Title: Alice Closet
Cost: Free
Platform: IOS or Android
Genre: Anime Dressup Game
Release Date: 06/17/21
Language: English
Where To Download: https://www.alice-closet.com/
I recently shared news of the launch of Alice Closet, a new free mobile game with anime artwork by famed manga artist Arina Tanemura. Arina’s works include Full Moon Wo Sagashite, Phantom Thief Jeanne, and Time Stranger Kyoko, just to name a few popular shoujo manga by this artist.
I have been playing the game since launch and I am loving it so far. I did purchase some of the cash items admittedly, but the game is free to play and the cash items are totally optional.
The game offers a lot of dressup options by allowing you to control 4 characters at once pretty early on in the game.
Gameplay: 10/10 Gameplay is similar to other anime dressup games. You play gacha or complete story levels, quests, and achievements to unlock new outfits for your characters. You can piece together unique outfits from multiple layered items such as Hair, hats, headbands, hair accessories (yes you can wear all 3 of those categories at once if you want), shoes, socks, pants, skirts, dresses, coats, leg accessories, arm accessories, hand held objects, floor objects, etc. Objects are ranked based on scores such as fancy, cute, elegant, cool, warm, rural, etc.
Use your outfits to complete story driven levels, or go head to head with other players in fashion battles. The fashion battles reset weekly with prizes going to those who rank well. You can see how you rank with friends or against the whole server.
You can unlock limited time titles, event items, and more by participating in the frequent time limited events and other special content. Since the game just launched, there are a lot of events going on right now. Some examples of in game events currently being held include a themed cafe “mini level” where you earn “cake”. It plays similar to the story levels of the game, all single player. You can trade the cakes for limited time outfits. You are also scored and ranked based on how many cakes you’ve collected throughout the event.
Other events include time limited gacha outfits that only stay around for a few days at a time. There’s also more permanent gacha and some even offer free spins every few hours.
Other gameplay elements include running your own store. You must serve NPC customers who come to your shop by fulfilling their requests by dressing them in your existing items (don’t worry you aren’t actually selling or losing your items). Example, a customer might request elegant hair accesories and socks and a budget of 5,000 gold.
After you serve your customers, you will earn points and again be scored and ranked each week for how successful your store is. You might also encounter VIP customers who if you service them repeatedly will reward you with rare outfits and more.
Story: 5/10 – A twist on Alice In Wonderland. I did read the story up through chapter 1-5 or so, I saw the berserk Alice and thought that was interesting. But at some times – most of the times honestly – the story drags. I started skipping story, but will occasionally read it still if something looks interesting.
The basic premise is that you are from Earth and meet a young man from another world when both of you suddenly get teleported to his world. He tells you about mana and seeds and Alice. Alice are lifelike dolls, and the world is full of Alice owners. Alice owners love to challenge eachother to dressup battles to see whose Alice is the most powerful. Meanwhile you’re searching for a way home.
Early in the game, there is a lot of foreshadowing about berserk Alice and bad things happening a long time ago. It begins to repeat itself but you and your Alice save the day. Shiki seems strange after that and mumbles about having seen something like that before. Edgar also seems to know more than he tells you.
After learning about the legendary Alice and berserk Alice, you are invited to a special Alice competition by invite only. A Strange rabbit appears too.
Characters 6/10 – The characters are all based on Alice in Wonderland – There’s Gren the mad hatter, Shiki (I dunno if he is the white rabbit or if the rabbit is the white rabbit), Edgar (I haven’t figured out who he most closely resembles, maybe the catepillar?), The queen of hearts, a Lolita girl (also haven’t decided which character she is supposed to be). Etc. I like this twist on a new Alice in Wonderland story. It’s something I’ve seen before in other anime and otome, but not quite like this. I also love the Alice(s) themselves as I collect real life anime dolls, so the game fondly reminds me of my dolls. And dressing up and customizing the Alices is the best part. Ultimately though the story and character development are too slow to grow deeply connected to any of the characters.
Voice Acting: 8/10 The characters are partially but not fully voiced. There are a few typos in dialogue and the voices are in Japanese only at this time. The voice acting is actually good though.
Music: 6/10 Not many tracks, but the ones that are there are very nice.
Graphics: 10/10 – definitely the highlight of this game is the gorgeous artwork by Arina Tanemura. I would play this game just for the artwork alone. Some items are even animated. So many options with layering and other things too. It’s a beautiful game, especially for shoujo or lolita fans.
Replay Value: 10/10 – so many events, limited time items, quests, and daily tasks. I’m a daily player already hooked. Love it.
Community: 4/10 – No guild system? Or I’m not far enough to have unlocked it? No chat system. They do have an official facebook page for fans. And there are plenty of ranked and scored competitions with other players. You do have a large friendlist capacity up to 200 people, but seems you can’t do much besides send eachother stamina, view photos/outfits, see your rankings, and vote/compete in the online competitions with your friends. Seems they could’ve done more here honestly.
