Video Games
‘Alice: Asylum’ Proposal Rejected by EA, American McGee Ends Project
Despite American McGee‘s efforts to revive the Alice series with his proposed Alice: Asylum project, things have unfortunately come to an end. Not only has EA rejected McGee’s proposal, but it appears that McGee will also be exiting game development, entirely.
In a new Patreon post, McGee reports that despite putting together a proposal with Virtuos Studio with a detailed budget, EA has turned down the possibility of a new Alice game. “After several weeks of review, EA has come back with a response regarding funding and/or licensing for ‘Alice: Asylum’,” says McGee. “On the question of funding, they have ultimately decided to pass on the project based on an internal analysis of the IP, market conditions, and details of the production proposal.”
As for the potential of EA selling the property, McGee stated that EA sees the Alice license as “an important part of EA’s overall game catalogue”, and that selling or licensing it isn’t something they’re prepared to do for the present. With that, McGee says that he has exhausted “every option” for getting a new entry in the series off the ground. “With those answers from EA, there is no other way forward with the project. As such, we will be hibernating this Patreon page and related pre-production activities. The content will remain in place but we’ll no longer present options for funding ‘Alice: Asylum’ efforts via this (or any other) platform.”
McGee then went on to say with this response, he has “reached an endpoint with ‘Alice’ and with game production in general.” McGee states that he has no other ideas or energy left to apply toward getting a new Alice game made, nor does he have any interest in pursuing new game ideas “within the context of the current environment for game development.”
There is a silver lining to all of this, however. We will be seeing the series adapted into a television series, courtesy of Radar Pictures and X-Men writer/Solid Snake himself, David Hayter. As for the games themselves, you can pick up the second game in the series, Alice: Madness Returns, on Steam.
For those wanting more wintery horror games, Nord Unit has you covered with their upcoming co-op Antarctic horror FPS, UNFROST. Coming to Steam, the game has you braving the elements in Antarctica as you hunt for tough-as-nails ancient otherworldly beings that require some heavy firepower to take down.
UNFROST is set in Antarctica, where you and your squad seek out ancient entities known as the Riftborne. It’s easier said than done, as you’ll need to gather evidence, survive extreme conditions, and prepare to launch a nuclear strike, which is the only weapon capable of killing them. Of course, you’ll also need to figure out how to escape before the strike hits.
But, in order to launch the strike, you’ll need to figure out just the right tunings in order to actually damange the Riftborne, which cannot be defeated with conventional weapons. That involves exploring abandoned stations, frozen ruins, and anomaly zones to recover samples, scan anomalies, and analyze evidence.
You’ll need to work together with your squad by divvying up tasks, sharing evidence, and transporting equipment. For example, one squad member may investigate anomalies, while another secures the perimeter or hauls critical equipment through a blizzard.
And yes, as you might have guessed, the Antarctic weather will be your first and foremost foe in UNFROST. You must brave the freezing temperatures and inclement weather while managing warmth, supplies, and sanity. The longer your mission lasts, the tougher it will be to survive.
Obviously, the Riftborne isn’t going to wait around for you. In fact, it’ll be hunting you from the very start. As such, you’ll need to constantly adapt in order to avoid certain death. Once you’ve determined the Riftborne’s weakness, you must configure the correct nuclear payload, launch the strike, and get out before impact. You don’t want to be around when the bombs drop.