Crossing Souls
{{Infobox video game
| title = Crossing Souls
| image = Crossing Souls logo.png
| developer = Fourattic
| publisher = Devolver Digital
| engine = Unity
| platforms = Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
| released = {{Unbulleted list|13 February 2018|Nintendo Switch|26 July 2018}}
| genre = Action-adventure
| modes = Single-player
| designer = {{Unbulleted list
| Juan Diego Vázquez
| Daniel Benítez
| Juan Gabriel Jaén
}}
| programmer = {{Unbulleted list
| Juan Diego Vázquez
| Alfonso Cueto
| Fernando de Luna
}}
| artist = {{Unbulleted list
| Daniel Benítez
| Juan Gabriel Jaén
}}
| composer = {{Unbulleted list
| Chris Köbke
}}
}}
Crossing Souls is an action-adventure video game developed by Spain-based indie development studio Fourattic and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released on 13 February 2018 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux PlayStation 4 and 26 July 2018 on Nintendo Switch.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.gameinformer.com/psa/2018/07/26/nostalgic-indie-title-crossing-souls-now-on-switch|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918193823/https://www.gameinformer.com/psa/2018/07/26/nostalgic-indie-title-crossing-souls-now-on-switch|url-status=live|archive-date=September 18, 2018|title = Nostalgic Indie Title Crossing Souls Now on Switch|magazine = Game Informer}}
Plot
Setting and characters
Crossing Souls takes place in 1986 at the town of Tajunga, California. Story centers around five teenage friends, Chris, baseball player, his younger, obnoxious brother Kevin, Matt, bookworm inventor, Big Joe, big hearted muscle and tomboy Charlie. They discover magical Duat Stone, which allows them to see and interact with spirits of the dead. Major Oh Russ, military maverick seeks to use the Duat Stone for world domination.
Story
In 1986 at Tajunga, California, Five teenage friends discover a corpse of McKittrick near the town`s river which holds a Duat Stone. Taking the stone home and driven by curiosity, Matt is able to build a device with which the friends are able to unlock and control the stone's power. Though the friends do not fully understand the artifact's power, they find out that it is able to make them see and interact with the spirits of the dead. However, stone also drains the life source of those who hold it. This gets Kevin tragically killed when they run into street gang leader, Quincy Queen, who steals the stone. After several days of mourning, four friends steal back the stone and use it to talk with Kevin. They also meet the ghost of the McKittrick, who reveals that he used to work for former U.S. Army general Colonel Beringer, self-proclaimed Major Oh Russ, who had organized the Duat Stone's recovery and use it to control the deceased to accomplish his world invasion plan. McKittrick rebelled and stole the Duat stone. Tajunga gets quarantine lockdown over a government conspiracy involving contagious disease as a cover up operation. Four friends escape, only to fall off the road into the dark forest, where they encounter military camp of ghost children deceived by an evil ghost. After liberating the ghost children, four friends return Tajunga in order to save their friends and families, but Oh Russ has already captured them. Children escape through a river in to the cavern, but Big Joe gets mortally wounded and eventually dies. Surviving trio discovers inside the cavern hieroglyphs, which seems to imply the Duat Stone was an artifact of the gods. After getting out of the cavern and dealing with the ghosts of the old west, Major Oh Russ catches up to them, steals the Duat Stone and kidnaps Charlie. Matt and Chris give a chase and infiltrate Oh Russ`s headquarters where they encounter Osis, god of balance, who reveals Oh Russ being servant of Seth, Egyptian god of destruction who usurped his brother Osis' position as the Keeper of the Living Balance. The boys also learn Oh Russ is using their families and friends as an energy source to power up the Duat Stone. While they manage to defeat Oh Russ and rescue Charlie, Matt dies. Charlie and Chris share a final kiss before Charlie escapes with all of the townsfolk. Chris stays behind, activates the interdimensional portal to confront and destroy Seth with his soul, thus saving everyone at the cost of his own life. In the epilogue, Charlie, having grown old, tells the events of the game as a story to her grandchildren. After they leave, she activates a machine based on Matt's discoveries to send her soul to the afterlife as a girl she was back then and reunites with her childhood friends.
