Japanese publisher and developer FuRyu has announced the brand-new title CRYMELIGHT, scheduled to launch on November 5 this year for PC (Steam), PS5 and the Nintendo Switch 2. CRYMELIGHT comes as a standalone successor to FuRyu’s dark bishojo action game series, preceded by 2018’s CRYSTAR and 2025’s CRYMACHINA.
Contrary to its predecessors, CRYMELIGHT is a roguelite action game with a macabre Alice in Wonderland-themed setting (the codename “Project Alice,” which was teased throughout the past few days, makes a lot more sense now). The title is set in the afterlife, in a prison called Wonderland where the souls of the dead are held captive and must “confront their sins” to be freed. The protagonist is an amnesiac girl, assigned the name Alice by her guide, the White Rabbit. Without any recollection of her life before and after her death, Alice is invited into Wonderland and led to participate in a death game. The rule of the game is that “only those who defeat the Queen, the ruler of the realm, can gain freedom.”
Resolved to win the game and return to her original world, Alice joins forces with Mary, a weak, mysterious girl who wandered into Wonderland as an uninvited guest. With every encounter Alice has with the “sins” of other participants during battles, her memories gradually begin to return, simultaneously inflicting her with pain.
Moving onto gameplay, CRYMELIGHT is structured around two distinct spaces that the player moves between. The core combat takes place in Wonderland, while a separate hub area, the Tea Party Venue, functions as a place for upgrades and story progression (setting-wise, this is where the girls come to “relax” and atone for their sins).
In the combat section, the game plays like a roguelike action title with strategic elements. Battles revolve around defeating enemies using weapons tied to the concept of “sin,” and doing so triggers a unique mechanic in which the enemies’ “dying screams” create a special expanding field beneath the player. This field grows bigger the more enemies you defeat, and the larger it becomes, the more it buffs your abilities and speed. The exact way this system affects you changes depending on the skills you acquire, adding to the variety of runs.
Interestingly, CRYMELIGHT also comes with a card-based deckbuilding mechanic modeled after poker. Throughout a run, you collect skill cards designed like playing cards, and maintain a hand of five at any given time. At the end of each stage, you’re presented with a choice of three cards and must select one to add to your hand. The goal is to form synergistic “hands,” much like in poker, which can dramatically change your attacks and combat style. With that in mind, deciding which cards to keep and which to replace seems to be an important part of gameplay.
The sins accumulated through battle can be purified in the Tea Party Venue by confessing, converting them into resources for enhancements and the like. This is also where you’ll have casual conversations with the other girls and get to review information about defeated enemies.
CRYMELIGHT launches on November 5, 2026 for PC (Steam), PS5 and the Nintendo Switch 2.
