CrossCode is one of those games where it'll either be for you or it won't. If you can tolerate the shortcomings and how the game will just appear to be too difficult and frustrating for some to stomach, then it won't be for you, no matter how much the story, characters, and setting entice you to complete it.
Is it bad? No, not at all. It has a lot going for it. The story is fantastic and I found it to draw myself in right away from the opening scene. It's not the most original story, pretty much it follows the 'game inside a game' trope where the protagonist is going through an MMO where they're actually in the game. It's interesting but not original by today's standards but it does tell an interesting story. The side characters and villains are interesting as well and everything is very well written. All the characters seem to have equal screen time and I found myself enjoying every one.
The protagonist is mostly silent but it takes a different perspective with a silent protagonist. She's not entirely silent but instead are mute and have a very limited vocabulary. It works quite well. The writing is sharp despite this obvious handicap.
The gameplay is good but also needs work. The combat is fast, fluid, and fun. The problem is that leveling can be an issue. Once you get enough levels, the enemies give you barely an exp. While it only takes 1000 exp to level up each time, it can become a chore because the only other way to get exp is to do side quests. There are plenty of these around but they're very repetitive after awhile. Even doing that and spending hours doing MMO styled sidequests that get old pretty quick. It is probably the best way to level and it'd be nice if there was an easier method. The bosses are also challenging, so it means that you'll either struggle until you win or you'll spend countless hours grinding or doing sidequests so that you're strong enough.
The other issue is that the dungeons are heavily puzzle oriented. While this is to be expected, after all, it does take influence from Zelda, Lufia 2 and Alundra it becomes a bit too much. You may lose patience and look at a YouTube walkthrough. The first one isn't that bad but after the first dungeon, it hits and it hits hard.
Another issue is that a good bit of the puzzles is accuracy and time-based. If you don't have the best reflexes it will cause you to fail these sections and there is no quick way out of them. The game doesn't give you an option to skip some puzzles. You have to do them to beat the game.
It's so demanding on the player, you may actually want to consider using Cheat Engine to slow the game down. It doesn't slow your movement down but it does help plan your next move. I used it and without it, I would've never beaten the game.
The developer's lead has stated that he was considering doing an easier mode of difficulty for these that help slow down the projectiles, similar to Cheat Engine but so far it hasn't happened.
This is what prevented what should be a clear 10/10 game to earning less. it became downright frustrating and it's not that the puzzles are hard, it's just the timed element and how a good bit of the puzzles just seem to require a bit too much out of the player to be that 'good' kind that Zelda provides.
There is also the issue that the dungeons need more combat. The combat system is great but there just isn't enough balance. It would've been nice if it was only half of the puzzles, but they were better designed and half of it being combat as well. The combat gave it time to break up from what is essentially puzzle after puzzle.
With that being said, if you can stomach those types of puzzles then you'll love it. If you get easily frustrated by hard games and even harder puzzles, you shouldn't really buy it until maybe some of these issues are fixed. It's only 20 USD currently but even still, if you get easily frustrated, it won't be your thing.
It'll be interesting to see what exactly changes but right now, I give it the highest 7/10 I can. I had wanted to give it higher but those frustrating moments were too frequent and having to use a third party software just to make the game more user-friendly and fair just really isn't worth it.