Roguelikes and I generally don't mix. I find that their narratives aren't compelling to me - the endless cavalcade of new generated rooms, layouts and spaces without distinct purpose. I have yet to find one that I find artistically provocative. Unfortunately, Cinco Paus feels about as basic as they come.

It's impressive how it all comes together. The premise is that you get five different wands with randomized effects each time you play, and you don't know what the effects are until you use the wands and see them in action. Each enemy has a different amount of health, and attacking them while adjacent to them deals damage to you as well. Each room is like a puzzle of experimentation. I will say, though, that's a bit hard to parse what the wand effects do - the game doesn't really tell you what the symbols mean and it can be easy to forget.

But those core mechanics are the only mildly interesting thing about this game. There is nothing underneath them, they aren't telling me anything about anything other than themselves. It's really a shame, I was interested in this game because I'd never heard about it before! But the core gameplay loop just feels like a distilled roguelike experience, even moreso than the average roguelike - which is not a compliment. What is the point of a strong set of systems when those systems aren't in service of anything else? I don't know. Maybe you can figure that point out for yourself, but for me, it's just not interesting.