CrossCode feels like A Link to the Past but they dialed up the puzzle to 11, and then some. The dungeons are hard, frustratingly so. Faj'ro Temple I'm looking at you. Heck, even the transition areas (trails) are filled with platforming puzzles that took me hours on end just to find a path.

Combat is.. fun? It's a lot of mouse-clicking and aiming. You get four elements to toy with, each with their different fun power ups. Even the basic neutral element has some good power ups. The enemies are less fun somehow. Many of the dungeon enemies need you to try different combinations (elements, even positions) to find their "weak spot" so to speak, otherwise you'll be doing miniscule damage (especially true for bosses). Still, figuring those out it part of the fun I guess?

Exposition is a bit on the long winded side. Early on you might get overwhelmed with the amount of information they throw at you and/or all the side quests you get. Even the menu was confusing at first. But you get used to it.

Anyways, if you like a combination of (really hard) puzzles and (somewhat repetitive) combat, go get this game.

lea hi!

When starting it, I never thought it would be this grandiose. Crosscode is a gigantic game, stuffed to the brim with content, that is in my opinion, both a blessing and a curse.

First, let's start with the good. Which is QUITE A LOT:

The Story... It's incredible! While it feels light-hearted at first, it touches some deep existential themes and will leave you thinking quite a few times. The way the story is told is very consistent, all the main characters are well written, have great visual designs, their dialogues are consistent, and it's fun to see their development as the story goes on, but they never lose sight of who they really are... As cynical as this sounds for this game.

It plays great, it has good, precise movement, awesome combat, and great interactivity. The combat is just exceptional, it has those elements, long range, short range, and the special arts are just pure insanity (especially level 3). The enemies and bosses are usually great, some aren't (more on that later), but most of the bosses felt beatable and fair, even though HARD AF.

CrossWorld oozes charm, the world of the game has several different regions that look and feel awesome to explore, and that aligned with the awesome graphics, incredible pixel art, and a great soundtrack, makes the experience one level above other games of the genre. All maps are fun, feels metroidvania-ish, but it's not really that. The cities are well designed and nice to explore too. It's supreme!

Some mixed feelings:

Well, Crosscode is not an easy game, it's clear from the deep combat and powerful enemies that Radical Fish expected you to suffer a little, and it's fine. There are a few things I don't like, like enemies that fly or go below the ground, those can be boring to beat, but there's always an easy way to kill those. It's a fair combat, some bosses are brutally punishing, but nothing is unfair or has issues with telegraphy. Also, it's pretty rare to get hit out-of-screen, but it can happen sometimes.

As for the bad:

The puzzles, oh boy... You need to have a huge brain to beat CrossCode without help from guides or something. Even some chests require you to have a degree in 4D chess to obtain. And hard puzzles are not a problem, I like puzzles! BUT, like I said, CrossCode has CONTENT, it's a huge game, and yea these hard puzzles everywhere and at all times can get very frustrating and annoying.

The dungeons are immense, some with over 1 hour long, filled with pixel-precision puzzles and unique powerful enemies. Yea, these get annoying too, especially in that part where there are 3 dungeons in a row. I don't like when my open-world game restricts me into a dungeon for that long.

Now, my biggest gripe with this game is the controls. Seriously, I HATE the controls. It feels subpar on kb/m, and it also feels subpar on gamepads. You need to be precise, but the melee combat in the keyboard is just HORRENDOUS, you need to keep the cursor above Lea while using the direction in the board to attack in that direction. Why not use M1 for Melee and M2 for Ranged? I just don't get it, and you can't rebind mouse buttons too. I had to keep switching between gamepad and kb/m, so it was gamepad for combat and kb/m for puzzles and menu navigation.

Conclusion:

In the end, CrossCode took me around 60 hours to beat (save time), which is quite a lot. In Steam, I have logged almost 93 hours, but that's mostly because I got tired of the game on some occasions and went to watch a video or do something else with the game open. Honestly, I feel like it overstays its welcome a little, but it is not that the game is filled with filler, it's just too much to do and discover. The DLC has a good change of pace, so it gets better. The DLC dungeon is by far the absolute best of the game (more on that in the DLC review). Overall, I think CrossCode is one of the best indies around. While it has its flaws, the good parts are just too damn good. I love and cherish this kind of game, with true creativity that pushes the boundaries forward. 

With all that said, Alabaster Dawn is most likely a buy-on-sight situation.