History NightmareFuel / AliceMadnessReturns

* Did you know that the innocent, implicative, something's-definitely-off kinda horror; [[CreepyBasement creepy, desolate, eerie horror]]; [[NothingIsScarier pervasive unease]], [[DarkWorld mind-screwingly reminiscent, sorta-familiar horror]] and [[EldritchLocation oppressive, bloodcurdling, soul distorting horror]] are supposed to be, at least to the extent that they don't ALL come into play at the same time, mutually exclusive, and for a good reason? Yeah, American [=McGee=] didn't know that, so he created the [=Dollhouse=] world. [[SarcasmMode Wasn't that sweet of him?]]

[[quoteright:350:Good ''lord.'']]

* Did you know that theinnocent, implicative, something's-definitely-off kinda horror; [[CreepyBasement creepy, desolate, eerie horror]]; [[NothingIsScarier pervasive unease]], [[DarkWorld mind-screwingly reminiscent, sorta-familiar horror]] and [[EldritchLocation oppressive, bloodcurdling, soul distorting horror]] are supposed to be, at least to the extent that they don't ALL come into play at the same time, mutually exclusive, and for a good reason? Yeah, American [=McGee=] didn't know that, so he created the [=Dollhouse=] world. [[SarcasmMode Wasn't that sweet of him?]]

* Did you know that the [[UncannyValley innocent, implicative, something's-definitely-off kinda horror]]; [[CreepyBasement creepy, desolate, eerie horror]]; [[NothingIsScarier pervasive unease]], [[DarkWorld mind-screwingly reminiscent, sorta-familiar horror]] and [[EldritchLocation oppressive, bloodcurdling, soul distorting horror]] are supposed to be, at least to the extent that they don't ALL come into play at the same time, mutually exclusive, and for a good reason? Yeah, American [=McGee=] didn't know that, so he created the [=Dollhouse=] world. [[SarcasmMode Wasn't that sweet of him?]]

* If you look around in the Dollhouse level you will see a lot of implications of child prostitution, like dolls in corners with a price tag on them, which becomes especially [[UncannyValley devastating]] when later, on the Infernal Train, you see a cutscene of Bumby selling off children wearing price tags to "wanting customers". Or what about the beds soaking with blood, implying [[RapeAsBackstory horrible things]] may have happened to the dolls of the dollhouse.

** Never ''mind'' the music... try not to [[FridgeHorror think too hard]] about the implications of what fighting the Broken Doll is [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything meant to resemble]] in Alice's fractured mind.

* It's a minor thing but there are a few implications that Alice's lawyer, Radcliffe, has spent quite an amount of Alice's inheritance on luxury items (the Eastern vases and other objects seen in his house): who knows how much money is left now? What if Alice finally gets well enough to take her money, only to discover it's all gone? [[FridgeHorror Who knows how she will end up taking care of herself with no money...]]
-->'''Pris''': On the street, selling 'er backside!
** This particular fear doesn't eventuate (we learn from ''Alice: Otherlands'' that she found a job shelving books in an opera house), but that doesn't make its likelihood any less worrying.

** Never ''mind'' the music... try not to [[FridgeHorror think too hard]] about the UnfortunateImplications of what fighting the Broken Doll is [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything meant to resemble]] in Alice's fractured mind.

** If you want a bonus OhCrap realization, the image here is a small child crawling towards Alice begging for help while bleeding heavily below the waist. Given the entire plot of the game revolves around Alice having ignored so many opportunities to help the children in her care, this at the very least has some UnfortunateImplications.
* BodyHorror: The opening sequence of the game. Alice is sailing "with a friend" the White Rabbit, but then his head explodes in a shower of blood, the river turns into black slime infested with doll heads and doll parts, then the dolls crawl up Alice and rip her face off!

*** Speaking of Queensland, it would be foolish not to mention the Queen's Executioner, who is three times taller than the normal cards, cannot die, and has ''maggots in both his eye sockets''.
*** It's worse than that. That's not maggots; that's a [[Main/BodyHorror tentacle going in and out of his eye sockets]].

