Review: Alisa Developer’s Cut (Switch)

Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)Some of the best retro-style games are almost indistinguishable from the real deal; games that could have been buried in a time capsule in the ‘80s or ‘90s, long forgotten before being unearthed, completely intact, in the modern day. It’s tough to pull off, though we can say with absolute confidence that Alisa Developer’s Cut is one of the most authentic-feeling homages to classic survival horror that we’ve ever played.

We should preface this review by clarifying that if you’re someone who hasn’t experienced ‘retro’ survival horror — with pre-rendered backgrounds, fixed camera angles, and tank controls — then a lot of what makes Alisa so wonderful might not resonate with you. For those who grew up with the likes of Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark, however, buckle up, because this is how it’s done, folks.

Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
Taking place in the 1920s, you play as Alisa, an ‘Elite Royal Agent’ in pursuit of a wanted criminal. After chasing him into a dense forest, Alisa is attacked by strange creatures, blacks out, and awakens in a large, foreboding mansion dressed in an odd, doll-like dress with nothing but a simple pistol to defend herself. Naturally, your job is to escape, but surprise surprise, the mansion is chock full of creepy enemies and perplexing puzzles. In short, it’s Survival Horror 101, and it’s brilliant.

Alisa takes more than a few cues from Resident Evil, including the creepy setting, the tank controls, the save room music, and even a slightly offputting merchant who takes the form of a talking hand puppet. With that said, however, it still manages to carve its own identity effortlessly; one that doesn’t shy away from the sheer absurdity of its premise. Dolls, clowns, and ghosts take the place of RE’s zombies and BOWs (bio-organic weapons), and while this makes for an experience that isn’t always outright scary, it is often unbearably unsettling.

Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)
A lot of the tension comes from the enemies themselves, who have been designed to look as creepy as possible without making use of gore or gross-out effects. Basic doll adversaries will slowly shamble toward you, arms outstretched, while other creatures might use clown bikes to mow you down. There’s a heap of variety here, but our favourite enemy has to be a ghost-like doll that escapes from its glass confinement early in the game. This Woman in Black-inspired spectre, much like the Nemesis from Resident Evil 3, will pop up randomly when you enter certain rooms, and if it catches you, it will deal an absolute boatload of damage.

It’s a good job, then, that the game equips you with plenty of weaponry and perks to help ensure your survival and keep the various nasties at bay. You start with a simple pistol at your side, and while the survival horror genre often encourages you to avoid fights, taking out your enemies in Alisa rewards you with a currency called ‘Toothwheels’, and you can spend these with the merchant to unlock new guns and melee weapons, such as a blunderbuss or katana — and saving your game also costs one Toothwheel. You’re also not stuck with your initial outfit, either, as new dresses will become available periodically, granting buffs that should give you an edge when going up against more fearsome enemies.

Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
It’s not just creepy monsters you’ll be contending with. Alisa Developer’s Cut is crammed full of interesting puzzles that feel right at home given its genre. You’ll be locating unique keys, collecting items, moving blocks around, solving tile puzzles, and more. Many of these are different degrees of been there, done that, but as with everything else in Alisa, the puzzles somehow do enough to feel relatively fresh. They also strike a nice balance with their difficulty, providing enough of a challenge to feel satisfying without straying into frustration.

Where Alisa truly shines, however, is in its presentation. Sure, by modern standards, we can’t exactly say that it looks ‘good’, but then that’s not the point. This was designed to look like a PS1 game from the mid- to late-’90s, and in that respect, Alisa is a resounding success. The pre-rendered backgrounds, from the creepy village featured in the prologue to the colourful, unsettling circus area, are all well-designed and showcased superbly with careful placement of the camera. Granted, there were a couple of occasions during tough enemy encounters where the camera would flip between various fixed angles a little too frequently for our liking, but for the most part, their positions have been well selected to effectively amplify the feeling of isolation and dread.

Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)
The same level of care has also been applied to the music and voicework. The latter will sound amateurish to players not familiar with classic survival horror games, and while there’s nothing here that will quite match up to some of Resident Evil’s most memorable quotes, Alisa does a great job at replicating the corny voiceover work from the ’90s. The music, meanwhile, ranges from quietly unnerving to panic-inducing, while the save room theme specifically will bring a welcoming sense of calm and safety, as it should.

All in all, you’re probably looking at around 5-7 hours of playtime for a standard run, and that’s if you don’t bother with the additional goodies like unlockable weapons or dresses. If you want to pick up everything, then the game will easily push past the 10-hour mark. Like all great survival horrors, there’s also ample opportunity here to flex your speedrunning skills, with added extras like multiple endings and an optional New Game+ mode injecting a nice touch of replayability.

Conclusion
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.