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CrossCode

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CrossCode
Developer(s)Radical Fish Games
Publisher(s)Deck13
Director(s)Felix Klein
Programmer(s)
  • Felix Klein
  • Stefan Lange
Artist(s)
  • Thomas Fröse
  • Felix Klein
  • Fabrice Magdanz
  • Dillon Martin
Writer(s)
  • Felix Klein
  • Stefan Lange
  • Henning Hartmann
Composer(s)Deniz Akbulut
Platform(s)
Release
  • Linux, macOS, Windows
  • September 20, 2018
  • Switch, PS4, Xbox One
  • July 9, 2020
  • Xbox Series X/S
  • November 10, 2020
  • PlayStation 5
  • June 29, 2021
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

CrossCode is a 2018 action role-playing game developed by Radical Fish Games and published by Deck13. Players control Lea, a player in a fictional MMORPG who wakes up with no memory and is unable to speak. Gameplay involves the player employing both ranged and melee shots to solve puzzles and defeat enemies, with differing elemental modes granting different powers.

The game's development began in 2012, and was later introduced as a crowdfunded project on Indiegogo. Following a three-year long early access beta phase, CrossCode was released for Linux, macOS, and Windows on September 20, 2018, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in July 2020, for Xbox Series X/S as one of its launch titles in November 2020, and for PlayStation 5 in June 2021. Later on it received a DLC by the name of “A New Home” released February 26, 2021, which continued the game's story. CrossCode received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised its story, combat, and artstyle, but had mixed opinions on its puzzles. The game won the award for "Most Fulfilling Community-Funded Game" at the SXSW Gaming Awards.

Gameplay

A gameplay screenshot of CrossCode, where the player character Lea is launching a shock ball to solve a puzzle in a dungeon.
In-game, players solve puzzles using different elemental tools, such as this shock charge.

CrossCode is an action role-playing video game in which the player controls the character Lea from a two-dimensional top-down perspective. Players explore an overworld, where they can either engage in combat, or solve puzzles, which is sometimes required to progress.[1] During combat and while solving puzzles, the player can instantaneously switch between different "elements", each granting Lea different puzzle-solving and attack abilities.[2][3] As the game progresses, the player unlocks more elements by visiting different dungeons, each of which culminates in a boss fight.[1][3] The game's options menu allows the player to customise the difficulty of both combat and puzzles.[1]

The combat system involves attacking enemies in real-time using either a melee strike or a ranged ball launch. Players can also dodge or block enemy counter-attacks. Attacking earns experience points and circuit points. Experience points increase the player's statistics, and circuit points can be spent on a "circuit board" that allows the player to choose between different ability bonuses. When the player fights many enemies in a row, a ranking increases, rewarding them for an unbroken continuum of fights.[1][2]

Puzzles involve the same ball launching mechanic used in combat, sometimes requiring the player to hit items in a certain order or time limit. They comprise in-game items, such as switches, boxes, ice pellets, barriers, water bubbles, and fans. Depending on the current element the player has equipped, puzzle elements can react in multiple ways.[1][3]

Players can also use both in-game money and a bartering system to buy items,[1] which can also be found in hidden chests scattered across the overworld.[3] Items can either be food that is used to grant temporary buffs to the player's ability, or clothing that is equipped in their inventory. They can also complete multiple side quests, such as obtaining items, hunting for treasures and racing opponents, that grant additional bonuses.[3][1]

Synopsis

In CrossCode, players primarily control a mute character named Lea as she plays a fictional MMORPG known as CrossWorlds. The game takes place in a physical environment on the moon Shadoon, where players control artificial "Avatars" that can regenerate at will and interact with in-game attacks and items.

Plot

The game begins with a young woman called Shizuka Sakai fighting her way to rescue her brother, but once she finds him, he dies in her arms. Some time later, a girl called Lea awakens inside a cargo ship with no memories of her past and is informed by a man called Sergey Asimov that she must play the MMORPG "CrossWorlds" in order to regain her memories. Shortly after, Lea is assaulted by mysterious man known as the Blue Avatar, and is forced to escape into the game area. Once reaching the game area, she befriends another player called Emilie and the two explore the game together, eventually joining the "First Scholars" guild.

During a raid with the First Scholars, Lea is dragged away by the Blue Avatar and trapped into an off-limits area called the Vermillion Wasteland. She is confronted by Shizuka, who reveals that Lea is not human but an artificial intelligence called an "Evotar," based on the memories of Shizuka. After escaping back to the cargo ship, she also learns that Sergey used to work on the creation of CrossWorlds in the Instatainment Company along his friends Gautham Ranganathan, Shizuka and her brother Satoshi. These friends also took part in the Evotar Project, which was denied by Instatainment, until disappearing years before the events of the game. Once Sergey discovered Lea, he decided to help her recover her memories in an attempt to look for them.

