In the massive indie section at Tokyo Game Show 2026, I had the chance to explore Japanese developer and publisher FuRyu Games’ impressive booth and sit down for a demo of Crymelight. Mixing Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with the “death game” genre popular in Japanese fiction (though more aesthetically faithful to Lewis Carrol’s novel than Alice in Borderland), Crymelight is an isometric roguelite action game with emphasis on a visual novel story.
After an impressive anime opening with music by Sakuzyo and animation by Riri Yamashita, the demo began in a theatre patronized by the Queen of Hearts. Crymelight has a pop-up storybook aesthetic, with chibi anime sprites moving and flipping around in a way that reminded me of Paper Mario. I played as a blonde-haired girl—later to take on the name Alice when she can’t remember her prior life in the real world—and fought the Queen in vain before I was cast down and turned into a blue butterfly.
As the butterfly, I fluttered (and learned to run and dodge card knights) until I escaped to the Tea Party, which acts as Crymelight’s hub between runs. The cast of characters are cutesy anime girls inspired by Alice characters: Mad, who also acts as your blacksmith to upgrade weapons; the shy and unconfident March; the free-spirited, unpredictable Cheshire; and Mary, a “Nothing Spirit” who has slipped through the cracks and fallen into the Limbo-like Wonderland without an invite. For now, poor Mary is content to help Alice earn her freedom.
As for the other girls, they’ve been gathered to participate in a contest to kill the Queen of Hearts and thus earn their freedom—either to reincarnate or move on to the afterlife. Thankfully, the girls get nowhere by killing each other, so there were no Battle Royale betrayals yet. Shiro, a little girl in a bunny hood who parallels the White Rabbit, explains all of this very casually.
It’s a high-concept take on a familiar setting. Interestingly, Alice herself is abrasive and rather rude, so she cuts through many of the narrative tropes that Crymelight could otherwise fall into.
Passing through a magic door, I began a run through a rose garden populated by card knights and projectile-spewing flowers. Alice moves quickly and can dodge or otherwise interrupt enemy attacks with her Wonder Cryme, a wish-fuelled chain sword of sorts. Clearing a room lets you pass into a flowchart where you can select the next room based on potential rewards. Mostly, I sought to collect cards, which grant passive abilities such as a damage or health increase, and complement other cards based on their suit and number or face.
As cards are picked up, bonuses can be granted similar to a game of poker—pairs, straights, and the like. With a full hand of five cards, the hand levels up and new cards become collectible.
Alice can only take a few hits, so my first run ended in just a few minutes. I switched the game’s camera from the immersive, pop-up style “Wonderview” to a more standard, overhead “Battleview,” where combat felt much easier. Alice can chain light and heavy attacks, dodge and do perfect-timing counterattacks, and grab enemies to either hurl them into each other or drag them behind her as she charges via her Wonder Cryme. Crymelight‘s combat is very punchy and satisfying, though it is easy to get overwhelmed or miss projectiles coming towards you.
Upon dying, I did have to repeat some story dialogue (which is odd, given that, though the clock reverses, Alice and Mary remain aware of each failure), but new scenes and revelations unlocked the further I got. Namely, dark charcoal-drawn scenes suggested fragments of trauma regained from the real world, revealing new info about the death game’s contestants and their motivations.
Crymelight‘s producer was on hand to assure me that once the unseen boss of the garden is toppled, there will be other areas of Wonderland to tackle, like the forest or even the house where Alice shrinks and grows towards the start of the book.
With intriguing story elements, fast and fun combat, and a very impressive level of polish, Crymelight won me over. We’ll see just how deep the rabbit hole goes when the game releases on Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and PC on November 5th, 2026.
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