Alisa - Late-90s style horror-themed action adventure coming to xbox, playstation, PC and Switch

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


Alisa is a classic late-90s style horror-themed action adventure game set in a fantasy universe inspired by the 1920s. You play as an Elite Royal Agent called Alisa. While chasing a wanted criminal, she ends up in an old victorian mansion. She has to find a way out while being haunted by materialized/mechanized doll-like humanoids.

 
More games like this please!. We need more fixed camera horror games. You tubers had a ton of first person games to "react" and ADHD kids had their fair share of shooting games since god-damned RE4 put the genre in a coma.
 
Alisa got another patch so I figured I'll finally check it out since the dev's been supporting it. I've been burned by old school survival horror wannabes (Back in 1995!) and some complaints made me avoid it until now but it seems legit (although it did black screen hang when entering the very first house the first time which sucked). It seems to combine elements from different games, most closely resembling RE1 I guess but also taking cues from RE4 for sure. Beyond the vibe, look and feel it's neat when it also directly but tastefully references specific scenes, like in the way it introduces the very first enemy. Both the pre-rendered and the engine scenes are of very solid quality, not trying to be 90s square but having a consistent neat look rather than also trying to look like the era's worst. I also like the voice acting which is just about right for this style and the so bad it's at times good acting in the games it apes, except for the main character which is just bad, the secondary characters are much more fitting. Anyway, the game seems great, though the controls feel a tad slidey and combat has little oomph.
 
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We all know how much I love PS1 survival horror games. Well, apparently developers are still making them! Alisa is a indie horror game mostly made by one guy and inspired by greats like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Does it live up to that pedigree? Let's find out!

00:00 Intro
01:49 Development
03:14 Story
08:50 Gameplay
21:14 Presentation
25:29 Conclusion
 


The best compliment I can give Alisa is how it could be a long-lost PS1 survival horror title.

Alisa looks and feels that authentic, beyond the higher framerate. It's a love letter to the early era of survival horror, but not a carbon copy. It has its own unique spin on the formula.

While it was released in October of 2021, the developer's cut recently dropped, so I gave it another spin. Besides, I was a backer of the game. With it being October as of writing, now is a great time to give it a spin, or revisit it if you played it before. There are numerous new additions, from weapons to endings.

Alisa is a Kickstarter title with a modest budget. Kickstarter backed-titles can vary in quality, but Alisa is amongst the best. And it's not one of those projects with the old guard with notable titles under their belt. Most of the work comes from one Casper Croes of Belgium. His name pops up more in the credits than Kojima at the beginning of a mission in Phantom Pain. Hey, it makes sense here. His wife wrote the music and is the voice of our protagonist Alisa.

It's influenced by classic survival horror titles and the 1988 stop-motion film Alice by Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer. The dollhouse design gives it a unique flavor. It's less spooky and more creepy

Timestamps:
00:00 - Prelude
02:32 - Presentation of Alisa
04:25 - Gameplay of Alisa
08:59 - In Conclusion
 
The PSX aesthetics and RE angles are nice. Really nails the old school vibe. The moody atmosphere is excellent too. Will hop aboard and give it a go eventually. Hopefully, it'll get a physical release.

Pretty cool and crazy its developed by one person.
 
I's a really good survival horror game. It begins like a mere RE clone, but it works like its own thing too. Lots of creativity and variety on enemies and level design, perfect pacing and it has a challenging but fair and balanced gameplay. I don't consider it very scary (very subjetctive on the other hand), but it's very fun and atmospheric. The voice acting...well, is...weird :messenger_grinning_sweat::messenger_tears_of_joy: .

I played the demo. It was plainly ok for me...and I ended loving the full game. Console gamers will have another nice indie game of the genre :messenger_ok:.
 
Spin off incoming.


Oh, also it did release on consoles all those months ago... It got a rad, if spoilerific, launch trailer.
 
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Nice how the hell did I miss this. Don't think it was shown at the horror indie show but I could be mistaken since I skimp through some. Already bought Clock Tower Rewind and wish Listed Bye Sweet Carole, and the Thing Remaster. But this one is another interesting one!
 
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