Alicemare (sometimes written as Alice Mare) is a short, surreal adventure game with a dark fairy tale theme.
It follows a young boy named Allen who finds himself caught in a Dream that lets him explore the hearts of the other children at his new home and learn the secrets of their pasts.
There is an Alice in Wonderland theme that is most apparent at first, but each of the children’s stories follows a different fairy tale that you piece together along the way.
Of course, the stories aren’t exactly like the fairy tales we know. Even once you recognize the fairy tales in question, you might know where they’re going until you finish that character’s story. These stories are largely separate from one another, but they do tie together into Allen’s current journey through the Dream.
The gameplay is primarily puzzle-driven, with some nice riddles as well as item-based puzzles. It’s enjoyable, although the one downside is that examining everything in the area often won’t be good enough to proceed; you need to investigate objects again after checking other objects, including one early area that requires you to inspect objects in a specific order to make the item you need appear.
Alicemare is a short game. A single playthrough lasts about 2 hours, although there are multiple endings.
I wouldn’t call it a horror game, but it definitely has creepy elements… and it’s a dark, sad take on several fairy tales with an intriguing overarching plot.
If you’ve played Alicemare, what did you think of it? What other creepy takes on fairy tales do you enjoy? Let me know in the comments below.
