CrossCode

Still the only video game to make me ugly cry. Some shows and movies have made me cry but this was the first game and oh my god.
Please play it. Pretty pretty please. You will be so happy with your decision.

I've played a lotta games in my day, starting way back in the 80's, and I can confidently say this is one of my favorites. The characters are fun and endearing, and the gameplay is challenging, rewarding, and fair.

That said...the question here isn't whether or not I personally liked the game, it's about whether or not I recommend You playing it. But then, that depends an awful lot on you, doesn't it?

One of the first few screens this game will show you is one that explains that the combat and puzzles are meant to be challenging. I think a lotta people misunderstand what they mean. "Challenging" tends to be an overused term I think...sorta like "may cause drowsiness" on medicines. They put that on everything from ibuprofen to xanax. Same with games that claim they're challenging. To continue my medicine analogy, on a scale of ibuprofen to xanax, this game rates as a quaalude or phenobarbitol. To drop the metaphor...when they say challenging they don't mean you might have to fight a boss two or three times, they don't mean you'll have to try a puzzle a few times before you get it right. They mean challenging like Ninja Gaiden or Mike Tyson's Punch Out, as two NES examples. The kind of challenging that will make you wanna scream, throw your controller across the room, and punch the game in the face. That's what they mean by challenging.

For instance, as one (allegedly) professional review site said "...even after understanding what we were supposed to do, it still took everyone in the office dozens of tries before even one of us could do some of the puzzles". Which, first of all, is probably the definition of a skill issue. But also, is a fair definition of what "challenging" means in terms of this game.

As combat goes, you have a melee and a ranged attack. You also have a dash and a shield. You are expected to use them All regularly. You will have a bad time if you don't.

As puzzles go...there's a ton of interesting mechanics, which don't have an explicit tutorial. Instead, the first few puzzles after a mechanic is introuced are the tutorial puzzles. These will then become more and more complex, and often include sequences of actions that must be performed in a certain timing.

Dungeons will typically alternate between a fight room and a puzzle room. Increasing in difficulty until the puzzle "boss", followed by the actual boss. You may very well have to retry both bosses dozens of times.

So then, do I recommend this game to You? Do you find the puzzles in most modern games challenging, or even amusing? Is your idea of challenging "I could barely focus on the podcast I was listening to while fighting that boss" or "Man, that puzzle took me three tries and I still barely did it!"? Then no, I do not recommend you playing this game, you'll just turn into another embarassing salt dispenser in the discussions. If you enjoy overcoming challenges that will push you to your limits, then yes, absolutely!! This is a must play gaming experience for you in that case!

