CrossCode

An absolutely phenomenal game, I'd put CrossCode on the same level as Hollow Knight, Celeste, Pizza Tower, Gravity Circuit, Rain World, Darkwood, ULTRAKILL, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Star of Providence, etc. as a must-play indie title. To go over the things that probably don't need to be elaborated on as much, the game visually looks great. It's not quite the best pixel art you'll ever see, but the game is consistently visually appealing with detailed sprites, tons of animations, and characters that are expressive and have all the portraits they possibly need to show their emotions over the course of the story. The story is also great, with fun and interesting characters and covering some surprisingly deep and dark themes. Can't say much because I don't want to spoil it, but the story is a great compliment to the excellent gameplay. The soundtrack is also great, not quite top tier but it's got plenty of great tracks that suit the environments and story beats very nicely and make traversing the world enjoyable. The only thing I think could've been better would be different battle music for different areas as while the battle music is great, it does get a bit repetitive with how long the game's total runtime can be. Speaking of, the combat is excellent and one of the two pillars of the game. It controls smooth and the enemies are intelligently designed that you have to use different tactics for most of them, whether it's ricocheting ranged attacks into a weakpoint, timing an attack well to interrupt them, using a certain element or perfect blocking to stun them. What really makes the combat great is the elemental system. On top of your standard moves you can switch to 4 different elements you unlock over the course of the game, each of which alters your stats, allows access to a large variety of super-moves and allows you to inflict different status effects. Across all the different elements there are a few dozen of these, and it makes the combat incredibly deep while still being approachable with how it introduces portions of it over time. By the endgame you're utilising all of it in some challenging and incredibly fun, well designed fights. The elements also are part of the other pillar of the game, puzzles. You get a taste of these in the overworld you'll explore, which is fun to traverse being packed with secrets and chests you'll need to find ways of getting to higher elevation to reach. Once you get into the dungeons the puzzles really shine though, early on they're already a decent challenge but as you progress the elements get used in different ways and start being combined together to make for puzzles more complex than anything you'll find in Zelda. Not liking puzzles is the only thing that might be a reason to not get the game, but if you enjoy them at all this game has them in spades. The final dungeon in the DLC adds one new mechanic that combines with all the others to create some seriously mind-bending puzzles that are incredibly satisfying to figure out. To top it all off, the game is also jam-packed with content. Despite having almost 100 hours, I still haven't done all of the sidequests and have barely touched the arena with gauntlets of enemies and bosses. Some of the side-quests are your typical fetch quests or "kill X enemies" but the majority are all unique and engaging in their own right. Some involve optional side dungeons and/or new bosses, some have unique set pieces like fighting on top of moving cars, and some change the game entirely being fun mini-games that put a twist on the mechanics or make it a whole other genre like tower defence. The DLC is also well worth it, because the base game already has more than enough content to justify its price as well as New Game+ with all sorts of ways to modify a playthrough to increase the challenge or put twists on it. The DLC just adds even more, including two areas (one of which is basically a gigantic dungeon), a more satisfying ending and also a new final boss that somehow tops the already insane final boss of the base game. At the price it's selling for there is no reason not to buy the game if you're remotely interested. You'll thank yourself later. Consider getting the game on Good Old Games as it seems to go on sale more often there and you can get the game and DLC for $10 or less, which is an absolute steal for the quality and quantity of content on offer. It's truly a shame this game didn't get the attention it deserves.

It is overall a great game but not without its downsides. What I loved the most about the game are its characters. They were all amazing and very expressive. Dungeon and boss design is very good too. Loved the puzzles and boss fights. However, some standard enemies definitely felt like they thought about how they could make them interesting but didn't think about whether it would be fun to fight them over and over again.

Одна из лучших инди игр в истории. Буквально. Огромное количество контента, который исполнен на высшем уровне. Интересные головоломки, активная боёвка, прописанные персонажи и просто замечательная история. Так хочется написать обо всём, но это просто невозможно затронуть в одном обзоре, это нужно испытать и прочувствовать самостоятельно. Если есть сомнения насчет покупки - не сомневайся. Эта игра - скрытый самоцвет и о ней должно узнать как можно больше людей. <3

This is most likely the most polished indie game I've played , the puzzles are difficult but the combat is great top down action and simple to understand kind of like the Mana series or 2D Zelda but with more bullet hell elements , as of this review I have not finished the game yet despite how many hours I have in it but I think its worth it and a must have for any RPG fan.