Back in the game area, Lea reunites with her friends and locates Satoshi and Shizuka's hideout. She learns that they, along with Gautham, were forced by a man called Benedict Sidwell, a black market financer who funded the Evotar Project, to participate in a scheme to create Evotars based on CrossWorlds' players and extract valuable information for him. Satoshi had secretly hidden Lea in CrossWorld code for Sergey to find, allowing him to locate his former colleagues. She also learns that the real Satoshi is already dead but left behind an Evotar based on himself. With help from her friends, Lea storms Vermillion Wasteland where the server containing all Evotars is located in order to stop Sidwell's operation. The Blue Avatar, revealed to be Gautham's player avatar, intervenes on both ends to deliver Lea the "ultimate experience": one final challenge in the form of a dungeon and a final boss duel. After she defeats him, he gives her access to the server, before committing suicide in atonement for cooperating with Sidwell. With his plans foiled, Sidwell accepts defeat and flees.

Having secured the Evotars' data, Lea spends some time with her friends before she is also logged out from the game while Sergey attempts to convince the executives of Instatainment to allow the Evotars to keep existing inside CrossWorlds. The game then ends with two possible outcomes:

  • In the normal ending, Lea's friends are informed by Sergey that Instatainment refused his proposal and confiscated all Evotar data, thus they will never see Lea again.
  • In the true ending, achieved after Lea befriends an Instatainment stockholder in the game right before the Vermillion Wasteland raid, Sergey's proposal is accepted by Instatainment and will allow Lea and other Evotars to eventually return to the game.

A New Home

Seven months after Lea and the other Evotars are allowed to live in CrossWorlds, Lea reunites with her friends and moves to a new house in Homestedt, a residential area created just for the Evotars, just in time for the release of the latest update that includes the game's final dungeon. Before Lea challenges the dungeon, she is informed by Sergey that one of her friends, C'tron was actually an Evotar based on Sidwell sent to spy on her. She confronts C'tron, who reveals that he lost most of his recent memories and declares his intention to atone by cooperating with their efforts to bring Sidwell to justice.

After clearing the final dungeon, Lea returns to Vermillion Wasteland one last time to help C'tron recover his memories and discover that he was one of many Evotars created by Sidwell and sent to gather information for him, just to be later deleted once they discovered the truth about their origin. To escape this fate, C'tron made a copy of himself to the main Evotar server. Back to Homestedt, C'tron reveals all he knows to the others and Lea is given the right to pass judgement on him, deciding if he can live in Homestedt with the other Evotars or not. Some time later, all other Evotars move to Homestedt and erect a statue in Lea's honor.

Development and release

Development of the game began in 2012.[4] In February 2015 it was introduced as an Indiegogo project, seeking €80 000 in crowdfunding alongside a web-based demo version.[5] The game was released for Linux, macOS, and Windows in early access on Steam later that year.[6] It was officially released out of early access on September 20, 2018.

Initially announced as one of the stretch goals of the crowdfunding campaign, the Wii U version could have been possible thanks to the system's web development toolset, but was later put on hold to prioritize the Steam Early Access version.[7] It was eventually released for Wii U's successor, Nintendo Switch, alongside PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, on July 9, 2020.[6][8] The game was included in the launch lineup for Amazon's Luna cloud gaming service on October 20, 2020.[9] An updated version featuring high frame rate options was released on November 10, 2020, for Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X, supporting 4K resolution on the latter, and is available free of charge to existing Xbox One players.[10] Another updated version was also released on June 29, 2021, for PlayStation 5, and is available free of charge to existing PlayStation 4 players.[11]

The game's official soundtrack was composed by Deniz Akbulut, and was released by video game music label Materia Collective on September 6, 2018.[12] A 2-disc vinyl edition by Materia Collective was announced on June 26, 2020.[13]

An expansion pack for the game, "A New Home", was released on February 26, 2021. It includes a new area, a new dungeon, and finishes plot elements from the main game.

