Was Cinderella as passive as Disney make out? You decide!
I've always been a fan of Visual Novels (VN's), some more savoury than others, however here in the west you can either buy from JAST and other places online for £20-30 or not at all.
Cinders is extremely refreshing, not only for the fact that it isn't a Japanese developer and there is a certain lack of sex in it (By all means not a bad thing) but it has clear choices throughout that equal the different endings. By the end of your first run through you will have a clear vision of how much work is ahead of you if you wish to obtain all of them.
Cinders, as you have probably guessed, is about Cinderella. Her father is gone, she's left with 2 fairly uptight sisters and a vicious step mother. We assume these things because of how Cinderella has been portrayed in the past. In reality, or virtually, her mother is trying to rescue their lifestyle whilst giving her daughters the upper hand, because your own children always come first, one sister- Gloria- is trying so hard to walk her mothers footsteps there is a rod inserted... and Sofia just wants to be left alone to read in her own room, but she seems to have more promise for being nice for Gloria.
I assume in the course of the game there are 4 main outcomes involving 3 men. The Prince Basile (or Basil, not entirely sure as he's called Basile throughout but in their splash screen for his character they called him Basil, let's hope Moacube notice and rectify it), Captain Perrault (My personal favourite on my first run through as he has a certain Kingdom Hearts love of belts and a realistic look on life) and Tobias (Childhood friend to Cinders, expanding entrepreneur of his own business and a very real escape for our dear girl).
I have to admit I'm not fond of Tobias and I would like more interaction with the prince but maybe my love of these characters is more understandable when I explain my path through the game.
It was a dark and lonely night, with a small candle to light my way. I jest. I sat down to play Cinders and paid my £18 fee and very quickly booted up the game. Remember there is a full screen option and you can use the enter key if your clicking finger is getting tired. I suggest using two fingers, it seems to be less stressful on the hand. The story began where it ends, this scene never changes even at the other end of the game, Perrault barges in demanding Cinders appearance, the rest of the game is a flashback, though fortunately not a Naruto flashback.
From here on there are choices galore and several save slots so you can go back to points without starting over. I played with Cinders life, I suppose, the way I would have played my own. Plagued by having a mother who never brought me up and hasn't spoken to me in years may have left me a little jaded. I didn't particularly want the kingdom as I feel being a Queen is just too much hard work and Tobias was just too tame for me.
(Spoilers below)
I aimed for the good captain, I flirted with him, I suggested we run away together, we didn't know each other well at all, and then...it fell apart. I wanted him to arrest my step mother and he took an instant dislike to me. I was devastated, my ending was to take back my family home, have sisters who despised me, a mother who became a shadow of her former self, a kingdom that loved me but no man that did. I was alone and married some crummy aristocrat later on where I no doubt die a lonely bitter death.
The plus side you ask? Save when you see important choices and return to them to see what happens with the other options. There are many variations and I've still only done 50%of the endings for one of the categories, which there are 4 of. I went back and aimed for the Prince but with my previous paths I already lost my heart to another so it was a loveless marriage with many other factors I won't spoil here, but the point is;
(Spoilers end)
Your choice's matter!
If you want Cinders to be a b*itch you can, if you want her to be passive, you can, if you want her to have flowers streaming from her rear end, you can. It's the best VN I have played in years, I'm contemplating doing another run through for more endings, and this time I won't befriend the good captain, I'm interested to see how I fall for the prince. Maybe it's similar to one of the characters in Princess Debut where you must refuse everybody in order to obtain him, maybe...
My leaving thoughts on Cinders are= Buy it with a great aplomb!
But also the characters are well rounded, even Madame Ghede the Voodoo witch and the great fairy whom you won't hear about from me here. There are still a few spelling errors in the end part of the game, though I only noticed about 3 which was impressive for such a text heavy game. The art style is divine and reminds me of Alfonse Mucha.
Give them your money!
Visit Moacube to purchase the game on Mac or Pc.