Absolutely phenomenal game. top to bottom. Visuals, art direction, witty and charming writing, incredible music, and superb gameplay that only gets better the further into the game you get. Unlocking all 5 stances makes you feel like an unstoppable killing machine, and it's just superb. I do feel the endings could use a little more oomph, but it's the smallest blemish on what I otherwise consider an absurdly incredible, near perfect game. I cannot overstate how much I look forward to RadFish's next game, already got it on my wish list, watching closely~. And I will be cross if Lea doesn't cameo. lol

CrossWorlds is easily the best MMORPG I’ve played! My favorite class to play is the Spheromancer class but my best friend is a Pentafist main (she LOVES punching). The Operation Trackwalker storyline was an absolute blast and I’m really excited to see what Instatainment has planned for the rumored sequel. Until then I think I'm going to get all the Platinum medals in the arena!!!

CrossCode does an excellent job of achieving it's goal which is to essentially create a single player MMO which the world is set in. Unfortunately this means that it has all the failings of an MMO and that's where I had serious problems with it. I didn't like the characters. Just like many of the people who play MMOs and the characters that inhabit that world they are not only very one dimensional but immature. The character you play as acts like a woman in their teens and is both naive and annoying while having very little idea of what is going on. I would have loved a more mature and interesting female protagonist. The story is also drawn out (like an MMO) and not very good. I can't think of a single character I liked or a story beat that surprised or interested me. It's very slow moving and this often makes events feel inconsequential or tiresome. It feels like you're constantly forced to do random side quests from the hub that aren't interesting for characters you don't care about just like in a real MMO. I want to like the story but it feels like what should be an 8 hour story stretched to 40+ hours which is pretty brutal pacing wise. In addition to the story problems the game is simply a grind (again like an MMO) which I don't find to be fun. The quest are not well designed and the perspective makes the platforming and puzzling a chore. There's also so many pointless quests it's actually crazy, again like an MMO but I'm not playing an MMO and I don't care to do those quests even though I have to for XP and other benefits or else you're going to get smoked by the next boss or enemies in the dungeons. I like puzzle games but I think the amount of puzzles here is excessive and quickly grows tiresome. You're doing the same puzzles over and over again (especially in dungeons) and it becomes exhausting. They aren't interesting or unique enough to keep your interest. I am also not a huge fan of the combat. It feels okay but some enemies are so annoying to fight it isn't fun, especially when you have to fight them multiple times. Overall I think CrossCode was trying to do too many things. It's trying to be an RPG but the leveling isn't that great. It's trying to be story rich but the story is directly hampered by the world the game exists in (an MMO) which means the story moves extremely slowly. It's trying to have the characters which inhabit an MMO but let's be real most of those characters aren't that interesting or unique and the idea of treating MMO players like they are well written characters doesn't fit. Then it's trying to be a puzzle game but the puzzles aren't that fun, are frustrating due to the camera angle, and there are simply too many of them. It's trying to create an MMO world with the way quests are designed but we all know MMO questing isn't very fun or engaging, it's just tedium to gain XP. It's trying to have interesting combat and while I think it succeeds here to some extent there are still fights that aren't very fun. I wish I could recommend this but clearly since I was only able to stomach 16 hours before putting it down for good I can't. If you love MMOs and everything that comes with them (grinding, the attitudes/interactions of the players, a drawn out story that is extremely slow moving, etc.) and you can stomach a ton of puzzles you might like CrossCode. Otherwise pass on it.

A very solid hacknslashish platformer rpg. The music is beautiful in places and high energy in others, the plot is intersting, if a bit confusing at times, A real fun time all the way thorough!

Great game, but holy hell it started to drag at one point. The puzzles at one point started to just piss me off especially some of the routes where if you forgot the path to an area, you're effectively screwed until you remembered. The puzzles started to turn to being really interesting to a slog at a point. Maybe more QOL would've helped? Puzzles are fun until they start to melt your brain.

