History VideoGame / AliceMadnessReturns

* NintendoHard: The Royal Flush outfit is an optional version, reducing you to a maximum of four roses. Then there's [[HarderThanHard Nightmare difficulty]], where Alice's weapons only deal 75% of the default damage while she will receive '''three times''' the damage from everything else. [[BeyondTheImpossible Now put them together.]]

* RespawningEnemies: In addition to the situations involving {{Mook Maker}}s, one part in Chapter 3 has ever-replenishing blob monsters harassing you as you try to make dangerous jumps across lethal muck.

* RewardingVandalism: The breakables, which basically nets the equivalent of cash and medkits.

* BreatherEpisode: Cardsbridge. No enemies, no disturbing imagery, just peaceful jumping puzzles as you wind your way towards [[spoiler: a horrible rotting castle inhabited by your worst Wonderland enemy.]]

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Falling causes you to rematerialize on a nearby platform with no penalty. Being killed by enemies bounces you back to the last checkpoint, which usually isn't that far off. Either way, it's a minor inconvenience.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In the Dollhouse level, there is one section where you have to pass through a doll. Through the doll's legs. And you come out of it's mouth.
* DoubleJump: UpToEleven with a Quadruple Jump.

* ElectricJellyfish: There are red jellyfish in the Deluded Depths that hurt you, but whether or not they are electric is up to debate.

* EscapeSequence: In Queensland. That is, until the AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever trope kicks in.

* MoneySpider: Any enemy that drops teeth, since the teeth are the game's currency for purchasing weapon upgrades.

* TheUnfought: [[spoiler: The March Hare and Dormouse try to confront Alice in a HumongousMecha after apparently disposing of Hatter, only to be thwarted by Hatter himself within a minute later.]]

* VideogameDashing: The Dodge move.

* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Alice's underwater clothing. It's bio-luminescent and has an angler for a "tail" of sorts.

* EmbeddedPrecursor: ''Madness Returns'' includes a copy of the original game, [[UpdatedRerelease newly outfitted with achievements]].

* LastLousyPoint: Subverted[=/=]Inverted. If you are missing ''just '''one''''' collectible of any type after completing the game, the summary page on the main screen will oddly enough show 100%. Probably a case of rounding up the numbers?

* [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Luckily My Umbrella Will Protect Me]]:

** The [[hottip:shield-bearing:(read:teapot cover)]] Madcap.

* MindScrew: Try explaining the various transitions throughout the game.

* MoneyGrinding[=/=]MoneyForNothing: Completing Chapter 1 unlocks the Steam dress that increases teeth drops from breakables. Therefore one can keep running Chapter 1 via Chapter Select with the Steam dress until he or she is able to max out all weapon upgrades before even touching Chapter 2. Unfortunately, this ability is only unlocked once the game is completed; before that wearing the dress just, well, wears that dress.\\
\\
All teeth collected past the maxing out of all weapon upgrades are pointless. The only use for teeth henceforth are alternate HitPoints when wearing the Hattress dress.
* MoneyMultiplier: The Steam dress increases breakables teeth drops. The Silk Maiden dress increases enemy teeth drops.

* RetCon: The opening of the original shows that the fire that killed Alice's parents was caused by her cat knocking over a carelessly lit lanturn. ''Madness Returns'' implies that this is actually a fabricated memory brought on by Alice's mental trauma, and the point of the game is to find out what actually happened that night before her repressed memories drive her insane again. Not to mention the fact that there is no mention of a sister in the first game.

-->"For starters, the Carpenter is a [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal pusillanimous, parsimonious, pettifogging]] moron."

-->'''Alice:''' "...I need-"
-->'''Octopus:''' "Your needs are [[PrecisionFStrike shite]]."

* ShoutOut: You'll find one hidden staircase in the Queen's Castle that leads down to a tiny throne. In it sits a small skeleton [[{{Psychonauts}} sporting goggles]] and a PstandardPsychicPstance....

* SplashDamageAbuse: Just before your first encounter with the Ink Wasps, you can use the Teapot Cannon's splash radius to destroy even the furthest Ink Wasp Stone, allowing you to rid the area of enemies(save one actual Samurai Wasp) before triggering the cutscene that introduces the Ink Wasp.

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* BadassDecay: Last seen as a towering, shrieking 300-foot tall monstrosity spread across Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts is now trapped in her rotting kingdom, physically resembles [[spoiler:Young Alice (Alice's superego according to Mcgee), and besides Caterpillar is among the few helpful people in Wonderland.]]

* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler:The Dormouse.]] "A good worker is a live worker! Paid to live and work! A bad worker, is a dead worker; and vice versa! Don't be a bad worker, bad workers are slaves! And dead! Payday for good workers has been suspended indefinitely! Payday for bad workers is CANCELLED! A good worker is a live worker! Paid to live and work! A bad worker—" It becomes the MostAnnoyingSound if you happen to get stuck on that level, though.

* MostAnnoyingSound: [=Mini!Alice's=] hiccups.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The paedophilic innuendos become surprisingly {{Anvilicious}} in Chapter 5. And then turns straight from subtext to text.

* BadassDecay: Last seen as a towering, shrieking 300-foot tall monstrosity spread across Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts is now trapped in her rotting kingdom, physically resembles [[spoiler:Alice's sister Lizzie, and besides Caterpillar is among the few helpful people in Wonderland.]]

* ActionGirl: Alice. Also a StrangeGirl.

* AnticlimaxBoss: The Executioner chases you through the [[spoiler:Queen of Hearts' castle]] and the now-rotting hedge maze, and is completely invincible...that is, until [[CutscenePowerToTheMax a cutscene]] kicks in where Alice finds and eats the cake that makes her grow much bigger in size. She simply stomps on the Executioner, who is now so scared he drops his scythe.

** To be honest, [[spoiler: the only ''real'' BossFight in the game is the final one against the Dollmaker on the Infernal Train.]]

* ArcWords: "What have you done?"
** Interestingly enough, the answer is [[spoiler:nothing]]
*** According to the caterpillar, she [[spoiler:turned a blind eye to abuse because of her willful ignorance. So, yes, Alice literally had done nothing. She had done nothing to stop the abuse. (Not the first time word play has been used in the game; the Infernal Train is also a Train of Thought)]]
* ArmCannon: See GiantEnemyCrab entry. Technically, a Pincer Cannon, but since it's a vague arm-like appendage for a cannon, might as well.

* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: [[spoiler: In Chapter 4, Alice gets the chance to rampage around the remains of the Queen of Hearts' garden as a giant.]]

* AwesomeYetPractical: The fully-upgraded Pepper Grinder is a beast, and will allow you to take down certain types of enemies on their ''very first appearance'' if you upgraded early enough. It also has a high rate of fire, long distance and auto-accuracy (which helps if you know when and where enemy mobs will show up, you can pick them off from afar) and has a very quick cooldown rate. It's pretty much the go-to weapon for the last half of the game. The Teapot Cannon counts too.
** The Dodge move. '''1)''' It's a makeshift sprint ability. '''2)''' It grants invulnerability against enemy attacks during transition. '''3)''' It automatically prevents "dodging" off an edge, say a cliff or platform. '''4)''' No penalty to its amount of use.

* BackgroundBoss: While it does remain in the safety of background to attack you with its appendages, after a while it will expose its [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak point for you to hurt]].
* [[spoiler: BaldWomen]]: Happens to Alice as a result of returning to Rutledge in-game.
** The ''Madness Returns'' storybook prequel of sort allows you to interact [[spoiler:[[TraumaticHaircut with a shaver to shave her head]] ]] as part of the story.
* BadAssDecay: Last seen as a towering, shrieking 300-foot tall monstrosity spread across Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts is now trapped in her rotting kingdom, physically resembles [[spoiler: Alice's sister Lizzie, and besides Caterpillar is among the few helpful people in Wonderland.]]

* BioluminescenceIsCool: Almost every living thing in the Deluded Depths. Heck, even Alices dress has an angler lure and rows of glowy dots.

* BodyHorror: The brains of the Insane Children are exposed when you first see them.
** In the opening, Alice has a dream where the White Rabbit [[spoiler: randomly explodes in a shower of blood, and then an army of doll hands appear and ''shred Alice's face off'']].

* BossVulnerability: Goes into Type 2 territory once you deal with a couple of its [[GiantHandsOfDoom appendages]], of which are Type 2 themselves from the start. From that point onward it looks like you finally have a chance to hurt the boss directly.

* BribingYourWayToVictory: If you're willing to throw down a couple bucks, you can download a "Dress Pack" that includes alternate costumes and weapons. Some (like the reskinned version of the Pepper Grinder, the Octo-Grinder) deal double damage, and some of the dresses have ancillary benefits. The most powerful is the "Fleshmaiden" dress, which lets you use Hysteria (normally a SuperMode attack that is only available when you're about to die) ''at any time''. Wow.
** The option to buy the dresses is only available for console players, so PC players who didn't preorder the game are left in the dust... unless they edit the game's .ini files to unlock the dresses manually.

* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: [[spoiler:The Caterpillar]] becomes a butterfly as the Infernal Train stampedes through his sanctuary.
** Whenever Alice dodges it's always with a slew of butterflies. And when she dies she explodes into a swarm of butterflies, and respawns with...yup, butterflies.
** When she floats, there are butterflies at her sides.

* CallingTheOldManOut: All the "help" that Alice received during her time in Houndsditch wasn't all that benevolent after all. You show'em, girl!
* CatchAndReturn: One enemy can block, collect, and return fire ''YOUR'' Pepper Grinder shots.

** The latter line is actually a possible remnant of an earlier build of the game; One of the final levels were to take place on the moon...

* CommonKnowledge: [[AmericanMcGeesAlice Once again]], this game refers to the Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen as if they are the same character, going so far as to [[spoiler: include chess motifs in the design of the Queen of Hearts' castle.]]

* ContinuityNod: If you look at the background in some places of the Deluded Depths you can see fallen parts of what appear to be the Mad Hatter's factory.

* CounterAttack: Pretty much the principle of the game's combat style, used both by Alice and the various monsters.
* CrapsackWorld: What Wonderland has become in the intervening years between the games.

* CreepyDoll: The enemies in the [=DollHouse=] level. [[spoiler: Alice gets turned into one for a while, with a doll head on her head.]]

* CurseCutShort / LastSecondWordSwap: The Cheshire Cat suffers a near slip [[spoiler:in Deluded Depths, Chapter 2. Just as you're about to face the Cannon Crab in melee for the first time in person]].

* [[spoiler:CutsceneBoss: "Battle time, Missy."]]

* DesperationAttack / SuperMode: "Hysteria", which activates when your health is down to one rose, and allows you to deal increased damage and be invincible for a limited amount of time.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: As per the last game. With a [[spoiler: brand new villain]].

* EldritchAbomination: The Ruin are oily blobs made up of random doll limbs and train parts that are utterly foreign to even the most bizarre realms of Wonderland. [[spoiler: They clue the player in that Alice's current problems stem from an outside source.]]
** There's also their master, the Dollmaker, and the Infernal Train their mechanical parts come from. The latter looks like a motorized gothic cathedral that turns Wonderland into a {{Steampunk}} hell, and the former is [[spoiler:a giant Dr. Bumby, with fountains of oil for eyes and puppets for hands.]]
** And [[spoiler: the Red Queen]] makes a return, despite being dead. Remember, that which is not dead that can eternal lie...
* ElectricJellyfish: there are red jellyfish in the Deluded Depths that hurt you, but whether or not they are electric is up to debate.
** Probably rendered intentionally.
* ElegantGothicLolita: Alice, in most of her getups (but especially in Chapter 1).

* EverythingFades: Corpses rapidly decay out of existence. Averted with PhysX on, though. Corpses, residue and damage shows and stays.
* EverythingsDeaderWithZombies: The Card Guards. The Queen of Hearts Castle may count too, since it's a castle made out of [[spoiler: rotting flesh.]]

* FakeMemories: See the RetCon and TraumaInducedAmnesia entries below.
* FinalBossNewDimension: The dimension being the [[spoiler: Infernal Train]] that wrecks all others it passes through.

* FloatingPlatforms: The game being a platformer... Comes with the almost invisible variety. The ultimate expression of this would be Cardbridge.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The paedophilic innuendos become surprisingly {{Anvilicious}} in Chapter 5.
** [[spoilers: And then turns straight from subtext to text.]
* GhibliHills / GreenHillZone: Technically not ''the first'' environment you start controlling Alice from but once you enter Wonderland shortly after.
** [[MoodWhiplash And then you go down the slide...]]

* GiantMook: The Ruin enemies have their larger variants with corresponding threat potentials, namely the Colossal Ruin. Also one particular Doll and Wasp enemy. See also GiantEnemyCrab entry above.

* GirlWithPsychoWeapon: As seen in the picture above. Also, bonus points for hysteria mode where alice's color pallet turns black & white, her arms get covered in blood and her eyes cry blood. Psycho girl with psycho weapon. (When knife is equipped, the other weapons, not so much)

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler: Alice's tenuous grip on reality is shot right in the face when she realizes the circumstances behind her family's death.]]

