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CiniCross

CiniCross Game Cover
84%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:gameplay, music
Most mentioned negative aspects:optimization, grinding
84% User Score Based on 350 reviews

Platforms

LinuxPCSteam DeckWindows
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CiniCross Game Cover

About CiniCross

CiniCross is a single player tactical management game with fantasy and dark fantasy themes. It was developed by Hydrobates and was released on February 11, 2026. It received positive reviews from players.

CiniCross is a dark fantasy roguelite built around nonogram puzzles (also known as Griddlers). Descend into a cursed dungeon where every puzzle solved brings you closer to powerful enemies, and greater rewards. Increasing difficultyThe deeper you go into the dungeon, the more complex the puzzles become. Solve procedurally generated nonograms of various grid sizes from 5x5 to 20x20. Risk grows…

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CiniCross screenshot
CiniCross screenshot
CiniCross screenshot
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Reviews

84%Audience ScoreBased on 350 reviews
gameplay18 positive mentions
optimization3 negative mentions
  • Unique and creative fusion of Picross/nonogram puzzles with roguelike mechanics that refreshes the puzzle genre.
  • Engaging gameplay loop with satisfying progression, diverse artifacts, and inventive boss mechanics that provide varied challenges.
  • Solid presentation with charming pixel art, atmospheric sound design, and a responsive developer community actively patching and improving the game.
  • Balance issues allow powerful artifact combinations that trivialize puzzles and eliminate the time challenge, leading to repetitive and sometimes tedious gameplay.
  • Lack of mid-run saving option forces players to complete long runs in one sitting, which can be frustrating given run lengths and occasional performance issues.
  • Some bosses’ mechanics are either overly punishing or annoying (e.g., screen flipping, puzzle obscuring), and certain UI elements and controls (especially on controllers/Steam Deck) feel clunky or unintuitive.

  • gameplay

    93 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    19% positive mentions, 73% neutral mentions, 8% negative mentions

    The gameplay of this game offers an innovative blend of classic nonogram puzzles with roguelite mechanics, providing a fresh and engaging challenge that rewards logical thinking and strategic decision-making. While the core puzzle-solving is praised for its depth and evolving complexity, many players find the time-based mechanics and certain balancing issues—such as overpowered items and inconsistent boss variety—can sometimes detract from the experience. Overall, it presents a compelling, if occasionally frustrating, fusion that reinvigorates picross gameplay with roguelike progression and tension.

    • “Rather than existing as isolated brain teasers, the nonograms become the primary mechanic that drives exploration, progression, and decision-making, resulting in a hybrid that feels refreshingly different from both traditional puzzle games and standard roguelites.”
    • “Its procedural progression, meaningful decision-making, diverse artifact system, and steadily escalating challenges create a satisfying gameplay loop that rewards both careful planning and logical thinking.”
    • “By confidently combining strategic dungeon exploration with rewarding puzzle mechanics, Hydrobates has crafted a distinctive title that stands out in both genres.”
    • “Unfortunately, I feel that Picross pushes too much towards the timer as the main balancing mechanic in a way that drowns out the rest of it.”
    • “I like the idea of being able to tackle harder puzzles early to scale harder but with the way the limited time mechanics work you can sometimes just get an impossible node on your map where it's a puzzle that's too big and difficult to reasonably solve in the couple minutes you have.”
    • “The relic slot machine is a very frustrating mechanic.”

  • music

    17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    41% positive mentions, 41% neutral mentions, 18% negative mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its quality, complementing the art and gameplay with a charming, spooky 8-bit style soundtrack. However, many users note that the limited number of tracks makes the music feel repetitive over time, and the lack of in-game volume adjustments can be frustrating during longer play sessions. Overall, while the soundtrack is impressive for a debut title, additional variety and better audio controls would enhance the experience.

    • “Great music, lovely animations and graphics, 10 out of 10, highly recommend!”
    • “If you like picross, minesweeper, roguelikes, spooky 8bit music, this one's for you!”
    • “I'd love to see more music added, it's criminal how good the few songs here are.”
    • “You need to exit and restart a run if you want to change the music volume, for instance.”
    • “Presentation is solid, but a couple more music tracks and level themes might have helped reduce monotony.”
    • “Sound effects and music are bland, and the mixing is off.”

  • optimization

    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    18% positive mentions, 55% neutral mentions, 27% negative mentions

    The game suffers from several optimization issues, particularly with performance drops and slow loading times in late-game floors and specific screens, impacting overall gameplay smoothness. Users also report bugs, crashes without autosave, and repetitive elements that further hinder the experience, though the developer appears responsive to feedback for improvements.

    • “Overall the game is well built from a quality and performance perspective, although I did see one major performance hiccup with a specific relic configuration.”
    • “I do wish there was a bigger item pool and there are some performance issues as of the writing of this review, but I'm hopeful that those will be addressed as the developer seems very responsive to feedback.”
    • “Entertaining but very buggy and poorly optimized.”
    • “There are performance issues at the late game with loading each puzzle.”
    • “Lastly, as of patch 1.0.4, I am still seeing performance issues in later floors (like 9+).”