Pretty good game, with some flaws, definitely worth a buy. Graphics: Gorgeous pixel art. The style may not be for everyone, I would have liked something more gritty/epic rather than cute, but it is definitely very well made. Sound design: Pretty good, although not something I pay much attention to personally. Gameplay: Interesting, but a bit redundant after a while. You mostly have a 3 hits combo, and a ranged attack that bounces around. That bouncing ranged attack is used for puzzles most of the time. There is a skilltree, but it's really not that deep. nothing game breaking, and at no point did I feel like oh yeah if I switch these points around I should be able to beat that boss. Difficulty: More difficult than you'd think, but not dark souls hard. Story: I have not finished the game, but I'd say it's meh. Not great, not terrible. The writing is decent, I enjoy reading most of the dialog, and you can skip them somewhat easily. I wish they were a bit more interesting, or funny, but it's still better than most games. Design: This is where the game loses some points. The game has a lot of puzzles, some of them really not that obvious, and some that are just too precise to do with a controller. I had to use my mouse to make a couple precise shots, and I think that's just bad design, as you could keep the same puzzle while just being more forgiving on precision. Most bosses have gimmicks, and while the boss fights are generally interesting, sometimes trying to figure out how to kill them, while they kill you in one or 2 shots is not great. Either make the gimmick obvious, or make the boss weaker, so the player has time to explore solutions, instead of restarting 15 times to figure out what they have to do to pass phase 3 of the fight. Item drops/equipment felt mostly irrelevant. Not enough variety, you just keep using the "yellow" equipment, which is best, regardless of level. It often takes more effort to farm the monster drops to buy white equipment than it takes to go get the yellow equipment. Some enemies zoom around, and/or are invincible for long periods of time. This kills the game's pacing, as you have to wait an eternity for them to become vulnerable again. Enemies hit like a truck. You regain your HP after each encounter, but most of the time, you can get obliterated in 3-4 shots. Sure you could boost your survivability by going that way in the skill tree, but that just means the fight lasts longer as you deal less damage. Too many homing projectiles. 90% of the time you'll think you dodged an attack, but nope, it's homing and despite your well timed dodge, it just curves and hits you. Some homing projectiles make sense, but when for example a bull runs into a wall, and 2 columns of flame come out from either side of the bull, I expect those to travel in a straight line, not to curve to come hit me. All in all, pretty fun indie game, definitely deserves a try.

https://steamcommunity.com/id/justgravy/recommended/368340/ what Gravy said is basically my point of view of this game with the only difference that i actually didn't drop it, let me add a few things: You can argue that the puzzles, the characters/story and combat are subjective, and i agree, you know what's not subjective though? The arrogant take of the developers saying "our game is perfectly designed, rebinding keys on keyboard and mouse was not a request during early access" are you actually kidding me what age do we live in, not only you can't use mouse button 4/5, you can't even change the fucking mouse binds, i guess i should be thankful dedicated action buttons exist (guard/melee) to use with X-mouse button control/autohotkey otherwise i would have refunded this. Somebody said it was a limitation due to the game's engine, htm5+js impact which i can't think why they couldn't act like normal human beings and use unity like hollow knight or cuphead. What other issues does this cause aside from controls? the game has very little mods to fix/add/tweak anything, i thankfully found this: https://github.com/ZeikJT/CrossCodeCheats which can come in help, also one good thing to add is the developers did add 3 sliders, damage received, enemy speed and puzzle speed (i haven't tried the puzzle one, take it with a grain of salt). My other issue i saw nobody talking about (the one that kills the experience for me) is the sense of navigation on this game is abysmal. Not only the geometry is hard to read but map lacks so much depth, combined with "go to south west of bla bla, which is a sub area of bla bla the map doesn't tell you" are you serious, are we playing find the f@cking objective marker? I legit spent more time trying to keep up with what the actual fuck the game has been asking me to do and where to do it, rather than doing puzzles, which most people have an issue with, because it's like 80% of the game. If you go to the wiki, there are numbers of the areas and the names next to them, was it too hard to add that in the game? If by any chance this game is not your cup of tea, you won't be able to refund it on time since the intro is quite big, if you are not certain whether you want to go through the hustle, find a different means to try the first hours up until the first element dungeon, since the demo only covers the part where you leave the ship (basically nothing). Gravy said it's a 8 hour game stretched to be 40+, it's more like a 20 hour game stretched to be 80+. A lot of stat checking and backtracking, and also material grinding is involved, keep that in mind as well.

Crosscode is a set of jumping navigation puzzles with a game attached.

Probably the best oldschool Zelda inspired game I've played so far. I was expecting a small indie game but they sooo much content, this could have been a AA game.

Gorgeous pixel art, a complex and challenging combat system, large sprawling areas to explore, a memorable and compelling story, and a great soundtrack. The dungeons could get excessively long with puzzles that require precise timing, but that's my only complaint. Highly recommended.

For anyone who's nostalgic for zelda or secret of mana. This might be one of the best games i've ever played. Some people complain about the number of puzzles, maybe that's not your taste. But for me they are part of what makes this game so great. The combat is fluent, dynamic and fast. Hard but not punishing. And the puzzles integrate the combat into them. But best of all might be the story. For an indie game it's amazing that they managed to make this. More depth then most high budget games.

