Developer: Radical Fish Games
Publisher: Deck 13, WhisperGames, DANGEN Entertainment, Mayflower Entertainment
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Crosscode – Review
Imagine living in a world where gaming wasn’t just a virtual experience, but was real! That is exactly what Radical Fish Games does with Crosscode. People log in to Crossworld on their avatar but with a little twist: Crossworld is situated on an actual planet in real life. Many of you may have already encountered this game or at least the title, since it launched in Early Access on Steam back in 2015. Three years later, the anticipated game was finally fully released. Can it live up to the expectations players built over the years or will it cross and crash?
Story
Crosscode revolves around a world where MMOs are not just online games, but take place in real life on a different planet than ours. Players meet each other through avatars they create in CrossWorld, which is what this popular MMO game is called. Avatars use their five senses to interact with the world and its players.
We follow the story of an avatar called Lea. She used to play the game, but then something happened. Now she is back, but she lost her memory. Furthermore, Lea can’t log out of the game, must learn to play the mechanics again and is completely mute at the beginning of the game. Along the way she learns to use her skills and gets familiar with some basic words like ‘hi’ and ‘bye’. Throughout the game Lea discovers more about what happened and what her purpose is.
The developers manage to keep you interested all through the game by adding the mystery of Lea’s past. The further you get, the more answers you get and that really keeps you going.
Graphics
Some of the better 2D graphics were used for Crosscode. The whole game is filled with various and beautiful environments, detailed and plentiful beasts and bunch of NPCs, all looking splendid. With the great bosses and lovely dungeons, you will never get tired of looking at the pleasing pixelated images this game offers you. So yes, visually a lot of effort was clearly put into Crosscode, giving it a charming look.
Sound
The music really compliments the graphics even more and adds to the retro look of the game. Lots of different tunes are used for different locations and occasions. This makes sure you are completely immerged into the gameplay. Even though a lot of conversations are going on, there is no voice acting in Crosscode. Instead, you see the words in little speech balloons and some suiting music is added, making sure the conversations don’t come off as boring. The success of the soundtrack even led to an extra DLC you can buy.
Gameplay
Crosscode is a retro-inspired 2D action RPG. You play in an MMO-like world, but you’re enjoying a single player adventure. The game uses a chapter system. In the first chapter you’ll learn about your skills and abilities, and get familiar with the controls.
Along the way, you’ll see and meet a lot of NPCs. Some will be friendly, others not so much. For example, there is this one green haired guy that seems to be out to get you, challenging you for PvP battles and annoying you as you progress. The conversations you have with these NPCs are often playful and breezy. Sometimes some humor is thrown in, possibly making you chuckle. NPCs also have their own character and ways. For example, there is a captain of a ship and he will actually remind you of a captain when he opens his mouth.
In order to gain experience and gold, you’ll need to talk to some NPCs who offer you quests. If you are able to complete these, you’ll be rewarded. A nice touch is that every quest gives an indication of what level you should be in order to complete it. Now, the rewards you get come in handy too. Experience obviously helps you to reach higher levels. The gold enables you to buy better armor, food, potions, and other items.
After a while, you’ll get access to the Circuit. Every time you level up, you can use Circuit Points to activate different circuits on the skill tree. Four paths can be chosen; Max HP, Attack, Defense, and Focus. Don’t worry if you’re going one way, you can always switch to another branch of the tree. You’ll get more powerful abilities along the way.
Now, of course Lea enters into combat every now and then, not only with bosses, but also with random beasts and players she encounters. Your health can be restored by eating, consuming potions or resting. Players can also receive a rating for their combat, but this is rather difficult. You have to battle a range of enemies to get a higher rank, without hitting ‘tab’. So no pause, just attack one after the other. At the beginning of the game, she learns she has a special ability. By charging power, she can fire a Virtual Ricochet Projectile (VRP), also called a ball. These balls can ricochet off of walls, which comes in handy during the puzzling.
The puzzling is also a big part of the game. You’ll get to test these skills in the various dungeons. The VRPs are very important here. As you learn in the first chapter, these can activate switches, destroy certain walls, bounce bombs, etc. The puzzles offer a nice change from the combat.
You’ll encounter a lot of different plants, beasts, people, etc. along the way. Luckily, all this information is stored in some kind of encyclopedia. This is very convenient, certainly for plants and beasts since the world is filled with a lot of different ones.
Of course, portals all over the world become available once you’ve discovered new places. Since Crossworld is pretty extensive, walking everywhere would take up way too much of your time. The portals allow you to fast-travel between different places.
Conclusion
Crosscode does a great job combining combat with puzzling in engaging and nice-looking gameplay. Accompanied by a beautiful soundtrack, you’ll easily get lost in this game for hours on end. After spending almost seven years on it, of which three were in Early Access, Radical Fish Games put together a futuristic action RPG that’s enjoyable in every way. Offering a lot of content, it’s definitely a game that offers value for your money. If you are not convinced yet, Crosscode is all about how it plays so a demo is available on Steam.
Crosscode - Review,
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