** Next up is Tunderful and the Deluded Depths. Not too bad, at first. Little dark humor with the Carpenter & Walrus... and then you have to enter into the pitch black tombs of dead sailors, following a glowing seahorse through the gloom lest the seething darkness itself sap your life away.

** Next is Tundraful. The Victorian segment before this involved Alice being fished out of a river by two brutes who were talking about bedding her, going through a freezer and seeing Jack Splatter making his way through the Mangled Mermaid, a whorehouse, and setting the place on fire. Tundraful starts off nicely enough as glaciers, a few sharks here and there and you make your way to the Deluded Depths where a nice town of fish people live, and the Walrus and the Carpenter are putting together a play. But then things get terrible when it's revealed it's a ruse by the Carpenter to keep pieces of Wonderland alive and trying to sate the Walrus's appetite with the audience they play to, lulling them into a false sense of security before devouring them whole. Such is the monstrosity of pimping, devouring everyone else to sate your desire for more money and sex.

** Next up is Tunderful and the Deluded Depths. Not too bad, at first. Little dark humor with the Carpenter & Walrus...and then you have to enter into the pitch black tombs of dead sailors, following a glowing seahorse through the gloom lest the seething darkness itself sap your life away.
*** After this, you find your way back to the Theatre...specifically, you find a back door and enter via the basement. Long story short, here's hoping that you weren't in the mood for sushi. Why? Because the basement is brutally decorated with bloody piles of fish people that have been torn open and gored.

** The Mysterious East isn't too bad...until you enter the paper wasp tombs that are slowly filling with the black ooze of ruin, and the walls whisper to you.

** At this point, a more in-depth description of the Dollhouse level might be in place: it looks like a giant city of dollhouses, only that the houses are ripped apart and disembodied doll parts are everywhere, as well as Dollgirls waiting to kill you with scissors and fire. Gets Worse as the game progresses, everything gets darker and darker and it feels like you're traveling through some sort of abandoned orphanage/basement/asylum, with even more disembodied doll parts, taxidermied ''things'', skeletons in glass displays, dolls with parts cut and ripped out, hell, even the levers are with a bloodied eye or a doll head with it's brain exposed floating in liquid, watching you as you pull the lever.

** Never ''mind'' the music...try not to [[FridgeHorror think too hard]] about the UnfortunateImplications of what fighting the Broken Doll is [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything meant to resemble]] in Alice's fractured mind.

* The asylum sequence. Not the usual brand of creepy that Alice dishes out. It was the subtle atmosphere, seeing the other patients wandering around, trying to get a good look at their faces -- only to see that ''they had no faces'', and then being cornered by the [[OrderliesAreCreeps Tweedle Brothers]] and the faceless nurse, strapped to a bed, and nearly [[ThisIsADrill trepanned]].

*** Oh God, the dodos. [[AndIMustScream Forced to run on giant hamster-wheels to be killed if they stop]] is bad enough, then there's the fact that they have been mechanically mutilated like the March Hare and Dormouse, who now run the place]], [[RuleOfThree THEN]] there's the delightful bit that they are attached to the aforementioned hamster-wheels by the [[EyeScream axle going through their eyes!]]

*** After this, you find your way back to the Theatre...specifically, you find a back door and enter via the basement. Long story short, here's hoping that you weren't in the mood for sushi. Why? Because the basement is brutally decorated with bloody piles of fish people that have been torn open and gored.]]
*** Especially when you notice that the mayor is ''still alive'' and crucified, and he's groaning insane gibberish]].

*** Wrapping things up in the Deluded Depths? Why, only the Walrus' rampage against the oysters and the audience, starting with him literally crashing the play, telling a gruesome rhyme about death in all its forms (complete with visuals), then straight up ''devouring'' all the aquatic citizens!]]

