Solid survival horror game that wears the PS1 inspiration on its sleeve. The gameplay here is pretty solid with a well designed map with lots of keys to gather and puzzles to solve. Like classic games in the genre it rewards paying attention to your environment for clues. There’s a fair amount of backtracking required for some puzzles but the house isn’t so big that it ever takes more than a couple minutes. By the end of the game you’ll unlock various shortcuts that come in clutch when you need to save before a boss fight.

Speaking of boss fights and combat in general, it’s a mixed bag. The first boss arena is pretty annoying as you’re on a rotating platform so you’re mostly fighting the camera rather than the boss. Later bosses are better and I appreciate that they have a visible health bar. Alisa really leans into resource management as the pillar of its difficulty so there are some fights where you have to restart since you’ve used all your ammo. Having that visual on damage done helps you gauge your progress.

I really liked the resource system here. When enemies are defeated, players collect gears. These are used at the merchant in the save rooms for both resources such as weapons and ammo, as well as being the resource required to save your progress. I like that this forces you to decide between fighting regular enemies or running past them and weighing not only the risk involved with combat but also if the currency earned is worth the ammo required. The only negative I see is that players using the auto aim option get less gears.

The biggest annoyance with the game is that there are some moments where you’re dropped into a situation, sometimes quite literally, where you have a puzzle or boss fight begin with no way of exiting and failure means a game over. I understand that managing saves and losing progress is part of the genre but some moments in Alisa felt like I was blindsided. One puzzle in particular just really feels like there should have been a checkpoint for that one instance.

Plot line here is not interesting and the intentional (?) bad voicing acting doesn’t do the game any favours. It nails the PS1 aesthetic however and I really like how the game looks, even going as far as being in 4:3. The dollhouse inspiration felt pretty unique however the game isn’t scary. There’s some creepy elements and enemy designs but nothing that actually ever scared or even startled me.

For a game mostly developed by one person I was pretty impressed. It scratched the classic Resident Evil itch I had to help tide me over until the next release. Would definitely check out another title from this dev.

Do NOT believe the person below me, this game fucking rules! They mention that the first encounter is one you are meant to lose. FALSE, literally just have them chase you around the outer edge of the arena until they are in a line then, with your quick turn, either shoot or (I recommend this way) swipe at the enemy with your blade, the hit stun the enemy goes through will give you enough time to quick turn and run away, rinse and repeat until all three are dead (ps, I turned off autoaim, it's not very good, just use free aim). Speaking on that, the aiming is pretty easy, and with the very fast quick turn the game gives you, you should be able to outmaneuver the enemies if you give it enough practice. Just be mindful of the hit-boxes and the timing of the enemy attacks. Third, they talk about running out of toothwheels, a resource required to save. It is the currency, you use it to buy weapons, costumes, supplies. Yes, they are limited, you can only find them on every single enemy, in various locations (shelves and sinks), and from bosses. But it costs ONE (1) single toothwheel to save. If you save so much in a survival horror game that you worry about running out of toothwheels (the lowest an enemy ever gives you is 3-4 toothwheels), perhaps survival horror games aren't for you (side note, there is an area where there are enemies in bleachers cheering, killing one gives you a single toothwheel, go to that area and shoot one if you are strapped for toothwheels). Now, onto my opinions of the game. I will agree with the person below me on one thing. The overall aesthetics of the game, the tone, the atmosphere. All great. They each are charming and brimming with care. As a main character, Alisa has tiny bits of personality that shine through that really add to her as a character, I love her. Also this game let me punch out the first enemy you encounter in the dollhouse while wearing the cutest dress. Soulful gaming.

I wanted to like this game but it was awful. It looks like an okay survival horror but the very first combat encounter is one the player purposely has to lose. I enabled auto aim at the cost of not being able to gain as much currency when fighting enemies and it barely had any effect. Notes are not collected in a menu like any good survival horror series like Silent Hill and Resident Evil so if I want to read anything I either have to screenshot or go all the way back. One of the first enemies is able to kill you in one hit and saving the game costs in-game currency, sure, the RE ink ribbons are annoying but at least I know how many saves I'm allowed, making it the currency which there seems to be a set amount of means I could end up stuck if I save too much. The game has an option for tank controls but you can't use a d-pad so there's literally no point in using it and modern controls will leave you running back towards enemies when you're trying to get away due to the changing camera angles. The graphics and overall tone of the game are quite appealing but this game gets so many key aspects of a survival horror wrong that it's downright infuriating to play. Sadly I cannot recommend.