Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition

Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition brings to Xbox Series X and S a remaster of Square Enix's classic Japanese RPG from the late nineties, bundled with the text-based game Radical Dreamers, which served as its inspiration and had never been officially released outside Japan, making this the very first opportunity to play it in English. Playing as Serge, the player travels between two parallel worlds that differ by a single key event from the past, assembles a large party of companions with their own abilities, and fights using a combat system built on Elements, which replace classic magic and, combined with tiered physical attacks, give battles a strategic depth distinct from other JRPGs of the time.

The remaster on Xbox Series offers reworked environment backgrounds, improved character models, and the option to switch between the original and modern look and musical accompaniment, while Yasunori Mitsuda's legendary soundtrack, full of melancholic melodies and ethnic instruments, remains one of the game's most cherished and most frequently cited elements to this day. Loading times are significantly shorter than in the original PlayStation version, and the interface and save system have been adapted for modern controllers and widescreen displays.

Upon release, Chrono Cross was praised for its ambitious storytelling, unconventional combat system, and unforgettable music, even though it stood in the shadow of its predecessor Chrono Trigger, and some fans criticized it for its only loose connection to that game and its large number of playable characters at the expense of character depth. The remastered edition on Xbox Series gives this game its first-ever official release on Xbox and allows a new generation of players, who previously only knew it by reputation or through emulation, to discover one of the most distinctive and aesthetically striking JRPGs of the nineties.

Why play it: For players open to an unconventional combat system and ambitious storytelling, this is the first official Xbox release and a chance to discover one of the most distinctive JRPGs of the nineties, even though the shadow of Chrono Trigger is noticeable.