Game Review: Crosscode

Game Title: CrossCode
Released: September 21, 2018
Game Length: 75 hours
Grade: A

Introduction

Development: A long time ago, a simple coder by the name of Felix Klein from Germany decided to start work on a game called Crosscode way back in 2011. He banded together with a few other individuals to form Radical Fish Games. With an interesting trailer, a crowdfunding project, and a promising demo, they spent the next three years building up this intriguing experience. The game is unusually produced using a HTML5 platform and despite a few experiencing some performance issues, the developer made the statement that he did his best without exhausting himself. The entire first section of the game is vague on purpose and exists outside the "actual game" space. This might cause some unusual first impressions if you believe the rest of the game will follow suit. It doesn't. There are complexities in unlocking your elemental circuits and obtaining quests. The landscape and dungeons are filled with interesting puzzles and encounters. Additional features like accessibility, the arena, and new game plus were all developed in the following years. The game isn't too difficult but the Assist Mode can turn down the damage taken, enemy attack frequency, and speed of puzzle elements. In 2021, a more proper ending to the game was released with the A New Home extension. Although the add-on teases a further "New Horizons" sequel to the game, the developers announced that they are changing their plans to work on another project. However, the base game is rather easy to grab when it reaches a sale for 70% of its $20 asking price. It's also possible you might have snagged it in the Bundle for Ukraine.

Bonus Content: Before we get ahead of ourselves with the actual content, we need to address two things here. While the content bundle will be discussed in detail down below, there are two skin packages that turn your character into a ninja (originally an offer for backing the project) or amusingly creates your character as a male. While the ninja outfit does not stay on during cutscenes or interactions, Manlea has a full array of custom emotional reactions. There are also a series of codes that you might want to input in the game. The add-ons that can be changed later in the game are the Sparkly Boots and Holiday Hat/Boots earned from the questline. High-Quality Voice Acting will add a few vocal phrases to all the important characters. The idle animation, speed-lines that appear when you run, and turning trees square must be entered in again to deactivate.

Gameplay

Optional Content: One thing you have to come to terms with is that there is a lot of things you don't have to participate in. There are various challenges that will require you to be as efficient as possible. Out of all the quests, the ones inside the monastery that require you to complete segments within a couple minutes were the only ones too difficult for me. It might be unbelievable but you can also win temple races by completing them within a set time (with some exceptions to when the actual timer starts). This aspect is highly controversial and has very little reward when completed - you wouldn't see me succeeding in such a task. You don't necessarily have to win the pvp fights, especially since the developer hard-coded them to avoid certain attacks, but they can be won easily once you learn how powerful the Guard Art Bubble Shield is. Other achievements include collecting data on plants and enemies, opening every chest in each region (the chest detector in the final region can help with that), and conversing (as in physically opening the window) with each trader. After you beat the game, these can be used as currency for features in new game plus.

The Map System: Accessing your map might be a bit confusing. You must access your character's Quick Menu using either your left bumper or trigger on your gamepad (depending on your settings) and pressing the right icon. You can fast travel to any landmarks from anywhere in this fashion (unless you enable "classic travel" in new game plus). To prevent abuse, it is disabled during a combat rush. You won't be seeing landscape features like trees, rivers, or rocks. There will be outlines for buildings and icons for quest-givers, traders, and caves. You'll be informed of the number of chests you collected and how many remain in each region. While this basic approach might make it confusing to identify a region, being able to see the size and name of each area does help when finding where to go from quests. In addition, the game practically gives you an endless supply of map markers that will help you mark chests, pathways, collectibles, and other important milestones. You'll definitely want to pinpoint where the ramp is in each area. The one drawback is the game does not center the map to your character.

Social Aspect: The main story that revolves around who you are and what is happening outside the game only really happens at three main points: the introduction, the pivotal moment during the middle segment, and the ending. The vast majority of the game will play out as if you are a standard player inside Cross Worlds. Although Lea is unable to speak outside a few words, nobody seems to mind. Players will easily accept that you have a malfunction in your hardware. A few will simply think that you are quiet. Any characters built inside the game are already hard-configured with a response regardless of what you say. There are a number of regular players that will converse with you on your adventure. You can call them up with Direct Link, invite up to two of them to your party, hear them make the occasional remark, and check out their status. Otherwise, the players seen in the world do not change. Even if you return to a previous town, they will always be present as the same players with their running gag like the one who likes sitting on the table, the girl afraid of heights, the meditating poet, or the runner. It's also nice to overhear conversations that mention realistic features like the removal of currency trading, a climate control sensor, or how they are doing at work in real life. They even replicate an Away From Keyboard feature that turns the player into a hologram.