*** The seemingly innocent female statues later in the level that, upon further inspection, have the heads of wasps. And even the ones with normal human heads are crying blood and half-naked with their kimonos pulled open, which one can probably assume is a manifestation of Alice's guilt over Lizzie's rape]].

*** And who can forget the zombie cardmen? Their claw rush is tricky to dodge, they like to attack in packs, and they ''can get back up'' after being struck down. The only way to kill them is to [[swing the Hobby Horse down on their prone bodies, or blow them up twice with the Teapot Cannon.]]

** If you want a bonus OhCrap realization, the image here is a small child crawling towards Alice begging for help while bleeding heavily below the waist. Given the entire plot of the game revolves around Alice having ignored so many opportunities to help the children in her care, this at the very least has some UnfortunateImplications.]]

* Doctor Angus Bumby.]] And not just his monstrous, Wonderland form (The Dollmaker), but also of his role in real life.]] And also the fact that he was going to be a KarmaHoudini if it weren't for Alice.

** Which is not to say that the Asylum is devoid of less subtle imagery. After the cutscene in the Trepanning room, giant bloody screws are sticking through the ceiling and walls]]. And the Bloodletting room drips endlessly. But not with blood: it's ''leeches''. The ceiling is ''teeming'' with them, or possibly is ''made of'' them]]. (Thankfully, the Ward has a pretty amusing conversation.)
** And that nurse? You remember her: it's Pris Witless]].

* Alice [[spoiler: getting turned into a doll with a giant freaky head]] near the end.

* Near the beginning of the game, before your first Wonderland section, in fact, you can encounter some children playing hopscotch, if you go to the right place. Nearby, facing the wall, is a little girl. If you go near her, she numbly recites a poem. The way she says it might lead you to wonder what happened to her. A possible clue? Near the ''end'' of the game, The Dollmaker recites it when turning Alice into a doll]].

* Alice finding out who caused the fire. We're treated to a [[SarcasmMode lovely]] cutscene of Dr. Bumby breaking into Alice's house and closing in on her sister while alone in her room. He gives her a ''horrific'' DeathGlare and locks the door...]]

*** Oh God, the dodos. [[AndIMustScream Forced to run on giant hamster-wheels to be killed if they stop]] is bad enough, then there's the fact that they have been mechanically mutilated like the March Hare and Doormouse [[spoiler: who now run the place]], [[RuleOfThree THEN]] there's the delightful bit that they are attached to the aforementioned hamster-wheels by the [[EyeScream axle going through their eyes!]]

*** After this, you find your way back to the Theatre...specifically, you find a back door and enter via the basement. Long story short, here's hoping that you weren't in the mood for sushi. Why? Because [[spoiler:the basement is is brutally decorated with bloody piles of fish people that have been torn open and gored.]]
*** Especially when you notice that [[spoiler: the mayor is ''still alive'' and crucified, and he's groaning insane gibberish]].

*** Wrapping things up in the Deluded Depths? Why, only [[spoiler:the Walrus' rampage against the oysters and the audience, starting with him literally crashing the play, telling a gruesome rhyme about death in all its forms (complete with visuals), then straight up ''devouring'' all the aquatic citizens!]]

*** The seemingly innocent female statues later in the level that, upon further inspection, have the heads of wasps. And even the ones with normal human heads are crying blood and half-naked with their kimonos pulled open, which one can probably assume is a manifestation of Alice's guilt over [[spoiler:Lizzie's rape]].

** If you want a bonus OhCrap realization, [[spoiler: the image here is a small child crawling towards Alice begging for help while bleeding heavily below the waist. Given the entire plot of the game revolves around Alice having ignored so many opportunities to help the children in her care, this at the very least has some UnfortunateImplications.]]

* [[spoiler: Doctor Angus Bumby.]] And not just his monstrous, Wonderland form (The Dollmaker), but [[spoiler: also of his role in real life.]] And also the fact that he was going to be a KarmaHoudini if it weren't for Alice.

