Alice: Madness Returns

Alice: Madness Returns plunges players into a horror adventure set in the twisted realm of Wonderland. Following the events of its predecessor, Alice finds herself under the care of Dr. Bumby, who urges her to suppress the memories of her family's tragic demise. But haunted by unanswered questions and surrounded by dubious adults, Alice seeks solace in Wonderland, only to discover it in ruins. As she navigates this nightmarish landscape, she unravels the mysteries shrouding her family's fate, battling madness and uncovering the truth. Can Alice save both Wonderland and herself from the consuming darkness? Narrative themes include sexual violence against children, brainwashing, and abuse. Special thanks to GamePhobias & vgtriggers on tumblr for pulling together a lot of the information below.

• Release date: 06-14-2011
• Developer: Spicy Horse Games
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Platforms: PlayStation 3, Windows PC, Xbox 360

Triggers for this game

Animals & Wildlife

• Cats

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  During multiple points of the game, you chase after a small cat. The cat is not hostile. A cat features heavily in your flashbacks. The cat is not hostile. You can summon the Cheshire Cat to give hints during the game. The cat will appear during the beginning of the game and he will appear during challenges to gain extra hearts. He is not hostile but he is always very close to you. During parts of the game he can be avoided by not pushing the hint button when it appears.

  • Can't be avoided

• Insects

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Butterflies are very common in this game. When you die, you explode into a swarm of butterflies. Multiple insect-like enemies. While they are actually screws, they buzz like insects would. You must destroy their hives to progress. The Teapot enemies in the Hatter’s Domain and beyond have spindly legs and move like insects. They only have one eye and three legs In the Mysterious East level, there are bee and wasp enemies. They are photorealistic. In the Mysterious East level, Alice befriends ants. In the Mysterious East level there is a giant caterpillar, cocoon, and butterfly.

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Animals & Critters

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  There are giant frogs in the Mysterious East level. They do not attack.

  • Can't be avoided

• Rodents

  Rats

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  The Doormouse character is a rat. He is mutated into a rat/machine hybrid.

  • Can't be avoided

Crime

• Explosions & Bombs

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  The teapot weapon causes explosions. Multiple enemies will throw fireballs that will explode with fire and a minor explosion sound. Those same enemies have an explosion attack that causes a line of fire to shoot towards the Player Character. In particular the Colossal Ruin enemies use this type of fighting. There is a Rabbit Bomb tool that has a countdown and then explodes with a high-pitched noise and minor sparks. The boat mini-game in the Tundrafall section involves cannons and mines, all which create large explosions that shake the entire screen and vibrate the controller if you're using one. In the Deluded Depths there are pirate ghost enemies that attack you with bombs that explode upon impact with fire and noise. The Crab enemies fight by shooting explosive cannon balls at you.

  • Can't be avoided

• Guns & Shooting

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  The pepper grinder weapon functions like a gun, complete with gun noises when it fires. The teapot weapon functions similarly to a gun, throwing exploding projectiles. The boat mini-game in the Tundrafall section involves cannons which create large explosions.

  • Can't be avoided

• Home Invasion

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  It is revealed piecemeal throughout the game that Alice’s sister Lizzie was molested, raped, and then murdered prior to the game. The game does not depict the assault but does show the perpetrator sneaking around Lizzie’s home.

  • Can't be avoided

• Human Trafficking & Forced Labor

  Sexual & involving children

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The doctor in the game brainwashes his patients in to “forgetting” inconvenient memories. In particular he brainwashes children in general to be sex workers for pedophiles. There are women in the Docks portion of the game that are implied to have been forced into sex work. Nanny is also implied to have been forced into sex work. Alice is implied to have been forced or almost been forced into sex work.

  • Can't be avoided

• Murder

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  All enemies in the game are considered sapient, so attacking constitutes murder. The Mad Hatter murders the Doormouse and the Marsh Hare. A man outside the Mangled Mermaid in the Docks section is murdered and dies in front of you. Sentient non-player characters are murdered on screen and eaten in the Deluded Depths. This scene is skippable and occurs immediately after the beginning of the play. You must murder the White King in Queensland in order to progress. At the end of the game, it is revealed that your entire family was murdered prior to the start of the game. In the final cutscene, you murder the doctor on screen by pushing him in front of a train.

