HABROMANIA — An exciting Alice in Wonderland inspired game
Today’s post isn’t book-related directly but I wanted to share my thoughts on a demo that’s being put in the works and I’m very excited about. Habromania, an Alice in Wonderland fan game that turns the childhood classic into an unsettling horror story.
Screenshot of Habromania art piece created by @Symphony.sonata on Instagram
There are a lot of reasons I’m super excited about this indie game, the art style, the story, the inspiration, all of it is amazing. Alice in Wonderland is my absolutely favorite piece of work and I love seeing people put a twist on the story in a fun and interesting way. Let’s discuss who’s creating this possible masterpiece.
The Creator
The creator is Symphony Sonata, a popular digital artist, webtoon creator, character designer, and now a game developer! I went through all of her posts and she’s interested in all kinds of stories and media. She’s a fan of Undertale, Coraline, Gravity Falls, Studio Ghibli, Harry Potter, and of course fairy tales. She’s developed a distinct and talented art style and in Habromania I see the art style inspired by games like “Don’t Starve Together” (another game I absolutely love). She has experience writing stories with her webtoon “LOVEBITES”, I haven’t read the story myself but it is rated a 9.8 out of 10 on webtoon and as such I have no doubt in her ability to create a good story.
The History of the Game
Screenshot of Habromania art piece created by @Symphony.sonata on Instagram
The idea for this first became public on November 17th, 2022. When she posted on her Instagram the concept for an ALICE IN WONDERLAND stylized indie game. In this version of the game, Alice is still just a kid it seems and the idea would soon morph into her own intricate version of Alice in Wonderland that would leave many to anticipate more development on the idea, posting a redraw of Alice in December that made her older and then later in January 2023 disturbing art of Alice bleeding that would set the tone for the game. She continued to create wonderful concept art for the game and in August 2023 she announced the name would be called “Harbomaina”! Finally on September 11th she announced a team was being created to put this game to life and development would start!
The Game
Screenshot of Habromania art piece created by @Symphony.sonata on Instagram
The story focuses of course on Alice, who shares the perpetually curious, optimistic, and logical mindset of her fairytale counterpart, however, in this story, she’s 19 in this story instead of her original seven-year-old self and this Alice has a darker past. Alice was placed in the Rosewell Institute after a possible incident occurred. That incident began when Alice was going to a party with her brother Jack, and things went wrong as Sonata says, “It’s all Alice’s fault. Poor Alice’’. The game doesn’t take place here however, as it starts with the classic fall down the rabbit hole and Alice must “outwit, outmatch, and maybe even befriend the mildly psychotic people and creatures she encounters as she tries to return to the outside before she loses what little sanity she had to begin with.”(Sonata). It’s a point-and-click RPG with multiple endings and already the development of the game is looking beautiful.
As a note, I think the title Habromania is a very clever and excellent title for a game like this. The word “Habromania” is a bit dated so it isn’t in any modern Webster dictionary but there are many dictionaries that do have the definition and the most credible definition I can see is “A form of delusional insanity in which the imaginings assume a cheerful or joyous character.”, given this definition I can immediately see why Sonata went with this title. Alice is in a world of delusion that in certain endings of her game will drive her to real insanity, but the delusions Alice witnesses are cartoonish, almost joyful, regardless of the dark nature. The title is fitting and I don’t think she could’ve picked a better name, plus I think it has a nice ring to it.
Conclusion
I’m really excited about what’s to come for this game. Other games that took a dark turn on Alice in Wonderland have existed before such as Pocket Mirror and Alice in Madness but there is something special in Habromania, keep your eye out for this game!
