# This Game Has Divided Us!

**Source:** Cary Hardy  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2024-10-08  
**Duration:** 8m 34s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVilh5xOK4

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## Analysis

Carrie Hardy provides an early hands-on review of Dutch Pinball's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which has divided the community primarily over its artwork aesthetic. While praising the game's visuals and animations, Hardy heavily criticizes the official reveal trailer as poorly executed, lacking essential information about gameplay mechanics, shot routing, and audio quality. Despite the weak trailer, the game is reportedly selling well ahead of its limited 500-unit production run.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is the most divided community reaction Hardy has seen regarding a pinball machine, particularly over artwork. — _Direct statement from Hardy: 'I think there one thing that we can pretty much mostly agree on and that is that the trailer for this game was bad... I am pretty damn sure that they were aware this game was going to be polarizing.'_
- [HIGH] The game's official reveal trailer was poorly produced and did not effectively showcase gameplay mechanics, shot routing, or audio quality. — _Hardy's detailed critique: 'you don't get how the game shoots you don't see where the shots lead to where the ramps start and end' and 'the call outs that you hear are very low and mostly bad'_
- [MEDIUM] Despite the poor trailer quality, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is selling well in the U.S. and U.K. — _Hardy states: 'the game is selling relatively well... particularly in the u.s now the united kingdom area' but notes full numbers won't be available until the next day_
- [HIGH] Dutch Pinball's intended audience for Alice is approximately 500 home collectors, not the general pinball market. — _Hardy: 'obviously targeted not towards the masses but towards a select few hopefully maybe 500 that could potentially have this game in their home'_
- [HIGH] Hardy was selected to be part of the game's release without creative restrictions on what to say. — _Direct statement: 'When I was brought into the circle on this game, I was told that they wanted me to speak my mind. I'm not being restricted on what I can say'_

### Notable Quotes

> "I think there one thing that we can pretty much mostly agree on and that is that the trailer for this game was bad."
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~2:45
> _Core thesis of the video; Hardy identifies the one consensus point across the polarized community_

> "The game looks really pretty, but I still don't know how it shoots."
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~7:15
> _Encapsulates Hardy's core criticism of the trailer's failure to communicate essential gameplay information_

> "If I would have seen this in advance, I would have recommended that it not be shown to the public."
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~3:30
> _Strong endorsement of the trailer's poor quality; Hardy suggesting suppression would have been preferable_

> "There's no sugarcoating you guys... I did not know what the trailer was going to be like... I assumed it was going to be amateur to an extent, but not to this level."
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~2:50
> _Indicates even Hardy's low expectations were exceeded negatively by the trailer quality_

> "Pinball art and art just in general is very subjective, and I think that this game is a prime example of that."
> — **Carrie Hardy**, ~9:45
> _Hardy's conclusion attempting to contextualize the divided community reaction as inevitable given art subjectivity_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Carrie Hardy | person | Pinball content creator and YouTuber; early access recipient for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland reveal |
| Dutch Pinball | company | Netherlands-based pinball manufacturer producing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
| Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | game | Dutch Pinball's recently revealed game based on Lewis Carroll's novel; limited to ~500 units; polarizing artwork; poor reveal trailer; strong pre-order sales |
| DPX | company | Alias/abbreviation for Dutch Pinball mentioned by Hardy; team found the critical meme about the game funny |
| Melvin | person | Dutch Pinball team member (likely Melvin Louwers) scheduled to appear on Hardy's stream to discuss game details and address community questions |
| Pinball Expo | event | Upcoming event where Hardy will get hands-on experience with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in approximately one week |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Game reveal strategy and marketing effectiveness, Community division over artwork aesthetic, Trailer quality and gameplay communication
- **Secondary:** Pre-order sales performance, Art subjectivity in pinball design, Early access media strategy

### Sentiment

**Mixed** (0.35) — Hardy is positive about the game's aesthetics and animations but heavily negative about the reveal trailer's execution. Overall tone is constructive criticism rather than hostile, with Hardy defending the game despite community backlash while acknowledging legitimate concerns about marketing quality.

### Signals

- **[community_signal]** Dutch Pinball scheduling follow-up stream with Carrie Hardy and team member Melvin to provide in-depth gameplay details and address community questions/concerns not adequately covered by reveal trailer. (confidence: high) — Hardy: 'I will be hosting a stream this coming Wednesday with DPXMelvin... he will be showing us some more in-depth with the game... giving you an idea of the ball pass'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has generated the most polarized community response Hardy has witnessed, particularly regarding artwork aesthetic choices perceived as sexually suggestive by critics. (confidence: high) — Hardy: 'I think there one thing that we can pretty much mostly agree on... this is probably the most divided i have seen the community when it comes to a pinball machine particularly on the art... people... shaming it calling it like slutty or just bad'
- **[design_philosophy]** Alice's Adventures in Wonderland's artwork aesthetic represents a deliberate design choice targeting specific collector preferences (female figure-forward design) that divides the community along subjective art preference lines. (confidence: medium) — Hardy: 'Me personally, I like the way the female figure looks on games, and there's evidently a lot of you out there that would prefer the male figure on games' and 'pinball art and art just in general is very subjective'
- **[market_signal]** Despite negative reception to reveal trailer, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is selling relatively well in U.S. and U.K. markets; full sales data pending. (confidence: medium) — Hardy: 'the trailer doesn't seem to have bothered many people i mean at least when it comes to sales because as of right now the game is selling very well'
- **[market_signal]** Dutch Pinball's reveal trailer for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland critically underperformed in communicating game mechanics, shot routing, and gameplay flow despite reportedly generating strong pre-order sales. (confidence: high) — Hardy: 'there's no watching this trailer and it would increase FOMO or interests or faith in what this game has to offer' and 'you don't get how the game shoots you don't see where the shots lead to'
- **[announcement]** Dutch Pinball has officially revealed Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with targeted production limited to approximately 500 units for home collectors. (confidence: high) — Hardy: 'After months of teases we have finally gotten the full reveal' and 'obviously targeted not towards the masses but towards a select few hopefully maybe 500'