This is a phenomenal title with tons of content. This game plays similar to The Legend of Zelda, the 2D top-down titles more specifically. It's puzzles are fun and challenging and it's dungeons are interesting. It's full of likable characters with an entertaining plot.

Love this game with all my heart and soul. I yearn to experience this game for the very first time again. Cant wait for Alabaster Dawn :D

The only game (that is not still in development) that I have played twice to the end.. It is an amazing game and the New House DLC is also highly recommended. (It contains the last maze but it is not mandatory)

It's quite difficult to say whether I would recommend this game or not. Is it a good game? Yes, it is. Did I enjoy playing it? Well, most of the time - not really. The game was clearly made with a lot of effort and is well-polished. It has beautiful pixel art, amazing bosses and skill animations, great music, memorable characters, and a nice story. However, when it comes to gameplay, as for me, not everything works well. The first issue is the multi-layered maps. While this concept isn't bad in itself, it's definitely overused. Almost every chest is unreachable from ground level - you need to figure out how to get there first. It's often unclear how to reach different layers, so on each map, you end up running around the entire area just to find the access point to another layer. This mechanic feels okay early on, but as you progress, it becomes increasingly frustrating. Especially when the only way to go up is two maps away from where you are. By the middle of the game, I was simply exhausted from searching for new paths and trying to remember everything I needed to collect. The second issue is the puzzles. I wouldn’t say the puzzles themselves are bad, I actually like how they're designed, but the amount of them is absolutely went too far. Even for someone who enjoys puzzles, it was just too much. Dungeons are mostly puzzles, quests may have puzzles, reaching chests often requires solving puzzles, even boss fights may have puzzles. The worst part is that most of these puzzles can't be skipped, because you need to clear the dungeons to collect all the elements and progress the story. So get ready for a few hours of non-stop puzzles each time you need to get a new element - and even more hours if you're aiming for good equipment. The third issue is combat. The game's description says that the game has fast-paced combat system, but it highly depends on the type of enemies you're fighting. Often, you have to break an enemy's shield before you can deal any damage. To do that, you need to wait for the enemy to enter a specific state first. As a result, the "fast-paced" combat often turns into "stand and wait" until you get the chance to break the shield and finally inflict damage. I found this part quite frustrating and ended up ignoring some enemy types, simply because it took too long to defeat weak enemies that didn't drop anything useful. Aside from this issue, the combat is actually quite nice. To sum it up: if you're ready to solve a ton of puzzles, take your time with combat and map exploration, then I’d say give this game a try. Otherwise, you might end up dropping it - just like I did during my first playthrough.

Best silent protagonist. Also puzzles, alot of really good puzzles.

I've only played for a couple of hours but can already tell this will be one of my favorite games of all time: the combat is smooth, the puzzles are engaging, and the story is captivating. I'd like to give a more nuanced review but there is seriously just nothing more to say - it's just about perfect (at least to me). I do recommend you give the demo a try so you can tell if it's for you though.

Nice game on sale. Only thing to dislike are the puzzles legit not even trolling im in 1 part of the game and to progress the main story I have to watch a 40 min guide on how to do all puzzles.... L game design there but other then that fun game.

Good + Good puzzles (challenging and fun) core aspect + Good Environment + Good Fast paced combat + Good Parkour elements Mixed ~ Skill Tree: While the use of different elements in puzzles is quite successful, when it comes to combat the similarities between skills make it feel repetitive. The use of different elements on enemies to break is not sufficient. ~ The hidden chests, placed on platforms in the cities to be found, are not rewarding enough. ~ Keyboard/Mouse Controller little bit frustrating you probably perform many long-range attacks to attack from close range or the opposite Cons - Story: There are so many aspects that can be touched upon regarding existential crisis, and the game opens a door to this, but then quickly closing that door with a 'let’s just forget everything and play the game, haha everything’s fine' attitude is quite bothersome - Homing and Fast Attacks: Almost every attack is homing and coming like lightning speed and it's really annoying. - Item Trade: WTF is this really? In order to get better equipment in the game, you need to trade gear, and to make that trade, you always have to collect enemy parts. It's very grindy.

interesting story and combat

This game just didn't gel for me, but maybe others will enjoy it. For my part, I was recommended this game by a friend for its Zelda-like puzzle dungeons. The tutorial is really strong, it makes you want to learn more about the world and showcases its snappy combat. But I got absolutely flattened by no-name monsters the instant I left the tutorial and entered the first wilderness area. I'm not in the mood to hit my head against this particular wall until I 'git gud' if this is how punishing it's going to be right out of the gate.

