alias_sqbr

I just finished the visual novel Cinders for the third time and it was great. It's a clever interactive retelling of the Cinderella story, all the characters are complex and you can choose to befriend or alienate any of them, from the Prince to the stepmother, and either go for the fairy-godmother-and-Prince ending or something totally different. (My most recent playthrough I was horrible to everyone and became an evil queen. IT WAS GLORIOUS)

It's well put together too, the art is gorgeous (if sometimes a bit stiff and uncanny valley) and the music very effective. It revels in it's fairytale-ness, with sparkles everywhere (the text has rainbow sparkles), but the romances are understated and quite sweet, and it has a surprisingly complex approach to morality.

There's a demo but I decided to just buy it since I like supporting indie games and it was only $25. I'm glad I did.

My tumblr dash has been going on about it, there's a fan tumblr which the devs apparently pay attention to (!) as well as a wiki which I intend on using when I decide to have a go at the endings I couldn't get to by following my gut.

(Oh, and since I wasn't the only person worried by the voodoo-esque witch character Ghede: she's well written, and not a stereotype. In fact no reference is made to her ethnicity/culture at all, which has it's own issues but never mind)