灰烬之国 Cinderia Reviews

Fun game, cute lil guys that you can have on your runs (like lil kitty's and gingerbread men), had a harder time against the twins rather than the witch. -- Now that ive beaten the game I shall venture on beating the game with the other playable characters

The gameplay is very fun. Lots of build to choose from and each run feels like a new challenge to learn. The character and game art is very cute and adorable despite being set in a grimdark version of those childhood fantasy stories. The whole concept and execution of design is unique and works well for a roguelike. I cannot wait to see what other characters, areas and bosses are added as time goes on.

It's pretty good. One of the better action roguelikes for sure.

I just enjoy rogue lites and I see me continuing to play in the future and I spent 6.4 hours on my first play session. Simple to understand as exclamation marks will be shown showing which part is next to assist with your progression.

The game has potential however in it's current state I can't recommend it. Most characters have one useful build or just a single good skill while relying heavily on passives to do any actual damage. Everyone except Rue needs to have a round of buffs along with relics giving more stats. We also need a banish ability and more soul upgrades. The twin boss also needs to be worked on currently the fight is just a waste of time and with a bit of bad luck one twin can just afk offscreen until the other revives. TLDR: Most character's have one good build, most relics are mediocre, RNG can kill builds quickly, bosses are bland, upgrades do little to nothing.

Great early access, lots of replayability and very satisfying gameplay, love the vibe and art style. Looking forward to full release.

This game is everything I wanted Cult of the Lamb to be and so much more. If you liked the combat of CotL but didn't care much for the other stuff, THIS IS THE ONE. 10+ hours in and every run still feels new and different because of how many skills, passives, and items there are and how they all interact with each other. Combat feels fluid, hitboxes are good, no enemies so far feel unfair. Actual peak game. It's a good thing when your biggest problem with a game is that you might play it too much before full release and get burned out. This game is great for anyone who enjoys the typical "room-based" roguelite gameplay loop. It does it really really well, among the best I've played. Runs great on OG Steam Deck @ 10 TDP too for people who do that.

Now that I have finally cleared the final boss, I believe it is appropriate to write a review. Overall, my review is [b] positive [/b], but, it definitely has a good bit of [b] negative [/b] to it too that I hope to see improved upon in the future. [h1] The Positive [/h1] [h3] Character Selection [/h3] The character diversity is pretty neat, and almost every run feels entirely different when it comes to the builds. From one character relying on shadows, to another on blocking and parrying, so on and so forth, it feels pretty well rounded and very fun to play all the characters. I really am hoping for more in the future, but four for Early Access is really neat. The designs are also really tasteful and cute looking. [h3] The Shelter / NPCs [/h3] Building the shelter is really fun and brings in that addictive part of playing this game. It reminds me a lot of Cult of the Lamb where you are looking for villagers / npcs in the runs to send them back and help you along your quest in the future. It also is addicting because I believe each run will provide you with the perfect amount of materials to maaaaybe build another building, obtain a blessing, or unlock something for the future runs. Thus, creating an endless feedback loop of, get npc, build, get material, build, need more material, run, build, need more, etc. [h3] The Abilities [/h3] I really really reaaaaaaally love the abilities and have probably nearly used each one at least once. They're all unique and fun and can really make or break your run. They can also make one run completely different than the previous one even on the same character. I would definitely love to see more and more abilities come out to create even more unique runs. I really enjoy that each character right now has at least 2 minimum movesets from abilities. [h1] The Negative [/h1] [h3] Hit boxes [/h3] I have seen other reviews (both positive and negative) complaining about hit boxes, and I entirely agree with them. There are some late game enemies that can quite literally hit you despite being nowhere near you. Prime example of this, in the 4th area with the pyramid head-like enemies, their swing is already massive as it is but it can hit you nearly two character lengths away. This makes the game a tad unfair, and unpredictable. As another review stated, you have to use all your dashes all the time just to avoid the large hit boxes. [h3] The Powerscaling [/h3] Now let me preface: I don't have every single upgrade unlocked, I don't have every single item found, every building built, etc. That being said, the power scaling of enemies can get pretty wack pretty fast. I have 3 revives currently, and going into the fight with the Cinder Witch with all three of them was quickly depleted as she does 20+ damage per hit. I was very lucky to beat her with 5 hp remaining, but all of this to say that I didn't have debuffs that allow me to take extra damage, or the boss to do more damage. When enemies in the 2nd floor are already doing 9-14 damage per hit on the 2nd stage and you only start with a max of 70 hp.. it's a little bit of a power scaling issue. You're basically required to either be a glass canon, or a tank that does no damage with no abilities with the final two bosses definitely being a HP/DPS check. [h3] The Add Spam [/h3] Maybe this is a bit of a skill issue on my part, but The Darkmoon Court Fairy Queen gave me the hardest trouble with how much she spams Adds that have ranged attacks, while also spamming a mass amount of bullet hell herself. It makes it extremely difficult to dodge anything. On top of that, with her clones you would figure attacking the clones would make them disappear / stop attacking; this is not the case and there is no incentive to trying to clear her clones. Late game as well, more waves are stacked on and just feel particularly endless when they're doing a minimum of 15 damage, with 6+ big enemies in the room (and invisible ones as well), you can walk in with 150hp and leave with 5 in seconds. [h3] The inability to read or anticipate attacks. [/h3] Cinderia has a lot of enemies that give plenty of notice that they're about to attack and where they're attacking from [b] early game [/b]. However, the further you press on into the game the less anticipation you're provided (I would say around the 3rd area). From enemies leaving exploding rocks behind when they die, to hogs instantly attacking once you force the goat off them, to birds anticipating where you will be at any moment.. and don't even get me started on The Twins. I think just adding a little more visual keys would do a lot. For early access, this is one of the more fleshed out games I have seen in a while. Very addicting and fun to play but can be decently frustrating at times, and satisfying to win as well.

very fun game, every run feel different from the other no matter the character used

I'm not going to write a lengthy review because everything about the game is great, however, there is one thing I must insist on, PLEASE ADD CO-OP!!! I know it will greatly add to the complexity of development but in my humble opinion it would be so worth it. I'm willing at this very moment to buy copies of the game for up to 3 friends if it had co-op.