CrossCode

CrossCode is an action role-playing game developed by Radical Fish Games and published by Deck13. The game's development began in 2012, and was later introduced as a crowdfunded project on Indiegogo. Following a three-year long early access beta phase, "CrossCode" was released for Linux, macOS, and Windows in September 2018, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in July 2020, and for the Xbox Series X/S as one of its launch titles in November 2020. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
Synopsis.
"CrossCode" is a retro-inspired 2D action role-playing video game set in the distant future, combining 16-bit Super NES-style graphics with a fast-paced combat system and puzzle mechanics. Players control a mute character named Lea as she plays a fictional MMORPG known as CrossWorlds.
Plot.
The game begins with a young woman called Shizuka Sakai fighting her way to rescue her brother, but once she finds him, he dies in her arms. Some time later, a girl called Lea awakens inside a cargo ship with no memories of her past and is informed by a man called Sergey Asimov that she must play the MMORPG "CrossWorlds" in order to regain her memories. Shortly after, Lea is assaulted by mysterious man known as the Blue Avatar, and is forced to escape into the game area. Once reaching the game area, she befriends another player called Emilie and the two explore the game together, eventually joining the "First Scholars" guild.
During a raid with the First Scholars, Lea is dragged away by the Blue Avatar and trapped into an off-limits area called the Vermillion Wasteland. She is confronted by Shizuka, who reveals that Lea is not human but an artificial intelligence called an "Evotar," based on the memories of Shizuka. After escaping back to the cargo ship, she also learns that Sergey used to work on the creation of CrossWorlds in the Instatainment Company along his friends Gautham Ranganathan, Shizuka and her brother Satoshi. These friends also took part in the Evotar Project, which was denied by Instatainment, until disappearing years before the events of the game. Once Sergey discovered Lea, he decided to help her recover her memories in an attempt to look for them.
Back in the game area, Lea reunites with her friends and locates Satoshi and Shizuka's hideout. She learns that they, along with Gautham, were forced by a man called Benedict Sidwell, a black market financer who funded the Evotar Project, to participate in a scheme to create Evotars based on CrossWorlds' players and extract valuable information for him. Satoshi had secretly hidden Lea in CrossWorld code for Sergey to find, allowing him to locate his former colleagues. She also learns that the real Satoshi is already dead but left behind an Evotar based on himself. With help from her friends, Lea storms Vermillion Wasteland where the server containing all Evotars is located in order to stop Sidwell's operation. The Blue Avatar, revealed to be Gautham's player avatar, intervenes on both ends to deliver Lea the "ultimate experience": one final challenge in the form of a dungeon and a final boss duel. After she defeats him, he gives her access to the server, before committing suicide in atonement for cooperating with Sidwell. With his plans foiled, Sidwell accepts defeat and flees.
Having secured the Evotars' data, Lea spends some time with her friends before she is also logged out from the game while Sergey attempts to convince the executives of Instatainment to allow the Evotars to keep existing inside CrossWorlds. The game then ends with two possible outcomes:
"A New Home".
Seven months after Lea and the other Evotars are allowed to live in CrossWorlds, Lea reunites with her friends and moves to a new house in Homestedt, a residential area created just for the Evotars, just in time for the release of the latest update that includes the game's final dungeon. Before Lea challenges the dungeon, she is informed by Sergey that one of her friends, C'tron was actually an Evotar based on Sidwell sent to spy on her. She confronts C'tron, who reveals that he lost most of his recent memories and declares his intention to atone by cooperating with their efforts to bring Sidwell to justice.
After clearing the final dungeon, Lea returns to Vermillion Wasteland one last time to help C'tron recover his memories and discover that he was one of many Evotars created by Sidwell and sent to gather information for him, just to be later deleted once they discovered the truth about their origin. To escape this fate, C'tron made a copy of himself to the main Evotar server. Back to Homestedt, C'tron reveals all he knows to the others and Lea is given the right to pass judgement on him, deciding if he can live in Homestedt with the other Evotars or not. Some time later, all other Evotars move to Homestedt and erect a statue in Lea's honor.
Development and release.
"CrossCode" is an action role-playing video game developed by German studio Radical Fish Games and published by Deck13. Development of the game began in 2012. It was later introduced added as an Indiegogo crowdfunded project in February 2015 alongside a web-based demo version, being released for Linux, macOS, and Windows in early access on Steam later that year. It was officially released out of early access on September 20, 2018.
Initially announced as one of the stretch goals of the crowdfunding campaign, the Wii U version could have been possible thanks to the system's web development toolset, but was later put on hold to prioritize the Steam Early Access version. It was eventually released for the Wii U's successor, Nintendo Switch, alongside the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, on July 9, 2020. The game was included in the launch lineup for Amazon's Luna cloud gaming service on October 20, 2020. An updated version featuring the high frame rate options was released on November 10, 2020 for Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X, supporting 4K resolution on the latter, and is available free of charge to existing Xbox One players.
The soundtrack was composed by Deniz Akbulut, with an official soundtrack released by video game music label Materia Collective on September 6, 2018. A 2-disc vinyl edition by Materia Collective was announced on June 26, 2020.
An expansion pack for the game, "A New Home", was released in February 26, 2021. It includes a new area, a new dungeon, and finishes plot elements from the main game.
Reception.
"CrossCode" received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game won the award for "Most Fulfilling Community-Funded Game" at the SXSW Gaming Awards.