Recent reviews by ete004

A pretty good game, but the music haunt my dreams, plays in my head during real life obligations and more. Joke's on me/10, would suffer again.

Wow, what a misleading game title. It’s MORE than Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode, which is sad, because I would happily pay more for this mysteriously ominous, yet emotional and delightful experience. The attention to detail is especially noteworthy, as a lot of the dialogues, animations and more, are expertly, while sometimes subtlety done as well. It’s truly a great package of a game, made for those already interested and invested in the series.

In all seriousness regarding the game title, it wouldn’t be an entry to the To the Moon series if it wasn’t a little sussy. All in all, it is once again a well-crafted game from Freebird Games, and I’m looking forward to The Last Hour of an Epic TO THE MOON RPG. As silly as these names have become, I’m all for it.

There aren’t many games that makes you want to complete it 100%, but CrossCode is one of them for me. It can be described as an Action RPG with gameplay similar to Hades, and a lot of puzzles based on design philosophy from The Legend of Zelda series. With an intriguing and emotional sci-fi story, as well as interesting characters with distinctive personalities, it’s hard not to let one’s attention get caught in this game. For example, how the silent protagonist’s emotions are conveyed and acted upon due to their intrinsic circumstances, is quite unique compared to other games covering the same or similar context. Graphically, it is surprisingly fluid and nice to look at. The soundtrack is a certified bop and has created several earworms that won’t get out of my head (a price I will wholeheartedly pay).

While CrossCode has a lot of positive aspects to it, there are also some negative elements that should be mentioned. For instance, the game is quite linear. This in of itself can arguably be beneficial to the game. However, it makes some of the RPG mechanics a bit meaningless. Instead of trying to use equipment that lets you specialize on certain stats, you are usually better off using the highest-level equipment you find during the playthrough. An exception can be if you want to make the game harder for yourself, by not using said equipment. Another thing is that there is no voice acting. Consequently, it can highlight a few flaws in the writing of dialogue, like the number of times certain words like “Well” and “Anyway” appears. Such occasions can sometimes make it feel like the characters was written by the same person. To be clear, I’ve seen other games being a much worse offender for this kind of repetition. Still, just because some characters are with each other, doesn’t necessarily mean they will inherit these specific verbal habits immediately. Especially when they hardly knew one another beforehand, and they’ve only just met. A slightly more varied use of words would therefore be appreciated, to further differentiate the characters’ dialogue and improve immersion.

All in all, a lot of love and care was put into CrossCode, and it really shows. Truly a solid video game filled to the brim with content. Now, even though that can be favorable, it can also be detrimental depending on the player. If you are aversive to puzzles or find them boring, this game might not be for you. Even though each puzzle is quite different from each other, the amount of them cannot be understated. However, if you are interested in gameplay arguably smoother than Hades, a sci-fi story that might make you shed a tear, and a world filled with puzzles and secrets, then I’ll say go for it. You are in for a treat.

Note: Just to clarify the “Product received for free” mark, I put CrossCode in my Steam wishlist sometime before it was gifted to me on my birthday by a friend.