CrossCode

Honestly? This game is one of a kind on so many levels. The whole quality is amazing. I didn't encounter a single bug, and I played a lot. The graphics are top notch. The story is interesting, rather unpredictable. The protagonist feels true and emotional without having too much text for various reasons. This game feels more like MMO than a lot of those do. The difficulty is rather high, but there are neat accessibility options to tackle that. I didn't have to go into a single guide to complete it. New Game+ is really fun and rewarding. What can I say? Hi!!!

[h1]Hi? Hi! [nods] Lea![/h1] [h2]The Good[/h2] [list] [*]The game is just gorgeous, one of the best looking pixel art games I've ever seen, animations are extremely fluid as well [*]The concept of the world is so fun and well thought out, and plays with the narrative so incredibly well, helps me get immersed in the environment and story progression so effortlessly [*]I absolutely adore the characters and the story, all the characters have such distinct personalities and relationships, and play a part in the story to some extent. The game also randomly throws some pretty humorous bits and dialogue at you when you least expect it, and I laughed more than a couple times [*]So many things are puzzlefied in this game, and while that may sound tiring at first, the game executes the puzzles so well that it strikes a perfect balance of action, difficulty, and problem solving for me. So many of the harder puzzles take some time, but I eventually get there without any guides [*]The pure puzzle levels in the game always surprise me with new concepts, and how they are handled, seemingly simple mechanics are added upon to create really smart and unique interactions. These levels are also cut up by combat which helps with pacing a lot [*]Exploration is extremely fun and rewarding, as you need to find certain routes to get to certain places, and the fluid movement really makes it flow amazingly. For an isometric game, verticality is also handled fairly well [*]Even certain combat encounters like minibosses or certain enemy types, cant be defeated just by blindly hitting, requiring certain things to be done first, making it a mini puzzle on the fly that tests your quick thinking [*]Customization when it comes to equipment is plentiful, and they all have unique attributes for you to lean into certain builds. The skill tree having branching paths that you can swap at will is genius [*]There's so many QoL and helpful features throughout the game, and the game slowly introduces each aspect which paces it very nicely. Info on enemies, items, traders and other useful things are all easily accessible and incredibly helpful at times [/list] [h2]The Bad[/h2] [list] [*]The DLC is absolutely amazing, BUT, I feel like it should have been part of the base game all along. Without the DLC, many aspects of the game just feel incomplete, the story, the chracters, equipment, side quests and even some game mechanics and levels. I adore the DLC, but wouldn't be surprised if people were mad at the decision after finishing the base game [*]Certain enemy types just have straight up invulnerable periods where you have to just wait for a window, which is not great design and really hurts the quick flow of combat [*]Ice physics are never fun lmao [*]The exploration is really fun, but the vertical terrain in an isometric view can really mess with your depth perception, causing many falls and (sometimes long) runbacks, which can get frustrating at times [*]For how well the entire game is designed, I'm surprised at how terribly the achievements are designed. A bunch of the endgame achievements are just grindy number achievements, that are not fun to grind for [/list] [h2]The Random[/h2] [list] [*]SPHEROMANCER LEA [*]Lea [spoiler]slamming against Joern's armor for a hug[/spoiler] is the funniest thing ive ever seen [*]The endgame content of the base game, [spoiler]the arena and NG+[/spoiler], are just not for me personally, most of my love for the game comes from the first experience through the exploration, story and quests, but I appreciate that it's there for people who want to enjoy it! [/list] [h2]Overall Thoughts[/h2] This game was phenomenal, I got attached to most things in the game, the world, the story, the characters, the mechanics, the levels, the puzzles, everything, up there among my favorites list now. If you get this game, please get the DLC as well, you wont regret it. This game struck the perfect balance of literally everything for me, and I recommend it 1000%, and I hope anyone else who tries this game, will feel the same feelings I had for this game

dont know how this one flew under my radar for eight years. only learned abt it from seeing alabaster dawn get announced and looking into the studio, but this is easily now one of my favorite games ever. absolutely superb gameplay, soundtrack, story, characters and their relationships, pixel art, bosses, dungeons, just so beautiful in every way. gameplay is like hacknslash and dual stick shooter stuff with heavy emphasis on combos and quick actions, which i was not expecting at all. huge recommend.