John Paul M. Joaquin Games 06.20.2022 02:Jun AM EDT

Alice: Madness Returns Has Disappeared From Steam Again

Madness has left Steam one more time.

Alice: Madness Returns has been reported to be missing in action recently after less than four months of the game returning to Steam from its initial removal, per PC Gamer.

The game was allegedly removed from the digital video game selling platform in 2016 due to Electronic Arts (EA) wanting to incentivize people's purchases from its own Origin service, according to Delisted Games.

Alice: Madness Returns Steam Removal Details

Valve, the company that owns Steam, mentioned on Alice: Madness Returns' Steam page that it was removed from the digital video game selling platform at EA's request for a second time.

EA previously published Alice: Madness Returns in 2011, when the game was first released to the public for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

Valve did not mention any other information other than what was displayed on the game's Steam page. As such, Valve did not make the reason for removing Alice: Madness Returns clear to people who wish to have it.

However, the game's creator, American McGee, speculated that the game's removal may have something to do with the removal of Akaneiro: Demon Hunters by his former Spicy Horse Studio.

Spicy Horse Studio is the developer of Alice: Madness Returns.

According to McGee, in trying to remove Akaneiro from Steam, Spicy Horse got all of its games removed, thus affecting Alice: Madness Returns indirectly.

The reason why Spicy Horse wanted to remove Akaneiro was due to it being a broken game. McGee described also described it as a broken game with it being "one part Little Red Riding Hood, one part Japanese Mythos and five parts 'under construction' tape."

The game first had a login problem that could only be worked around by doing an "Ugly hack," which involves adding a specific line to a computer's drivers to make Akaneiro playable, per a Steam forum page.

However, Akaneiro's problems didn't stop there. Its servers eventually crashed, making the game unplayable.

Unfortunately, when Spicy Horse delisted Akaneiro due to it being broken, it also took Alice: Madness Return with it.

McGee and Spicy Horse are now reaching out to Steam's Support team to have the game re-listed back into Steam.

What Is Alice: Madness Returns

Alice: Madness Returns is the second installment in the Alice series and the direct sequel to American McGee's Alice video game released in 2000, per the Alice Wiki.

The game follows Alice's life as she takes her first steps back into society, but her childhood memories involving the deaths of her family continue to haunt her. As such, the game tasks players to help navigate Alice to help her restore her sanity and discover the truth behind her family's death, armed with her Vorpal Blade and new magical abilities.

The game was delisted from Steam a decade ago at EA's insistence due to it wanting to incentivize players to use their own game launcher, Origin. However, it was eventually re-listed on Steam on February 28, 2022, after almost six years of waiting.