Everyone knows the classic fairy tale of Cinderella, where a girl is treated as a slave by her stepmother and two stepsisters, often befriending animals who come to her aid, and help her unite with her Prince Charming. Cinders from Crunching Koalas could not be further from the vision that Disney made popular. This visual novel retelling has a unique art style, and the sheer volume of options for the player to take means multiple endings and consequences to certain actions taken.
It would be a mistake to call Cinders a dark version of Cinderella. It is not the honey sweet version children are told, but it is not all doom and gloom either. A happy ending can be reached without Cinderella marrying her Prince Charming – it all depends on what the individual player defines as happily ever after. That may be Cinderella remaining single, but being true to herself.
Like all visual novels Cinders has hundreds of options to take. It is wise to save often, so if an outcome from certain choices is unfavourable, that section can easily be replayed with different choices made. This reviewer played the game as if making their own choices, and surprisingly, just as in real life, choosing certain options assumed to have a particular outcome led to unexpected events.
A great deal of emphasis is placed on the complexity of the characters. The stepmother does seem to be mostly evil no matter what she does. Any small kindnesses do not wipe out the numerous injustices she inflicts on Cinderella. It is everyone else who has deep characters. The prince is not perfect, and has a lot of conflict in his life. Side characters are introduced, who aren’t in the popular versions of the fairy tale: their role may seem small at first, but they can really muck up Cinderella’s plans. The way the fairy godmother is portrayed, for example, gets quite spiritual.
The best characters who Cinderella interacts with are her step sisters. They are the ones whose true characters are hidden, because of the expectations their mother has on them. They are not innately cruel – there is kindness and good in them, it just gets eclipsed by their desire to please their stepmother to avoid punishment. Cinderella’s presence helps take the pressure off them a little, but as they open up to Cinderella it is impossible to continue hating them and their cruelty, as they are victims in every way that Cinderella is.
