Alisa: Developer’s Cut PS5 Review 8.5/10 “Made in Heaven” 🏚️ @TransVaalGF @CasperCroes #IndieGame #GameDev

When I watched the trailer for Alisa: Developer's Cut, I thought, “ah, this game definitely has an early Resident Evil vibe”, then as the trailer was coming to an end there is a shot-for-shot remake of the first time you see a zombie in the original Resident Evil, so that absolutely confirmed my thoughts.

Now, over the last few years I’ve played so many ‘We wish we were still in the late ‘90s, playing Resident Evil, when tank controls and fixed camera angles were all the rage and will never ever be replaced’ that it really at this point should be a category on Steam, so many games have tried to capture survival horrors past - with varying degrees of success - and I found that the more of them I played, the more the nostalgia wore off.

Nostalgia can only take you so far and underneath these games you needed to capture the past but also bring your own flavour, as well. With these thoughts in mind, I was understandably elated when that was exactly what Alisa did. Yes, it very much wears its Resident Evil one influence on its heart, but it adds enough interesting twists to feel fresh.

You play as Alisa, a Royal Agent who is chasing down a thief. He escapes to a farmhouse and she and her partner follow him, your partner gets taken out - in a very humorous way - and Alisa is left to keep up the pursuit which leads into a forest. The thief then leads you to a secluded part deep within the forest where you are attacked by monsters and dragged underground. Alisa wakes up in a strange mansion dressed like the titular Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Your goal is to explore the mansion, find the thief, and escape - it’s a simple plot and is easy to follow. As you explore, you will find notes that explain the mansion and its contents, you gain just enough information to piece things together while still leaving certain aspects vague.

The fantasy element really works well to set it apart from other ‘90s horror loving games, it really feels different. I loved the monster designs, they are wonderful and feature a lot of variety, I was very impressed with this aspect of the game. The mansion also uses the fantasy elements well, though if you have explored The Spencer Mansion from Resident Evil, you will find it somewhat familiar, as the lay out could have literally come from the same blueprints… though I don’t think the Spencer Mansion had a circus section in the basement. 

Combat is pretty much how you imagine it, it sticks with the formula - but one gamer tip with regards to the combat, when you start the game, you are asked, ‘do you want auto aim on?’ to which I laughed as I thought,

“me? need auto aim? Pfff, I have twenty-five years’ experience playing survival horror, I don’t need bloody auto aim!”

However, about an hour in, that thought had been completely stripped out of my mind as a few of the enemies are on the floor and are not easy to shoot without auto aim. Alisa features a little indicator that tells you when you are aiming at the enemies, but they are quick, and I wasted a ton of ammo just shooting up the carpets.

Usually, to get new guns you solve puzzles and are given them as a reward throughout the game, but Alisa opts to have you buy them from a little puppet who is hiding in the wall of safe rooms, his name is Pol and he's very nice. When you kill enemies, they drop ‘toothwheels’, which you collect to buy weapons, items, and clothing. Another difference to the norm is that clothing in this game does certain things and have different stat boosts - so changing clothes can give you tactical advantages and although new guns are typically the more exciting thing to go for, you do have to consider whether a change of outfit would be more beneficial.

Overall, I have very little to complain about, as I loved pretty much everything about Alisa, but there is one thing that bugged me - and has bugged me about pretty much every game harking back to survival horrors past - stop and I mean STOP Having a bigger enemy chase you throughout the game.

No game has ever captured the thrilling - yet terrifying - feeling of being chased by MR X or Nemesis, none, not one. It is always just an irritation, and Alisa falls straight into it, a powerful ghost dressed in all black haunts you as you explore and it’s just irritating, she can appear at any time…randomly.

Something I think developers seem to forget about is the fact that MR X and Nemesis don’t appear randomly, they appear at set times, which gave you time to have brief moments of respite without them, so when they reappear it was a surprise, whereas if they just appeared at random, all tension is lost and just makes traversing the game constantly difficult.

Luckily there is a musical cue to know if the black-dressed ghost is near as the fantastic area music stops, so I would just walk back out the door and re-enter, so that I could at least get some downtime to explore.

SUMMARY

For fans looking to rekindle the nostalgia of early survival horror, this game is a match made in heaven, it has marvellous fantasy elements that tie everything together, as well as great aesthetic, delightful monster designs, and enough nostalgia to float the ‘SS We Wish it Was Still 1999’.