Published by FuRyu, CRYMELIGHT is the latest entry in the Cry series, following CRYSTAR and CRYMACHINA.
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| (Photo provided by FuRyu) |
Hello, and thank you for taking the time to speak with me! My name is Joonatan (also known as CheerfulJonsku), and I'm one of the founders, writers, and graphics designer of our little gaming site, Netto's Game Room. To start things off, could you tell our readers a little about yourself?
Hello.
My name is Takumi Isobe, and I am the Producer and Director of CRYMELIGHT.
In addition to overseeing the overall production and direction of the project, I have also been involved in the screen design, visual direction, and areas of development that are closely related to art direction.
CRYMELIGHT is a roguelite action game set in the afterlife known as Wonderland, where a group of girls must confront their respective sins as they fight their way through this strange world.
We are creating a world that is cute and beautiful, yet also distorted and cruel in places, and we hope players will be able to experience that world through both its story and gameplay.
It’s a pleasure to be here, and I look forward to speaking with you.
CRYMELIGHT takes inspiration from the classic Alice in Wonderland tale. What made you interested in using this scenario for the game?
I believe Alice in Wonderland is one of those stories that has continued to be loved by people around the world across generations.
I was personally drawn to Alice’s story from a young age. Even as an adult, I’ve continued to be fascinated by new interpretations of the world of Alice, such as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.
Alice herself is an incredibly pure and innocent girl, but at the same time, she is someone who finds herself alone in a world that she cannot understand. I felt that this made her a very natural fit for the kind of stories we have explored under the “CRY” name—stories about girls confronting pain and the unreasonable hardships of the world around them.
In CRYMELIGHT, a girl who has lost her memories is given the name Alice, and in the afterlife known as Wonderland, she must confront both her own sins and the sins of others.
We wanted to combine two key elements from Lewis Carroll’s original Alice in Wonderland: its absurd, strange, and somewhat frightening sense of fantasy, and the purity of Alice herself.
By bringing those elements together with the “CRY” themes of tears and sin, we felt we could create a version of Wonderland that is uniquely suited to CRYMELIGHT.
What made you interested in choosing the roguelike genre for your game?
Rather than choosing the roguelike genre simply because it was popular, with CRYMELIGHT, the decision came from the story itself.
There is a major narrative element involving the repetition of time, and we felt that the roguelike structure was the most natural way to express that idea as a game.
In Wonderland, the setting of CRYMELIGHT, the girls challenge the Death Game, are defeated, return to the Tea Party venue, and then set out to challenge it again. In other words, the idea of “trying again and again,” “returning even after failure,” and “gradually becoming stronger while getting closer to the truth” is already built into the story.
The roguelike genre felt like the perfect way to turn that cycle into a gameplay experience.
With every attempt, the route through the map changes. The Crime Cards you obtain change. Your build changes. And whenever you return to the Tea Party venue, you gradually uncover new conversations and fragments of memories.
Through this repeated cycle, the player also gets closer to the truth of Wonderland alongside Alice. We felt that this had a great deal of appeal, both as a story and as a game.
There is also something inherently appealing about having different choices to make with every run. In CRYMELIGHT, for example, we have a system where players use playing-card-inspired Crime Cards to create poker hands.
Do you take a powerful card? Do you aim for a specific poker hand? Or do you focus on strengthening the build you already have? The decisions, uncertainty, and anticipation you experience in each moment are a big part of what makes the roguelike gameplay enjoyable.
The repetition of the story and the repetition of the gameplay are closely intertwined. I believe that being able to combine those two forms of repetition is one of the greatest strengths of the genre.
From the trailer it's revealed that CRYMELIGHT is going to go into darker themes for its main story line. Want to share what inspired this direction?
The reason CRYMELIGHT delves into darker themes is because it is part of the “CRY” series.
While each “CRY” title is a standalone work, they share a common theme: stories about young girls confronting their own feelings and wishes through tears.
They are not simply about being cute, nor are they simply about sadness. We believe that exploring the emotions that lie beyond pain, loss, and regret is one of the defining characteristics of the series.
With CRYMELIGHT, we wanted to introduce the theme of “sin” in a much more prominent way.
The title “CRYME” is a combination of “CRY,” referring to tears, and “CRIME,” referring to sin.
Each of the girls in the game carries sins and regrets from their lives before death. These are not necessarily things that can be simply divided into good and evil.
They may have made mistakes precisely because they cared about someone.
They may have hurt someone despite wanting to save them.
Their love or wishes may have become twisted along the way.
We wanted to portray these emotions as realistically as possible, while still giving them the beauty and emotional pain that has come to define the “CRY” series.
The Wonderland setting is a world that is cute and fantastical, yet also irrational and somewhat frightening.
In this world, innocent girls are forced to confront their own sins. We believe that contrast is what gives CRYMELIGHT its darker tone and is one of the game's defining appeals.
