Image: Furyu Corporation & Winning Entertainment Group

Note: Due to Valve's release queue issues, the game SHOULD be out now... but isn't. The developers have shared a notice about the issues. We'll be updating this article when it's properly live, but in the meantime, there's a demo to play.

FuRyu is an odd studio. Not just content to make games that feel like they're from a bygone era - specifically the PlayStation 3/Vita days - but even their release schedule is a bit wacky. Just a week from the release of survival horror shooter ANOMALITH, we've got CRYMELIGHT, the third in their 'Cry' series. Now a trilogy of loosely-related shoujo anime-styled action-adventures about sad, big-eyed gothic girls who draw power from their tears.

While the first two games - Crystar and Crymachina - were fully 3D action-adventure games (and the latter being an often-spectacular sci-fi parable), Crymelight is a very different beast. A painterly, watercolor roguelite with segmented paper-doll sprites and more than a few allusions to Alice in Wonderland. Similar in spirit to Hades, then, but again, feeling like a game slightly out of time. Were it not for the more modern gameplay design elements, this would feel right at home as a PS3 download-exclusive title. A niche that I am very happy to see kept alive.

Wonderland here is a bright and cute but violent purgatory, where dead, broken girls go, promised freedom if they can fight their way through several zones and defeat the Red Queen. Freedom to decide if they want to return to the world of the living, ascend to heaven, or maybe pick some other option. Between runs, an amnesiac, snarky and driven Alice (the player character, of course) hangs out at the Tea Party along with the other girls, competing to be the one to be granted a future - friends, but also rivals.

Much like Hades, this is where downtime happens, meta-progression currency is spent, and the story is moved forward as you advance through each character's personal plot arc, plus cashing in tears for the most significant progression of all. Confess and cry over the pain of death, pain of loss, yearning, and more. It's always been a core part of the series and feels especially fitting in a roguelike context where everyone's already dead and suffering.

The meat of the game is a very Hades-like hack-and-slash action progression through a series of chambers, each with combat and a reward. The biggest upgrades you get are poker cards that provide build-altering perks, and you can only hold a hand of five. They can be upgraded or discarded if you find one that better suits your build. From the little I've played (too many games), the combat does feel slick, and while it takes a bit of effort getting a feel for the spacing demanded of combat (the chunky paper-doll sprites are beautiful but perhaps a tad chunky), the fundamentals feel right.

Each of the characters has their own 'Wonder Cryme', a unique weapon that's summoned through pain. Alice has a floating crystalline skull-demon-thing that throws out anchors on chains, able to swing, smash, or grab using three different buttons. She can also grapple onto it using those chains and ride it like a magical chariot. It's vividly fanciful stuff, and while some comparison could be drawn to God of War, it's certainly more original than swords, spears, and hammers.

As runs continue, Alice also gets to equip smart-bomb-like consumable spells, and expand her move-set with an assortment of special attacks, perk-granting gear, and more. Again, familiar if you've ever played Hades, but given a fresh enough Alice in Wonderland spin that it's hard not to smile, even as Alice's memories slowly drip-feed in, revealing how she lived and died. One for the hot topic goth girlies, perhaps, but I still wanna play more of this one too. While there's potential here for it to get bogged down in either mechanics or narrative, I've few complaints about this one; the aesthetics and scope feel more within FuRyu's reach than Anomalith.

Crymelight should be out now, but at the time of writing, Valve's growing backlog of release approvals has stalled the game's release. We'll be updating this article as and when it's live, but in the meantime, there's a lengthy demo to dig into now.