A game of soaring peaks, and lowly valleys.

For a game that I genuinely despised playing at times, I walked away with not only a lot of respect for the developers, but also admiration for the game they made. Most games have shit stories, so it was nice to see something that was refreshing and fully thought out. I don't know why, but I haven't related this much to a protagonist in a long time. Maybe its the existentialism, or the lack of clarity on what makes the self, but the scene roughly in the middle of the game (you know the one) actually had me on the verge of tears. CrossCode provided room for deep reflection on topics and morals I haven't contemplated in the past and for that I am grateful. I just don't know if the tedium of a vast swath of the content can be overlooked by all who embark on this adventure...

Crosscode is an top down action RPG game like no other. The game stands out from the crowd specially on the gameplay mechanics, allowing to attack from far with a bouncing ball with various elements and close quarter punching rampage.

Besides fighting will you have to solve inumerous puzzles, apply your platforming maneuvers and collect various items all around the world to create epic equipment.

The story is actually interwinned to yourself the player, you play as a female character named Lea where you adventure into a MMORPG world as an avatar.

To conclude, the game is long as typical from an RPG, I have shelved the game for personal reasons after 20+ hours gameplay, and had not the chance to play again for 4 months. I entered that state where you feel lost and disconected to the game afterward and wasn't able to feel the enjoyment I have felt before.

im known as the crosscode guy now in my friend circles and couldnt be happier. ive sung this games praises enough but why not again on an actual backlog website!!! warning for ranting, it's really a comprehensive-ish list of my thoughts

- absolutely wonderful characters that make the story extremely compelling, lea is my favorite character in anything ever and the way she's written is. So good. So damn good!!!!! she's endearing from the start and the fact she's the most expressive character despite the obvious limitation of her muteness gets you super attached, leading into the reveals and plot twists later on hit that much harder. i will. Hold myself back, but every character is really engaging even besides lea

- to rant more about the story and world in general, i think that the concept of "playing a game inside a game" would've been really silly at first but the way it ties it in naturally through side conversations in the world and even through the main plot itself is wonderful

- specific mention for the dlc story, honestly without it id probably have a lot more gripes but the way it ties everything together is really satisfying and its just reliving to see the characters have a happy ending after like. everything in the base game. i think it goes without saying i primarily play games for their stories with few exceptions, but the dlc dungeon was my favorite in the game and exploring the new area was one of my favorite parts in general

- the gameplay is great! amazing combat that feels satisfying to master and allows for multiple playstyles - i personally didnt bother with going out of my way to grind and get equipment, so the fact there's adjustable difficulty sliders is goddamn
fantastic and i think really Every game should at least follow.

- puzzles are really difficult, i wont lie when i say i used a guide for most of them, but the execution of it still makes it challenging even without the actually Figuring it out aspect. i will say it gets a little over the top, but in addition to combat sliders, there's a setting that lets you set the speed to as low as 50% which is. A real life saver!!!

- personally, the game was pretty exhausting to get through the first time around - this is 100% due to the way i played, but fair warning that this game does have a lot of stuff to do and at base it is really tough

- i'll sing this game's praises all day (obviously), but i do have issue with the depth perception. exploring the overworld is really fun at times, but there's a lot of platforming that feels awkward and wasn't for me entirely. the depth perception mentioned before can make it really disorientating at first, and overall this game gets pretty intense, so it's important to mention

- the ost!!! good lord!!! its so very good, deniz and steel-plus did a fantastic job and there's so many tracks i can highlight. even if you're not interested in the game itself please check out the soundtrack. i think they're all worth a listen, but my personal highlights are "The Path of Justice", "Autumn's Rise", "Raid", "Temple of Thunder", and especially "Shizuka". note that some of these tracks are pretty spoilery, be sure to avoid comments if you're interested in the story!

- i still do have my gripes but the game overall is so good its a crime this game is so unpopular, i suggest anyone who's even read this far (how ??) at least give it a go through the demo or a walkthrough on youtube.