Within a few minutes, Cross Code takes you back to the days of you sitting in front of your CRT reliving your favourite action RPGs on the SNES: Secret of Mana, Terranigma, Chrono Trigger.

Using a combination of charming, classic hand-drawn environments and characters, a soundtrack that makes you remember it days after you last played, expressive and likeable (N)PCs, an interesting setting that keeps you intrigued, mind-boggling puzzles that require brains AND timing and a battle system built around throwing balls that simply doesn't get boring or tedious, delivers enough challenges for you to improve and trumps with epic boss fights.

This review is based on the current version 0.8.5, released in December 2016.

You take the role of Lea, a Spheromancer-class character in the fictional MMOG CrossWorlds. For unknown reasons, Lea lost her memory and logs into CrossWorlds as an attempt to recover it, but due to a problem her speech module isn't working properly, resulting in her ingame avatar being mute. Only with the help of a programmer called Sergey, she is able to express simple words like "Hi", "Bye" or "Lea".

To find the answers to her questions and to her memories, she keeps playing the game in order to not make the system identify her as an intruder or bot and kick her out. With the help of various other players from other classes and the crew of the MS Solar, she dives into the world of CrossWorlds.

Cross Code is visually resembling the 16-bit titles from the SNES and Playstation 1 era using a flat top-down-perspective to make the riocheting and ball throwing natural. It mixes classic medieval RPG environments with futuristic elements like laser bridges, energy walls and teleport devices. Every area or city has its own look which is defined by the area it is built in:
Rookie Harbor, with its western medieval style, Bergen Village, where snow-covered houses are built around cliffs, Ba'kii Kum, resembling a desert town that was built around a large oasis, Basin Keep, a rainy, modern skyscraper city in the midst of a fairytail-like jungle. The world is full of little details and filled with NPCs talking or running around the areas and towns making the game appear lively and populated at all times.

The game features a rich playlist for all kinds of situations and environments and never seems to be out of place. On top of that, has a very enganging battle and boss theme. Style reminds of early PSX-themes. Especially atmospheric in puzzle rooms where concentration is required, rhythmic beats keep your mind focused.

The sound effects are natural and a mixture of sounds that fit the medieval setting as well as the MMO type futuristic sounds. Explosions are loud, wind is soft. When you use skills, they will impact with force and sound and landing every hit feels great.

Controllable with both mouse and keyboard and gamepad, the gameplay is responsive and easy to pick up. However, you will learn early that precision and skill are still required to be effective in this game; you can not simply run up to opponents and start beating them up: they have more than one way to deal with you.

That brings me to the three main gameplay elements of Cross Code. But first,
Mechanics.
Because of the puzzles, it is impossible to miss a mechanic as you have to understand and use it to proceed. Every puzzle is a tutorial so to speak.
The formula is mostly like this:
- Introduction of new element/mechanic tied to it
- Very simple introduction puzzle/battle for comprehension
- Several puzzles and battles with advanced usage
- Boss battle that requires advanced usage and timing

Puzzles
Puzzles make use of all logic you pick up in the game. If a new element or mechanic is introduced, the following puzzles will evolve around that. For example, the Faj'ro temple makes use of both your ice and fire element by introducing walls that are made of water. Based on the element you use on them, they become ice blocks or vaporate for a limited time.
The puzzles themselves are never hard: They are easy to comprehend and you always know what you have to do to solve it. The only factor that makes you fail the puzzle is yourself. Either you are not used to mechanics yet, or you missed the timing.

Parkour
This game does not have a jump button by design. Lea will automatically jump once you run off a ledge or gap. Using that, every single area has parkour and free running elements. They either lead to hidden chests, secrets or new areas. You will spend a majority of the time wondering "How the ♥♥♥♥ do I get up there?"
Most parkours span through the entire area, some even across multiple areas.
As you can imagine, puzzles and battles will also make use of platforming which adds a third dimension into the game.

