Cross Quest

Sounds like slint! I hadn't really played any classic RPGs going into this, but it was a great spin on that style regardless. The art and music are excellent and the gameplay felt pretty well-balanced once I got the hang of it. The tone and humor are unique for a game like this and the NPCs were always fun to chat with - Steve has a charming way of interacting with his world, and the world has a charming way of responding to him in turn. By the end, I just wanted to see *more* - I managed to squeeze 7 hours out of it but it's realistically 5-6 hours for most. I'm excited to see what's next for Steve!

Sorry, this is a no. - Fairly slow-paced. - There no weapons or armor, only consumable items. I guess this is because it's styled after pokemon, but as a 1-character RPG, this removes a dimension of strategy and progression that the game would have really benefitted from. - Some UI choices were made for this old school pokemon styling, like short all caps item names, which I might understand... if it was actually pokemon styling. Instead it's kind of a weird, variable-res approximation of game boy pokemon made in RPG Maker MZ. - I think I would have found the dialogue funny when I was 10. For example, in stores, if you look at the shelves, the PC will make sarcastic but generic comments along the lines of "here are more useless items" or "I don't need this." There are a lot of random sarcastic comments and jokes that do not land. - Maybe there's more substance later in the game, but after 45 minutes I haven't really encountered any... not in terms of gameplay, not in terms of plot or atmosphere or anything. This isn't a terrible game, but by RPG Maker standards it's not great. The rest of the reviews are all glowing, and somehow all have 5 or 10 people who've "found them help…

All 90s kids, rejoice! The nostalgia is real with this one, bringing me back to the days of old, growing up playing Pokemon or Zelda on my Gameboy. It feels so awesome to be brought back, but this time with a game that has its own unique worldbuilding that it feels familiar at the same time. Not to mention, I found myself laughing out loud during gameplay with the dialogue and little nuances embedded within. Very fun and highly recommend!

Its a really charming RPG with simple mechanics that dont overstay their welcome. Cool enemy designs, nice music and fun dialouge. Really cute game for a cute price.

This game reminds me very much of my gaming days as a kid. It feels like a really fun cross between old school pokemon (red, blue, yellow) and dragon warrior on the NES!

For full transparency, this game was made by a very close & treasured friend of mine almost primarily by himself (with some assistance from others). That being said, I played this game mostly blind. Cross Quest offers a familiar gameplay styling that pays tribute to early JRPG titles, most notably ones you'd find on the Gameboy, and follows the quaint adventures of a young impressionable man: Steve Cross. The general loop is generally unobtrusive: encounter & slay a variety of charming monsters, gather items, and earn enough experience points to make your way to the next major story beat. You can earn new actions to perform in battle by visiting Chapels, which double as save points, a slight departure from the genre standard of gaining abilities through leveling up- however, it still ends up accomplishing the same thing in the end, as abilities are still gained through natural game progression. Nothing in the game's brief 5 hour runtime (note: my account says I played it for 2.6 hours, but I actually transferred my original save file from the itch.io release to the steam one.) is too particularly difficult, and EXP shares are plentiful enough towards the end that grinding for leve…