'brain'. In fact most of the features of that section resemble a body part... which raises the question 'where did you enter?' Oh, just through a snug, hard-to-spot crevice in a wall.
165	** Queen Of Hearts, a writhing mass of tentacles herself, has tentacles sticking out in most of the levels (they often serve as visible {{Invisible Wall}}s since you simply CANNOT climb onto them)
166	** The main core of her keep seems to be mostly made of ivory...
167	* YourHeadASplode: [[spoiler:The Duchess,]] [[spoiler: The Mad Hatter,]] and [[spoiler: The Cheshire Cat]] die this way. They [[UnexplainedRecovery got better]] [[spoiler:in the sequel]] though.
168	** Also Alice when she dies to a gunshot. In fact, there's a cheat code you can implement that will show you the death scene, but then allows you to continue playing the game. ''[[LosingYourHead Headless]].''

Context VideoGame / AmericanMcGeesAlice