Cross Blitz Preview

Cross Blitz is an upcoming roguelite deck builder developed by Tako Boy Studios and published by The Arcade Crew. In this game, you play as Redcroft and his band of pirates, out to find an ancient relic to gain pardons from the kingdom for their crimes. I had an opportunity to play a demo of the game, which allowed you to play as one character for one chapter, so here is what you might find in the full release.

For the main campaign, you’ll be travelling along a map full of events and encounters. You can always go back, though, so you’re free to explore and get stronger at any pace you like. Once you’re ready, approach an enemy on the map and begin your duel! Battles play out sort of like Hearthstone, even using some keywords from it like “Deathrattle”, as well as a little Yu-Gi-Oh. You spend mana to use cards like minions, spells, and traps to get your opponent’s health to zero, easy as that. Minions attack and defend your health, spells have a variety of effects, and traps trigger on certain conditions. Where you place your minions matters, as the type of minion determines where they can be placed on the field if you want them to attack: Melee minions on the front row, Ranged minions in the back, and Magic minions can be placed anywhere. If you fulfil certain conditions during the match, such as summoning six Pirate Minions, you can use a Blitz Burst: a powerful skill that can turn the tide or ensure your victory.

Decks must have 30 cards in them, no more, no less. If you want to get further into the game, you’ll need to improve and refine your playstyle or change decks to counter the opponent. You’ll gain cards either from shops, crafting, or just by winning fights. You can have up to 99 decks, and every deck can be enhanced with Relics that add special effects and bonuses while in battle.

After a battle, you get experience points, items to craft more cards, and money from completing challenges unique to each opponent. If you die, you just lose out on experience points and certain challenges, so losing is a viable option. You’ll always have full HP in the next fight, so it's an opportunity to experiment, test out decks, and grind some experience points if you’re struggling.

During my playthrough, I did run into a few issues with the demo. On two separate occasions, the opponent wouldn’t end their turn, forcing me to either forfeit or exit the game. Hopefully, this issue will be fixed in the full version, or that there’s some sort of obvious indication that the A.I. is thinking. I also played cards by accident when I was dragging them up, thinking about playing them before attempting to put it back in my hand to think more.

Personally, I really enjoyed what I experienced. Heck, there was plenty of content to go over with just the demo alone. You can definitely replay it several times, trying out different strategies or just attempting to complete all the challenges. I look forward to seeing more.

Cross Blitz will be coming on PC via Steam on a currently unannounced date, so if you like what you read here, go and wishlist it.