Alisa

About Alisa

Alisa is a horror action adventure by the solo developer Casper Croes, released on Steam and GOG in October 2021. It sets out to recreate the survival horror games of the late 1990s: real pre-rendered backgrounds, fixed camera angles, tank controls and low-polygon characters that look like they came off a PlayStation disc, down to the deliberately cheesy voice acting of the cutscenes.

You play Alisa, an Elite Royal Agent in a fantasy world that echoes the 1920s. While chasing a spy who stole documents from the emperor, she is dragged underground and wakes in an old Victorian mansion that looks like a life-sized dollhouse, now dressed like Alice in Wonderland. The house is not empty. Its inhabitants are mechanized humanoids that look like dolls, from thin green figures in the corridors to a spider-limbed thing in a top hat and ruff, along with wind-up toys, clowns and a stalker that can turn up in most rooms you enter.

The central stairway is your hub, and most doors start locked. Keys open themed areas one by one, among them a circus, an underground water area and a hedge maze made of metal. Enemies drop toothwheels, the game's currency, which you spend with a merchant in the save rooms on ammunition, guns and dresses or armours that change Alisa's healing, reload speed or defence. That makes each fight a choice: avoid it and save bullets, or kill for toothwheels and better gear. The store page warns of Soulsborne-like difficulty, and the fixed angles are used to scare: something walking on the floor below a staircase, or waiting just past the edge of the shot.

A modern control scheme is there for players who do not want tank controls, and an aiming marker lights up when you have an enemy in your sights. A first run takes six to eight hours. Some doors and items only open on a New Game+ run, which carries over your weapons and outfits, and there are several endings.

On PlayStation, Xbox and Switch the game is sold as Alisa Developer's Cut, published by Top Hat Studios in February 2024. A free demo is on Steam. Alisa suits players who grew up on the original Resident Evil and want something that looks and feels like it, and who do not mind a stiff challenge and a weird sense of humour.

How to play Alisa

1. Start a new game and choose tank controls or the modern scheme; the camera cuts to a new fixed angle as Alisa walks from one part of a room to the next.
2. Search each room of the mansion for keys, ammunition and notes; most doors off the central stairway are locked at first.
3. Fight or avoid the doll-like enemies; equip a weapon from your load-out and watch the aiming marker light up when an enemy is in your sights.
4. Collect the toothwheels enemies drop and spend them with the merchant in the save rooms on ammunition, guns and outfits.
5. Change Alisa's dress or armour to alter her stats, and solve the locks and puzzles, such as sliding block boxes, that bar the way out.

Tips

• Try the free Steam demo first to see whether the fixed cameras and old-school controls suit you.
• Every fight is a trade: killing enemies earns toothwheels for gear but costs ammunition, so decide room by room which ones are worth it.
• Compare outfits before a hard area; some speed up reloading, others add defence or healing.
• When the stalker appears, leaving the room is often wiser than standing your ground.
• Some doors and areas only open on a second run, and New Game+ keeps your weapons and outfits, so do not worry about missing everything the first time.

Questions