Playing A Game Cinicross PC

Squeakross's more-free-puzzles updates didn't just pull me back into that cozy little rodent house; they also drew my attention to a nonogram-hybrid that I otherwise would've ignored: Cinicross, a rogue-like dungeon delver with timed puzzle challenges.

The "rogue-like" part is why I would've ignored it -- 'cause I tend to very rapidly tire of die-and-retry-based games. And after playing Cinicross's demo ... I'm still not into it, but! I'm glad to have given it a shot.

(And glad that more nonogram hybrids are getting out there, in general.)

Losing health points when you take too long to solve a puzzle, that part works pretty well; and the "loot" you collect for power-ups, like randomly revealing squares or safeguarding against mis-clicks - as weird as those effects can feel - are interesting little twists on the typical nonogram routine.

But the severity of health loss that follows the timer, and the depressingly-low amount of persistent experience points I got after a "run," left me with a sense of dread about the repetitive grinding it could take to make meaningful progress in Cinicross.

At least it's trying something more creative and exciting than Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, or PictoQuest: The Cursed Grids.