Reception

CrossCode received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic.[14] IGN Japan scored the game 9.5/10, labelling it a "masterpiece", and German outlet PC Games described it as a "huge, motivating adventure [that] bows with dignity to genre classics of the 16-bit era".[3][18] Conversely, Gamespot reviewer David Wolinsky called it "overly ambitious and complicated", criticising the puzzles and navigation, but still praising the combat.[1]

Reviewers largely praised the game's combat, with Wolinsky describing it as "deep and deceptively tactical". Writing for IGN Japan, Shohei Fujita praised its rewarding difficulty, stating that the player would cherish the wisdom gained after an intense boss battle.[18] Nintendo Life reviewer Mitch Vogel praised the game's circuit board system, stating that it "ensures that you feel empowered to play CrossCode the way you want to play it".[20]

The puzzle design of CrossCode gained mixed reception. Although Vogel stated that he "appreciated this heightened focus on more complex puzzle design",[20] other reviewers were sometimes more negative. Wolinsky claimed they could sometimes be "obtuse and annoying", making progress "halting and confusing".[1] Though he commended them as "fair and logical", PC Games reviewer Felix Schütz stated the site repeatedly "[came] across puzzles that we only crack after dozens of attempts, although we had long understood the principle".[3] GameStar criticised the side quests, stating that they "degenerate into lengthy collecting and offer only meager rewards".[2]

Most reviewers positively commented on the game's narrative. Schütz found the MMORPG-like companions amusing, and stated the game "has serious and touching moments to offer".[3] Praising the "game within a game", Vogel described it as "a unique and interesting way of approaching storytelling".[20] Although he appreciated the overall narrative, Fujita stated that it "should have been deeper", claiming that the premise of the game lead to some missed opportunities.[18]

Multiple gaming publications praised the game's artstyle, with Schütz stating it "awakens wonderful memories of 16-bit classics such as Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana or Terranigma at first glance", and Vogel calling it "pleasingly fluid" and "packed with all kinds of detail and colour". Reviewers playing the game on the Nintendo Switch had minor issues with the game's performance; Vogel noted that the "the framerate takes a dive that... is quite noticeable" during busy moments, and Schütz considered the port "a little unclean here and there, but the problems... not so serious that one should therefore advise against buying".[3][20]

Accolades

Jason Schreier of Kotaku ranked CrossCode among his top 10 games of 2019.[22] The game won the award for "Most Fulfilling Community-Funded Game" at the SXSW Gaming Awards.[23]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wolinsky, David (July 9, 2020). "CrossCode Review - A Lot Of Ambition". GameSpot. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Mittler, Patrick (October 2, 2018). "CrossCode im Test - Ein langer Atem zahlt sich aus". GameStar (in German). Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Schütz, Felix (July 9, 2020). "Crosscode im Test: Auch auf Konsolen ein grandioses Action-RPG". PC Games. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  4. ^ "Contact". Radical Fish Games. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  5. ^ "CrossCode". Indiegogo. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Tarason, Dominic (August 10, 2018). "Action RPG CrossCode levels up out of early access September 20th". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  7. ^ White, Lucas (July 2, 2020). "CrossCode Interview: Radical Fish Games on Console Ports and What's Next". Siliconera. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  8. ^ Romano, Sal (June 9, 2020). "CrossCode for PS4, Xbox One, and Switch launches July 9". Gematsu. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  9. ^ Caswell, Tom (September 24, 2020). "Every game coming to Amazon's Luna at launch". DigitalTrends. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  10. ^ Deck 13 Spotlight [@Deck13Spotlight] (November 10, 2020). "Yup. CrossCode is a launch title for @Xbox Series X/S. Comes in glorious 4k and with 120FPS mode" (Tweet). Retrieved November 10, 2020 – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Croft, Liam (June 29, 2021). "Surprise PS5 Version of CrossCode Out Now". Push Square. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  12. ^ Farrell, Reilly (August 9, 2018). "CrossCode soundtrack coming this September". Video Game Music Online. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  13. ^ "CrossCode 2LP soundtrack up for preorder form Materia Collective". Blip Blop. June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  14. ^ a b "CrossCode for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  15. ^ "CrossCode for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  16. ^ "CrossCode for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  17. ^ "CrossCode for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
  18. ^ a b c d Fujita, Shohei (September 26, 2018). "CrossCode - レビュー". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  19. ^ "CrossCode". PlayStation Official Magazine - UK (178): 76. July 2020.
  20. ^ a b c d e Vogel, Mitch (July 16, 2020). "CrossCode - The Zelda-Like RPG You Never Knew You Wanted". Nintendo Life. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  21. ^ Jones, Jenny (July 6, 2020). "Mini Review: CrossCode - Fast-Paced Action RPG with Beauty and Brains". Push Square. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  22. ^ Schrier, Jason. "Jason Schreier's Top 10 Games Of 2019". Kotaku. G/O Media. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  23. ^ Khan, Zarmena (March 17, 2019). "God of War Takes Home 'Game of the Year' at SXSW 2019 Gaming Awards". PlayStation LifeStyle. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
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