  • graphics

    9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    44% positive mentions, 23% neutral mentions, 33% negative mentions

    The game's graphics feature a charming retro and 8-bit aesthetic with lovely animations that enhance the gameplay experience, though some find the style reminiscent of other titles like Loop Hero. While visually appealing and complemented by cool effects, certain design choices, such as the gambling-themed reward interface, may feel out of place to some players. Overall, the graphics contribute positively but are seen as secondary to the gameplay itself.

    • “Great music, lovely animations and graphics, 10 out of 10, highly recommend!”
    • “It has a cool retro aesthetic.”
    • “You get the artifacts you need, you get good look on your paths through the levels, and by the time you reach the depths, you are just so powerful; solving the puzzle becomes a bit of a glorious graphical overload, as every few marks a column auto-fills, or an error causes a burst of explosions that reveal patches of the puzzle, while healing you.”
    • “My main complaint, and this is in 'we can't do anything about it at this point' territory, is that the game apes Loop Hero's aesthetic a little too much.”
    • “The 8 bit graphics are a detriment; it's hard to read the numbers.”
    • “My bitterness is not helped by the out-of-place gambling aesthetic; despite a lonely delve into a dungeon, rewards are doled out via slot machine and roulette wheel.”

  • replayability

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    60% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 40% negative mentions

    The game offers a decent level of replayability through randomly generated puzzles and varied strategic choices, keeping runs fresh initially. However, many players find the overall experience short-lived, as content can be fully explored within a few sessions, and balance issues or lack of a solid clue system can reduce long-term engagement.

    • “Since every journey is randomly generated, each run presents different puzzle layouts, rewards, and strategic decisions, giving the game a high level of replayability that keeps repeated attempts engaging rather than repetitive.”
    • “Don't get me wrong, it's a really cool game with tons of replay value, but it doesn't even have a proper clue algorithm and thus it turns most of the puzzles into a guessing game, which inevitably will kill most of your runs on higher difficulties.”
    • “The replayability is largely there.”
    • “For a roguelite, it doesn't have very long replayability; you'll see everything the game has to offer in only a few runs (provided you win them). While it's a good time, you'll notice it's nothing really all that stellar.”
    • “If the game was balanced better, then perhaps it would be more playable, but I got bored after just 3 hours once I got enough of everything to not care about damage.”

  • grinding

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game is described as time-consuming and somewhat tedious, particularly for late-game floors and difficulty-based achievements. While some find it challenging and engaging, others feel the balance leans more toward tediousness than genuine challenge.

    • “Has some very grindy and very challenging achievements.”
    • “Grinding achievements: yes, beating floor 15 and the difficulty achievements are grindy.”
    • “The most grindy achievements are for floor 15 (this is just time-consuming, because by that time, the timer isn't the challenge anymore) and mostly the difficulty achievements.”

  • atmosphere

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    75% positive mentions, 25% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game’s atmosphere is enriched by charming pixel art and a blend of fantasy adventure with mysterious dungeon exploration, creating a visually appealing and immersive environment. Its unique focus on speed and slick gameplay, combined with atmospheric and sometimes creepy tones, keeps players engaged and adds to the overall addictive experience.

    • “The game's presentation supports its atmosphere with charming pixel art that balances fantasy adventure and mysterious dungeon exploration.”
    • “The combination of visual charm, atmospheric environments, and evolving gameplay mechanics helps maintain momentum throughout each run.”
    • “Also love the presentation and atmosphere; it's a really creepy but fun game.”

  • stability

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game is entertaining but suffers from significant bugs, optimization issues, and occasional freezes potentially linked to item bonuses. Despite UI glitches and inconsistent gameplay balance, players still enjoy the experience overall. Stability improvements, especially fixing freezes, are needed.

    • “Entertaining but very buggy and poorly optimized.”
    • “9/10 (please solve the freezes. I think they may be due to some bug with the item's bonus stat because I generally have 5+ items per slot on the rewards screen when it happens).”
    • “The pendulum does swing pretty wildly between outcomes being decided by puzzle skill or item interactions, and there's definitely some UI glitches.”

  • humor

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The humor in the game is highlighted by entertaining and memorable bosses, especially the jester, who brings a genuinely funny yet sinister vibe. However, some comedic elements may be overshadowed by technical issues during gameplay.

    • “Some of the bosses are genuinely evil and/or funny but still evil.”
    • “The jester boss is really funny.”

  • story

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users feel the story is lacking and could be improved by combining elements or adding meaningful consequences, wishing the game focused more on narrative while retaining its core puzzle gameplay instead of following typical indie roguelike trends.

  • emotional

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Players find the game emotionally engaging in the early and mid stages due to its challenging puzzles, but the late game and endless mode feel tedious and less enjoyable. The high difficulty is appreciated by enthusiasts, though newcomers may struggle without prior experience with similar puzzles.

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Play Times

1000h Median play time
1000h Average play time
1000-1000h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

CiniCross is a tactical management game with fantasy and dark fantasy themes. Common tags for CiniCross include indie, roguelite, pixel graphics, relaxing, retro and others.

CiniCross is available on PC, Steam Deck, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 1000 hours playing CiniCross.

CiniCross was released on February 11, 2026.

CiniCross was developed by Hydrobates.

CiniCross has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked CiniCross for its gameplay but disliked it for its optimization.

CiniCross is a single player game.

Similar games include DemonCrawl, Die in the Dungeon, Peglin, Rogue Tower, SpellRogue and others.