Sunset Overdrive

Despite launching in 2014 as an Xbox One exclusive (eventually arriving for PC), Insomniac Games’ Sunset Overdrive is still a classic that deserves more recognition. Its humor may not be for everyone, but the bombastic style and presentation, over-the-top combat and fluid movement, which would go on to inspire Marvel’s Spider-Man, all combine seamlessly. Coupled with an open-world playground littered with stuff to do and a compelling story, it’s a shame that more people didn’t play it.

Prey

Arkane Austin is dragged for Redfall, rightfully given its quality, but also because of its previous effort, Prey. As a reboot of the Human Head Studios’ FPS, it’s an immersive sim with a unique sci-fi setting and moral consequences from the perspective of one Morgan Yu, stuck on the Talos 1 station. Unfortunately, despite its well-designed environments, nuanced gameplay and frighteningly intelligent Typhon enemies, it failed to really make an impact sales-wise. Nevertheless, it’s still one of the genre’s best.

The Evil Within 2

You have to give credit to Tango Gameworks. Following the reception to The Evil Within, it returned to the drawing board and crafted a sequel superior in almost every way. Better graphics, more memorable sequences and terrifying scares, vastly improved gameplay and a story continuation that made us care more about protagonist Sebastian Castellanos and his family. Of course, as the story goes, it saw underwhelming sales and faded into the background. On the bright side, at least the developer bounced back and saw massive success with Hi-Fi Rush.

Days Gone

Bend Studio’s Days Gone is an interesting case – it sold millions, but many never tried it out until it came to PC and was offered free on PlayStation Plus. Its critical reception also left much to be desired, especially considering the high bar of PlayStation exclusives. Those who gave it a chance found a compelling open-world zombie shooter with interesting activities and an intriguing protagonist (despite some horrendous writing in sections). Fans still lament what could have been following reports of a proposed sequel being canned.

Nex Machina

Nex Machina is the final hurrah to Housemarque’s arcade shoot ’em ups and bullet hell titles (or so we thought at the time). A twin-stick shooter that combined elements from Robotron and Smash TV, even bringing on original designer Eugene Jarvis as a creative consultant, it offered gorgeous voxel graphics and fast-paced, intense action. Critics may have embraced it, but the sales said otherwise, leading to Housemarque famously stating that “Arcade is dead.” Fortunately, it didn’t stray far from its roots when it delivered the acclaimed Returnal for PS5.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem

With all the high-profile exclusives on the GameCube, from Metroid Prime to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, it’s a miracle that various third-party titles stood out. Silicon Knights’ Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem sadly wasn’t quite there, despite combining a long-running horror saga with multiple protagonists with an innovative Sanity system that messed with player perception in a fourth-wall-breaking fashion. Even with rave reviews for its story, mechanics and scares, it never received as much attention as the genre’s greats. Hopes for a sequel were buried long ago, but when it comes to compelling horror stories in video games, Eternal Darkness is still one of the greats.

Oxenfree

All these years later, and even with a sequel, the original Oxenfree remains as compelling and unique as ever. The story of Alex, who ventures to Edwards Island with her friends, alternates between teen drama and compelling supernatural mystery with incredibly well-written dialogue. Even better is the dynamic dialogue, allowing one to respond however they wish, leading to different results (and endings). Memorable stories come and go in the games industry, but Oxenfree’s deserves to be highlighted more.

Jusant

In this era of climbing games, where many emphasize the difficulty and frustration that comes from falling down on all that you’ve ever known, DON’T NOD’s Jusant hits differently. Despite its post-environmental disaster world, it offers a relaxing and meditative vibe as you scale a mysterious rock and attempt to piece together the history of its residents. With responsive controls and interesting platforming challenges that never get frustrating, Jusant is a remarkably chilled-out time.

