Two years after announcing his retirement alongside the reveal that Electronic Arts passed on his big pitch for a third Alice game—and five months after lamenting a relative lack of fan enthusiasm for that effort—American McGee is back at it with plans for a new project. Inspired by his bestselling Plushie Dreadfuls line, the game will ostensibly serve as a “spiritual sequel” to Alice Returns, the second game in what ultimately became just a duology.
McGee’s history in games development goes all the way back to Doom and Quake, but he became a household name in the cult-classic horror scene for the Alice titles. EA rejected an ambitious proposal for a long-awaited trilogy-capper, and McGee effectively took his toys and went home. Yet, after being struck by the joy expressed by Japanese fans at his Plushie Dreadfuls pop-up shop, he’s found a new lease on life with an official video game project set within this Alice-esque universe.
Don’t Call It A Comeback (But Honestly, Do)
As GamesRadar reveals, the Plushie Dreadfuls merch line serves as the root of McGee’s ambitions. These, well, plushies have been created in collaboration with American McGee’s own spouse, Yeni Zhang, and the genesis of their highly-successful project began back in 2015, right when the developer was looking to exit the games industry outright.
More than a few of these rabbits bear striking similarities to the Alice games’ characters, and that’s clearly intentional. In December, McGee ran a pop-up shop in Tokyo, and it was the outpouring of support from local fans that really pushed him to the brink (in a good way):
“It was really, really moving. I literally cried on a couple of occasions, and I felt bad for the people that brought me these notes, because they suddenly have this grown man crying in front of them. […] I can’t just sit on these [ideas], because when I sit on ideas like that, it makes me crazy.” -American McGee
As someone with a perpetual wellspring of fictional novel ideas swirling in my head at all waking hours, I can empathize. And, as a steadfast fan of the Alice games, I’m over the moon that this happened to the guy. But what exactly is in store for us? The new title will center instead on a boy named James, for starters. In fact, McGee kindly posted a broad outline of the new project on Instagram, giving us all plenty to theorize over in the months to come:
It’s worth reading, and perhaps equally so, it’s worth reading McGee’s own statement on the draft. “
“Emotional suppression is a form of death. True healing comes through integration of all parts of self – even the painful, broken, messy parts. The monsters aren’t the emotions. The monsters are those who tell you emotions are monstrous. And the journey home isn’t about becoming perfect. It’s about becoming whole.”
It’s this commitment to tackling issues of mental health through memorable dark fantasy lenses that’s made McGee’s take on the Alice universe so powerful, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us here. We’ll keep you posted.
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