Battle
Lea will be fighting a lot. Using her balls for ranged attack, melee attacks and defensive options like blocking and dodging, she is quick on the battlefield and you always have control over her. Every action type (Range, Melee, Defend, Dodge) comes with their own set of special skills which you can unlock in massive skill trees.
As the game features 4 prominent elements (Fire, Ice, Wave, Shock), on-the-fly switch between elements is possible and necessary in the later midgame. For that, every element has its own key assigned which lets you switch to it instantly. Hitting the same key again will return you to your normal state.
Based on the element you currently have equipped/selected, they have impact on Lea's statistics. Fire increases offense, ice defense etc.
Enemies have strengths and weaknesses. Obviously, using fire against a fire golem won't do much. The solution is to use ice. But in what way? Finding out weaknesses, breaking enemy defense and hail attacks on them while they are broken/stunned is the key to success in battle.

But Lea cannot only attack, but defend. Lea can dodge 3 times in a row, then needs a brief moment until she can dodge again.
This makes you aware of positioning, as especially in groups, enemy attack patterns can get relatively lethal.

Cross Code provides Lea with non-playable party members. As of version 0.8.5, only Emilie, your french Pentafist sidekick, will accompany you. Emilie will support you in close-combat.

The game has a lot of statistics that synergy with skills, elements and equipment. There are a lot of ways to minmax and to create new builds, which increases the replayability a lot. A whole botanics and glossary system provides you with info you need. A lot of detail has been put into the background story and lore around the MMO CrossWorlds. It is quite worth the read.

As of 0.8.5, the story is currently in development. It promises to have depth as the ingame lore is already massive.

Cross Code is the potential next big hit on Steam. It has very few flaws that are easily overshadowed by its strengths. Give the demo a try.

