Recent reviews by K I K I

We'll keep this spoiler-free. The plot is okay - it's interesting at points, but really questionable at others - and the characters are okay, and the art is okay... It's just a very okay game overall. It's short, but if you buy it on sale, it's not a bad use of your time/money.

My major gripe is that the routes feel very... bland. At the very least, the relationships between the characters and Janet (the MC) feels rushed and out of place. For many of the characters, we never really see any bonding between them and Janet because you only play out the equivalent of 5 days. By the time the characters warm up enough to give you their backstory/explain their motivations, the game timeline is basically done - just as we can truly become interested and invested in the characters. This leaves a lot of the resolution to happen after the game timeline in the after-ending text, so it never really felt fulfilling to me because there was no relationship-building. The only relationship I can understand is the one with the "true" boy, as they work and bond together like no others. Janet herself is fine - she has some personality. Some of her actions make little sense considering the situation she's put into, but hey, it is an otome game after all.

There is a bit of a gimmick to choosing choices. In this game, you have a small mini-game of completing circuits to choose certain answers - like the old pipe flash games. Skipping through it is easy enough to get other endings, as you only need to complete the mini-game once per choice to "unlock" that choice for all future playthroughs. The save/load system is also easy and convenient, and as there are only 11 endings, you can keep track of your files. Also you can name the save files!!!

I went into this looking for an otome game, but Cinders isn't really your traditional one. I was pleasantly surprised, though.

Choices feel like they matter, since there are four main routes but ~4 varients on each route's ending depending on your choices/relationships with people. They're simple varients, but it's nice to have that option. Ultimately if you unlock each varient individually, you can mix and match them on the "Rewards" screen, where you can watch different endings. That's the first time I've seen something like that and I loved it. You can also shape the main character's personality with your choices, which is a lovely option. Ultimately it feels like a young girl growing into herself and making decisions about what her goals are for life, including love in some endings.

The art style is quite different from most otoge, but it's very well done. It did grow on me throughout the game. There are no typical CGs, but there is some character interaction.

Overall, it's a super cute game and it was well worth the price for me; I bought this on sale for $8. Definitely give this a shot if you're interested. There was a lot of care and love put into this for sure :)