this game is fantastic but at the 13 hour mark, it feels like theres too much of it, and i gotta push to continue playing more of more-or-less the same.
inb4 food analogy, but imagine you order a pizza, but instead you get like 8 pizzas. all of its equally high quality, but im not eating 80+ slices bro, im already full by the 10th slice.
so if theres one thing to take away here, its that you should probably pace yourself when playing this, and avoid doing too much of the optional content, as fun and authored as most of it may be.
and it is absolutely worth playing, my thoughts were entirely glowing up until my last play session made me realise why i'd put off playing it for two weeks.
the biggest thing this game does well is how holistic its core gameplay is. a lot of games segregate or downright instance their gameplay elements; so for example in other games, you'll be in the overworld doing a puzzle, then you go into a platforming room, then you get locked into an arena where you fight enemies. this results in a sequence of 1 dimensional gameplay styles, but crosscode integrates all of it into one.
all of your combat tools are also your puzzle solving tools, and the platforming of the vertically layered stages is relevant to both. so you get this wonderful multi-dimensional space of gameplay possibility, where a given challenge can be any fluid combination of combat execution (usually aiming), movement, exploration, puzzle solving and platforming. and it explores all of these possibilities very well.
i bring this up because one of my major pain points with the JRPG genre is the complete lack of this. if you're like me and you enjoy the concept and aesthetics of JRPGs, but are bored by the gameplay of walking down interaction-less dungeon corridors with completely instanced and spatially irrelevant battle scenes, then crosscode will be what you want.
the fact that you can jump especially gives the entire game so much more interaction and the spaces more mechanical meaning. in a lot of RPGs, towns are just glorified menus, where you walk between houses to read text boxes, buy items, or maybe find a secret chest if you're lucky. but in crosscode, even the areas with no enemies have you engaging with the core gameplay through these little parkour puzzles. and thats completely ignoring the sidequests that DO have you fighting stuff in the towns, which more games need to do (especially if combat is their only gameplay)
i think many action rpgs could learn a lot from crosscode, because its the only ARPG i can think of that does this all this so well. the closest game is like kingdom hearts 1, but even in that game the combat was fairly isolated from all the adventure game elements.
to briefly level a complaint at the combat, i feel it could take more cues from shmups in such a projectile focused game. there are plenty of interesting bullet patterns, but the hitboxes are too large and your inertia too high to really dodge them. by that i mean raw touhou dodging, not dodge-roll i-frame dodging, the latter of which is the strategy most of the time. the game does well with the defensive mechanics present (though it really needs an indicator for unblockables), the perfect guard stops it from being too roll-spammy and theres other abilities besides, but i feel like theres untapped potential here with the natural complexity of raw dodging patterns if the game really allowed it. as is, you mainly find yourself right-clicking away from or through various bullet waves and melee bumrushes without too much thought on space or positioning. but it does work and is suitably fun and challenging, not to mention the extra layer of on-the-fly puzzle solving often involved in major encounters.
besides gameplay, its also got good music, detailed art and a good aesthetic (though i wish it leant more into the y2k/sci-fi over the cozy stardew valley kitsch). the story has an intriguing premise and works perfectly as a framing device for all of the mechanics that other games take for granted without bothering to contextualise (there are stats and MMO npcs because it literally takes place in an MMO), and it effortlessly marries the themes and the gameplay as a result. writing and characters are fine, its not anything elaborate or particularly colourful but its pleasant and earnest. lea is the highlight for me, mainly because she can't speak and communicates mostly non-verbally, so you kinda project more depth onto her than the other characters show. theres a lot of pathos to the idea of this character whos so warm and eager to connect with people, but is physically unable to speak, and i expect the story will capitalise on it. any pushing through this game from me will be to learn more about her.
but that kinda gets back to the start of the review. this is a good ass game but im not sure if its a '100 hours' good ass game. by the point im at, youre pretty full, and unlike a zelda game (which is also much shorter), the progression here doesn't change the gameplay and entire map in the way that something like getting the hookshot or bow does. you get new elements, but theyre basically just keys; stuff like ice blocks you need to melt to access a previously inaccessible area. you do unlock cool new combat abilities with the skill tree for each element, but theyre optional and can't have any challenges specifically designed around them, so it seems from beginning to end you're just throwing balls at bruddas in some configuration. this would be perfect for a shorter, more replayable game that explored the permutations at a much faster pace, but not for this.
its like, resident evil 4 is exceptional and you could comfortably get 40 hours between replays and bonus modes, but if the campaign itself was 40 hours it wouldn't work. and i use that as an example because that game ALREADY starts to drag past the halfway mark, despite how tight it is. you either need insane levels of depth and variety in core gameplay, or a fast paced episodic / constantly evolving narrative to maintain attention over that length. by the time you've cleared the first real dungeon and got the first of the act 1 mcguffins in this game, you're 4 hours out of midgar in ff7 and balls deep in the medallions in OoT.
so if theres something i hope the devs learn in their successor to this game, its to trim stuff down. not because any of the content is bad or filler like an open-world game, but because too much of good but somewhat interchangeable content harms the overall experience. did there really need to be 5 sliding block/bomb puzzles in a row before getting the boss key in the ice mines, even if all 5 were thoughtful and challenging? did autumns rise really need so many similar screens and 20 sidequests? all of these things are distinct enough from each other not to feel repetitive in the moment, but in the bigger picture, they're kind of redundant. its in the not-so-sweetspot of being unique and tightly packed enough that you're initially compelled to do all of it, but still so much that it gets tiring.
but ultimately this is an exceptional game in most areas, and an easy recommend if you like action-RPGs or zelda-likes at all, but know that you're mileage may vary and the well-spent hours might not take you to the credits.

Quite possibly one of the best games ever created, one of two games I've ever played where there isn't a single dud amongst all of the main and side characters. Every single character is written with tons of love, care, and quality. The combat is snappy, flashy, and in depth. There's so much more to say but no time to say it. Please, for the love of god, play this game, it's absolutely fantastic.