Would you like to share a bit about the main character Alice herself and what was your design process for her, both story-wise and character design wise?
I think Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is an incredibly iconic character, known by people across generations and around the world.
To me, Alice is a pure and innocent girl, but she is also someone who finds herself lost in a strange world that she cannot understand. I wanted to carry that image over to the Alice who serves as the protagonist of CRYMELIGHT.
The Alice in CRYMELIGHT also finds herself lost in Wonderland with no memories of her past. Without even knowing who she is, she becomes caught up in the sins of the other girls and the Death Game taking place in this afterlife known as Wonderland.
In that sense, I felt that the original Alice’s image as a girl who wanders into an unfamiliar world was a very natural fit for this game.
However, when it came to the story, we didn’t want to place strict limitations on the character simply because she is “Alice.” While Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland serves as an inspiration, we gave Naoki Hisaya a great deal of freedom to develop the story and characters in his own way. As a result, I think we were able to create an Alice who is unique to CRYMELIGHT.
When it came to her character design, on the other hand, we were very conscious of making sure she conveyed both a sense of “Alice” and a sense of “Wonderland.”
YOGISYA, who is responsible for the character designs in CRYMELIGHT, has done a wonderful job of capturing the appeal of lolita fashion, as well as the cuteness and delicate nature of the girls. At the same time, there is a certain darkness and sense of fragility beneath their appearances, which I feel fits the world of CRYMELIGHT extremely well.
We also incorporated elements into the designs of Alice and the other Invitees that hint at their sins and pasts from when they were alive.
For example, based on what is shown in the demo, Cheshire was a girl who spent her life in a hospital bed. Because of that, her Wonderland design includes motifs around her waist that resemble blood bags and IV fluid bags.
Even when a character looks cute at first glance, if you look closely, you can see hints of their pain and past coming through. That contrast between cuteness and darkness is something we consider very important when designing the characters for CRYMELIGHT.
Alice is also cute, pure, and very much a protagonist, but as the story progresses, you gradually begin to see the things that she herself is carrying.
I hope players will pay close attention to that aspect of her character, as well as how she changes throughout the story.
So far in development for the game, what was your biggest challenge?
That’s a difficult question. (Laughs.)
There were certainly a lot of challenges throughout development, but if I had to pick one, I would say the biggest was figuring out how to balance the depth of the story with the pacing expected from a roguelike.
Generally speaking, the appeal of the roguelike genre comes from its cycle of challenging yourself repeatedly, failing, and then trying again. Because of that structure, there aren’t many roguelikes that also try to tell a substantial, story-driven narrative.
And that makes sense. If you have long story sequences every time the player repeats a run, it can quickly disrupt the pace of the game.
At the same time, CRYMELIGHT is a title that carries the “CRY” name. From the very beginning, making the story less substantial was never an option for us.
We wanted to properly explore the girls’ sins and regrets, Alice’s memories, and the truth behind Wonderland.
So finding a way to maintain the fast-paced, repeatable nature of a roguelike while still telling a deep story was a major challenge for us.
That’s why we’ve included features that allow players to skip conversations and events they have already seen.
But we didn’t want to stop there. When you choose to skip a scene, you can also view a summary of what happened.
The idea is that even if you skip conversations during repeated attempts, you won’t find yourself thinking, “Wait, what was happening here again?”
So you can feel free to skip them without worrying. (Laughs.)
You can also look back on story events you have already experienced through the diary in the library at the Tea Party venue.
This diary isn’t simply a summary of the story. It is written from Alice’s perspective, allowing you to experience what she was feeling at the time—who she was frustrated with, what she remembers, and what she has forgotten.
We wanted it to be something that lets players appreciate those emotional details as well.
Finding a way to preserve the pacing of a roguelike while delivering the kind of deep, emotional storytelling associated with the “CRY” titles is something we continued to think about throughout development. It’s an aspect of the game that we have worked on very carefully right up to the end.
I can imagine it can be quite the challenge to not only localize the game for multiple languages but also co develop it for multiple consoles, would you like to share how that process is like?
Localizing a game into multiple languages is certainly a very challenging process, but we also consider it an extremely important part of development.
We strongly feel that there are people around the world who are looking forward to CRYMELIGHT, not just in Japan. We sometimes receive passionate messages from overseas users through social media and Discord, and those messages are a great source of encouragement for us.
At the same time, we have also received some critical feedback regarding the quality of the translations, and I would like to apologize for that.
In particular, with development builds such as the Battle Demo and the demo, there were times when, due to event and release schedules, we were not able to refine the translations to the level of quality that the development team itself was satisfied with.
During game development, the Japanese script, UI text, tutorial messages, and other text can continue to be revised and added right up until fairly late in the process. Whenever that happens, the translations also need to be updated.
