Cinders

Genre: Visual Novel

Players: 1

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Review:

Cinders, released on the PC in 2012, ported to Nintendo Switch in 2019, and then brought to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2020, is a Visual Novel that offers a unique take on one of the oldest and most frequently re-told stories in the world, Cinderella.

If you’re at all like me, you may have lost some interest in the game at discovering its source material. By now, we’ve all undoubtedly seen countless versions of this fairy tale, and I think it’s fair to say many of them have not been especially compelling. We all know how it goes – Poor girl, evil step-sisters, evil step-mother, wants to go to the ball, denied her chance at doing so by her wicked family, granted the freedom to do so by magical fairy godmother, becomes the object of desire for the prince, prince tracks her down by her shoe size, the shoe fits, poor girl marries the prince, happily ever after. Whether the princess is animated by Disney, played by Brandy, or just one part in the convoluted narrative that is Into the Woods, we’ve all seen this story.

This is why Cinders surprised me so much. Because for the first time I’ve ever seen in a telling of this story, we have a Cinderella story that makes sure each of these characters is a three-dimensional person – Cinderella, the step-mother, step-sisters, the prince, the prince’s captain of the guard, the fairy godmother (which in this game is a role that gets split into two characters). No longer simply “good” or “evil”, each of these characters now has a full personality and a reason for acting the way they do.

However, even more than this, the game uses this deeper exploration of these characters’ personalities to examine their interpersonal relationships. The step-sisters quarrel with you, but also with each other, why is that? The prince is seeking a bride, but how does doing so through a grand ball fit in with the political situation he’s currently in? And is help from the local “witch” supernatural in nature, or not… and does it even matter?

At multiple points, in countless ways, Cinders explores the Cinderella story with fresh eyes and finds interesting things to say about it, and perhaps the most interesting is when you, the player, make choices that differ from the classic tale. Perhaps Cinderella doesn’t seek salvation in the arms of the prince, but in the captain of the guard, who has his own hidden depths. Or perhaps she doesn’t find happiness in the arms of a man, but in discovering her late father’s will. Perhaps the best option for everyone is for Cinderella to patch up the toxic relationship she has with her step-sisters… or maybe even her step-mother? That the game includes all of these and more as potential avenues for the story to explore based on your choices is not only fascinating, but it makes this age-old story take on new qualities where you really don’t know which way it’s all going to go.

It helps that the writing in this game is razor-sharp, with each character not only blessed with their own unique personality, but with incredible wit as well. And even if you try to push Cinderella (here called Cinders, as in the title) down the same path as the classic story, you’ll still likely be surprised at the path the game takes from time to time. Even in following the classic tale, you get to decide if Cinders is a romantic and an optimist, a shrewd and calculating strategist, or a conniving schemer to rival her step-sisters.

While not as noteworthy as the story, the presentation here is nevertheless excellent, with some lovely hand-painted backgrounds, and some nice full-body character portraits. There’s minimal animation, but it all looks quite nice regardless. This is backed by a nice orchestral soundtrack befitting such a smart telling of a classic fairy tale, with great themes like Fairy Tales, Born From Decision, Swept Away, Weary of War, and Romantic Interlude. All told, I don’t think this game’s presentation is quite as good as its writing, but it’s still very nice.

I should also mention that this game does support both gamepad and touchscreen controls quite nicely, though that hardly matters all that much – this isn’t the sort of game that requires manual dexterity or has you moving through a wide variety of complex menu choices. You need only decide between two or three options at pivotal moments, though these moments do come up fairly frequently.

In the end, Cinders isn’t a game that reinvents the Visual Novel genre. It doesn’t have any particularly clever or revolutionary new game mechanic and it doesn’t have any particularly stunning presentation elements. What it does have is extremely good writing with a fascinating exploration of an age-old story that breathes new life into characters who in other works are often one-dimensional, along with a story structure that lefts players really feel as if they’re having an active role in retelling this classic story, or steering it in an entirely new direction. And in this regard, Cinders is an absolute success. If you’re a fan of Visual Novels or simply interested in a game that takes a classic story and makes it fresh and new again, you should absolutely give Cinders a try.

tl;dr – Cinders is a Visual Novel that takes the classic Cinderella story and breathes new life into it with excellent writing, three-dimensional interpretations of the old story’s characters, and choices that actually matter to the flow of the story. There’s nothing truly revolutionary here to change the Visual Novel genre, but rather a game that makes use of the genre to its fullest, and anyone who enjoys a good, well-told story should absolutely give it a look.

Grade: A-

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