Alice VR is an unconventional take on the literary tale as it takes place on an alien planet that you explore.
It’s a highly unique approach to the concept and definitely something that is enhanced through the technology of VR.
In this post, we will discuss if Alice VR is worth your hard-earned money or not. We’ll also provide some alternatives for you to consider as well.
Alice VR
Alice VR puts you in the shoes of a person that has just woken up from cryogenic sleep. As you explore the alien planet your ship has landed on, you come across many strange encounters and anomalies. The stunning visuals along with the spectacular sound design do wonders to immerse you in the game’s wondrous world.
Alternate #1
Into the Radius VR
Into the Radius VR provides you with a ton of surreal environments that you are free to go and explore. You can arm yourself with a variety of weapons, both modern and classic. You’ll need them to defend yourself against the variety of enemies that you’ll face.
Alternate #2
Pavlov VR
Pavlov VR can be a great addition to your library if you’re looking for a classic FPS for your VR headset. It offers a variety of classic online game modes including Team Deathmatch and, Search and Destroy. Furthermore, the gunplay is super realistic and satisfying.
Quick Summary of the Main Product
Alice VR can be best described as a single-player first-person adventure game. It’s a walking simulator that features a variety of puzzles to keep you engaged.
The title may confuse players since this is not a traditional adaptation of the classic literary tale. Rather it’s a loose adaptation that’s set on an alien planet. Regardless you do meet some of the classic characters throughout your journey on the planet.
Although, they may not be in the same form you expect. For example, the classic Madhatter character is in the form of an AI that you encounter.
All these reinterpretations provide a highly unique and surreal experience for the player. It’s an experience that is further enhanced by the fact that it’s in VR.
Alice VR runs on the Unreal Engine which enables the game to have some really stunning and impactful visuals.
The puzzles in the game are quite engaging and have varying amounts of difficulty. However, there’s nothing too difficult throughout the game that could stump you for too long.
Features and Benefits
Stunning Visuals
One of the greatest aspects of this game are the visuals that you get to experience.
One key mechanic of the game is to shrink yourself in order to get into tight spaces to open pathways or get through certain areas. As you shrink, it’s a wondrous experience to see everything around you on this grand scale.
Furthermore, there do exist other experiences that also look very trippy inside VR. This includes experiences such as sliding up walls and walking on ceilings.
Engaging Story
The environment of the planet that you land on is highly unique and well-designed. It’s an environment that is specifically designed to generate curiosity and intrigue. Thus, it does well to keep you engaged as you explore.
It’s definitely ingeniously designed in a way that keeps you wanting to come back for more.
Great Puzzles
The puzzles are quite engaging as well. While they are never too difficult to the point where you lose interest and quit the game entirely, they are just hard enough to give you a fair challenge.
They’re designed in a way that when you finally figure it out, the answer feels rewarding and earned.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Alice VR
Price
Alice VR is a super cheap experience that you can get on Steam for a very reasonable price.
It’s about as cheap as any game of this scale can be, and it may get even cheaper if you buy it during one of Steam’s sales.
Ease of Use
As mentioned earlier, while the puzzles in Alice VR are nothing to scoff at, they are still fair and reasonably easy to get the hang of.
It’s a satisfying experience that most people can enjoy with ease.
Fun Factor
Exploring this mysterious planet is extremely fun. Furthermore, the experience is just long enough that it does not overstay its welcome.
Advantages and Disadvantages
- Engaging plot
- Immersive sound design
- Unique surreal visuals
- Intuitive controls
- Affordable
- Comfortable
- Fairly short runtime
Social Proof
We were curious about what other VR users thought of Alice VR. Hence, we decided to check out some Steam reviews to get the public’s opinion.
Here’s what others had to say about Alice VR:
Similar to Alice VR (Recommendations)
#1: Best Horror Alternative - Into the Radius VR Review
While Alice VR can be highly surreal at times, it merely teeters on the edge of falling into the horror genre. It’s not exactly horror but it can be highly unsettling and surreal at times.
