CrossCode

While branded as a retro action RPG, I really don't think this description does the game justice. Yes it's inspired by games like Illusion of Gaia and Secret of Mana, but the game takes that core and really goes above and beyond what those games did. CrossCode has a little bit of everything. Hack n slash, shooting, looting, exploring, puzzles, challenging combat and even more tougher bosses.

The game takes place in CrossWorlds which is a MMO video game your character is sent to. In this world you have all players (NPC's) playing the game and progressing throughout the various acts, the same that you are doing. So it's a single player RPG, but in a MMO World, a rather weird concept that the devs managed to pull off. As the story progresses it all starts to make sense, but without spoiling anything I thought that the story was quite good until the very end. You get to meet a few other players that you can team up (up to 3 at a time) and do the quests with, and eventually joining a guild.

The game is a little slow to start, but as the features unlock it really becomes amazing at the amount of things you are able to do. There's the main storyline of course, but there's all these side quests that are available to do and I would recommend doing them all as they are really great and comparable to the quality of the side quests of The Witcher 3. There's a strong collecting aspect to the game, and there's lots of backtracking to do at places you've already discovered if you want to acquire the finest items. The battle system is amazing, really inspired by action RPGs of the 16-bit era but combining both melee and ranged attacks in the process. You'll have to use your dashing, shield and correct elemental attacks at a near flawless level to progress in the game, as the game gets insanely hard as you get to later chapters.

The dungeons in the game are also inspired by games of the past (I'd definitely throw Link to the Past as another influence), but they take those concepts and just expand on them so much. The dungeons are long and with endless amount of puzzles, and they really get harder and harder and will definitely get you frustrated on a few of them. The game is really challenging and didn't go soft on the challenge, this is like the ultimate experience when it comes to that specific genre. In between puzzles you also have some fighting to do, and those too can get really rough. The game doesn't really allow you to over level as eventually the enemies will only give 1 xp each (it takes 1000 to level up). The gear is much important here and there's also this sort of Path of Exile-like ability tree where you get to choose what your upgrades are going to be, one tree for your neutral ability and 4 more for each element you will get to unlock.

CrossCode is a game that I feel went above the call of duty. It could have been just a nice flashback to the games of the past, but instead they took that genre and improved it in all possible ways. This is not just another retro game, it's a game that perfects the genre that its paying tribute to. There were so many moments where I was blown away by the level of complexity of the puzzles, or just how much fun I was having doing the battles. There is a lot of trial and error to do, but thankfully dying just makes you respawn to the beginning of the room so you have to practice until you really master it. Really amazing game that is sadly overlooked by the all the major gaming websites, hopefully this gets a new life when it releases on consoles as I can definitely see Switch users loving the hell out of this one. I really do think it's one of the all-time bests.

(as a sidenote I almost completed the game, but did not manage to beat the final boss with its 12-part battle and insane difficulty. I roughly estimate 80 hours spent into the game at this point, which is definitely worth the asking price)