** Which is not to say that the Asylum is devoid of less subtle imagery. After the cutscene in the Trepanning room, [[spoiler:giant bloody screws are sticking through the ceiling and walls]]. And the Bloodletting room [[spoiler:drips endlessly. But not with blood: it's ''leeches''. The ceiling is ''teeming'' with them, or possibly is ''made of'' them]]. (Thankfully, the Ward has a pretty amusing conversation.)
** And that nurse? You remember her: it's [[spoiler:Pris Witless]].

* The rape subtext on the Dollhouse. Near the end you find a giant doll, with a gaping hole between its legs, lying on the floor, legs wide open. You have to go through that hole and through that doll to the other side.

* The hopelessness of the London segments. Almost every named character is looking to take advantage of Alice in some way or another - and most of them are bigger than her. It's a setting where innocence is prey, trust fatal, and virginity a myth. The banality of it all is shocking. After the first few throaty offers to [[AllMenArePerverts take Alice to bed]], paranoia sets in. The poor thing is scarred enough as it is; but even without the schemes of [[spoiler:Dr. Bumby]], an encounter with the wrong gentleman could so easily undo all her slow recovery and destroy her for good.
* In the first game, the insane children represent the others at the asylum. In the sequel, they're the orphans at Houndsditch. Everyone knows that, right? Well, now make the connection. Not only are those kids being pimped out, but they're all mentally damaged to ''that'' extent. And then [[spoiler:Bumby's 'therapy']] corrupts their memories and destroys whatever's even still left of them until they're just blank slates, toys for others to abuse. That's pretty horrific. Just...''no''.
** Hey, you know those framed cross-stitch things that typically say "HOME SWEET HOME"? Well, Houndsditch has a couple like it that you might just blow by if all you're trying to do is get on with the game part of the game. The first says "HOME SAFE HOME"; given the above, it's rather ironic. The second you'll encounter says "EARN YOUR KEEP"; normally good advice, except for how [[spoiler:Bumby]] expects them to do so...
* Near the beginning of the game, before your first Wonderland section, in fact, you can encounter some children playing hopscotch, if you go to the right place. Nearby, facing the wall, is a little girl. If you go near her, she numbly recites a poem. The way she says it might lead you to wonder what happened to her. A possible clue? Near the ''end'' of the game, [[spoiler:The Dollmaker recites it when turning Alice into a doll]].

-->'''Pris''': [[spoiler:On the street, selling 'er backside!]]

* If you look around in the Dollhouse level you will see a lot of implications of child prostitution, like dolls in corners with a price tag on them, which becomes especially [[UncannyValley devastating]] when later, on the Infernal Train, you see a cutscene of [[spoiler:Bumby selling off children wearing price tags to "wanting customers"]]. Or what about the beds soaking with blood, implying [[RapeAsBackstory horrible things]] may have happened to the dolls of the dollhouse.

* Alice finding out who caused the fire. [[spoiler: We're treated to a [[SarcasmMode lovely]] cutscene of Dr. Bumby breaking into Alice's house and closing in on her sister while alone in her room. He gives her a ''horrific'' DeathGlare and locks the door...]]

** And finally, we have the Dollhouses. As said above, the Dollhouses don't have a Victorian segment, and are made up of supposedly colorful bits with Doll Girls, where fighting them is synonymous to rape, and many bits implying the act of rape. The lower bits show the true horror, littered with devices of torment and body parts scattered about. Out of all the areas that this place can take after, it takes after [[spoiler: the Houndsditch Home For Wayward Youth and the truth of what Bumby has been doing there. He makes it look like a respectable place on the surface, but in reality it's a horrible place where kids are taken apart mentally until they're mindless enough to be used for other's pleasure. The kids are no different to the pieces of dolls scattered about in the Dollhouse, or the body parts kept in vats, conscious enough to be alive but [[AndIMustScream unable to do anything about their situations]].]]