(ENG) Alice: Madness Returns — Experimental Two-Player Co-op Mod
Time for something a little more substantial: how about a co-op mod for Alice: Madness Returns?
I have released the first public alpha version of Alice Co-op, an unofficial mod that allows two players to play through the game together.
Both players can see each other, control their own Alice, fight shared enemies and synchronize many cutscenes and world interactions. The entire game has already been completed in co-op from beginning to end — exactly once, which is both proof that it works and an honest description of the project’s current maturity.
How it works
Each player runs their own copy of the game. A lightweight UDP relay exchanges player actions, animations and selected world states, while the host controls the authoritative state of ordinary enemies.
The current version includes:
- Two independently controlled Alice characters
- Shared enemies with synchronized health and deaths
- Enemies capable of targeting both players
- Remote movement, weapons, abilities and visual effects
- Shared destruction of many breakable objects
- Coordinated death and checkpoint recovery
- Synchronization for many interactions and cutscenes
- Emergency recovery controls for desynchronized scenes
- Optional host-to-client profile synchronization
- Support for localhost, LAN and trusted VPN connections
The mod already includes MadnessPatch 3.1.1, so it does not need to be installed separately.
How experimental is it?
Very.
This is not native Unreal Engine multiplayer. Both game processes still simulate parts of the world independently, and the mod synchronizes the parts that can be identified safely at runtime.
Bosses, scripted encounters, mechanisms and cutscenes may occasionally desynchronize. Remote animations, hair, cloth and effects are approximations. Some situations may require a teleport, forced cutscene activation or checkpoint restart.
Despite that, a complete two-player playthrough is possible — with patience and a willingness to occasionally negotiate with an old game engine.
Before playing:
- Back up your saves
- Use a separate co-op profile
- Install the same mod version on both computers
- Use a trusted LAN or VPN
- Do not expose the relay directly to the public Internet
Links
The repository contains documentation in English and Russian, known limitations, configuration details and recovery instructions.
Alice Co-op is based on MadnessPatch by Wemino and contributors and is distributed under the GNU GPL version 2.0.
This is an unofficial community project. No original game files are included, and a legitimate Windows copy of Alice: Madness Returns is required.
And yes — the release has a proper trailer. As it should.
Wonder Sun
hello, can i get your contact from discord or twitter? Im also to development Alice co-op and i want to talk about this topic
Aug 30 17:07 (changed)
