Imagine, if you will, one of those classic dot Hack// games, but actually good. And actually affordable, those games cost like $700 now. Anyways so Crosscode sets you up as a mysterious amnesiac protagonist whose consciousness manifests in an MMO--not the most unique premise. But it really hits the nail on the head, "Crosswords" feels like a real MMO and the game goes to the 9s with all the little details to make it feel alive and populated. The combat is phenomenal, the puzzles require real thought (perhaps too much?), the story is vaguely interesting and at worst isn't too intrusive.
I played the game over a long period of time, taking one or two long-term breaks as I went through. This probably isn't the best way to play, but also, the game can be a little intimidating? Perhaps difficult to tackle? Admittedly I'm not the most puzzle-focused guy, but some of the puzzles just looked scary and difficult (tons of moving parts), which made it hard to really want to tackle. Once you get into it it's not too bad, but it seems like the game is geared more towards people who are really into puzzles. There are a lot of them. And they're good, and having so many isn't bad in the abstract, it's just uhh. I guess I'm just a little dumb.
But anyways the puzzles all rock, the combats great, game looks pretty and has memorable music. The story is fine, I think putting aside my puzzle-anxiety the story might be the weakest part. Without getting too bogged down in spoilers I just feel like they could have done more with the various twists that get doled out. In particular, as the game progresses it becomes more clear that your player-character is incredibly special. But there's no attention given to the actual reasons why your character is special (that they are a player character, controlled by you). Maybe that's a little annoying 4th wall breaky, but it just seemed like they almost butted up on it, why not go all the way? Unsurprisingly, the Switch port suffers from a chugging frame rate at a few too many of the games main locales; I'd heavily reccomended playing it on a different console/PC.
The game also had absurdly well-animated hugs. You really felt em. It's a nice time.
I played the game over a long period of time, taking one or two long-term breaks as I went through. This probably isn't the best way to play, but also, the game can be a little intimidating? Perhaps difficult to tackle? Admittedly I'm not the most puzzle-focused guy, but some of the puzzles just looked scary and difficult (tons of moving parts), which made it hard to really want to tackle. Once you get into it it's not too bad, but it seems like the game is geared more towards people who are really into puzzles. There are a lot of them. And they're good, and having so many isn't bad in the abstract, it's just uhh. I guess I'm just a little dumb.
But anyways the puzzles all rock, the combats great, game looks pretty and has memorable music. The story is fine, I think putting aside my puzzle-anxiety the story might be the weakest part. Without getting too bogged down in spoilers I just feel like they could have done more with the various twists that get doled out. In particular, as the game progresses it becomes more clear that your player-character is incredibly special. But there's no attention given to the actual reasons why your character is special (that they are a player character, controlled by you). Maybe that's a little annoying 4th wall breaky, but it just seemed like they almost butted up on it, why not go all the way? Unsurprisingly, the Switch port suffers from a chugging frame rate at a few too many of the games main locales; I'd heavily reccomended playing it on a different console/PC.
The game also had absurdly well-animated hugs. You really felt em. It's a nice time.