Cross Blitz is an upcoming RPG/card battler with a distinctive pixel art style that’s an obvious departure from the “realistic” fantasy of Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone, but there’s more to Cross Blitz than a cute, arcade-y face. Developer Tako Boy Studios hopes to produce an indie game that will defy genre norms and appeal to fans of narrative-rich, single-player RPGs as well as deck building and card battling games. Game Rant spoke with programmer Tom Ferrer and artist Phil Giarrusso about Cross Blitz, particularly its heavy narrative focus.
Ferrer began developing Cross Blitz by building a two-player card battler that would serve as the bones for its multiplayer, roguelike, and campaign modes. Early in development, he and Giarrusso made a conscious decision to steer away from free-to-play monetization. On Steam, Cross Blitz will be a premium title with no further purchases required to unlock content, apart from future DLC. As a mobile title, Cross Blitz will be free to download with a one-hero demo, and an option to purchase the full game’s content. On either platform, players will never need to use real-world currency to purchase card boosters.
Perhaps the greatest departure from normal card games, though, is Cross Blitz’ focus on narrative. Unlike most card games featuring narrative-lite tutorials for PvP, Cross Blitz aims to give players a robust single-player experience anchored by a strong story.
A Card Game with Solo-Play in Mind
Giarrusso said a key difference between Cross Blitz and other card battling games is Tako Boy’s approach to PvP.
Titles like Magic: The Gathering, Hearthstone, Shadowverse, and Yu-Gi-Oh! are defined by their competitive scenes. Furthermore, cards in games like Hearthstone are balanced around multiplayer rather than campaign or adventure modes, which generally feel like add-ons. While Cross Blitz will accommodate online play, the primary goal is to give players an engrossing, light-hearted campaign filled with cute characters and fun hijinks, according to its developers.
“One of the main reasons we developed Cross Blitz is that we feel there are so many card games right now with such a heavy PvP focus. I don’t necessarily want to say we wanted to make something more casual, but we wanted something easy to get into with lots of game modes, where you don’t have to engage in a highly competitive game.”
This sounds like a winning proposition, especially in light of cozy titles and comfort games’ recent boom in popularity. The deep, synergistic mechanics of card games have a broad intrinsic appeal, especially for fans of RPGs with rich combat systems. However, many players are put off by the prospect of grinding for cards or mastering highly specific combos to prevail in the current meta against other players doing the same. By refocusing on the PvE experience, Cross Blitz opens the doors to a new audience.
A Card Battler with a Story to Tell
Tako Boy is playing its cards close to the chest when it comes to Cross Blitz’ narrative. However, Giarrusso did share a few key details about Tako Boy’s storytelling framework.
“As of now, there are five different campaigns where you play as one of the heroes. You see the story from their perspective, but all these events are kind of happening around the same time. All these stories are leading to an overarching narrative. So each hero gives you lore bits, and tells you what’s happening in different parts of the world, which is called Cross Dawn Island.”
Story-driven gameplay is something of a rarity in card battlers, where thematic connective tissue is usually more a matter of aesthetics than narrative progression. Even franchises like Magic: The Gathering with tremendously deep bodies of lore rarely have those narratives interact with their mechanics in appreciable ways. Other card battling titles like Hearthstone or the Pokemon Trading Card Game take an even lighter approach to narrative, theming experiences based on universes’ whose stories are conveyed in other media.
From Yu-Gi-Oh! to Fire Emblem to Odin Sphere
There is no question that Cross Blitz is a passion project for Ferrer. “I’ve been wanting to make a card game for my entire life,” he said, citing several key influences including Yu-Gi-Oh! and Hearthstone, but also saying Fire Emblem was a hugely important series in his life. Giarrusso added that the anthropomorphic characters of the long-fallow Breath of Fire RPG franchise and the uniquely whimsical monster designs of Dragon Quest had a huge impact on the feel of Cross Dawn Island and its cast of characters.
Other influences included the JRPG favorite Final Fantasy, as well a cult classic: Odin Sphere. While Vanillaware’s side-scrolling action RPG seems to have little in common with the mechanics of Cross Blitz, Giarrusso said both titles have five main playable characters whose stories overlap and cross paths, conveying a larger metanarrative. Giarrusso expressed his love for that multifaceted approach to storytelling, where players can see how different characters get along through chance encounters while contributing to a greater whole.
If Cross Blitz’ many influences are an indication of what kind of story Tako Boy is planning on telling, the forthcoming card battler should present old-school RPG fans with a tantalizing option when it releases.
Cross Blitz is currently in development for PC.
