Alice in the Mushroom Hole, a game created for the Awesome Music Jam, is a puzzler full of adventure as Alice falls down into a mushroom filled hole.
In 30 challenging levels, Alice falls through the hole gathering different types of mushrooms. The player is able to move Alice side to side, and interact with some mushrooms. After gathering 3 of the same type of mushroom, the world around you changes as well as the enemies. Red spotted mushrooms are bouncy and are accompanied by birds that can swoop across the map to attack you. This world is rather happy almost normal, especially when contrasted with the grey barrel type mushrooms world. This world is black and grey, with chain-like plants that spring out across the map and try to chop you. The barrel mushrooms can shoot Alice out in the direction they’re facing (a little like Donkey Kong Country barrels), making her move at a faster pace than she can fall. The third type of mushroom is funnel shaped and shrinks you as you go through it. They exist in a playful, mystical, colorful world where the only enemy being purple bubble shooting snake-like faces.
Spike covered bits of land stick out throughout this hole. These must be avoided, or Alice will get hurt. Getting hit just once will cause the level to restart. Sometimes, collecting a specific mushroom will remove a spiked area and allow you to get around other spikes. This means that you must find a way to collect specific mushrooms in a particular order to get to the end of the level. This is pretty hard to do at times. Sometimes, specific mushrooms will throw you into the spikes. Figuring out what to do in each level and planning ahead of time is key – each level is a puzzle which must be solved in order to progress.
This playful game is accompanied with epic music by Jeremiah Pena. In a jam all about the music, this game definitely delivers. The dramatic mood of the soundtrack works perfectly to compliment the story and feel of this game. Float slowly down the mushroom hole, in this game where every level is an intricate puzzle which will test your reflexes as much as your problem solving skills.
Watch my Let’s Play of it HERE
Download Alice in the Mushroom Hole HERE (Win, Mac & Linux)