CrossCode is a 16-bit action/RPG set in an MMORPG. A player named Lea has found herself stuck in the world of CrossWorlds without her memory, and plays through the game in the hopes of finding herself. I've always wanted to visit this one again, since the last time I featured it here I didn't really do it justice. It's also left early access since then.
Picking up from where we left off, after going through Bergen Trail (with a little bit of a stop for grinding), Lea and Emilie arrive in Bergen Village. From there they head to their next destination, the Temple Mine. It's the game's first dungeon. Dungeons are instanced for each player, so Lea and Emilie decide to race each other and see who can get through it first.
As the name may suggest, this was once a mine before a temple was discovered here. Now it's part of the Track of the Ancients, a path that player avatars must walk, and no more mining is done in this place.
This little orb is a bomb that activates once Lea attacks it. It can be moved a little, then will explode on a timer.
Like so. Using these well is key to many of the puzzles here.
Lea's projectiles ricochet off walls when charged. This is also a major puzzle element, and a lot of things in this game rely on trick shots.
Sometimes you need to shoot a switch to alter the path of a moving platform over a bottomless pit.
Many of the robots left here by the miners have now become incorporated into the temple's defenses, and provide a challenge to players.
These little orbs add heat to projectiles that pass through them, allowing them to melt ice.
Naturally, they're used for more trick shots.
Ice bugs are pretty common here. They're dangerous in large numbers, but extremely vulnerable to heat, so they're not that much of a threat.
And here's another classic puzzle type, block puzzles on an icy floor that makes the blocks slide until they hit something.
Halfway through we meet a robot midboss. It gathers a swarm of ice bugs and absorbs them into itself to add cold to its attacks and scatter icicles across the floor. To make it vulnerable we need to hit it with heat and drive the bugs out.
You got the Heat Element! This adds fire to all of Lea's attacks and means she doesn't have to rely on those orbs anymore.
It also grants her some hot new combat arts. Using it for too long will overload her, forcing her back into normal mode for a short period.
Hitting a bomb with heat sends it flying across the floor and causes it to explode on impact. Sometimes you need to move one into position with a normal shot, then shoot it with a heat shot before it explodes.
Emilie really doesn't like bugs. Despite her fear, she's not giving up the race.
The last puzzle of the dungeon is another trick shot sequence, where you have to hit all of these panels in sequence with a single ball.
Then you have to fight a swarm of ice beetles to claim the boss key.
The dungeon's boss is a large mining robot. Its weak point is protected by a metal shield, which can be destroyed by turning the bombs it throws back against it. Its arms use both fire and ice attacks.
Defeating it brings Lea to the dungeon's end. She's quite pleased she managed to finish before Emilie did.
She encounters a statue of one of the ancient gods, who guides her to her next path along the Track of the Ancients.
Oh, and here's the music. It has kind of a foreboding feel to it.