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## Transcript

 Let's see here trailer made it look worse what you missed the bland voice acting. Oh, I'm really good man I got to go in there and look Now you can make me want to see if my headphones will work and we can watch it again You guys got me all worried now Okay now in 4k what's up guys and welcome back to the channel where i talk and do everything pinball so if that sounds interesting to you then hit the subscribe button down below look after months of teases we have finally gotten the full reveal of alice's adventures in wonderland and i was one of the few that was selected to be a part of this game's release. When I was brought into the circle on this game, I was told that they wanted me to speak my mind. I'm not being restricted on what I can say or anything like that. They want me to tell you if I do or do not like the game. So that's what I'm going to do. I am pretty damn sure that they were aware this game was going to be polarizing. obviously targeted not towards the masses but towards a select few hopefully maybe 500 that could potentially have this game in their home now i say polarizing but i want to say this is probably the most divided i have seen the community when it comes to a pinball machine particularly on the art some people love it i happen to be one of those people and then you have others that are really shaming it calling it like slutty or just bad or awful all different types of words that they could use for this and I I think that but it even funny that there actually a meme that DPX themselves thought was pretty funny and I show you that right here Now by all means this game has divided us but I think there one thing that we can pretty much mostly agree on and that is that the trailer for this game was bad. So there's no sugarcoating you guys. I mean, I didn't know what the trailer was going to be like. I knew that it was going to be probably, you know, really rough cut, or it wasn't going to be, you know, Jersey Jack pinball quality $100,000 thing. I assumed it was going to be amateur to an extent, but not to this level. I mean, if I would have seen this in advance, I would have recommended that it not be shown to the public okay so i got to experience it for the first time with all of you out there but the first time i watched it i didn't have audio going but the second time i did and that only made things worse so this game's trailer does it no favors i don't think it does it any good at all there was no watching this trailer and it would increase FOMO or interests or faith in what this game has to offer. I don't want to keep beating a dead horse here, but I do want to mention the things that I do like and that I don't like about it. The animations. Okay, look, I know this is going to be a dividing thing on the animations, but I honestly like the way the animations look. everything else is pretty much bad well the music i do like the music i don't want to shame on that the music i like but the thing is with this trailer you don't get how the game shoots you don't see where the shots lead to where the ramps start and end you don't get that the call outs that you hear are very low and mostly bad and i some of the even the little video scenes that were cut cut in there there one in particular that was like one second long that didn really show anything or have a meaning to it I was like what was the purpose of that shot and a lot of these things most of you are probably not even going to notice okay but coming from myself who does video editing there's certain things that I'm definitely picking up on where I'm like that could have been better that not the most ideal shot for this kind of thing so with that being said yeah they should not have shown this trailer and thing is they're well aware of it it's one of those where it is what it is the trailer's out there it may not be the best it isn't the best but it's there and they're moving on kind of thing but the thing is the trailer doesn't seem to have bothered many people i mean at least when it comes to sales because as of right now the game is selling very well particularly in the u.s now the united kingdom area and stuff like that those numbers won't be fully out until possibly sometime tomorrow but what we're getting right now evidently the game is selling relatively well will it be a clean sellout within 24 hours i don't know probably not i mean for dpx's sake i do hope so but I don't I don't know at this point in time it's like I said you're getting a lot of us that are looking at this and saying no but you got to think they only need 500 but back to the trailer on this the point of a trailer is to give you a really good idea about the game how it shoots what all is going to be involved with assets and stuff like that you're not going to get an idea of code but you definitely want to get a feel of when you hit this particular shot where does it go and what does the ball do when you make it stuff like that and after this trailer was done you don't have any more knowledge about the game honestly you have an idea of how bad the call outs are at this point in time uh but that pretty much about it i mean and i can help but to like you know read some of the comments here on Pinside And you had this comment that says that I backpedaling now And I'm like, where do John Youssi that? What have I stated about this game? Every time someone has asked me, what do I think about the game? My always has been that the game looks pretty, or the game looks sexy, the game looks good. but I have no idea how it shoots. But how has that changed after seeing all these images and after watching the gameplay trailer? The game looks really pretty, but I still don't know how it shoots. I mean, luckily, we're going to get to experience this game firsthand in over a week at Pinball Expo, so hands-on experience is not too far away. But in the meantime, I will be hosting a stream this coming Wednesday with DPXMelvin, where we're going to have a chat, live chat, so you all can ask questions, inquire about all kinds of stuff. He's going to clear the air about a lot of questions or comments that are going out right now, and of course, he will be showing us some more in-depth with the game. Not like overview gameplay experience, but basically kind of giving you an idea of the ball pass. Things that the trailer didn't really get to show you, we're hoping that we will get to see that in that upcoming stream, so stay tuned for that. Look, pinball art and art just in general is very subjective, and I think that this game is a prime example of that. As I mentioned in one of my previous podcasts, it's like pinball is very similar to sex, where basically it's different strokes for different folks. I mean, me personally, I like the way the female figure looks on games, and there's evidently a lot of you out there that would prefer the male figure on games. oh how many of you did i just trigger let me know in the comment section down below and until next time guys peace out

_(Acquisition: youtube_groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 424e1757-145c-4c90-9f93-710372fdf418*