CrossCode

I really want to like CrossCode for what it tries to be. One can tell that there is a lot of passion and work of the developers in this game, trying to create an Action RPG inspired by the SNES era of videogaming. I even sometimes believe to sense a hint of RO in it, perhaps due to it's "MMO" setting. The Story sounds promising but needs a while to develop, while the soundtrack is decent. The art style is what you had expect with the promise of inspiring yourself on SNES games. The game has a massive focus on it's puzzle mechanics, often so much that the combat system or actual RPG aspects fade into background noise. Some games are an "Action RPG with occasional Puzzles". CrossCode is a Puzzle Game with occasional RPG elements. For someone who is into puzzles this can work and I went in with the expectation to like the game that way. The game wastes potential here and focuses for most of it's content on puzzles involving climbing up elevation levels in the world design to reach hard to access spots. Unfortunately, due to the art style, the lack of shadows etc. the depth perception in this game is terrible and you will spend most of your playtime looking for a ledge to climb up on to then jump onto another cliff and fall down over not assessing the height or distance of a jump correctly. Ever changing textures palettes probably do not help here. What seems to be the intended solutions on some jumps feels so awkward at times, that it is hard to believe that it is the intended solution. This includes but is not limited to jumps so far one had visually assume that they are impossible based on previous attempts on other cliffs, or weird jumps around corners hugging walls that make you feel like you just did just sequence break something by accident. I do not ask for "Yellow Paint" here, but the developers also miss more subtle ways of giving the player information he can use to approach environmental puzzles with anything but brute force. All of this ties into the Combat occasionally serving as a roadblock that is better handled by getting better gear. That better gear though is either a reward for solving some of the hardest climbing puzzles a region has to offer, or requires materials with some also requiring access to some of the hardest to access spots in a region. Basically the same outcome, whenever you find or trade for your equipment. The optional "overworld" puzzles not feel so optional. Additionally, there may be issues with running the game properly in higher resolutions/fullscreen mode depending on Operating System, which can be fixed by messing with the launch options (--use-angle=vulkan).

Most underrated game ever.

Maybe it's life changing later but the game starts off really strong with fast satisfying combat with intrigue and good aesthetics... For about 5 minutes and then does a complete 180 in the vibe. It dumps you into an extreamly bland and boring tutorial area, introduces a cumbersome projectile mechanic that is apparently a focal point of the game and makes you solve boring puzzles with it. Even worse that there is a bunch of forced dialogue with bland generic NPCs and then when you think it's done they then force you to explore the boring ship and talk to the boring characters...

If you enjoy the Link To The Past-type top-down Zelda games this is absolutely worth checking out. Fantastic dungeons, deep combat, meaningful upgrade choices, tricky puzzles, a narrative far better than I could have ever expected, and a cast of characters that are easy to love. The only real complaint I can levy is that side-quests suffer a bit from its MMO inspiration. A lot of "Go here kill x amount of y, go there and collect x amount of z" type things. But it's all very easy to forgive when everything surrounding such a small tedium is so excellent.

Looks good. Too many puzzles / Looooong puzzle dungeons. Damage sponge enemies. Annoying platforming.

Оглядываясь назад, вынужден признать, что меня зацепило, но задушило впоследствии. Игра отличная, хотелось бы продолжить, но я прекрасно понимаю, что опять задушусь от здешних боёв, исследований и квестов. Всё вроде максимально интересное, атмосферное и нетипичное (моментами), но... не могу пересилить себя и в полной мере насладиться. Но всем остальным, кто сумеет не задушиться, рекомендую.

just an amazing game nuff said. awesome graphics, real fun gameplay, good story and characters. on top of all that a cool setting a great music, cross code just has all the works is quite possibly my favorite game of all time now. luv it :)

This game embodies the idea of a "hidden gem" maybe more than any other game on Steam. The polish and "soul" is there. With that said, I don't think this rises to the level of the greatest modern indie games like hollow knight and celeste, but this is easily top of tier2. It's primarily a puzzle game, with some bullet hell (sort-of) combat. Good story and writing. There is very clearly a vision here, and I'm not sure how this game didn't blow up like so many of its contemporaries. I do think it is too long. I was losing steam around the Japan/Ninja section. A playthrough is 40+ hours.