YMMV / Alisa

• Common Knowledge: Casper Croes named Jan Švankmajer's Alice (1988) as the primary thematic inspiration, and he did admit that people compared this game more often to American McGee's take.
• Friendly Fandoms: Fans of Alisa are also fans with other survival horror games such as:
  • Tormented Souls: As they are both survival horror games that deal with surreal/abstract enemies in a mysterious mansion that harkens back to classic survival horror cliches, as well as being released in the same year. Fans of both Alisa and Tormented Souls are quite cordial with one another.
  • Silent Hill: Many Alisa fans are also fans of Silent Hill due to the latter being one of the major inspirations of the game as well as their similarities in their vague plots and surrealism.
  • Resident Evil: Likewise, many Alisa fans are also friendly with the other major inspiration for the game which is the Resident Evil franchise.
• Funny Moments:
  • Jean learns the hard way that running while chewing on a tooth pick is not a good idea at the beginning of the game, tripping and having swallowed it.
  • Pol explaining how he's the merchant of the game in that Alisa can trade him tooth-wheels for some extra firepower. It's the way he moves along with the excited whisper at the last one that makes it quite charming.
  • What does Alisa have to say after escaping a room that would've crushed her? That she was almost a ''sandwich''.
• Nightmare Fuel: The Dollmaster...dear fucking god, THE DOLLMASTER!
  • The set-up to the final battle with him. As Alisa is setting up the bomb to destroy the Dollhouse, something falls on the floor behind her. Turning around, she sees Pol, the Hand Puppet Merchant. She then looks up from where he fell and gasps as the screen then cuts to this unblinking 'THING' hanging from the ceiling, dangling one of his gangly arms down as he speaks in a deep, raspy voice and crashes down, showing his hideous frame in all its glory. Cue final boss!
• Paranoia Fuel: Players might find themselves stopping for a moment and listening to the soundtrack every time they enter a room. Why? Not necessarily to appreciate the music (though it is quite good) but because the music changing into something far more ominous and otherworldly is one of the only reliable ways of knowing if the giant floating doll dressed in black that shows up randomly throughout the game is in the room ready to get you. Her introduction is bad enough: she's in a glass case and you just know she's going to break out at some point. You grab the cone hat and your fears are realized as you hear glass shattering from the next room, except… she's not there when you check the room. Sure, the first time she shows up the player might assume it's a one time thing. After a few more encounters they'll come to the anxiety-inducing realization that she could be there anytime they enter a room and they'll have to be on-guard possibly the entire game. (She actually goes away once you complete Elise’s sidequest… in one way or another.) Thankfully, you can make her leave by exiting and entering the room again but there's still the fact that the mere act of entering a room, even one you've cleared out and are familiar with, feels… less than safe.
  • The fixed camera angles can also give the player the feeling that they're being watched.
  • That fear of being watched can come to fruition during one section of the game after the player finds the Bomb Room. Usually exiting the room there's a view of Alisa through the window, but exiting this time there's… something in the corner of the player’s vision that quickly leaves. It's only later and on repeat playthroughs that the player will find out that was the Dollmaster learning of your intentions and later ambushing you as the final boss of the game.
• Scrappy Weapon: The blunderbuss and the crossbow both suffer from this. The blunderbuss can only fire one shot before needing to (very slowly) reload, and for an earlygame shotgun analogue it does not do anywhere near enough damage to justify its usage. The crossbow is found near the end of the hedge maze, and while it does do heavy damage to enemies it likewise reloads very slowly and by the time you find it you will likely have very few enemies to use it on.

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