Cross Blitz is something between a deckbuilding roguelite and an RPG adventure game, combining elements of both into a card-battling, character-driven adventure with a cast as colorful and inviting as its splendid pixelated art style.
I had the pleasure of giving Cross Blitz my impression back when the game first entered Early Access, and I have to say that coming back to it after all this time in preparation for its 1.0 launch has been something akin to revisiting an old friend. While there were some new and exciting things, overall, the release version of Cross Blitz feels very familiar to the exciting experience I enjoyed before, just polished and added on to, though some small problems I wish were changed have gone untouched.
For the utterly unfamiliar, Cross Blitz is a deckbuilding game that combines elements of familiar roguelike titles with an RPG adventure campaign. The so-called Fables mode is a story-driven campaign where players move from battle to battle, building a deck and tweaking it with artifacts and mutations along the way. These linear adventures tell the story of a quirky cast of characters and present about thirty hours of game time for players to enjoy.
Said quirky cast of characters is one of Cross Blitz‘s biggest strengths. The unique characters, both present in the campaign with stories to explore as well as making silent cameos in your deck of cards, are all super interesting, be it for their story, unique concepts, or character design, or some combination of all three. I was a particular fan of the demonic rock band archetype, which used cards to show us a concert, band managers, and groupies in the way of a big minion spam deck. I also made it a point to use the battle fairy card whenever I could, because come on. It is a little fairy in armor.
Something I wish the game had improved upon from Early Access was how these phenomenal designs can find themselves squished into little card frames. With how animated the game is, I do not see any reason why these sprites could not have been present on the field, especially since each card lacks background art that would need to be cut out to do so. This is more of a frivolous, subjective criticism, though, and not one I am using to score the game.
As great as the Fates game mode is, my favorite still remains Tusk Tales, a huge roguelike campaign that exists outside of and in addition to the game’s main story. Think Slay the Spire, but using Cross Blitz’s card game mechanics and characters, and you have got a very well put together and highly addicting game mode that I frankly recommend over the game’s story.
The aforementioned card mechanics play like something between your typical card game and the defensive side of tic-tac-toe. The board consists of several lanes upon which cards can be placed, and if left in those lanes during the blitz phase, will attack anything in front of them, including the enemy player if left unblocked. Using different deck archetypes all built around unique mechanics, the goal here is to block your opponent’s cards and attack them through unguarded lanes, with the first person reduced to zero, losing the match.
The roguelike mode gives you a totally different cast of characters to play with and allows for permanent upgrades to each by collecting a permanent currency through each run. Again, not to put the story down, but I found this mode way more fun and could easily lose hours playing it.
The game’s art is fantastic, picturing a sort of fantastical world of humans and anthropomorphic animals with a heavy emphasis on pirate themes. As great as it is, I once again wish my cards were not trapped to their little cropped frames, so I could more fully appreciate each character’s entire design as I am playing, rather than just their headshots.
In many ways, Cross Blitz remains the same game it was when I first played it. The core gameplay remains untouched outside of a few balance changes here and there, and the cast of characters has only been expanded with more cards, now totaling five hundred. Built upon a solid foundation, the Early Access run of Cross Blitz has essentially only added new content to the game from what I can tell, creating a fully realized, fun experience.
If I could complain about anything, however, it would be the slowness with which the AI seems to process the game. As a purely player versus CPU experience, you will experience longer, dragged-out turns as the AI often seems to slow down, as if unsure what to play for its turn. This becomes especially tedious when playing poison decks, as the time it takes for the AI to cycle through and play each poison card in its hand can easily take upwards of ten seconds. That may not sound like much, but it really adds up, especially when turn start animations prevent you from interacting with your hand at all. These little unnecessary slowdowns feel like time sinks and nothing more, which unfortunately makes them all the more noticeable and again tedious.
The Final Word
Cross Blitz has only gotten better since I first played it in Early Access, improving upon its unique and fun-to-play core mechanics with over five hundred cards and even more ways to play. While the AI can seem to slow down during a match, creating a bit of a tedious drag, it was not enough to prevent my enjoyment of the game, which I easily recommend to anyone looking for a new Slay the Spire type deck builder with its own unique flavor.
Try Hard Guides was provided a Steam code for this PC review of Cross Blitz. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Cross Blitz is available on Steam.
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