Cross Tails

Cross Tails is a fantasy tactical RPG developed by Rideon Incorporated and published by Kemco, set in an anime-inspired world where players command units in turn-based, diagonal-down perspective battles across small but challenging maps. The game features deep unit customization with a variety of classes, rewarding combat systems, and a narrative divided into two distinct campaigns that explore conflicting perspectives, though it grapples with some narrative and translation shortcomings amid its cute aesthetic and solid mechanics.

Cross Tails: Review

Introduction

In a gaming landscape where tactical RPGs often evoke the ghosts of classics like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre, Cross Tails emerges as a fresh yet familiar contender, pitting anthropomorphic dogs against cats in a war-torn fantasy realm. Developed by Rideon Incorporated and published by Kemco, this 2023 release revives the genre’s strategic depth through dual campaigns and intricate character builds, all while anthropomorphizing age-old rivalries into a tale of enmity and hidden machinations. As a historian of video games, I’ve long admired how SRPGs blend narrative ambition with mechanical precision, turning grids into battlefields of intellect and emotion. Cross Tails hooks with its adorable yet fierce animal protagonists—furry warriors wielding swords and spells—but delivers a thesis that’s equal parts triumph and tribulation: a mechanically robust tactical RPG that excels in customization and combat strategy, yet stumbles under the weight of a predictable plot and uneven execution, securing its place as a commendable but not revolutionary addition to Kemco’s prolific library.

Development History & Context

Rideon Incorporated, the Tokyo-based studio behind Cross Tails, has carved a niche in the tactical RPG space since its founding in 2008, primarily through its Mercenaries Saga series—a string of 2D sprite-based titles that emphasize class-switching and grid-based warfare. Prior to Cross Tails, Rideon’s output was characterized by modest, budget-friendly SRPGs tailored for portable platforms like the Nintendo DS and 3DS, often localized by Kemco for Western audiences. The studio’s vision for Cross Tails, helmed by director Yoshinao Miyazawa (who doubled as scenario writer and graphic designer), marked a deliberate evolution: shifting from pixel-art nostalgia to 3D polygonal models, a leap enabled by the Unity engine. This choice reflected a broader ambition to modernize their formula, incorporating quarter-view battles with terrain elevation and character orientation—features that nod to 3D pioneers like Disgaea while addressing the flat limitations of earlier 2D entries.

Technological constraints played a pivotal role in shaping Cross Tails. Developed during the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rideon operated on a shoestring budget typical of Kemco’s indie-style productions, resulting in simple polygonal assets and a lack of high-fidelity animations. Miyazawa’s team, including programmers like You Miura and a small cadre of graphic designers (Takaaki Ito, Yusuke Tomita, and Hiroki Todo), prioritized functionality over spectacle, ensuring cross-platform compatibility across PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The era’s hardware—particularly the Switch’s hybrid portability—influenced map designs to favor smaller, self-contained arenas, avoiding the sprawling complexity of AAA titles like Triangle Strategy. Kemco’s involvement, as a publisher known for flooding Steam with over 50 RPGs since 2010, provided the distribution muscle but also imposed a rapid-release timeline, evident in the game’s unpolished translation by Nathan Duckworth.

At its July 20, 2023 launch, the gaming landscape was ripe for Cross Tails. The tactical RPG renaissance was in full swing, fueled by remakes like Tactics Ogre: Reborn (2022) and indies such as Triangle Strategy (2022), which emphasized narrative duality and strategic depth. Kemco’s ecosystem of affordable, accessible SRPGs filled a gap for budget-conscious players amid rising AAA prices, positioning Cross Tails as a counterpoint to high-production spectacles. Yet, in an era dominated by live-service giants and open-world epics, Rideon’s focus on turn-based purity felt like a nostalgic refuge, appealing to genre purists while struggling against criticisms of Kemco’s “quantity over quality” reputation.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

Cross Tails weaves a bifurcated tale of interspecies conflict, allowing players to align with either the canine Kingdom of Ranverfurt (Hundians, evoking medieval European hierarchies) or the feline Republic of Hidiq (Felis, inspired by ancient desert civilizations like Egypt). The plot ignites when a Hidiq village is razed under shadowy circumstances, reigniting a decade-long war fueled by ancestral hatred “imprinted in their memories.” Choosing Shaimaa—a headstrong, impulsive daughter of a Hidiq clan chief—or Felix, a dutiful captain in Ranverfurt’s army, players navigate parallel campaigns that intersect at key moments, unveiling an “ominous third power” manipulating the chaos. This dual-perspective structure, playable in full or via a demo up to Chapter 6 of the Hidiq route, promises replayability, with exclusive recruitables and branching dialogues that culminate in a rushed convergence exposing the puppet masters.