However, if you want a game that fully plunges you into a horrific dream world as you navigate through surreal environments, Into the Radius VR is definitely worth considering.
The game provides unique visuals and a sense of dread that you rarely find these days, even in traditional horror games.
The fact that this game is in VR definitely enhances the experience. We definitely feel this game wouldn’t be as effective if it were a regular game. Hence, we have a lot of respect for this game to really use VR technology to create an impactful experience.
Additionally, the weapons in this game are also satisfying to use and the gunplay is definitely fun. This is in stark contrast to many VR shooters out there where the gunplay just feels like a chore.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Into the Radius VR
Price: You can pick up Into the Radius VR from Steam for a fairly cheap price. It’s definitely an experience that most consumers can easily check out. We highly encourage you to do so since the price is definitely justified.
Ease of use: As mentioned earlier, the game is quite easy to get the hang of. However, as you get at the game mechanics, the game does throw curveballs at you to challenge your grasp on those mechanics. This keeps the gameplay fresh and engaging without it being frustrating.
Fun factor: If you enjoy surreal horror games, this is something that will definitely be your thing. However, if that’s a genre that you don’t particularly have fun with, then you should avoid this VR title.
- Engaging plot
- Great sound design
- Unique surreal visuals
- Easy to get the hang of
- Reasonable pricing
- Can be buggy at certain sections
Best Horror Alternative
The best horror alternative is Into the Radius VR thanks to its great use of unique visuals, immersive sound design, and cheap price.
#2: Best Action Alternative - Pavlov VR Review
Alice VR is a surreal adventure game, not an action-packed shooter. However, if you want that type of experience in VR, then Pavlov VR is definitely a game worth considering.
It’s a game that has been developed with the community in mind. The developers wanted to ensure that the game developed a strong community backing, and that’s something that they definitely have achieved to a certain point.
The developers have worked hard to make the gunplay feel realistic in VR, and it definitely shows. This is not only true in the visuals but also in the sound design of the game and how the guns sound.
When we talk about sound, we’re not just talking about how the guns sound when they fire but also when you’re reloading and cleaning them.
You get access to a ton of different online game modes that you can enjoy with your friends as well as other people online.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Pavlov VR
Price: Pavlov VR is another super cheap title that is available on Steam for consumers. Most consumers can easily snag this to get in on the blood-pumping multiplayer gameplay.
Ease of use: While the gameplay is easy to get the hang of, it can take you quite some time to master it until you start to have satisfying games in multiplayer. This enables the perfect blend where it’s not frustrating but engaging to try and master the way different guns work.
Fun factor: Pavlov VR is super addictive and fun to play. You may get destroyed in your first few matches in Pavlov VR. However, as you begin to figure out how the different guns work, it’s super rewarding to see when you start to finally secure kills online.
- Cheap price
- Realistic gunplay
- Immersive sound design
- Satisfying gameplay mechanics
- Community support
- Noise-canceling spatial audio
- Can be difficult to find matches sometimes
Best Action Alternative
The best action alternative is Pavlov VR, thanks to its online multiplayer, reasonable pricing and satisfying gameplay.
Buyer’s Guide
In this section, we will discuss the different factors that you must take into account before you buy any VR game. It’s important to be informed about your purchase decision to ensure you end up with the best and most suitable game for you.
To ensure this, you must conduct thorough research, but more importantly, you must know what to research. Many people don’t do their due diligence and then get upset when they wind up with a product they don’t like.
This is especially true when it comes to both regular games as well as VR games.
Here are some factors you must consider before you buy any VR game:
Price
The budget you have and the price of the game that you want to buy will obviously play a huge role in your decision.
When you look at the prices of different VR games, they can vary tremendously. This can oftentimes make it difficult to judge what game is overpriced and what isn’t.