* HarderThanHard / [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels Idiosyncratic Difficulty Level]]: Nightmare Difficulty.
* HarmlessFreezing: The Ice Snark's freezing breath doesn't so much as nick a rose petal, but immobilizes Alice nonetheless.
** Mostly averted when Alice wears rather thick boots and stockings and players usually get the hang of invoking the Dodge move upon immobilization. Ergo it's unlikely that realistic consequences of being partially frozen will take place in such short order. Costumes that depict her bare-legged might apply though.

* HundredPercentCompletion: From collecting bottles and memories, to shooting snouts, to completing mini-game rooms. That's in addition to the standard get-all-weapons and complete-all-chapters objectives.

* IdleAnimation: After not moving her for a while, Alice will either yawn and stretch or clasp her hands behind her back and rock back and forth on her feet.

* ImprobableWeaponUser: You get to kill enemies using a hobby horse, a teapot and a pepper grinder.
* ImprovisedWeapon: see above.
* InconvenientlyPlacedConveyorBelt: An interesting variant of the ConveyorBeltODoom where parts of the belt(scroll?), [[BilingualBonus marked as a burning Chinese word for "fire"]], itself are lethal to Alice in the Mysterious East chapter.

* LogoJoke: From {{EA}} to a CheshireCatGrin.
** Also, a sign hanging outside a pub in London looks exactly like Spicy Horse's loggo.
* [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Luckily My Umbrella Will Protect Me]]: The parasol will block many kinds of attacks from ever reaching Alice's rose petals. See also AttackReflector entry above.
** The [[hottip:shield-bearing:(read:teapot cover)]] Madcap too.

* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:The Carpenter]] forces Alice to run his errands so he can finally finish organizing [[spoiler:a play, which turns out to be a front for The Walrus to eat the entertainment]].
** [[spoiler: More importantly, Dr. Bumby. His apparent "therapy" is a front to brainwash his child charges into mindless prostitutes for him to profit from.]]

* MoneyGrinding: Completing Chapter 1 unlocks the Steam dress that increases teeth drops from breakables. Therefore one can keep running Chapter 1 via Chapter Select with the Steam dress until he or she is able to max out all weapon upgrades before even touching Chapter 2. Unfortunately, this ability is only unlocked once the game is completed; before that wearing the dress just, well, wears that dress.
** Which leads to MoneyForNothing. All teeth collected past the maxing out of all weapon upgrades are pointless. The only use for teeth henceforth are alternate HitPoints when wearing the Hattress dress.

* MadnessMantra: The Dormouse. [[spoiler: "A good worker is a live worker! Paid to live and work! A bad worker, is a dead worker; and vice versa! Don't be a bad worker, bad workers are slaves! And dead! Payday for good workers has been suspended indefinitely! Payday for bad workers is CANCELLED! A good worker is a live worker! Paid to live and work! A bad worker—"]] It becomes the MostAnnoyingSound if you happen to get stuck on that level, though.

* NewGamePlus: So you can break the couple of shells(for a few measly drops) on top of the slide that leads to the remains of the Jabberwock, and the Vorpal Blade.

* OhCrap: Played HILARIOUSLY when the Executioner corners Alice, only for her to eat a cake to make her grow giant. He drops his scythe (and his jaw, and probably [[BringMyBrownPants his lunch]], too) and then gets up close and personal with Alice's foot

* RetCon: The opening of the original shows that the fire that killed Alice's parents was caused by her cat knocking over a carelessly lit lanturn. ''Madness Returns'' implies that this is actually a fabricated memory brought on by Alice's mental trauma, and the point of the game is to find out what actually happened that night before her repressed memories drive her insane again.
** Not to mention the fact that there is no mention of a sister in the first game.

* RunawayTrain / AfterlifeExpress: The Infernal Train, which is a literal train of thought plowing its way through Wonderland.

* SanitySlippage: You can see this in the game, especially at certain points like [[spoiler: the asylum "level" with Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Even in Wonderland itself, whenever blood and destruction start appearing.]] Those make it quite obvious that Alice's mental health is taking a turn for the worse. [[spoiler: The instances where Alice goes back to Wonderland from Victorian London]] count as well.

* SequelHook: Or is it? [[spoiler: Bumby is dead and Alice has found out how her family died. But as she exits the train station, the "real world" of London has merged with the fantasy world of Wonderland - the soundtrack refers to this track as "Into Londerland" - and she is wearing a dress that previously existed only in her mind. The Cheshire Cat also has a little monologue at the end that hints at another sequel.]]
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: How the Octopus snarks about the Carpenter.