The Puzzle Element: Every part of this game has some element of discovering a particular way to make progress. In order to find collectibles, you'll need to find that one specific ramp that brings you up to the right level. Rare plants are usually only obtained by creating a ricochet against walls with your spheres from a particular viewpoint. Enemies, including bosses, have a way to avoid or absorb most of the damage the players in the game dish out until you figure out the right element, where to strike their bodies, and when you can break them down. While "dancing" with your enemy can become annoying, the developer has purposely designed them with the intent for the player to understand their behavior. Instances like Bull on Fire might take some time before identifying when to counter the enemy's pattern. Dungeons, as well as some quests, will test your wits by cycling through a number of platforms, moving objects, and levers. There is a certain degree of challenge always present but they are generally delivered in bite-size chunks. The developer has also made the implication that everything can be done using only the 8 cardinal directions. There are hints literally drawn out within the temple decor that can help guide you. Although rare, there are moments like Promise is a Promise 5 that will setup a sequence of events that need to be completed within a set amount of time. I only recall one part of the story that required complete trial-and-error until you "drew a line" from start to finish with your body.

Mechanics

Circuits: As you level and complete certain activities, you'll be able to spend points to upgrade your character. Each element is given the same amount of points to spend (unless completing certain activities). Depending on the direction of the branch extended, you can use four different arts: melee, throw, dash, and guard. You'll be able to use these abilities by pressing the right bumper (or trigger depending on your settings) after performing a maneuver. There are up to three tiers to spend Special Points on and two segments that can be swapped at no cost. It might be wise not to contribute any points to dash or guard if it means increasing your melee or throw. However, they will still be gated to your current progress in the game. Don't worry about where you spend your points too much. There are numerous areas to obtain/craft Circuit Overrides. It costs less if you reset them all at once and circuits can be infinitely reset for free (after using the item) as long as you remain in the test room.

Food: One thing that becomes invaluable is the ability to eat food. There are consumables that provide health, elemental resistance, defense, regeneration, attack power, and a few other perks. They can be obtained in a number of ways through quests, chests, and vendors. What's interesting is how the crafting system will utilize all the plants you obtain in any zone. The rare material you gathered in the desert will contribute to the same reagents obtained in the jungle. You can have up to 2 buffs active (more with the appetizer perk) and eat again after 10 seconds. Enemies can interrupt you as you eat (unless you are wearing Lead Boots).

Attention to Detail: It would be nearly impossible to list every explicit thing the developer poured into this game that makes your experience better but I can make some highlights down below. There is a whole database full of information you can access that lists the available traders you encounter, the percentage and droprate of items from both plants and enemies, humorous entries that describe the lore of the game and all the characters you meet, and several pages worth of records that list every single type of action you took in the game. For a few examples from my playthrough - Play Time: 86 hours; Current Level: 76; Number of Jumps: 27,400; Total Number of Steps: 481,598; Total Number of Self-Destructs: 1,861; Teleports using the Map Menu: 559; Longest Combat Streak: 30minutes; Total Number of Times Lea said "Hi": 670; Total Number of Times Lea was bored: 313. The combat is very unique and the developer has made it clear that even offering people a chance to change their controls would be a bad idea. You are able to use an inspection device that temporarily pauses the game while showing off enemy details, the occasional object, the unnecessary but welcome addition of each player's name, and quest-related markers. There is a ranking system that increases the value of items dropped the more enemies you defeat within a given time span. Most enemies will not attack you with the exception of those that you cannot initially strike. While it might take some time to get a feel for, you automatically jump when touching the edge of something. When making an exchange, you are able to sell in bulk and generate a list before making the transaction final.

