Friends, family, and adventure – that’s what it’s all about for a group of friends from the suburbs of California. The year is 1986; the smell of hot dogs and burgers are wafting from backyard cookouts and adolescent responsibilities are at an all-time low. It is the perfect time for a journey. Make the best of your down time with the retro-inspired Crossing Souls as it is an expedition worth embarking on!

Crossing Souls follows a group of 5 friends who come from different backgrounds. With each diverse upbringing, they all maintain unique characteristics. Yet, each has one thing in common: a sense of adventure! So it comes as no surprise when you get an urgent message via your walkie-talkie. Your brother has just found something important and is summoning you to the gang’s treehouse. Not a minute later you’re out the door!

This is how the story begins. The first playable character you are introduced to (as you are able to control each one later on) is Chris. He is your typical, kind-hearted, measured, and loyal protagonist. As the assumed leader of the pack, naturally the crew will listen to you. Wielding a baseball bat, you are prompted to navigate the neighborhood and surrounding areas (circa 1986). It’s your job to gather the group and meet up with your brother for news on his urgent discovery. Little do you know his findings will lead you into the midst of a government conspiracy! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

Greatness in the Making

Immediately upon starting on your “quest”, you start to realize how great Crossing Souls truly is. The game’s mechanics are diverse and varied with fluid execution. It contains a consistent level of detail and intricacies that I have come to expect from games published by Devolver Digital. And last but certainly not least – this indie title is jam-packed with all of the best 80’s pop culture references! Let’s talk more about these topics, starting with the game’s mechanics!

Crossing souls is described as an action-adventure implemented in the classic arcade style. This is seen in the majority of your time spent playing as you control one of five characters going through each isometric level. You can swap characters at any time with the press of a button! This allows easy access to each of their unique abilities to suit every situation.

Liberation

Each scenario, as it is presented, will have specific obstacles requiring a certain character’s ability. Crossing Souls implements these challenges in a smart way. More often than not there are multiple routes, allowing for you to progress the way you choose. Do you want to climb the vines on the wall down one path with Chris or launch yourself across a gap in a different path with Charlie? It’s not a huge “breakthrough” by any means, but I’ll take all the little bits of freedom afforded in a linear story that I can get!

“Freedom” and “linear” are typically two words that don’t belong in the same sentence when discussing video games. Oddly enough, this little indie game does a great job of feeling big! I found myself getting lost in the towns and exploration of each area. The game does a great job at utilizing all the ‘virtual real estate’ it has. Whether it is due to the diverse locales you explore or the amount of genres that the developers were able to pack in the game – Crossing Souls is able to give the illusion of depth and significance.

Like Onions?

Playing through this game you will notice a multitude of influences that add many layers. For instance, this indie gem shows signs of RPG’s in the way it introduces tasks and quests from NPC’s. My philosophy has always been “talk to everyone” – and the same advice goes for this game. One conversation later and you are running around town looking for the next objective. Some missions require a little bit of thought and deduction as well. Others will call for twitch reflexes and timing!

So get those reflexes in line as many levels will cleverly include skill-testing platform sections. Many of which require utilization of all of your character’s abilities. Don’t forget about reasoning and deduction either as other levels will present you with mind-bending puzzles and mazes to test you. This game will truly require mental, physical, and emotional investment; at least it will if you want to see the ending!

The Feels!

Speaking of emotions, I was definitely feeling something with how awestruck I was at the amount of detail in this game. Every shelf, desk, room, wall, and corner of these levels will have some type of prompt for you to discover. Random NPC’s will have stories to tell and knowledge to share. Detailed idle animations for each character will amuse you if you happen to sit still long enough. The pixel graphics and 80’s style cut scenes really complement the style of the game in all the best ways. Oh, but that’s not all…

What’s more is that for everything you can interact with, all individual characters will have a unique response! Whether it is a humorous description, a picture with no caption, a dialogue sequence, etc. there are rewards given to those curious individuals. I found myself cycling through each character every time I discovered something new just to see what each kid’s reaction would be. Occasionally doing so will lead to interesting outcomes or additional information. Sometimes NPC’s will react differently too! I was blown away!

It’s All in the Details

As if that wasn’t enough, a minor, subtle detail I noticed is that the kids all have separate sounds when speaking as well. What do I mean by this? Well, nothing is voice-acted, so speech is represented by typical sounds you would hear in a classic RPG/ JRPG. However, those sounds vary depending on which kid you are controlling at the time. This is the type of detail I want to see in my games; yes, please!

In the same vein of details are the references you will come across in Crossing Souls. I was going out of my way to try and determine where each scene or idea was from! Everything from Back to the Future and Stand By Me, to The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Super Mario Bros. If you are a fan of 80’s pop culture, the amount of homage this game pays is worth it! Although most don’t affect the gameplay itself, the developers threw them in carefully; each reference seems to make sense and was placed with purpose.

Dimming the lights

In fact, “purpose” plays a big role in this game. As mentioned, each character serves their purpose based on skillset, yes. However, there is a deeper, underlying message in the game: You are who you choose to be. Do you choose to value family? What would you do for those closest to you? Is there anyone for whom you would risk your life? This may seem like a kid’s game based on the bright colors and pixel graphics, but there are some very dark twists you’ll come across.

Crossing Souls ventures into some pretty mature avenues. I want to make that known. It feels like a lot of the appeal of this game comes from the way the developers have integrated so much into it, yet still keep it cohesive, fresh, and fluid – layered with darker tones. I’ll word this next piece of advice carefully to avoid giving too much of the story away (as this game is very story-driven). Know that if you plan on playing this game with your kids, or allow your kids to play it – depending on their age you may want to have a chat with them to make sure they understand what is thrown at the player.

Technically Speaking…

As you digest the story, let’s touch on a few of the minor technical aspects. I’m happy to report that this game performs very well…for the most part. 95% of the game was flawless! However, the last 5% of Crossing Souls had instances of slow-down. Now, the game never crashed or froze on me but during some of the more graphically intensive areas towards the ending, you will notice it. Luckily, it did not affect any combat portions or anything that required specific timing. But it is something to note as it was noticed not only in my game but in a colleague’s game as well.

What we also noticed about Crossing Souls is that it looks great! I mentioned the look earlier but let me reiterate that not only does it looks good docked, but also handheld as well. There is a certain charm to seeing pixelated raindrops showering down to the ground, or seeing someone blow a bubble and having it pop in their face. The colors are vibrant and/ or muted based on the situation, but the palette is truly varied. The 80’s were a…colorful time and this indie title does well by it! We’ve discussed a lot so let’s wrap all this up in a to-go bag!

The Conclusion

Overall, Crossing Souls exceeded my expectations. The description and the screenshots honestly don’t do it justice. It has dazzling colors to be seen, tight controls to handle, and a myriad of genres implemented to keep every second lively and fresh. It explores values and loss and packages it together in a reference-filled adventure that will stick with you. Do yourself a favor and pick up this game for a 10+ hour journey to the other side!

Thank you so much for taking a few minutes out of your day to see what I had to say about this game. For an even deeper discussion check out our video on it! From all of us here at Nindie Nexus – we appreciate you! We started as a site by the gamers, for the gamers – and we plan to keep it that way. Should you want to join our community, take a look at our Discord and Subreddit. If you want to support the cause further, consider our Patreon or send us a coffee! Until next time!