Cinderia Preview

Every once in a while, I play a title in Early Access that feels polished enough to be released. That is how I felt checking out Cinderia, a fast-paced roguelike that reminded me of playing Hades. The only issues that I encountered here are that some of the text hasn’t been translated into English yet. The notice that pops up at the beginning assures you that this is something they are working on completing.

There are four heroines to play as in Cinderia. Rue is given to you at the start, while Rivet, Uma, and Isdra must all be unlocked. Each has their own Skills and Abilities, but they share the same Accessories and Support Skills, along with any permanent upgrades, like the ones you acquire from the Soulfire Prayer offered to you by Ella, the nun who lives at the shelter. This saves you a lot of work, as you don’t have to upgrade all of the characters separately.

There are endless combinations of active and passive attacks, along with 30+ items that you can equip your character with. Each character has a dash, a regular attack, and a ranged move. You are able to learn up to three Skills during your run. Once you learn a Skill, you are stuck with it for that whole run, but you are able to upgrade it as you play. It is worth experimenting with each run to figure out which of these moves best fits your playstyle.

Since we are talking about moves and attacks, Cinderia has responsive, snappy controls, making it easy to pull off big combos to destroy the undead enemies coming at you, and then dash away to avoid incoming attacks. All the characters look super cute and innocent, but that is not the case; they can kick some serious butt!

Each of the Skills you learn has an Erosion value added to it. The game doesn’t explain this very well, but you can see in the top right corner of the screen that there is a number that goes up to 100. Once you have picked up enough Abilities to surpass that, the amount over will be added back to your Erosion total, and you will become cursed. This will remain with you for the rest of the run. These effects are always negative, making you weaker after you are hit, increasing skill cooldown length by 65%, or causing hits to deal more damage when your health is low.

The art style is great; it has a hand-drawn, pen-and-ink look, and the contrast between the cute characters and the grim environments works really well. It is complemented by a soundtrack that feels full of tension and despair, yet manages to be catchy at the same time. Each character has a unique look, and they don’t feel like reskins of the same heroine with just a colour change.

When you die, your run is over, and you are presented with a stat screen that shows the character you were playing as, and which items, magic cards, and abilities you had. It also displays playtime, deaths, kill count, how much damage you took and dealt, along with what you collected.

Once you explore the full area you are in and meet the boss, there is a chance that Mystery Rooms will appear. Even if you have learned the Research Topic from Ella as a permanent upgrade, you will only see a question mark. These rooms usually contain a boon, which is something helpful or beneficial for your run. Some give you the option to go fishing to recover some health or gain resources, while others may give you a chance to remove one random Skill you have learned and replace it with a different one that is fully upgraded. Each of these Mystery Rooms is unique.

I’m having a great time playing Cinderia. It is incredibly addictive and reminds me a lot of playing games like Hades. I love that there are multiple characters to play as, each with their own unique attacks and appearance, along with the large number of Skills and Items to acquire. The visuals give the game a storybook feel, which fits in well with the overarching story of Rue and the other characters. Plus, she is dressed like Little Red Riding Hood, so it fits especially well.

I can’t wait to see all the changes made to the game before it is fully released. It already feels very polished, so I am very excited to try the completed version. If you are a fan of roguelike titles that are full of action and fun characters, Cinderia is a title that you need to check out! It is very addictive, so be prepared to sink a lot of time into it!