CrossCode | Xbox One Review

Ah, the 16-bit era. It brings back memories for a lot of gamers, myself included. I am especially fond of the role playing games from then, and there was no shortage. Titles like Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Secret of Mana, Illusion of Gaia, even Mario got into the RPG realm for the first time with The Legend of the Seven Stars. They all had stories that reeled us in and gameplay that kept us coming back for more. That classic style is what Radical Fish Games and Deck 13 had in mind when they developed CrossCode. It is a classic 16-bit action RPG style game that wants to bring a modern feel and smoothness to it.

A Game in a Game

You play as Lea, an avatar in CrossWorlds, a game within CrossCode itself. CrossWorlds is an MMORPG full of avatars representing real-life people controlling the avatars through special headsets that translate the person’s thoughts into the avatars’ actions. The game sends your avatar, called a Seeker in game, to the moon Shadoon, which is owned by the games creators, Instatainment. Seekers are following the Track of the Ancients in order to master the four elements Heat, Cold, Shock, and Wave. The premise is that once enough Seekers complete the track, humans will be able to use the track for good instead of damaging it like they did in the past. 

What’s different for Lea is that she has no memory of who she is in the real world, and she can only say a handful of words due to a speech malfunction in her programming. Sergey, the developer that reactivated her in game, is the only help she has in remembering who she is. Sergey has his own reasons for helping Lea. His friends, and fellow Instatainment developers, are missing. He thinks Lea finding her memories will help him figure out what happened to his friends, and the only way to do that is to play through CrossWorlds. Things are complicated by a mysterious blue avatar that shows up and recognizes Lea. The only thing Lea can do is keep playing to find out what is going on, not just in-game, but outside of it as well.

I Need a Hero

CrossCode’s story takes place on a few different levels. First you have Lea’s story, trying to figure out who she is, handle learning how to communicate, and how she ties into everything. Then there is Sergey, Instatainment, and the missing developers and also the game within the game, CrossWorlds. As they all grow together, Lea is meeting other avatars, making friendships with them, and also getting to know Sergey better in the process. The relationships add a lot of emotion to the game, especially with Lea trying to communicate through limited speech.

CrossCode does a good job representing the positives and negatives that come along with it so you can feel Lea’s emotions. This makes you really root for Lea and want her to succeed even more. Her determination and perseverance throughout the game are something to be admired. She definitely gets added to my list of favorite protagonists in role playing games. The story also had plenty of twists and turns, but I think saying any more than it kept me engaged would ruin experiencing it on your own. 

Teach Me the Ways

A good action RPG also relies on solid gameplay mechanics and Radical Fish and Deck 13 nailed it. CrossCode really has that old school style, but they made it smoother and faster than what we had back in the 16 bit days. One of the things I appreciated the most was that CrossCode has a tutorial to teach you the basics of playing the game. You have a basic melee and ranged attack which are both controlled by the right bumper. Any movement of the right control stick will switch to and aim ranged attacks instead of a melee attack.

The ranged attacks feel like a twin stick shooter as you are still controlling Lea’s movement with the left stick while using the right stick to aim. Your main defense is a shield that takes only so much damage before it disappears temporarily. It is always available and, just like your attacks, it has specials you can unlock to make it stronger. Lea’s dash move is meant for both offense and defense.

Trigger Happy

As you build up Lea’s skill trees, all the attacks have special moves you can unlock. All of the special moves are performed while hitting the right trigger and holding it for a certain period of time. There are no button combinations to use for special attacks or defenses. As you unlock the different elements throughout the game, you can unlock more specials for each attack type. The kicker is that you can only use each element for so long before it “overheats” and all elements become unavailable temporarily. The game pushes your ability to put all of this together as you progress. This makes combat a lot of fun as you do need to use all of the skills Lea develops throughout the entire game. It all builds together and makes for a fun challenge. 

That reminds me, CrossCode is meant to be a challenge, as the opening screen tells you, but you can adjust based on what is fun for you using the difficulty sliders. They allow you to adjust combat and puzzle difficulties. I enjoyed playing the game on the defaults, though I do  think it is good they added the sliders for players who are more interested in experiencing the story, which is totally worth it.

Making Old Feel New

As I mentioned earlier, CrossCode sticks to the 16 bit style visually, but it really does feel modern. The gameplay is smooth and fast with the old school look. One of my favorite parts was the dialogue screens. The artwork showing the characters’ expressions really helped convey the emotions of certain moments in the dialogue bubbles. The characters might not actually be speaking, but you can still hear them because of the artwork. 

Add in the audio and it really takes it back to the era. The music matches the parts of the game and also the different areas of the map, and really reminded me of the music Chrono Trigger. It is the same style and is meant to represent the area that you hear it in. I got lost beatboxing the music in each section more than once while exploring. Sometimes simple just works.

So overall, CrossCode was a great experience, there is no point in shying away from that. While some may find it a bit long, it combines all the RPG elements I look for with story, gameplay, puzzles, character building, and style. It seems like a hidden gem that I would gladly take a sequel for. I could go for a more elaborate conclusion, but there’s no real need. CrossCode is worth playing.

To hear more about CrossCode, be sure to listen to Episodes 302 (38:58 time stamp) and 304 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast.

This review is based on an Xbox One copy of CrossCode provided by Deck 13 for coverage purposes. It is also available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, as well as PC and Mac via Steam.