For example, we may still be making adjustments to the Japanese text right before submitting a demo. We might think, “This needs to be explained more clearly,” or “This wording doesn’t quite match how the feature actually works in the game,” or “This term doesn’t fit the atmosphere of the world.”
We continue making these kinds of changes right up until the very last minute. As a result, this can sometimes put very tight deadlines on our localization teams as well.
Of course, none of that is relevant to players. That’s why, for the full release, we are being more thorough than ever with our translation reviews and quality checks to make sure we don’t run into the same issues again.
The same applies to development for multiple platforms. To make sure the game feels comfortable to play in each environment, we carefully check everything from performance and operation to how the UI is displayed and how the controls feel.
Both localization and platform development involve a lot of behind-the-scenes work, and neither is particularly glamorous, but they are extremely important when it comes to making sure players can immerse themselves in Wonderland without anything feeling out of place.
We want players around the world to be able to enjoy CRYMELIGHT properly from day one, so we will continue making careful adjustments and checks right up until release.
Are there any future plans you can share with us?
Yes. First of all, the full demo is now finally available on Steam for everyone to play.
Until now, our communication has mainly focused on introducing the characters and game systems, as well as showcasing the action through the Battle Demo. However, I think those who have played the new demo are finally starting to get a glimpse of CRYMELIGHT’s story as well.
We have deliberately kept much of the story hidden up until now. The main reason is that we wanted players to experience the surprises for themselves.
We wanted players to enter the game knowing as little as possible, following Alice as she becomes lost in Wonderland and gradually encounters the girls’ sins and the strange nature of this world. We wanted that experience to remain as fresh as possible.
Now that the demo has been released, I feel that the story of CRYMELIGHT is finally beginning to unfold in earnest.
Going forward, we want to gradually share more about not only the game systems, but also the world, characters, and story that make CRYMELIGHT special.
We are also continuing to prepare demos for the Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5 versions.
We’ve also received a lot of questions from players asking, “Will the demo be available on platforms other than Steam?” We’re sorry to have kept everyone waiting.
We are already working on the preparations, so we hope you can wait just a little longer until we can announce the release timing. We really do hope to have an announcement for you very soon.
For now, we hope players will experience the beginning of Alice and the other girls’ story through the demo, and that it will build even more excitement for the full game.
We’ll continue sharing information carefully as we work toward the full release.
Is there anything else you would want to share with our readers?
Thank you very much for taking an interest in CRYMELIGHT.
Although CRYMELIGHT carries the “CRY” name, it has been created as a completely new story that can be enjoyed even by players who haven’t experienced any of the previous titles.
The game takes place in the afterlife known as Wonderland. The girls who are invited there must confront the sins and regrets they carried with them from their lives while fighting for their freedom.
It is a world that is cute and beautiful, but also slightly distorted and cruel. What will Alice and the other girls remember? What will they lose, and what choices will they make? We hope you’ll stay with them until the very end to find out.
This time, we have also put a great deal of effort into making CRYMELIGHT enjoyable as a roguelite action game, including the poker system built around Crime Cards and the gameplay loop where the characters gradually grow stronger through repeated attempts.
For those who have supported the previous “CRY” titles, I believe you’ll find elements that feel distinctly familiar. And for those discovering the series for the first time, I hope CRYMELIGHT can be the beginning of a new journey into this world.
Everyone on the development team is working hard to create a game that will move players, even if just a little, through the girls’ tears, their sins, and the light that awaits beyond them.
For now, we hope you’ll try the demo and step into Alice and the other girls’ Wonderland for yourself.
And please consider adding CRYMELIGHT to your wishlist.
We’re also active on Discord, where we share development updates, behind-the-scenes stories, answers to questions, and much more. We’d be very happy if you joined us there as well.
Thank you for your continued support of CRYMELIGHT.
Give meaning to their sins.
Finally, just for fun, which character or aspect of the game is your favorite?
When it comes to the characters… Honestly, I don’t think I could choose just one. (Laughs.)
Alice, Mary, White Rabbit, and all of the Invitees each carry their own different kinds of pain and hopes. They are all doing their best to live their lives, and I’m equally fond of all of them.
So I really couldn’t pick just one favorite.
As for the game itself, I’ve put a lot of thought into the visual direction and presentation this time around. There are many scenes where I personally worked closely on the storyboards and direction, so I have a strong attachment to all of them.
For example, the scene at the beginning of the demo where the curtain closes is one of those moments.
That scene is meant to feel like the curtain rising on a stage, inviting the player from the real world into Wonderland.
We’ve also incorporated a number of unique visual sequences that make use of the game’s central concept of repeating time.
I think there are quite a few moments that you won’t have seen in many other games—visuals and presentation that are very much unique to CRYMELIGHT—so I hope you’ll look forward to discovering them.
For more on CRYMELIGHT, you can visit the Steam Page to wishlist the game and play the demo.
And for more exclusive interviews like this, you can head over to our Interview Page!
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