A roguelike picross game sounds right up my alley. However, a few things hold this game back. For example, you can't save during runs but have to beat floor 15 for one of the achievements. Has some very grindy and very challenging achievements.
Approximate time to 100%: Unsure, as it is luck and skill-based, both at the same time. I would expect it to take over 20 hours, even when you're a pro at Picross/Nanogram games.
Estimated achievement difficulty: 8/10
Minimum number of playthroughs needed: Many, as it is a roguelike
Is there a good guide available: No
Multiplayer achievements: No
Missable achievements: No
Grinding Achievements: Yes, beating floor 15 and the difficulty achievements are grindy
DLC-Only achievements: No
Speedrun achievements: No
Time-gated achievements: No
RNG-achievements: No
Does difficulty affect achievements: Yes, it has achievements up to difficulty level 12, but you can only go a difficulty level further after beating the difficulty before that on that specific class, so find out first which class you like.
Unobtainable/glitched achievements: No
Gamepad or mouse and keyboard: I preferred to play with a mouse, as time is the most important aspect in this game
I hadn't heard of CiniCross before, but the moment I did, I was instantly hyped. As a lover of both picross and roguelite kinda games, this one had real potential for me, and on the first day, I spent 10 hours in the game, at first because I enjoyed it a lot despite some small UI bugs. However, over time, I couldn't ignore the downsides anymore, and it mostly went 10h because I was working on the achievement for floor 15, but you can't save in the middle of a run....
First of all, this game is not for people who are not familiar with Picross/ Nanograms, as it is very challenging from the start. It will also not be a good fit for those who like to play relaxing games. As this is a very stressful game. The timer is always your enemy.
So what is the idea of this game? You will solve puzzles while a timer ticks down. When you make a mistake or the timer ends, you will lose health. At the end of every puzzle, you'll get a fixed amount of time back. Over time, the puzzles will get bigger, and the timer will go down a lot faster. After every puzzle, you get small upgrades to keep up with the difficulty and timer. Think about things to help you solve the puzzle more easily, or to ignore a mistake. At the end of each floor, there is a boss battle where you have to defeat a boss using multiple Picross puzzles, and each boss has a special ability. For example, spinning numbers, being able to only see half of the numbers that switch every few seconds, the whole board flipping, a boss that will remove one of your solved blocks every 3 seconds or so, and more like that.
Most of those were fine and not too hard to handle, but a few I hate with a passion. For example, the one that removes solved blocks every few seconds is just so so annoying. Or one where the solutions are flipped, so where you normally had to place a block, you now have to place a cross. I totally understand why they are there, and it is awesome that the developer created 20 different bosses, but some are just so annoying to me. However, I can totally see that others might hate other bosses more than I do.
CiniCross also has some accessibility options I missed, such as a "no screen shake" option or a dyslexic-friendly font. And most of all, the option to pause the game mid-puzzle and to be able to save during a run. The no-pause option I understand, and most puzzles are small, but sometimes real-life calls come up and I can't wait. Having the screen covered so you can't solve it when it is paused would help, but I can also see this being abused by making a screenshot, solving it, and then just filling in the solution. In general this is fine, but at high floor levels during boss fights... You just can't take a break. And no save option for runs when having many floors, and achievements for getting to those floors is crazy. Some runs can take hours.
This sounds all very negative, but I also want to highlight that I did like the game a lot. It is unique and very challenging even for someone who plays Picross games regularly. The special abilities available during runs are nice and allow a few different strategies. Mid-run, it can feel really good when a strategy you tried to go for pays off.
Most of the achievements aren't too hard to unlock. Unlocking new classes requires a bit of grind for some, but nothing bad. 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. You have to beat difficulty 12 on a class of your choice, but the next difficulty level is unlocked by beating the one before that on that specific class. So, even before you go for that achievement, check which class you like most and maybe try to get the floor 15 achievement with that one to gain experience and get more starting benefits. And even after that, it will still be really challenging with on the higher difficulties, as the timer will tick down faster. I don't see myself completing the game; I already struggle with difficulty 5, let alone 12.
I give Cinicross 3,5 out of 5 stars.
3.5