Alisa: Developer's Cut

Alisa Developer's Cut is an excellent homage to classic survival horror that can easily stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark. From the tank controls to the cheesy voiceover work, it nails almost every aspect, providing an experience that feels like it was ripped straight from the '90s. Its overall appeal will likely be limited to those who are intimately familiar with survival horror, but if that's you, then strap yourself in for one of the best examples of the genre to date.

There are too many little things that Alisa gets wrong and it comes off as a fan’s attempt at making a horror game, rather than someone who truly understands the genre. The result is a very generic retro throwback.

Alisa is a very pleasant, albeit late, surprise for the Switch. An excellent addition to the horror library alongside the aforementioned classics, but also others such as Outlast, Witch’s House and IB. For those looking for a tribute to the sick and macabre, Alisa is the most accurate of homages to the narratives that scare our dreams.

Made in heaven

After years of militancy on PC and several revisions, Alisa: Developer's Cut also arrives on consoles bringing its developer's homage to the forefathers of survival horror. Casper Croes writes the most classic of love letters, yet goes about religiously replicating every aspect, from the B-series narrative to the PS1-era graphics and tank controls. A blast of nostalgia that will be viscerally loved by those who lived through this period of history. For everyone else, the trip back in time may be all too traumatic.

Frustrating controls, lack of detail in environment/character design, and the scarcity of useful items compound things into a less-than-stellar experience. I can’t say that this game has a very high replay value. But maybe it would be good for a person who likes the challenge of always having to return to a single save point. Other than that, I can’t recommend the game to anyone looking for a good story and gameplay because this title does not have either.

Alisa is a real standout in the world of indie horror games, both in terms of aesthetic and gameplay. It's very tough when you first start in the mansion but once you get to grips with the controls and enemy patterns it becomes relatively easy to work through the game. It ends with plenty of scope for a sequel and there are many unanswered questions so hopefully one appears. Still, in the here and now, if you like the look of the screenshots then I can heartily recommend playing in this dollhouse.

Although it undoubtedly belongs to the trend of retro games, the relationship with the nostalgia of Casper Croes' game is different from the most widespread one. In Alisa's case, the past is not understood as an unattainable era, but as a model whose limits can now represent a challenge and no longer an obstacle. The challenge is to recreate a game today that is not only inspired by Resident Evil, but also shares its technical characteristics, but is appealing to modern players. The challenge can undoubtedly be said to have been won, also thanks to the use of a good dose of (self-)irony reminiscent of Lynch's.

If you don’t mind taking a trip back to earlier times and more primitive controls it can have some charm

Casper Croes and company deliver a great throwback with Alisa through its campy story, low-polygon presentation, exceptionally eerie original score, and retro gameplay. However, its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. That’s because the gameplay jankiness is still present for accuracy reasons, alongside several smaller challenges, including disorienting fixed camera angles, iffy auto-aim implementation, and a reliance on accepting a campy story.