Stories Untold

You probably heard of No Code for their work on the upcoming Silent Hill: Townfall, but horror adventure Stories Untold remains their most memorable work. It’s a surreal experience, seemingly starting as a series of standalone episodes before connecting incredibly. With unorthodox mechanics, including the player playing someone playing an old-school PC adventure game, Stories Untold is unlike anything else out there.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

Falcom’s Kiseki series has always been considered an RPG series with a lower budget, but it made for it with strong characters and writing. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky exemplified this best, introducing us to a fantasy world with airships and magic (but in a more grounded fashion). As Estelle Bright, players embark on a journey to become a full-fledged bracer, joined by Joshua and encountering all kinds of characters and occurrences along the way. Despite a slow start, the first game offers an amazingly realized world, a solid battle system with challenging fights, and an incredible soundtrack that’s still memorable

Mad Max

Another post-apocalyptic open-world title that didn’t quite land with several critics, Mad Max was still a strong adaptation of the source material. Players scoured the wasteland, engaging in vehicular battles while scavenging for parts, but ventured on foot to interact with various survivors and infiltrate strongholds for some solid beat ’em up action. Despite how monotonous the environments could get, it was still worth checking out for fans.

CrossCode

With its 16-bit style visuals and addictive hack-and-slash combat, CrossCode is already one of the best action RPGs few have ever played. However, it also offers a massive world with dozens of hours of gameplay, a great story that plays with established MMO tropes, and one of the more well-written protagonists out there. Coupled with a fantastic soundtrack, it’s a wonder that CrossCode doesn’t have more players.

Tacoma

Gone Home from Fullbright understandably isn’t for everyone, but Tacoma, a sci-fi title focused on rewinding and reviewing conversations in an abandoned space station, is definitely worth checking out. The conversations in question occur via Augmented Reality, leading to the exploration of different spaces at different times of the recording to piece together what happened. It’s an engrossing mystery and a solid adventure title that deserves more attention.

Vanquish

While everyone talks about Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising and NieR: Automata, PlatinumGames’ Vanquish is nearly forgotten. It’s a shame because despite the corny story and voice acting, it offered a new take on cover-based shooting, with rocket-powered sliding encouraging one to reposition quickly. Slow-mo allowed for more precise shooting while memorable boss fights and scenarios added some style to the proceedings.

As Dusk Falls

Yes, it ends on a cliffhanger, and some parts could have been better, but as a narrative title about two families inspired by the likes of Fargo, As Dusk Falls is an intriguing adventure from INTERIOR/NIGHT. Players make decisions at different moments, causing the plot to branch extensively, and every little choice and QTE has an impact. With solid acting and writing, its story is begging for a continuation and an expansion of the unique presentation.

Bastion

Bastion offers New Game Plus, which is fairly straightforward – any Spirits that you’ve unlocked will carry over along with all weapons, levels, Fragments and upgrades. Some Vigils, along with Proving Grounds completion, are lost, but you can start out with a lot of your previous progress intact. It’s the story that’s most intriguing – if you choose the Restoration ending in your first playthrough, the narrator Rucks will have moments of deja vu, like all of this has happened before. You also gain access to the Stranger’s Dream, a level with waves of foes which also provides more details on Rucks’ and the world of Caeldonia before The Calamity.

Dark Souls Remastered

More than a decade after its original release, it’s still impressive how much Dark Souls has influenced gaming. Dark Souls Remastered is a fairly straightforward enhanced edition, providing a 60 FPS frame rate, higher resolutions, and improved lighting and alpha effects among other minor improvements. But the core of the title, from the excellent pacing and pitch-perfect design, the madness of levels like Sen’s Fortress and Blighttown, and the wonder upon finding Anor Londo remain to this day, as does the solid combat and boss design.

Radical Fish Games’ CrossCode received its long-awaited post-game DLC with A New Home, which provides a fitting conclusion to Lea’s story along with tons of new content. The developer has since released update 1.4.1 which is the game’s last. It adds three new quests, new Trade Offers and a “couple” of Arena Cups.

The update is exclusive to the DLC so you’ll need to own A New Home to access it. Though Radical Fish will continue to fix bugs and other issues, this will be the final content addition to the game. As for what’s next, the developer confirmed on Steam that there are currently no plans for a sequel.

Its next game is in the prototyping phase, however, with the temporary title of Project Terra. The gameplay will be an action RPG similar to CrossCode but with a new setting and storyline. Radical Fish will talk more about the project in the coming months. Stay tuned in the meantime.