One way to figure this out is to look at how much content and the quality of the content you will get for the price.
Some games are only short 1 – 2 hour experiences. Naturally, these games should be priced a lot less.
On the other hand, other games have tons of content to offer you, and many of them constantly get new content added to them as well. These games are often higher-priced.
Now, this does not necessarily mean that the latter types of games are overpriced. In fact, their prices are completely justified when you consider how much content they provide you with.
The games you must be wary of are the ones that have high prices but don’t have the level of value to justify that price. Naturally, these are the games you must avoid at all costs as they’d definitely be a waste of money.
Sometimes, even if a game is worth the money, you may simply not have that much to spend on it. In this case, you can just opt for something cheaper that still provides good value.
Maybe you can come back to that other game sometime in the future when you can afford to purchase it.
Ease of Use
It’s highly important that the VR game you buy is simple to get the hang of. This does not mean that a game should not be challenging.
The best VR games out there are the ones that have easy-to-understand mechanics. However, in order to master those mechanics, you must go through a lot of practice and trial and error.
That’s part of the fun, and it’s very rewarding to master such mechanics through a VR experience. However, that’s the point. The experience of learning a game’s mechanics should be rewarding and fun as opposed to rage-inducing or frustrating.
It’s even acceptable if a game is frustrating as long as the difficulty is justified. However, if you are raging at a VR game because the mechanics are poorly designed, confusing, or buggy, then there’s a problem.
You don’t want to purchase a VR game that has clunky mechanics or is buggy. This will suck all the immersion out of the experience and turn you into a raging lunatic.
Compatibility
This is something that most consumers are already wary of, but it still needs to be stated for individuals that are not as tech-savvy.
Not all games are available on all platforms.
You may experience VR through an Oculus Quest 2, an HTC Vive, a smartphone-based VR headset or something else entirely. Thus, you must ensure that the VR game that you buy can actually run on the VR platform that you have.
If you make the wrong purchase, the game won’t run, and that’ll be money straight down the drain.
Nausea and Motion Sickness
The experiences of nausea and motion sickness have a lot to do with how well a game is polished and optimized. However, it can also be because of the pure nature of the game and the subjective mind frame of a person.
There are many VR games out there that many individuals can play with ease but other individuals can’t because they experience motion sickness when they play them.
Thus, this is something that you’ll have to figure out on your own before you make a purchase of a VR game.
It’s a good idea to check out gameplay footage of a VR game online before you actually purchase it. Viewing the gameplay footage can give you a good idea of whether or not a certain VR game will make you nauseous or not.
Oftentimes, many people start to feel nauseous when they just look at footage of certain VR games. If this is happening to you, there might be a chance that that game is not for you.
Genre
This is important to consider because not everyone enjoys the same thing.
Some people like action and adventure, whereas others like more tranquil and intimate experiences in VR.
This is something that you must explore within yourself to determine what you enjoy. Then, it’s your responsibility to scour the market to find a VR game that fits your enjoyment criteria.
You can’t really blame a horror game developer for a game if you’re someone that just simply does not enjoy horror VR games.
Hence, ensure that a game’s genre is something that you enjoy before you actually pay money to buy it.
Fun Factor
This is another factor that exemplifies why it’s important to go through reviews of games before you actually buy them.
There are many developers out there that are lazy and simply churn out games with repetitive gameplay that is simply just not fun to play.
It’ll be extremely frustrating to pour money into a game that is simply not enjoyable to play.
Hence, make sure to read user reviews and check out gameplay footage to ensure a VR game is something that you would enjoy. Only then can you be sure that your money will be well-utilized.
Wrapping Things Up
This brings us to the conclusion of our Alice VR review.
In the end, we must say that while it’s slow-paced, it’s definitely something that most people who are fans of the genre will enjoy. If you enjoy puzzle games and exploring vast untapped environments, go ahead and give this game a try.
What do you think of Alice VR? Let us know in the comments section below.