  • Is avoidable
  • Can't be avoided

• Stalking

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  It is revealed piecemeal and via collectable memories that Alice's sister Lizzie was stalked by a man who eventually molested, raped, and murdered her. The stalking is described verbally and the shadow of the attacker is shown sneaking through Lizzie’s house in a cutscene. One memory also relates the man following Lizzie into the ladies’ room.

  • Can't be avoided

• Torture

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  In the Asylum level, you are brutally tortured by the nurses and doctors. The tortures are graphic and shown in great detail.

  • Can't be avoided

Death & Loss

• Drowning

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  There are levels where you can fall into water. However, you will then die. The only exception is that the level Deluded Depths takes place completely underwater and you will be safe from drowning.

  • Can't be avoided

• Suicide

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  The White King character kills himself so you can progress in the game.

  • Can't be avoided

Disturbing Sounds & Sound Design

• Distorted Voices

  • Can't be avoided

• Screams

  • Can't be avoided

• Wet Sounds

  • Can't be avoided

Drugs & Alcohol

• Alcohol Consumption

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  The Docks portion requires the player to enter a bar. There are patrons drinking.

  • Can't be avoided

• Alcoholism

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  The Nurse Witless character is an obvious alcoholic who constantly badgers the Player Character into getting her more gin. The writer in the Deluded Depths is an alcoholic.

  • Can't be avoided

• Casual Drug Consumption

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  The Caterpillar character is implied to smoke opium. In order to progress through the Doomed Veil level, Alice must smoke on a hookah multiple times.

  • Can't be avoided

Financial & Resource Management

• Homelessness

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  There are children throughout the London areas that are clearly homeless and abused.

  • Can't be avoided

Gore

• Amputation

  Final boss

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  The final boss is twisted, in particular he can detach his hands and uses them to attack the player.

  • Can't be avoided

• Animal Violence

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  Most of the sympathetic characters in-game are animals and all of them can and will be harmed or mutilated at some point in the game. Dodo birds are used in the Mad Hatter’s domain as slaves to make the place work. They are skinned and appear to be cooked. In the Deluded Depths after the player defeats Colossal Ruin there is a fish butcher shop. The fish are mangled, put in piles, and hanging from the ceiling. Some of the fish are still alive and moaning.

  • Can't be avoided

• Blood

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Blood is a major part of this game to the point where it is omnipresent. Below we have noted particularly intense instances, but this is not an exhaustive list. Blood is a result of fighting and appears in multiple cutscenes. The cutscenes are skippable but the battle blood is not. In Hysteria Mode there is extra blood all over the Player Character and she spouts blood in an explosion attack. Hysteria is required to be used once. In the Deluded Depths after the player defeats Colossal Ruin there is a fish butcher shop. There is an extreme amount of blood all over the walls and ground. The second half of Queensland, after the Player Character becomes a giant, is completely made up of bleeding flesh, bone, and pustules. The Player Character must wade through puddles of blood and monsters become made of blood. The Asylum level is particularly bad for blood. There are extreme amounts of blood in every room.

  • Can't be avoided

• Body Horror

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  All characters in the game are twisted to some extent, usually either missing limbs or having some limbs replaced with mechanical ones. Characters in the Mad Hatter’s Domain have been taken apart and re-formed with metal gears in place of body parts and blood on the gears. Very graphic. The Mad Hatter is found to be cut up in a bunch of pieces. It is part of the game to put him back together. He is alive during this. Teeth are used as currency in the game. The second half of Queensland, after the Player Character becomes a giant, is completely made up of bleeding flesh, bone, and pustules. Some highlights include sliding down a tongue, being eaten, and tongue worms that will lick at you. The worms will not harm you. In the Deluded Depths after the player defeats Colossal Ruin there is a fish butcher shop. The fish are mangled, put in piles, and hanging from the ceiling. Some of the fish are being tortured and not dead and have saws in their heads. After the asylum level a child chopped in half crawls towards the Player Character and begs for help.