Within a few minutes, Cross Code takes you back to the days of you sitting in front of your CRT reliving your favourite action RPGs on the SNES: [b]Secret of Mana[/b], [b]Terranigma[/b], [b]Chrono Trigger[/b]. Using a combination of charming, classic hand-drawn environments and characters, a soundtrack that makes you remember it days after you last played, expressive and likeable (N)PCs, an interesting setting that keeps you intrigued, mind-boggling puzzles that require brains AND timing and a battle system built around throwing balls that simply doesn't get boring or tedious, delivers enough challenges for you to improve and trumps with epic boss fights. [b]This review is based on the current version 0.8.5, released in December 2016.[/b] You take the role of Lea, a Spheromancer-class character in the fictional MMOG [i]CrossWorlds[/i]. For unknown reasons, Lea lost her memory and logs into CrossWorlds as an attempt to recover it, but due to a problem her speech module isn't working properly, resulting in her ingame avatar being mute. Only with the help of a programmer called Sergey, she is able to express simple words like "Hi", "Bye" or "Lea". To find the answers to her questions and to her memories, she keeps playing the game in order to not make the system identify her as an intruder or bot and kick her out. With the help of various other players from other classes and the crew of the MS Solar, she dives into the world of CrossWorlds. [h1]Visuals[/h1] Cross Code is visually resembling the 16-bit titles from the SNES and Playstation 1 era using a flat top-down-perspective to make the riocheting and ball throwing natural. It mixes classic medieval RPG environments with futuristic elements like laser bridges, energy walls and teleport devices. Every area or city has its own look which is defined by the area it is built in: Rookie Harbor, with its western medieval style, Bergen Village, where snow-covered houses are built around cliffs, Ba'kii Kum, resembling a desert town that was built around a large oasis, Basin Keep, a rainy, modern skyscraper city in the midst of a fairytail-like jungle. The world is full of little details and filled with NPCs talking or running around the areas and towns making the game appear lively and populated at all times. [h1]Audio[/h1] The game features a rich playlist for all kinds of situations and environments and never seems to be out of place. On top of that, has a very enganging battle and boss theme. Style reminds of early PSX-themes. Especially atmospheric in puzzle rooms where concentration is required, rhythmic beats keep your mind focused. The sound effects are natural and a mixture of sounds that fit the medieval setting as well as the MMO type futuristic sounds. Explosions are loud, wind is soft. When you use skills, they will impact with force and sound and landing every hit feels great. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Controllable with both mouse and keyboard and gamepad, the gameplay is responsive and easy to pick up. However, you will learn early that precision and skill are still required to be effective in this game; [i]you can not simply run up to opponents and start beating them up[/i]: they have more than one way to deal with you. That brings me to the three main gameplay elements of Cross Code. But first, [b]Mechanics[/b]. [i]Because[/i] of the puzzles, it is [i]impossible[/i] to miss a mechanic as you have to understand and use it to proceed. Every puzzle is a tutorial so to speak. The formula is mostly like this: - Introduction of new element/mechanic tied to it - Very simple introduction puzzle/battle for comprehension - Several puzzles and battles with advanced usage - Boss battle that requires advanced usage and timing [b]Puzzles[/b] Puzzles make use of all logic you pick up in the game. If a new element or mechanic is introduced, [i]the following puzzles will evolve around that[/i]. For example, the [i]Faj'ro temple[/i] makes use of both your [b]ice[/b] and [b]fire[/b] element by introducing walls that are made of [b]water[/b]. Based on the element you use on them, they become ice blocks or vaporate for a limited time. [b]The puzzles themselves are never hard:[/b] They are easy to comprehend and you always know what you have to do to solve it. The only factor that makes you fail the puzzle is [b]yourself[/b]. Either you are not used to mechanics yet, or you missed the timing. [b]Parkour[/b] [i]This game does not have a jump button by design[/i]. Lea will automatically jump once you run off a ledge or gap. Using that, every single area has parkour and free running elements. They either lead to hidden chests, secrets or new areas. You will spend a majority of the time wondering [b]"How the [i]fuck[/i] do I get up there?"[/b] Most parkours span [i]through the entire area[/i], some even [i]across multiple areas[/i]. As you can imagine, puzzles and battles will also make use of platforming which adds a third dimension into the game. [b]Battle[/b] Lea will be fighting a lot. Using her balls for ranged attack, melee attacks and defensive options like blocking and dodging, she is quick on the battlefield and you always have control over her. Every action type (Range, Melee, Defend, Dodge) comes with their own set of special skills which you can unlock in massive skill trees. As the game features 4 prominent elements (Fire, Ice, Wave, Shock), on-the-fly switch between elements is possible and necessary in the later midgame. For that, every element has its own key assigned which lets you switch to it instantly. Hitting the same key again will return you to your normal state. Based on the element you currently have equipped/selected, they have impact on Lea's statistics. Fire increases offense, ice defense etc. Enemies have strengths and weaknesses. Obviously, using fire against a fire golem won't do much. The solution is to use ice. But [i]in what way[/i]? Finding out weaknesses, breaking enemy defense and hail attacks on them while they are broken/stunned is the key to success in battle. But Lea cannot only attack, but defend. Lea can dodge 3 times in a row, then needs a brief moment until she can dodge again. This makes you aware of positioning, as especially in groups, enemy attack patterns can get relatively lethal. Cross Code provides Lea with non-playable party members. As of version 0.8.5, only Emilie, your french Pentafist sidekick, will accompany you. Emilie will support you in close-combat. [h1]RPG[/h1] The game has a lot of statistics that synergy with skills, elements and equipment. There are a lot of ways to minmax and to create new builds, which increases the replayability a lot. A whole botanics and glossary system provides you with info you need. A lot of detail has been put into the background story and lore around the MMO CrossWorlds. It is quite worth the read. [h1]Story[/h1] As of 0.8.5, the story is currently in development. It promises to have depth as the ingame lore is already massive. [h1]Summary[/h1] Cross Code is the potential next big hit on Steam. It has very few flaws that are easily overshadowed by its strengths. Give the demo a try.