combat is fine and the story is interesting, but the parkour and puzzles can be so frustrating. it may get better later on, but starting the game with the ice section just feels like a bad choice... too frustrating to continue

Perhaps one of the most underrated games of all time. I knew it was a masterpiece when Lea said "What, are we going to cross this code?" 10/10

很想给出一个爽快的好评，但是太过频繁的解谜部分实在让人难受。只能勉强推荐的这样子。

This is a tough one because writing this feels like experiencing a break up. But it’s also needed for closure because honestly? I don’t think I can play this game anymore without feeling all sorts of unpleasant emotions. I really loved the story, the artstyle, and especially the music…at first. During the first 10 hours or so. I didn’t mind the endless number of chests that test your perceptiveness, the sprawling puzzle dungeons that require quick reflexes and lateral thinking, or even the drip-fed of story beats. I genuinely fell in love with the world of Crossworlds, and its many delightfully animated characters. But it all changed, around mid-game, when things were supposed to “pick up and get good”. Yet somehow I didn’t care for the twist? I felt awfully cold and indifferent towards what was supposed to be a major reveal and honestly? The philosophy behind the twist was largely dubious and completely uninteresting. It’s a plot point I’ve seen a million times, except in formats that demanded less agility, and much much less patience. Basically my desire to see this game though ran out at some point. And what was initially a wonderful sense of discovery was replaced by an acute sense of dread - I found myself checking to see how much of the game there was left, I started looking up tips online, I found myself constantly enraged and frustrated. What finally broke me was this unskippable third duel with Apollo - whilst some of the worst side quests in the game could wait until I got stronger with higher stats, this fight simply had to be completed in order for the story to progress…and you know what? In true Crosscode fashion it’s homing missiles and war of attrition. Except you can’t heal, you can’t dodge. And with the amount of HP I had I had to lose. And it felt cheap, and unfair. I didn’t want to git gud, I questioned why I subjected myself to this world of pain in the first place. I feel like the devs hate their players? Some of the puzzles I kid you not I literally had to use two thumbs on the joy stick just to find the pixel-perfect angle to shoot. And there’s just this overall feeling that the game is too good for casuals, either you play by the rule book or you can eff right off. And you know what? I’d much rather prefer to do the latter at this point. Perhaps one day I’ll return to this game. But it’ll be a long long time before that happens. I tried.

I am unsure if this is intentional, but one of the characters uses a word frequently which seems to possibly be a common expression in another language. This is referring to the English localization of the game. However, this word is spelled similarly to a slur and at the end of chapter 10, this word is used in a location and nearby a character that seems to belong to the ethnicity that the similar sounding slur is directed towards. To my understanding, this does not serve any narrative purpose besides discrimination that is unaddressed.

The devs wanted to make a billard game with occasional combat I guess.

Don't believe the liars and plagiarists like "Amerisian" This game hurts ya just right.

I really like everything except the fighting, which I really don't like

I first played this game when I was in high school, before recently returning to it and completing it a while after I graduated from college, nearly a decade later. This game has always stuck with me in the back of my mind in how so much of this game is just expertly crafted to perfection. Everything from the characters, the story, the combat, the writing, the puzzles (even though I hate puzzle games), the pixel art is just amazing. It still shocks me to this day that this game isn't more popular despite it all... The only critiques I kinda have of it is just that, due to the 2D art and perspective, it's a little hard for me to judge the height of things relative to the environment around them. Also, it kind of drags in the development of a certain relationship/character during a chapter (those of you have played this game might know who I'm referring to). It just felt kind of rushed to me is all. But that's honestly it in terms of my issues with it. This game was an absolute joy to play, and I can't wait to play the post-game DLC. Please pick up this game and give it a try if you haven't. This game has moved me emotionally on so many levels and the combat/puzzles kicks ass.

I've had a brainrot of this game for 5 years i got it on ps4, switch, and now pc and I have like 500 hours+ across all of them anyway yeah games good

Peak. (edit: It's a very cool game, I love it.)

This is my favorite game. It just might become your's too 10/10

fun but very grindy

Why is this game so underrated

great puzzle game

Really fun once you get the hang of it.

I MISSED ONE KEY IN TEMPLE MINE PLEASE HELP ME

Protect Lea. That is all.

i like this game more than i dislike puzzles

please let me remove apollo from my party i swear i dont want his help

Incredible game

Good game

Good game!

Great game!

So good