It’s been a long wait for CrossCode’s post-game content but Radical Fish Games has finally announced a release date. A New Home will release for PC on February 26th. PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch players will get it this Summer.

In terms of what to expect, there’s a new area, the Azure Achipelago; a new dungeon, which is the biggest one yet; new enemies and bosses; new music tracks; and the opportunity to finally finish the raid. Rhombus Square has been extended and will have a beach. New quests also become available throughout CrossWorlds. Lea will even have the ability to run on water, because why not?

Overall, there’s about 8 to 10 hours of content to look forward to. A New Home will retail for $8.99 when it releases. Check out the trailer below to see all of its new content in action and stay tuned for more details. You can also check out our review for the base game here.

While it starts as a straightforward journey through its game-within-a-game, it soon delves into deeper understandings of its setting and beyond, all the while complementing its interesting story with clever writing and rewarding combat that works as both a love letter to the 16-bit era of gaming’s past and a worthy modern RPG that mostly achieves what it sets out to do.

CrossCode draws instant comparisons to Ready Player One by being set in an in-game MMO, called CrossWorlds, where players can synchronize their bodies into the game and effectively fully immerse themselves into its world. In CrossWorlds, players can join guilds, complete quests, and, like Ready Player One’s OASIS, look for hidden clues and lost treasures. You play as Lea, who from the outset has lost her memory and is told she is in a coma in the outside world, only staying conscious within the confines of CrossWorlds. For a good chunk of the first part of the game, your experience playing CrossCode mirrors that of someone playing CrossWorlds.

Aside from occasional hints at Lea’s true story, you follow CrossWorlds’ main quest line, meeting other players, completing the dozens of side quests, and leveling up along the way. While it can get overwhelming, the game within the game is absorbing, with its well-written side quests and diverse environments, and I sometimes felt an urge to stay in the game itself and play it like there were no larger plot.

Though you are playing an in-game MMO, you’re not actually playing with other actual people. Instead, the characters you meet are meant to mimic what interactions would look like, with people giving their own in-game motivations and explanations of their real lives. As you meet new people along the way, you can add them to your party and let them follow you around the world to collectively complete quests. Not everyone is logged in at the same time, though, and the characters are filled with personality to make them seem like actual people.

"Lea, on the other hand, is effectively mute, suffering from so-called voice synchronization issues that keep her from being able to speak within CrossWorlds."

One of the first people you meet, Emilie, is a student who keeps telling you about her school projects and unbearable group members, which, alongside her French exclamations and detailed animations, gives her some relatability and a hard connection to reality. Every character has beautiful detailed character models for their dialogue sequences that showcase their expressiveness without much movement. The clever writing leaves a lot of funny moments to go around, though it often falls into the trap of quipping about the game’s problems and refusing to actually address them, such as noting lazy quests or repetitive puzzles that you still ultimately have to complete.

Lea, on the other hand, is effectively mute, suffering from so-called voice synchronization issues that keep her from being able to speak within CrossWorlds. She communicates with a software developer who wants to help her regain her memories, but she can only speak through a handful hard-coded words, like “Hi” and “How?” Despite this, she’s still surprisingly expressive and impressively emotional. She uses her sparing words effectively, and even moments like an exclamation point or question mark convey exactly what they intend. As she comes to find out her true identity, it’s hard not to sympathize with her despite having so few words at her disposal.

By the end, CrossCode’s story predictably has taken control, with the last 3 chapters taking up nearly half of the 35-or-so hours it took me to beat it. Its pacing is back heavy in its revelations, and some of them definitely could have been interspersed throughout the early stages to give more context to Lea’s story in the first 20 hours. Despite this, though some story beats are predictable from the outset, I found it to be ultimately complex and interesting, and the late moments where everything comes together make a lot of the journey worth it and left me wanting to go back to retrace some of the clues laced around earlier moments.

"You can also tone down the difficulty in the menu with sliders to decrease damage taken or enemy attack rates, which is an appreciated option to have when a boss is really kicking your teeth in."