* ShoutOut: You'll find one hidden staircase in the Queen's Castle that leads down to a tiny throne. In it sits a small skeleton, [[{{Psychonauts}} sporting goggles]] and a PstandardPsychicPstance . . .
* ShowsDamage: The GiantEnemyCrab enemy in the game loses its ArmCannon in a Type 3B fashion. Yet the most flamboyant one has got to be the Doll Girl. Alice can first strip its clothes off, remove its arms, crack open its torso, and finally waste the huge abomination by destroying the heart.
** Also the Samurai Wasps. Their masks can be broken, although sometimes it's possible to kill them without breaking their attire.

* SplashDamage: Most notably the Teapot Cannon. Which leads to...

* SpringJump / SpringySpores: The red and blue spring mushrooms. Red propels Alice to somewhere higher in the map, blue sends Alice to the next map, often the top of a slide.

* StrappedToAnOperatingTable: Not to mention [[spoiler: after being shaved. In a straightjacket. In an asylum.]]

* SuperDrowningSkills / SuperNotDrowningSkills: Played straight in order in Chapter 2. In the tundra, if you touch the water, that's it for Alice. Once past a certain submersion sequence, the game resumes normally. Underwater. With no breathing apparatus whatsoever.
** Plus there's perfectly clear and audible dialogue underwater as it would be in air.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Subverted, of course, since Alice sees Dr Bumby regularly. [[spoiler: And then double subverted, since it turns out that Bumby's trying to hypnotize Alice into forgetting all her memories so she can become a prostitute.]]
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: [[spoiler:The Carpenter and The Walrus]].
** Lesser extent, [[spoiler: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum]].

* ToyTime: The Dollhouse level. The slides which bring you to the next section of the game could count as well, because, you know, it's a giant slide...

* WaterIsAir: Ballistics and airborne movement in the second half of Chapter 2 are not affected by the environment.
** Takes a turn for the weird when you realize that the Siren costume has its own physics. That means any other costume used underwater will behave like Alice was in air. Conversely, using the Siren costume in non-underwater areas makes it look like only Alice is underwater while her immediate surroundings are in air.

* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: [[spoiler: Subverted. It wasn't Alice who caused the fire, and seems like it also wasn't who or what she initially thought was either.]]

*** The ''Knightmare'' from the DLC, referencing(but not limited to) a female horse, nightmare(duh), and a VisualPun.

* StartScreen: But no AttractMode, at least for the PC version.

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*** According to the caterpillar say she [[spoiler:Turned a blind eye to abuse because of her wilful ignorance.]]

* Foreshadowing: A lot, especially in the memories.

* Fridge Brilliance: You'll probably scratch your head in bewilderment the first time you try to jump over a column of fire and get scorched to high hell. However, Alice was in a house fire and got burned badly. She'd know how {{Convection Schmonvection}} works and Wonderland reflects that.
** You might wonder why the Hatter is so mad as to force a tea party when his realm is falling to pieces around him. Then you might rememeber Jabberwock's accusations against Alice in the first game, and it makes more sense.
** Then there's the fact that the game dodges giving you a proper boss fight until the end. When you realize the game's arc words, "What have you done?" and the answer [[spoiler:nothing at all against the man that raped your sister, killed your family and pimps your bedmates,]] it begins to make sense. Alice finally gets a boss fight against [[spoiler:the Dollmaker]] around the same time she actually phsyically stands up to and defeats its counterpart ([[spoiler:Bumby]]). While all of the first game and most of the second take place in her mind as she battles demons of her own devising, this represents the first time we see Alice's determination and confidence from Wonderland bleed over into London. [[spoiler:And bleed over it does, into Londonland.]] It's actually a fairly optimistic ending.

* EpiphanicPurgatory: Wonderland gets corrupted and manipulated by the Wonderland manifestation of the BigBad in Alice's mind.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: According to WordOfGod, [[spoiler: you really would have fought the March Hare and Dormouse at one point, but development pressures forced them to cut it.]]
** Also likely to have resulted in WhatHappenedToTheMouse for a few characters in the game.
** The artbook also shows lots of concept art and details that not only describe what you see in the game, but a lot of it is stuff that should have been in it but didn't make it.
** Go to YouTube. Search Alice Madness Returns Beta Trailer. It's full of old stuff and development things that were planned but never made it into the game, like a swimming level, new cutscenes, new weapons, actual gameplay in the London stages and a rather bloody Victorian scene...
** At least two levels were scrapped during development, one in a world based on [[MCEscher M.C. Escher's]] work, and the other on the moon.