At its core, the narrative explores themes of prejudice, loyalty, and the futility of inherited enmity, anthropomorphizing real-world divides through adorable kemonomimi (animal-eared humanoids). Hundians embody communal valor and rigid honor, their society a patchwork of knightly orders and ale-soaked berserkers like the boozy Abbas, whose personal demons mirror the kingdom’s fractured unity. Felis, conversely, highlight cunning individualism and survivalist grit, with Shaimaa’s arc delving into leadership burdens and Nisrine’s cautious reluctance underscoring themes of doubt amid fanaticism. The third power’s reveal—a shadowy force exploiting the war for unknown gains—serves as a metaphor for external agitators in real conflicts, but it’s undermined by predictability; twists feel telegraphed, and resolutions lack emotional weight.

Characters shine in bursts of personality: Shaimaa’s fiery resolve contrasts Felix’s stoic resolve, while supporting cast like the scholarly mage or grizzled veteran add flavorful banter. Dialogue, however, falters under stiff, unnatural phrasing—”The hatred between the two peoples is such deep as if it was imprinted in their memories…”—a hallmark of Kemco’s rushed localizations. Themes of reconciliation emerge tentatively, with faith systems (deities of war, business, etc.) tying personal beliefs to national identity, but the story’s meandering pace and vague foreshadowing prevent deeper immersion. Ultimately, Cross Tails prioritizes mechanical storytelling over literary depth, using its furry lens to humanize war’s absurdities without fully committing to subversion.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Cross Tails thrives in its tactical core, a turn-based loop of preparation, positioning, and execution on 3D grid maps viewed from a diagonal-down perspective. Battles unfold across dozens of compact stages, where objectives range from routing enemies to seizing points, demanding exploitation of elevation (for ranged bonuses) and orientation (back-turned units suffer penalties). Turn order hinges on AGI (agility), injecting urgency into unit management, while the innovative “Hate” system— a numerical aggro meter—rewards thoughtful play: tanks generate Hate via attacks or heals to draw fire from fragile archers and mages, echoing MMORPG enmity but distilled for solo strategy.

Character progression is the game’s crown jewel, offering unprecedented freedom across 30+ classes (24 changeable + fixed mains), blending Fire Emblem-style job switches with skill trees for active and passive abilities. Each unit pairs a main class (e.g., sturdy Knight as vanguard wall) with a subclass for hybrid builds, like a Knight-Archers for melee-ranged synergy. Skills cost gold to unlock/upgrade, creating a risk-reward economy: hoard for gear or invest in trees that unlock passives equippable in expanding slots (up to level-based limits). Equipment upgrades via runestones add magical flair—imbuing swords with fire or armor with evasion—while faiths (e.g., war deity for ATK boosts) personalize stats and specials, fostering builds like a business-faith merchant for gold generation or a void-spell caster nullifying magic.

The UI is intuitive yet cluttered: a clean radial menu for actions, but tooltips occasionally obscure during dense fights, and no mouse support on PC hampers precision (Steam forums lament keyboard scrolling glitches). Free battles and auto-battle mitigate grinding for class ranks, though higher difficulties amplify AI aggression—enemies heal, buff, and exploit weaknesses ruthlessly, turning small maps into defensive slugfests. Flaws include mana-gated skills (offsettable by gear but pacing early game) and trap-heavy maps that feel RNG-reliant. Innovations like Hate and gold-based progression elevate familiarity, yielding rewarding loops where clever setups (e.g., orientation-flanking with archers) feel masterful, though map brevity limits grander strategies.