  • Can't be avoided

• Cannibalism

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  The Duchess character talks about eating other sentient beings. (Unavoidable, but you can skip her dialogue) At the end of the Deluded Depths level, the Walrus eats sentient oyster dancers on screen. The Player Character gets eaten after Queensland.

  • Can't be avoided
  • Has options to remove or avoid trigger
  • Has options to lessen

• Dismemberment

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  The scenery levels after Queensland mimics body parts, such as hearts, that you must destroy in order to move on.

  • Can't be avoided

Hate & Discrimination

• Ableism

  Sanism

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  Multiple characters tell Alice that it is her fault that she is “crazy” and that she has mental health issues purely because she isn’t trying to get better. This happens in cutscenes and when you pass certain non-player characters.

  • Can't be avoided

• Chattel Slavery

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  In the Hatter’s Domain the Doormouse and the Marsh Hare treat the denizens of Wonderland as slaves and call them slaves.

  • Can't be avoided

• Dehumanization & Objectification

  Children, sexual

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  Children are dehumanized in the game. After the final level but before the boss fight, you see children walking around with numbers around their necks like livestock. A cutscene after that shows the children being sold to pedophiles. After the Hatter’s Domain level Alice awakens to be leered over by two men who imply they are going to rape her. In the Dollhouse level and beyond, children are highly sexualized. This generally takes the form of baby dolls being stripped naked and posed suggestively. There are two instances where the player must walk through a suggestively posed baby doll’s genital area. Lizzie is verbally objectified by her rapist in a custscene at the end of the game.

  • Can't be avoided

Horror Themes

• Demons & Devils

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Though the game takes place mostly in the mind of the protagonist, all enemies and bosses are depicted as demonic. They are often twisted versions of people or things that the protagonist knows in real life.

  • Can't be avoided

• Ghosts & Hauntings

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  In the Deluded Depths there are pirate ghost enemies that attack you with bombs that explode upon impact with fire and noise.

  • Can't be avoided

• Jump Scares

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Slug-like enemies can hide inside breakable items. They do not make noise when they come out, but they can be surprising when they attack you. In the Tundrafall section of the game, there are monsters underwater that will jump up and try to attack you.

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Horror Themes

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  Bones are used as decoration in multiple locations.

  • Can't be avoided

• Monsters

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  In the Tundrafall section of the game, there are monsters underwater that will jump up and try to attack you

  • Can't be avoided

• Psychological Horror

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  The game centers around you playing through Alice’s disturbed mind. The implications of Alice’s mind and the horrors found there constitute psychological horror.

  • Can't be avoided

• Zombies & Undead

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  In the Deluded Depths there are undead pirate enemies that you must fight to progress. There are also undead pirate friendlies that you must help to progress. Queensland ahs undead card guards as unavoidable enemies. They are skeletal, bloody, and come out of the ground. After being defeated once, they can rise again and must be fought a second time.

  • Can't be avoided

Mental Health

• Grief

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  Alice often verbally blames herself for what happened to her family.

  • Can't be avoided

• Hallucinations

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  The entire game is implied to take place in Alice’s mind. The lines between reality and unreality are increasingly blurred until the game no longer makes the distinction between the two. The Player Character often cannot tell the difference between reality and non-reality and the player is often left wondering what the difference is as well. The game is intentionally vague. The Player Character often has hallucinations.

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Mental Health

  Guilt

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  Alice often verbally blames herself for what happened to her family.

  • Can't be avoided

• Panic Attack

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  Alice is deeply traumatized by the death of her family and her trauma is exacerbated by the psychologist that is meant to care for her. Many cutscenes depict her having panic attacks, mental breakdowns, and fainting due to this trauma. Certain cutscenes are skippable but the fainting spells are not.

  • Can't be avoided
  • Has options to lessen

• Psych Ward

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  An entire unskippable level takes place in a nightmare asylum. You are tortured by the nurses and doctors in the asylum. The game also depicts in graphic detail these tortures, including lobotomies and leeches.

  • Can't be avoided

• Suicidal Ideation

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  In the Doomed Veil, Alice briefly contemplates suicide.