Story: To form a story of this magnitude, there are certain protocols that need to be followed. So while there are technically five classes available, you are predestined with the Spheromancer role from Lea's perspective. This also makes it easier to balance the game for your character. You can visit a quest hub directly north of each regional travel hub (that connects to Cross Central) that guides you through various activities like exploration, unique encounters, and traversing dungeons. Although your character will occasionally "log out" to signify a good stopping point, nothing more than a short memory or dream occurs before you materialize back into the environment. You can manually save the game as many times as you want and the game auto-saves when you move between sections on the map. So make sure to move to another area after performing some heavy puzzle solving in case some enemy winds up defeating you. There are always "players" running the main path and side quests can sometimes open more options as you progress into other regions. You earn elements according to the story and using them too much too fast can cause an "elemental overload" cooldown. Although there are a series of guilds, you'll join the one pertaining to the story at level 20 and asked to join a raid at around level 30. However, something diverts you "outside" the game when you try to participate in the raid at level 35 and gives you a chaotic sequence of events with a boss you cannot win that ultimately reveals what is going on and who you really are.

Endgame

End of the Track: There comes a point in the game when you reach the end of the track. This might feel a bit estranged to how the story is supposed to progress when given a "wait until release" notice. Amusingly, you will see a crowd of players asking when it will be done and what they should do until then. The actual content wouldn't be release for three years in the downloadable content of Patch 1.4.0. What you are supposed to do at this point is visit the main portions of the city where you'll encounter player housing and various shopping centers. This is where you would unlock area boosters and collect gems from enemies all over the world. These can be bartered for equipment that prepares you for what comes next. If you aren't paying attention, you might also miss out on a whole sequence of events outside the quest system that leads you to the good ending. However since people were still having trouble discovering it, you are given a second chance to return at this point after receiving the bad ending and now able to skip any of the three following segments afterwards: the raid, the dungeon, and the boss.

Arena: While it might feel a bit broken off from the rest of the game, you are able to participate in an arena. This was introduced about a year after the game's release in Patch 1.1.0 but builds upon its existence when you complete certain objectives. There is, however, a major problem. The amount of damage you receive is subtracted from your total by a factor of 25 and there is a large penalty if you overload your elements. You can still receive 200 coins for completing each encounter, but those who are skilled can receive up to 500 coins for silver or 1,000 coins for gold. There is enough content to receive every pet with only bronze badges, but the amount of effort might prove too daunting. There is a list of optional level 65 gear and other gadgets to buy as well.

Fan Service: There is quite a bit of content added to the game that was directly pulled from the public. A good portion were perks of contributing to the crowdfund such as custom avatars, guilds, consumables, and boss designs. A contest was held to add custom dialog in various parts of the game after it was released. There are quite a few obscure crossovers like Quantum Protocol and Read Only Memories. If you are real clever and manage to solve the puzzle you were supposed to ignore when being chased, you can find the developer room. New Game Plus also comes with a fun Sergey Hax where you can watch people overreact when you destroy everything in one hit.

DLC: The new package brings about a lot of new content. It opens up the closed portions of the city, an island to explore, the raid that was interrupted in the base game, a dungeon with an outside region you can explore with other players, and a personal village for all your friends (including your pets). Instead of locking your gear to a certain level, they offer ascension equipment that essentially adds a modifier to your current set that scales to whatever your current level is up to 99 (if you can find a way to get that high). There are more pets, arena cups to participate in, and more quests that you can find all over the croissant (you'll get the joke when you play the game) at the quest hub in the city. While all of these things should have been implemented into the base game, there is enough substance to support the developer for the additional fee to what was already low to begin with.

Summary

Review: It is rather difficult to find an impressive game of this magnitude without some heavy marketing. With only $100,000 in funds, there is an extensive amount of passion for such a simple game. You'll find an interesting story, funny characters, compelling gameplay, interesting puzzles, and a world full of people. Although the setting may only be a facsimile of a multiplayer game, there are some extra elements that makes you have the same type of experience. You'll be able to invite friends of different classes, join a guild, raid, and even hear the same type of complaints like how instances force you to play parts of the game by yourself. While I wish some additions were more incorporated into the world like housing or things like pets be available from the start, the slow pace of learning how to master the circuit boards and adapt to enemies will consistently challenge your wits and reflexes. Other than a few performance problems, missing quality of life features, and a story stretched too thin for such a lengthy game, my playthrough was near perfection. I never felt the game became too difficult that a little ingenuity or change in perspective didn't solve. I definitely recommend this game.