American McGee’s Alice sequel – Alice: Asylum has received some new details that look like a much darker title than the previous one.
A new official Alice: Asylum video has detailed many aspects of the game’s gritty psychological horror world. Asylum is the long-awaited sequel to Alice: Madness Returns, first released by EA over a decade ago. The Alice game is considered a cult classic among horror titles, and still maintains a relatively small but very loyal fan base.
Directed by former Doom and Quake designer American McGee, Alice debuted in 2000 and became a moderate success both critically and commercially. The game is a darker, more violent interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s story in Wonderland that includes combat, platforms, and puzzles. The game also takes on broader themes of hurt, grief, guilt and how they affect Alice’s mind. The product was revived for a sequel in 2011 with Alice: Madness Returns, which was also somewhat successful. However, EA never saw fit to green-light a sequel despite American McGee’s commitment to the franchise. However, McGee and his team have continued to work independently on Alice: Asylum over the years as the third installment in the series.
A new video of Alice: Asylum has been posted to American McGee’s YouTube channel and reveals the game’s expanded designs. The video is inspired by the biblical design for Asylum created by the team and includes everything from story outlines to gameplay analysis. All are illustrated with detailed concepts and direct explanations of the various systems. This includes a plot overview, which describes a story based on the exploration of five stages of grief. The entire 250-page document is expected to be released as a free PDF between late 2022 and early 2023.
However, the video makes it clear that all of this is in the works – everything shown is purely background-first. EA still owns the Alice franchise, and McGee and his team have been working on the idea for Asylum for years in hopes of acquiring the rights to turn it into a full-fledged game. According to the design documents, the game will be made in Unreal Engine 5 and released on “all major consoles, PC platforms and next-gen consoles”.
While Alice: Asylum is just a hypothetical title for the time being, it gets more impressive and engaging every time American McGee shows more work in the pipeline. The dedication of the team clearly reflects the devotion of Alice fans and without any corporate sponsorship, the project is driven purely by passion. Fans who want to donate to McGee and his team can do so on the game’s official Patreon, and the idea could one day become a reality.
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