  • Can't be avoided

Non-Sexual Abuse & Violence

• Altercations

  Self-harm

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  In the Asylum level several inmates can be seen banging their heads against the wall. In the extra content “Past Matters” it is revealed Alice often hurt herself in the asylum.

  • Can't be avoided

• Emotional Abuse

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  For multiple levels the sign for you that the mission is not complete is often a non-player character criticizing your efforts. If a mini-game is failed, it often results in criticism from non-player characters. All mini-games can be skipped if you do not feel confident in their ability to play them. In the Asylum level, it is revealed that Alice is the victim of long-term emotional abuse to try to control her. All of the adults in her life blame her for her mental illness, chastise her for not “trying hard enough” and threaten to send her back to an abusive asylum to attempt to keep her “in line”.

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Non-Sexual Abuse & Violence

  Physical abuse

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The Nanny character is clearly suffering from long-term abuse from her pimp. She has a bloodied face and a black eye when you meet her and she is hit on screen. She is also abused on screen. She is seen cowering in a corner while a man beats her. Alice is also beaten by this man on screen. The cutscene is skippable however the scene begins with Nanny being beaten, so it is difficult not to see some of it. In the Mysterious East level, ant-monks are beaten.

  • Can't be avoided
  • Has options to remove or avoid trigger

• Mutilation

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  The Mad Hatter is found to be cut up in a bunch of pieces. It is part of the game to put him back together. He is alive during this. In the Dollhouse level, there are graphically children mutilated children that bleed and beg you for help.

  • Can't be avoided

• Stalking

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  It is revealed piecemeal and via collectable memories that Alice's sister Lizzie was stalked by a man who eventually molested, raped, and murdered her. The stalking is described verbally and the shadow of the attacker is shown sneaking through Lizzie’s house in a cutscene. One memory also relates the man following Lizzie into the ladies’ room.

  • Can't be avoided

Phobias

• Acrophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A core game mechanic is platforming. The platforming sections all take place at great heights where it is possible to fall. When you fall, Alice screams and explodes into a swarm of butterflies. An early scene has you fall through a roof and into Wonderland via a bottomless pit. You then fall from the sky into the ground (but aren't harmed). In every level, there are several invisible platforms you must use to get around. You have a power to make them briefly visible, but when you're not using the power it looks like you're floating over midair. The Cardbridge level takes place in the sky and you are able to look down at the world below and you can fall. Some platforms do not appear until you approaches them, so several parts of this level involve jumping into thin air and hoping a platform appears.

  • Can't be avoided

• Automatonophobia

  Dolls

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  All common enemies in the game have porcelain doll faces with no eyes. These types of enemies feature extremely heavily in the game. The Dollhouse level, the level after Alice's hallucination about the asylum, is themed after evil dolls. Everything is presented as a warped version of a child's toys. In this level there are Babydoll enemies that are giant dolls with the eyes gouged out. They are required to be defeated to complete the game. You're turned into a doll during the Dollhouse level multiple times.

  • Can't be avoided

• Claustrophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  When you shrink to access certain levels, you must go through small, confined corridors. These are a core game mechanic and unavoidable. Some parts of multiple levels, particularly the Dollhouse level, put you in small rooms. You are able to leave the room via platforming.

  • Can't be avoided

• Hemophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Blood is a major part of this game to the point where it is omnipresent. Below we have noted particularly intense instances, but this is not an exhaustive list. Blood is a result of fighting and appears in multiple cutscenes. The cutscenes are skippable but the battle blood is not. In Hysteria Mode there is extra blood all over the Player Character and she spouts blood in an explosion attack. Hysteria is required to be used once. In the Deluded Depths after the player defeats Colossal Ruin there is a fish butcher shop. There is an extreme amount of blood all over the walls and ground. The second half of Queensland, after the Player Character becomes a giant, is completely made up of bleeding flesh, bone, and pustules. The Player Character must wade through puddles of blood and monsters become made of blood. The Asylum level is particularly bad for blood. There are extreme amounts of blood in every room.