In playing the game within the game, you naturally become accustomed to its gameplay as a retro-style 16-bit action RPG. It mirrors many classic RPGs in its combat, as you fight its varied enemies with your own sets of melee and ranged attacks or powerful special moves. As you level up, you increase your baseline stats of HP, attack, defense, and focus, but you also equip armor and weapons that increase them even more.

Compounding this is the addition of elemental attacks that you gain throughout the course of the story, each of which has its own specialties and unique skill tree with individual upgrade points. This gives you a lot of freedom in where you want to specialize without forcing you to choose a particular style or element. Knowing that enemies have varying weaknesses, you have to balance your use of each element, but you can decide within them if you want to focus on ranged attacks, increasing your baseline stats, or improving your special moves.

I found the combat to be incredibly rewarding over time. Enemies usually don’t attack you unless you hit them first, meaning you can pick and choose your fights, but it’s imperative that you don’t just run through every area. Killing enemies predictably lets you level up faster, and it’s consistently satisfying to take down enemies, even after fighting the same ones dozens of times. Combat is intended to be difficult, as the game informs you before you even start, and it lives up to its promise.

Regular enemy encounters can become overwhelming if you’re not prepared properly or just lose track of your targets. Bosses, too, are extremely powerful, and they force you to learn their moves the hard way before being able to beat them. Most deaths come as fair culminations of being underequipped or making mistakes, though sometimes the screen can get overloaded with enemies, at which point a lock-on mechanic would be useful. It also often falls back on raising stakes within combat by following up a fight against a single enemy with a fight against two or more of the same enemy, a sequence that not only becomes frustrating when the first fight depletes your health but also defeats its own purpose because it becomes so predictable over time.

Naturally, you can buy, trade for, or find better weapons and armor around the world and in towns, which organically make you more powerful. Using new weapons for the first time is always satisfying, and even seeing the stat boosts is a great feeling when you know you’re gaining strength. Also helping you with the difficulty are the other members of your party, who are actually as powerful as other players in an MMO would be, allowing you to have a reliable second or third set of hands to take down bigger enemies. You can also tone down the difficulty in the menu with sliders to decrease damage taken or enemy attack rates, which is an appreciated option to have when a boss is really kicking your teeth in.

"CrossCode is a great example of how to create a retro-style RPG that still fits perfectly into today’s gaming landscape."

The other side of CrossCode’s gameplay is its puzzles, scattered generously around the world. These utilize your elemental and environmental knowledge to get you to hit certain out-of-the-way targets with a single bullet or cross a particularly large path with cleverly placed blocks. Most of the puzzles are fun to solve, toeing the line between obscurity and accessibility, though there are some obtuse ones that stumped me. They’re calming breaks between enemy encounters that slow the pace, and they’re usually crafty enough to subtly give you hints but still make you feel clever for figuring them out on your own.

CrossWorlds itself is an open world game, so CrossCode inhabits one, too. Environments are appropriately diverse, and they all contain both clear paths forward and more difficult paths to follow that lead to collectibles or loot. Navigating these usually consists of finding out how to get to higher areas and around obstacles, which makes environments much more vertical and efficient with their space, and they’re fun to explore, especially while listening to the infectious soundtrack and watching the fluid animations. The complexity within the map did cause me to get lost fairly often, though, and the lack of a mission marker for main quests and their absence from the quest log makes it difficult to find your next move if you’ve gone off on a tangent.

CrossCode is a great example of how to create a retro-style RPG that still fits perfectly into today’s gaming landscape. While exploring its metagame and the characters that come with it, there is a deep and complex RPG within that gives you a lot of freedom while forcing you to intimately learn its systems to progress. Despite some predictability in its story and confusion around its map, CrossCode creates a fully-realized game-within-a-game that’s interesting on its own and in the context of the world around it. It’s not only an interesting exploration of the world within a game, but it’s a great action RPG on its own merit.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Microsoft has revealed its current slate of titles coming to Xbox Game Pass subscribers in July. Out of the Park Baseball 21 and Soulcalibur 6 are currently available on Xbox Game Pass for PC and console respectively. However, next week will see the addition of Fallout 76 and CrossCode.

