CrossCode

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tried from rec of iron pineapple bad game i can see why its niche

Alright, I'm going to review this game from my very first impression all the way to 100% completion. Before diving into my first impression, let me share how I discovered it. I first saw CrossCode on a random YouTube channel. I can't remember the creator's name because I was just watching random videos at the time, but the YouTuber was completely glazing the game, calling it an unbelievable, hidden gem. After hearing him praise it so highly, I started to get interested. Actually, not *that* interested, just curious. After that, I bought the game. BTW, I didn't have high expectations at all; I was just randomly buying games on Steam to let them rot in my library (praying that someday I’d actually remember to play them, lol). But then, I realized this game is packed with puzzles... Welp, instead of being sad about it, I decided to just jump in and play. [h1]FIRST IMPRESSIONS (NO SPOILERS HERE)[/h1] Well... like I said, I didn’t have high expectations for this game. I just casually and randomly bought and played it out of curiosity, with nothing really hooking me at first. In the beginning, it felt just like any other normal RPG with a hack-and-slash system—you level up, spend skill points, buy equipment, and so on. BUT... after about 5-6 hours of playing, I found myself genuinely enjoying the game. I like that the menu UI is very clean, the pixel art is really beautiful, and the music is incredibly cozy. As for the story... honestly, I was just reading along at that point without fully catching on yet. I was only around Chapter 2-3, so nothing major had caught my attention; maybe I was just enjoying reading Emilie's dialogues more than Sergey's explanations, lol. In the end, I ended up playing [i]only[/i] this game for the entire week because I realized just how interesting it actually is. Alright, I think that's all for my first impressions. Moving on~ [hr][/hr] [h1]THE HONEST REVIEW (MAYBE SPOILERS)[/h1] [b]STORY[/b] At first, I didn't really care or pay attention to the story; I just read and read the dialogues. That was until I hit a point where it got genuinely interesting. For example, the world in this game is based on an MMO—meaning you are playing a single-player game, yet the story itself takes place inside a multiplayer game, which is pretty unique to me. Oh, and the first chapter was so ambiguous because it's about Lea, who is in a coma in real life, and Sergey telling her to play the game to regain her memories. Along the way, Lea meets Emilie and many other people. This is the part that makes the story more lively. I really enjoyed progressing through the story because of this; the characters have great chemistry and relationships with one another. Oh yeah, I almost forgot—Lea can't speak, so she has to express herself in other ways to communicate with people. At first, it felt a bit weird, but as the story moved forward, I can just say that I really liked how it all went. Now for the serious part: the plot twist. I’m going to say as little as possible about this to avoid spoilers, so I'll just describe how it felt. Well, I really love that the story isn't easy to figure out at all. There are so many plot twists in it. Okay, that's it. Overall, I really enjoyed the game's story. I especially liked Emilie and Sergey's roles in it. [b]MUSIC[/b] The music always makes me feel so cozy. I genuinely enjoyed grinding for 10 hours just to get some materials or doing side quests, all because of the amazing tracks they used. It’s great, calming music rather than annoying, repetitive OSTs. The Rookie Harbor theme is easily one of the best OSTs in the game—for some reason, I just really love it. [b]GRAPHICS & UI[/b] Since this is a 16-bit pixel art game, you obviously won't get Red Dead Redemption 2-level graphics, lol. But for me, the pixel style is still really good. While it might not be the most mind-blowing thing ever, it’s still beautiful enough to make you just stop and enjoy the view. I really love the attention to detail and the little touches they put into the pixel environment. As for the UI, I absolutely love it. It is incredibly clean and smooth. The transition when you press the shift key is super cool, and the same goes for the visual effect when you level up. [b]GAMEPLAY[/b] As for the gameplay, the combat feels quite similar to [i]Hades[/i]—a fast-paced hack-and-slash with RPG elements, but honestly, even better. The game has a lot of unique movesets, and there are 5 elements (including Neutral, of course) that you can seamlessly switch between right in the middle of a fight. There is also a circuit board system where you can unlock skills for every element and customize your combat arts. It’s easily one of the best features because it allows you to pull off so many different combinations. You'll unlock some of these elements as you progress through the story. As for the enemies and monsters, they are really unique when you confront them. Many of them have specific mechanics you need to exploit to break their shields or defenses, making them much easier to kill. You’ll find these types of tactical enemies in every region and dungeon. There is also a stagger bar; once it's full, you can easily break the enemy’s defense. Lastly, there are the puzzles... Honestly, I’m not a big fan of puzzle games, but this game is the exception. I really love how they integrated the puzzles into the gameplay. They are definitely not easy; most of them require you to switch between elements to make them work. It's incredibly cool how intuitive the elements feel when solving them. [b]CONS[/b] [list] [*]There is a bug with the achievements where you need to switch to using Steam Proton just to get them to unlock. However, running the game through Proton makes it feel very laggy during gameplay. [/list] [hr][/hr] I think that’s it. I haven't explained absolutely everything, but yeah... I got tired of writing this stuff, lol. Definitely a [b]9.4/10[/b] hidden gem.