On any given day, you can find me either thinking about, praying for, or playing cute pixelated games with some old-school charm. Luckily, we have a pretty promising one of those on the horizon with Cross Blitz, a deckbuilding RPG that follows some furry animal pirates across the high seas, digitally represented on a grid-based map this time around. Cross Blitz was announced two years ago, but the indie team at Tako Boy have secured a publisher and are now ready to launch into early access later this year.
Cross Blitz is split between two modes: a story mode and a more replayable roguelite one. The main story mode follows the interconnected journeys of multiple characters including the lion pirate Redcroft as he fights for his freedom, and pop-star Violet as she fights to stop an evil doppelganger and hold onto her fame. Maybe she’ll discover that celebrity isn’t the only thing worth living for by the end. Either way, I’m patiently waiting for an extravagantly camp concert to kick off the game à la Final Fantasy X-2.
Meanwhile, the roguelite mode offers an ever-changing island map, letting you play as unique mercenaries, invest in their powerful decks, and eventually mourn their inevitable deaths. Slay The Spire proved you could mix card-battling with a roguelite structure to electrifying results. All that’s missing were the eye-candy pixels.
Oh, and the soundtrack’s humming chiptunes are delightful. Fat Bard are behind the music decks and their previous credits include work on Brawlhalla, Windswept, and Demon Turf. That last one had some seriously great, toe-tapping, head-bopping beats. Although, they did lead to a handful of distracted deaths. I’m almost just as excited to hear Cross Blitz as I am to play it.
Cross Blitza will enter early access on Steam later this year with over 200 cards to play around with.