Development
Crossing Souls{{'}} storyline was largely influenced by those of the films The Goonies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Super 8, while the level design and the orthogonal view were adapted from the original The Legend of Zelda, with the animation style of the cutscenes having been inspired by Teen Wolf, Saint Seiya, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, all of which are items of the 1980s. Development on the game started in January 2014, after the final update for Fourattic's previous game, Bin This Pic: Guess the Wrong One (or Odd Pic Out), was released. The pre-production was first presented to the public through the TIGSource forums on 5 February 2014.{{cite web | url = http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=38599 | title = Crossing Souls | author = sephi_6 | date = 5 February 2014 | website = TIGSource}}{{cite web | url = http://www.pcgamer.com/devolver-digital-announces-crossing-souls-a-goonies-like-action-adventure/ | title = Crossing Souls is a Goonies-like action-adventure | last = Chalk | first = Andy | date = 17 November 2014 | website = PC Gamer | publisher = Future US}} In the forums, it was met with a positive reception, thus, development was continued and team members regularly posted development updates. Around March 2014, the team was running out of money, wherefore the development on the game was halted, enabling the team to create Pixel Puzzle Mania, a free-to-play puzzle video game for iOS, published by Genera Games, which was released on 29 August 2014.{{cite web | url = https://www.theverge.com/2014/12/4/7329137/crossing-souls | title = This game will remind you why the '80s were awesome - 'We missed being kids.' | last = Webster | first = Andrew | date = 4 December 2014 | website = The Verge | publisher = Vox Media}} In August 2014, Fourattic partnered with Devolver Digital for a publishing deal on Crossing Souls. On 17 November 2014, the game was brought to Kickstarter, aiming for {{US$|45,000|link=yes}}.{{cite web | url = https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/424511716/crossing-souls-an-adventure-between-life-and-death/ | title = Crossing Souls: An Adventure Between Life and Death by Fourattic | author = Fourattic | date = 17 November 2014 | website = Kickstarter}}{{cite web | url = http://www.pcgamer.com/devolver-digital-announces-crossing-souls-a-goonies-like-action-adventure/ | title = Crossing Souls is an '80s adventure, now on Kickstarter | last = Savage | first = Phil | date = 17 November 2014 | website = PC Gamer | publisher = Future US}} Devolver Digital announced that they would publish it, regardless if, and how far, the project would get funded. Crossing Souls was successfully funded on 13 December 2014, and the campaign ended on 17 December 2014 with a total of {{US$|51,983}} raised. In January 2015, using the funds raised from Kickstarter, Fourattic moved from their original attic location to a new office in Sevilla, Spain and rebooted development on the game. A first demo of Crossing Souls was shown off at E3 2015, from 16–18 June 2015, and at Gamelab Barcelona 2015, from 24–26 June 2015. As announced in December 2017, the game will be released on 13 February 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/12/03/crossing-souls-release-date-trailer/|title = Crossing Souls goes back to the future in February|website=Rock Paper Shotgun|date = 3 December 2017|last1 = Tarason|first1 = Dominic}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.destructoid.com/-80s-adventure-crossing-souls-locked-in-for-february-475701.phtml|title='80s adventure Crossing Souls locked in for February|date=December 2017}} Devolver Digital announced the game was releasing on Nintendo Switch on 26 July 2018 as part of Devolver Digital's 'Summer of Devolver'.{{Cite web|url=https://mynintendonews.com/2018/07/23/devolver-digitals-nintendo-switch-summer-of-devolver-begins-july-26th/|title=Devolver Digital's Nintendo Switch "Summer of Devolver" Begins July 26th|date=23 July 2018}}
Reception
{{Video game reviews
| MC = (PC) 70/100
(PS4) 75/100
(NS) 67/100
}}
Crossing Souls received "generally favourable reviews" for the PlayStation 4 version, while the Windows and Nintendo Switch versions were met with "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.{{Cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/crossing-souls/critic-reviews/?platform=pc|title=Crossing Souls (PC)|website=Metacritic|publisher=CBS Interactive|access-date=26 August 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/crossing-souls/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-4|title=Crossing Souls (PS4)|website=Metacritic|publisher=CBS Interactive|access-date=26 August 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/crossing-souls/critic-reviews/?platform=nintendo-switch|title=Crossing Souls (Switch)|website=Metacritic|publisher=CBS Interactive|access-date=26 August 2020}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|crossingsoulsthegame.com}}
Category:Action-adventure games
Category:Devolver Digital games
Category:Nintendo Switch games
Category:PlayStation Network games