  • Can't be avoided

• Necrophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Various dead animal corpses. After the Hatter’s Domain level the Marsh Hare and Door Mouse die and their corpses are played with by the Mad hatter. In the Docks section a man dies in front of you and his corpse stays there and you can comment on it. In the Deluded Depths after you defeat Colossal Ruin, there is a fish butcher shop. The fish are mangled, put in piles, and hanging from the ceiling. The Mysterious East level is littered with the dead bodies of ant monks.

  • Can't be avoided

• Ommetaphobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  In Hysteria Mode, Alice’s eyes go away and are replaced with bloody sockets. It is required once to use hysteria, but it is not required any other time. The Teapot enemies can only be defeated by attacking their single eye. The Hatter in the end cutscene of the Hatter’s Domain talks about sticking metal in one’s eye. The guardian of Queensland has tentacles coming out of his eyes. In the Queensland and Dollhouse levels, staring eyes are used as decoration on the walls and used on levers. They move realistically and stare at you. All common enemies in the game have porcelain doll faces with no eyes.

  • Can't be avoided
  • Has options to lessen

• Trypanophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A needle and syringe is used as a symbol for certain collectable memories.

  • Can't be avoided

Physical Health & Body Issues

• Pain & Physical Suffering

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A doctor takes advantage of his patients in this game. He is a psychologist and uses his power over his patients to force them into human trafficking & forced sex work. He also forces you to forget crimes he committed against your family so he can get away with them. In the Asylum level, you are brutally tortured by the nurses and doctors. The tortures are graphic and shown in great detail. A psychologist purposefully makes his patients’ problems to become worse so he can better abuse and control them.

  • Can't be avoided

Sex & Erotica (Consensual)

• Nudity

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The women oyster characters in the Deluded Depths do not wear clothing. They have no visible sex characteristics. The Babydoll enemies in the Dollhouse level are defeated by tearing off all their clothing with weapons. They have no visible sex characteristics. There are statues in the Mysterious East level with exposed breasts. After the Dollhouse level, Alice is turned into a doll and stripped naked. She has exposed breasts, but no visible genitalia.

  • Can't be avoided

• Sex Work

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Several sex workers in the game are called names and looked down upon for their job.

  • Can't be avoided

Sexual Abuse

• Child Sexual Assault

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  To defeat the Babydoll enemies, the player must tear off the clothes of the doll with a weapon. The dolls have no visible sexual characteristics. The doctor in the game brainwashes his patients in to “forgetting” inconvenient memories. In particular he brainwashes children in general to be sex workers for pedophiles. It is revealed piecemeal throughout the game that Alice’s sister Lizzie was molested, raped, and then murdered prior to the game. The game does not depict the assault but does show the perpetrator sneaking around Lizzie’s home. Collectable memories in later levels have Lizzie speak about her abuse.

• Sexual Harassment

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  After the Hatter’s Domain level, Alice awakens to be leered over by two men who imply they are going to rape her. Two men outside the Mangled Mermaid in the Docks section proposition Alice for sex. It is revealed piecemeal throughout the game that Alice’s sister Lizzie was harassed and molested by one of her father’s students. The harassment and molestation is verbally described by Lizzie. In particular she relates an incident where the rapist followed her into the ladies’ bathroom and she had to be saved by an attendant.

  • Can't be avoided

Traumatic Events

• Misc. Traumatic Events

  Fire

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Fire is an integral element to the game. The plot revolves around the trauma you experience from a fire that destroyed your home, so almost every level will involve some sort of flame. This Spicy Horse logo at the beginning of the game spits fire at the screen. You have flashbacks in every level about your family burning alive. The flashbacks include screams and images of a house burning. The way you go from level to level is by willingly walking through the door an obviously burning house. To get into the Dollhouse level, you must enter a burning house as well. Several enemies use engines that spout fire to move and throw fire at the player as an attack. Colossal Ruin enemies in particular use fire a lot in combat. A building Alice is in in the Docks section gets set on fire.

  • Can't be avoided

• Structure Fire

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  You have flashbacks in every level about your family burning alive. The flashbacks include screams and images of a house burning. The way you go from level to level is by willingly walking through the door an obviously burning house. To get into the Dollhouse level, you must enter a burning house as well. A building Alice is in in the Docks section gets set on fire.

  • Can't be avoided

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