Bethesda’s Fallout 76 has easily been the studio’s most controversial release but received numerous improvements through updates and patches. The Wastelanders update in April added human NPCs, reputation systems, factions and more while Season 1: The Legendary Run has begun with its own set of challenges and rewards. The online title will be available for both PC and Xbox One subscribers on July 9th.

Radical Fish Games’ CrossCode will also go live on the same day but for Xbox Game Pass for console subscribers. It takes place in a virtual game called CrossWorlds with its protagonist, Lea, trying to regain her memory. With a deep action RPG combat system, retro-art style and memorable boss fights, it’s well worth getting into (especially since the Xbox One version will have unique content).

Games that will be leaving Xbox Game Pass on July 15th are as follows:

• Blazing Chrome (Console & PC)
• Dead Rising 4 (Console & PC)
• Metal Gear Solid 5 (Console and PC)
• Timespinner (PC)
• Unavowed (PC)
• Undertale (PC)

TrackMania

Serving as a reboot of TrackMania Nations, TrackMania closely follows the series’ formula. You’ll race across 25 different tracks, test out track and replay editors, and even enjoy user-made course. That’s all part of free access though. Standard Access, which costs $10 per year, grants access to the full track and replay editors, the “Track of the Day” selection and all “Track of the Day” and official campaign tracks. There’s also Club Access for $30 per year which provides even more exclusive content and league participation. Honestly, we’ll have to wait and see how the gameplay and content shakes out but the game is looking good. It’s out on July 1^st for PC.

Marvel’s Iron Man VR

After a short delay, Marvel’s Iron Man VR is set to release on July 3^rd, exclusively for PlayStation VR. Based off the Marvel Comics version of the Armored Avenger, the story sees Tony Stark battling the mysterious hacktivist Ghost who’s repurposed old Stark Industries weapons. Set in various locations around the world, players will fly, fight and shoot down drones with the Iron Man suit. Though movement takes some getting used to, Camouflaj’s commitment to immersion and translating the property faithfully to VR seems to have paid. With an 8 to 10 hours of gameplay, there should be enough here to keep fans entertained.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing In Disguise

Agent York returns but this isn’t a straightforward sequel to Hidetaka Suehiro’s cult classic. The story alternates between FBI agent Aaliyah Davis, who re-opens a once solved case in the present, and a younger Francis York Morgan who travels to Le Carré in New Orleans in the past to investigate some strange murders. Alternating between the two characters, the sequel still offers that signature brand of bizarre humor and horror. Plus, York is capable of skate-boarding and river-riding in the middle of solving murders. Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise releases on July 10^th for Nintendo Switch.

CrossCode

Radical Fish Games’ excellent 16-bit style action RPG is finally coming to Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch on July 9^th. CrossCode takes place in a virtual playspace called CrossWorlds with the protagonist Lea trying to recover her memory. The combat is completely real-time and focuses on fast-paced combos, aided by more than 90 Combat Arts. Each console version (along with PC) will have a unique mini dungeon, boss fight and miniquest, all culminating in “something” down the line. Whatever it may be, this is an old-school tribute you shouldn’t miss.

F1 2020

The next iteration in Codemasters’ yearly F1 franchise brings Career Mode revamps, My Team mode, new tracks and much more. My Team is especially interesting since it allows for creating and managing a team, bringing in staff, hiring another driver and partaking in races to keep things afloat. As for Career Mode, players can now adjust the duration of a season, opting for either 10 races or going with the full 22 race stint. With 22 circuits and 20 drivers, F1 2020 will release on July 10^th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Google Stadia.

NASCAR Heat 5

Though probably not the first racing sim to come to mind, the NASCAR Heat series has nonetheless been chugging along for the past few years, garnering decent critical acclaim. As the latest iteration for PC, Xbox One and PS4, NASCAR Heat 5 promises re-imagined gameplay, changes to pit stops and DNF for races, and a new track-testing mode for single-player. Otherwise, expect a faithful take on the 2020 NASCAR season (such as it is) when the game releases on July 10^th.

