About "Shadow Alice"

by Nikki Little

I just watched a video explaining the concept of "Shadow Alice" for the third Alice game "Alice: Asylum," and I was simply aghast at how awful an idea this was. The idea that the Alice we played in the first two Alice games was somehow not the "real Alice" - the "Child Alice" - is going to put off a lot of potential players. Including me. First, the concept does not mesh well with the first two existing games. I simply don't buy the idea that the Alice we play in the first two games is itself a warped alternate personality for Alice. American is stretching the idea of split personality here too far. We already had three personalities for Alice in the first game: Alice, rage Alice / Queen of Hearts, and the Red Queen.

"Alice: Madness Returns" was itself severely damaged by the incorporation of numerous gameplay concepts which added nothing to the enjoyment of the game and only made it longer: "Shrink Sense" which replaced cryptic hints by the Cheshire Cat, flying pig snouts which was an unnecessary form of switch activation, floating invisible platforms which merely padded the game and were immensely annoying, and finally most of the mini-games which broke the continuity of the narrative. I never did buy the second Alice game, and I have never written a fanfiction for it either.

If the concept of a "Shadow Alice" is to be incorporated into "Alice: Asylum," then let it be the obvious concept: the "Shadow Alice" should be an early manifestation of the Red Queen. This would also create a plot feature that runs through all three games and does not stretch credibility past the breaking point.

-Nikki Little on February 10, 2019