World-Building, Art & Sound

Cross Tails crafts a bifurcated fantasy world where anthropomorphic tribes clash across verdant Ranverfurt plains and arid Hidiq dunes, evoking a furry Advance Wars with medieval flair. The setting’s atmosphere blends whimsy and grit: Hundian castles bustle with loyal knights, while Felis bazaars hum with scheming traders, all tied by the war’s scars—ruined villages and whispered third-party conspiracies. This duality enhances immersion, as campaigns reveal mirrored lore (e.g., shared deities influencing faiths), fostering a lived-in feel despite procedural simplicity.

Visually, Rideon’s 3D debut impresses with cohesion over polish. Anime/manga-inspired 2D portraits by Yuichiro Enkyo pop with expressive kemonomimi designs—fluffy tails twitching in defeat, ears perking in triumph—while polygonal models animate fluidly on Unity’s engine, their simple textures suiting compact maps. Elevation adds tactical verticality, with misty forests and sandy cliffs creating dynamic silhouettes, though aliasing on Switch and static idle poses betray budget limits. The cute aesthetic tempers violence, making battles feel like skirmishes in a fable rather than grim epics.

Sound design, however, lags: MOKU’s orchestral score (composed by Yo Ashida, Aran Nagashima, Saki Matsubayashi, and Maya Katagiri) delivers pleasant, thematic motifs—martial horns for Hundians, ethereal flutes for Felis—but lacks variety, looping repetitively across 40+ hours. SFX are serviceable (clanging swords, whooshing spells), yet critics like GameBlast decry the “lack of attention to sonic details,” with no voice acting and muffled ambient noises undermining atmosphere. Overall, these elements coalesce into an engaging, if unremarkable, sensory package: visuals charm and contextualize strategy, while sound supports without elevating.

Reception & Legacy

Upon its July 20, 2023 release, Cross Tails garnered a modest but positive critical reception, averaging 70% across six major reviews (MobyGames) and 76 on OpenCritic from eight outlets. Video Chums (80%) and XboxEra (80%) praised its “in-depth systems and rewarding combat,” hailing it as a “resurrection of forgotten formulas” amid SRPG scarcity. RPGFan (70%) and GameBlast (70%) appreciated customization and dual campaigns but dinged the “flat characters and nonsensical story,” while lower scores from Noisy Pixel (60%) and GameQuarter (60%) lamented it as a “dime-a-dozen TRPG” with quantity eclipsing quality. Commercially, it sold steadily on Steam ($14.99 post-launch discount from $29.99) and consoles, bolstered by Kemco’s digital ecosystem and Asian physical editions via Play-Asia, though exact figures remain undisclosed—typical for Kemco’s niche output.

Player sentiment mirrors critics: Steam discussions highlight mechanical joys (e.g., achievement roadmaps for 100% completion) but gripe about translation woes and PC controls, with no user reviews on MobyGames yet. Post-launch patches addressed minor bugs, but no major updates suggest Rideon’s focus shifted to future titles. Legacy-wise, Cross Tails evolves Kemco/Rideon’s formula, influencing indie SRPGs by proving 3D accessibility on Unity; its Hate system and faith mechanics echo in successors like Kemco’s Revenant Dogma. As a 2023 entry, it hasn’t reshaped the genre like Tactics Ogre: Reborn, but bolsters the “SRPG renaissance,” offering a gateway for newcomers while reminding veterans of tactical purity’s enduring appeal. Over time, its reputation may solidify as a cult favorite for furry-themed strategy, especially if mods improve localization.

Conclusion

Cross Tails distills the essence of tactical RPGs into a furry fable of war and whimsy, excelling in strategic depth—Hate-driven battles, versatile class trees, and gold-fueled progression—while its 3D polish and dual narratives add replayable charm. Yet, a rote plot, clunky translation, and subdued sound temper its ambitions, rendering it a solid but unexceptional Kemco release. In video game history, it claims a modest throne: a bridge between retro SRPGs and modern indies, ideal for genre fans seeking 40-50 hours of tactical tinkering without AAA excess. Verdict: Recommended for strategy enthusiasts (8/10), but skip if narrative nuance is your north star—Cross Tails wags more than it meows innovatively.