Death Stranding (PC)

Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding is finally coming to PC with support for higher frame rates, Ultra-widescreen support and other graphical improvements. The story of Sam “Porter” Bridges as he treks across the United Cities of America, fending off the BTs in an attempt to reconnect the country, is still every bit as weird as last year. Except now we can experience it in 60 frames per second and 1080p resolution. The gameplay is unorthodox yet familiar with systems upon systems to manage and that’s not even getting into the whole Strand multiplayer. Nonetheless, Death Stranding should be worth checking out for PC players when it launches on July 14^th.

Ghost of Tsushima

When the Mongol invasion hits Tsushima and wipes out Jin Sakai’s clan, he embarks on a quest to rid the island of the invaders. Hack and slash combat with various stances, parries and deathblows are expected but Jin can also play the Ghost, sneaking into camps and using subterfuge to stealthily assassinate foes. Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima is being touted as the developer’s biggest game till date with a variety of lush environments to explore, foes to battle and sidestories to experience. This is in addition to duels against powerful swordsmen and a black and white filter that channels classic samurai cinema. Ghost of Tsushima is out on July 17^th for PS4.

Paper Mario: The Origami King

Perhaps the bigger Switch title to look forward to in July is Paper Mario: The Origami King. As the long-awaited follow-up in the series, the story sees the Mushroom Kingdom under siege by King Olly. Everything is turned into Origami and it’s up to Mario, Bowser and Olivia to push back against the assault. Along with a variety of puzzles and a stellar origami aesthetic dotting the world – which is exploited by the new 1000-Fold Arms that can tear off parts of the environment – combat is based off of a ring system. Players will need to line up enemies within different sections and then attack. In terms of ridiculous epicness, Paper Mario: The Origami King is shaping up well en route to its July 17^th release.

Destroy All Humans!

It wouldn’t be a line-up of games without some remaster or remake coming out. To that end, Pandemic Studios’ Destroy All Humans!, which is being remade by Black Forest Games, warrants attention. It focuses on an alien named Crypto who’s come to Earth in pursuit of human DNA. Along with gliding, dashing and shooting humans, Crypto also has a flying saucer to spray laser death on unsuspecting folk. The remake features motion capture, updated character models and cutscenes, and the previously cut “Lost Mission of Area 41”. Time will tell just how good it feels but if the remake captures the original’s essence of hilarity and action, it should be a blast. Destroy All Humans! Releases on July 28^th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Google Stadia.

After what seems like forever, Radical Fish Games’ critically acclaimed action RPG CrossCode finally has a release date for consoles. It will release digitally on July 8th and retail for $19.99. To showcase some of the things that players can expect, a new trailer has been released. Check it out below.

CrossCode follows the trials of Lea, who plays the virtual MMO CrossWorlds. Lea has amnesia but is also unique in having very few words that she can speak. Throughout her journey to recover her memories, she’ll encounter various other players and visit various dungeons.

With combat reminiscent of the Secret of Mana series, CrossCode carves its own niche with responsive mechanics, an appealing retro-art style and a hefty amount of side-quests and main quests. The game is currently available on Steam for PC so you can try it now via the free demo. You can also read about why it’s so great here. As for the post-game DLC, which adds new story content, it’s currently targeting a Q2 2020 release.

Radical Fish Games recently updated its excellent action RPG CrossCode with New Game Plus in September. What about the eagerly awaited post game DLC aka the Epilogue for after the story? In a new post on its official site, the developer seeks to answer some of those questions.

First it noted that the post game DLC will feature more quests, extensions to Rhombus Square and a “proper” final dungeon for fans. Interestingly, it will also provide answers to questions that some may have after finishing the game’s story. Though there’s no release date yet, the developer said it was targeting the second quarter of 2020.

As for the game’s console versions, they’ve been delayed past 2019. This is due to the game’s HTML5 code but various issues have since been ironed out. Currently the team at Deck13 is sorting out various issues and focusing on testing the Xbox One version, which is to its first submission. The Switch version will be worked on from there and simply require some optimization before certification.

No release date has been announced but fans can expect any announcement to be on “rather short notice.” Until then, check out the latest trailer below.