CrossCode
CrossCode is a sci-fi indie action-RPG about a girl named Lea who finds herself stuck in the future version of a virtual-reality MMO, called CrossWorlds. And, unfortunately for her, she finds herself a mute amnesiac. Likely two of the worst traits to have in an MMO with no chat.
Review
I’ll note here that while I’m focusing on the negatives here, the game is actually very good overall and I’d definitely recommend it. I like it quite a bit myself, though that doesn’t stop me from…noticing.
The biggest issue with CrossCode I have (starting strong) is how they handled the character of Shizuka, where I feel she was completely wasted. Now, I think this is a consequence of the twist that Lea is an AI. Until it is fully revealed that Lea is an AI copy of Shizuka, it was still entirely possible that Lea was just Shizuka in a coma or something. This means that, until the reveal, Shizuka can’t just appear in-game and interact with Lea. Since this reveal doesn’t happen until later in the game, there really isn’t enough time left to have interactions between the two. However…that doesn’t apply to the DLC, where it really is just a wasted opportunity. There’s another thing relating to Shizuka in that she gets over her hatred of Lea too fast…or that’s how I perceive it at least.
I also feel that the story isn’t ‘diegetic’ if that even makes sense as a critique. I mean this in that the game sometimes has immersion-breaking moments that make it feel unreal.
There’s also the question of why instant matter is seemingly only used for an MMO…like, it’s obviously some kind of miracle material…you just have to sit down and think about its uses a bit more. Then again, the game is focused on just the MMO.
Another minor issue is that some characters are ‘colored-in’ while others are not. I assumed this was related to their plot relevance or how important they are…but I then realized it’s kinda random. Well…it’s kinda weird is what I’m saying.
Moving on to more positive things…I liked that they went out of their way to include the lore of CrossWorlds inside the game. They didn’t really have to (they could have done an SAO and largely ignored the lore) but they did anyway.
Now we’ll move away from the positives again…I find the music is good but gets repetitive pretty fast. You spend hours within one area and you hear the same music throughout the entire area. Further, tracks are re-used during some parts of the game, which diminishes their ‘wow’ factor.
The DLC is not something I was particularly impressed with at first…but after replaying it on New Game+, I’ve slightly changed my mind. I think it’s a good enough conclusion to CrossCode, though I’m disappointed that they didn’t, y’know, do stuff like Shizuka/Lea interactions when they had the opportunity to. The Sidwell/C’tron thing I initially had an issue with, but I now think it’s fine.