One of the best games I've played on Steam. Great story, gameplay, audio, and visuals. The art for the characters in dialogue is so expressive. The dungeons and puzzles give me a zelda-ish vibe, but with more difficulty and complexity. The combat has variance, nuance, and difficulty to it as well. For those who enjoy finding secrets and working through multi-layer platforming puzzles, that is an optional form of content for you as well.
The story is well thought out and felt very impactful to experience.
For those who are interested in it, there are accessibility features which help tune the difficulty of the game in case the challenge is not desired.
Overall, one of my top games played in 2024. Do recommend.

An absolutely phenomenal game, I'd put CrossCode on the same level as Hollow Knight, Celeste, Pizza Tower, Gravity Circuit, Rain World, Darkwood, ULTRAKILL, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Star of Providence, etc. as a must-play indie title.
To go over the things that probably don't need to be elaborated on as much, the game visually looks great. It's not quite the best pixel art you'll ever see, but the game is consistently visually appealing with detailed sprites, tons of animations, and characters that are expressive and have all the portraits they possibly need to show their emotions over the course of the story.
The story is also great, with fun and interesting characters and covering some surprisingly deep and dark themes. Can't say much because I don't want to spoil it, but the story is a great compliment to the excellent gameplay.
The soundtrack is also great, not quite top tier but it's got plenty of great tracks that suit the environments and story beats very nicely and make traversing the world enjoyable. The only thing I think could've been better would be different battle music for different areas as while the battle music is great, it does get a bit repetitive with how long the game's total runtime can be.
Speaking of, the combat is excellent and one of the two pillars of the game. It controls smooth and the enemies are intelligently designed that you have to use different tactics for most of them, whether it's ricocheting ranged attacks into a weakpoint, timing an attack well to interrupt them, using a certain element or perfect blocking to stun them. What really makes the combat great is the elemental system. On top of your standard moves you can switch to 4 different elements you unlock over the course of the game, each of which alters your stats, allows access to a large variety of super-moves and allows you to inflict different status effects. Across all the different elements there are a few dozen of these, and it makes the combat incredibly deep while still being approachable with how it introduces portions of it over time. By the endgame you're utilising all of it in some challenging and incredibly fun, well designed fights.
The elements also are part of the other pillar of the game, puzzles. You get a taste of these in the overworld you'll explore, which is fun to traverse being packed with secrets and chests you'll need to find ways of getting to higher elevation to reach. Once you get into the dungeons the puzzles really shine though, early on they're already a decent challenge but as you progress the elements get used in different ways and start being combined together to make for puzzles more complex than anything you'll find in Zelda. Not liking puzzles is the only thing that might be a reason to not get the game, but if you enjoy them at all this game has them in spades. The final dungeon in the DLC adds one new mechanic that combines with all the others to create some seriously mind-bending puzzles that are incredibly satisfying to figure out.
To top it all off, the game is also jam-packed with content. Despite having almost 100 hours, I still haven't done all of the sidequests and have barely touched the arena with gauntlets of enemies and bosses. Some of the side-quests are your typical fetch quests or "kill X enemies" but the majority are all unique and engaging in their own right. Some involve optional side dungeons and/or new bosses, some have unique set pieces like fighting on top of moving cars, and some change the game entirely being fun mini-games that put a twist on the mechanics or make it a whole other genre like tower defence.
The DLC is also well worth it, because the base game already has more than enough content to justify its price as well as New Game+ with all sorts of ways to modify a playthrough to increase the challenge or put twists on it. The DLC just adds even more, including two areas (one of which is basically a gigantic dungeon), a more satisfying ending and also a new final boss that somehow tops the already insane final boss of the base game.
At the price it's selling for there is no reason not to buy the game if you're remotely interested. You'll thank yourself later. Consider getting the game on Good Old Games as it seems to go on sale more often there and you can get the game and DLC for $10 or less, which is an absolute steal for the quality and quantity of content on offer. It's truly a shame this game didn't get the attention it deserves.

Peak. So peak. Like literally, it is my favorite game of all time, and if you have not tried it out yet, you should. The characters are great and the music is amazing. The puzzles range from easy to challenging, and the fighting is really good.
One tip for the puzzles is that if it seems too complicated to solve, you are probably overthinking it. I know I felt dumb after figuring out that a solution to a puzzle I was stuck at was so simple.