Down the rabbit hole: why you should play Alice: Madness Returns this Halloween

The crunch of fallen leaves. The smell of pumpkin spice in the air. Twelve-foot skeletons casting long shadows over perfectly manicured front lawns. There’s no doubt about it: Spooky season is back. For children, October means finding the perfect costume and strategizing which trick-or-treating route results in the best candy. And for the young at heart, it’s the perfect time to discover—or revisit—our favorite scary stories from a variety of mediums.

When it comes to video games, the horror genre traditionally gets a lot of love this time of year. After all, what better time is there to experience some heart-pounding jump scares or deep psychological terror? That said, sometimes going off the beaten path—or down a rabbit hole—enables us to explore common horror themes in a different way. When I booted up Alice: Madness Returns for the first time in 13 years, that’s exactly what I found. Here's why this underappreciated gem deserves a spot in your Halloween rotation.
 

The vibes are immaculate

As an action-adventure game with a focus on platforming and combat, Alice: Madness Returns isn’t a typical pick for spooky season. The 2011 game from defunct developer Spicy Horse and publisher EA is a follow-up to the 2000 PC game American McGee’s Alice, a twisted and stylized take on Lewis Carroll’s classic novel.

You don’t need to have played the original to enjoy Madness Returns. All you need to know is that Spicy Horse’s version of Alice Liddell is the survivor of a house fire that killed the rest of her family and led to an extended stay in an asylum. While in a catatonic state, Alice met the Cheshire Cat and followed the White Rabbit into a version of Wonderland that looks very different from other interpretations of Carroll’s story.

Madness Returns takes place a year later, with Alice living in a Victorian-era orphanage in the Whitechapel neighborhood of London. Though supposedly cured, Alice is still haunted by memories of the fire, and she soon finds herself slipping back into Wonderland, a corrupted, nightmarish realm of her imagination.

If Disney’s animated film put a psychedelic spin on a beloved children’s book, Madness Returns is Alice in Wonderland on bath salts. Wonderland’s most famous denizens are all present, but they’re not the cartoony friendly faces you might know. The Cheshire Cat, who serves as Alice’s guide, is so bony he’s almost skeletal with a wide grin showing off bloody teeth. The Mad Hatter, Mock Turtle, March Hare, and other literary characters are similarly distorted. Even the common enemies are creepy, particularly the ruins that appear to be made of doll parts and sheer darkness.

From the moment the main menu loads, the clanging, off-key piano notes alert you to the fact that all is not well in Wonderland. The music perfectly complements the macabre art direction. Madness Returns isn’t a horror game in the traditional sense; you won’t find jump scares or safe rooms here. However, it shares some common tropes, such as an unreliable narrator possibly losing their grip on reality. Even more importantly, it nails the spooky season vibe without even trying to be a scary game.
 

Tale as old as time

It’s been over 150 years since Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was first published, and the tale remains popular today. There’s a timelessness to Lewis Carroll’s story because who among us hasn’t become lost in a sprawling daydream to avoid the boredom of day-to-day responsibilities?

Similarly, Alice: Madness Returns holds up well for a game of its age. Thirteen years doesn’t seem like a long time, especially when compared to the literary classic that inspired it, but in video game years, that’s eons. In 2011, high-definition technology was in its infancy, and many developers sought to explore its boundaries with increasingly realistic visuals. In hindsight, these attempts look almost charmingly archaic.

On the other hand, Madness Returns remains a visually striking game, and it’s because Spicy Horse didn’t chase the newest, shiniest visuals of the era. It’s very stylized with its storybook-inspired cut scenes, bold patterns, and fantastical environments. Sure, it’s showing its age a bit; the muddy textures ensure that no one is mistaking this for a game released in 2024. But it’s still got a visual appeal that many of its contemporaries have since lost.

Every chapter of Madness Returns takes place in a different area of Wonderland, and Alice gets a location-appropriate costume change. The game takes Alice from the Whitechapel slums to rivers of blood, smog-filled factories, the sea bed, and the Far East. The levels are fairly meaty, especially for completionists. There’s so much to find and collect, from the teeth that serve as a currency for upgrading weapons to Alice’s shattered memories to secret challenge rooms. A straightforward playthrough might take about 14 hours, but those hoping to see and do everything could easily spend an extra dozen hours in Wonderland.

Most importantly for replayability, Madness Returns is still fun and interesting. Nostalgia goggles can help us overlook outdated graphics and gameplay, but clever platforming stands the test of time. Even the combat is unique, with Alice wielding weapons like a Vorpal Blade, Hobby Horse, Teapot, and Pepper Grinder. There’s something immensely satisfying about sussing out a hidden pig snout and loading it full of pepper, a sentence that only makes sense within the context of this game.
 

What is and what could never be

Alice: Madness Returns has become something of a cult classic in the years since its release. Spicy Horse disbanded in 2016, a story that’s all too familiar in the modern video game development ecosystem. Series creator American McGee was working on ideas for a third Alice game as recently as 2023, but it looks unlikely that the series will continue. 

As such, Alice: Madness Returns remains the pinnacle of Spicy Horse’s achievements. Rather than mourn what could have been, we can celebrate what is and what was by not letting this game—and other games that slipped under the mainstream radar—be forgotten to time. So this spooky season, in between the tricks and treats, let’s remember the twisted brilliance of Alice: Madness Returns, a game that gets curiouser and curiouser the further down the rabbit hole you go.