Crossing Souls
Five friends discover a stone that bridges the living and the dead.
Crossing Souls is an action-adventure game released in 2018, developed by the Spanish studio Fourattic and published by Devolver Digital. It came out on February 13, 2018, for Windows, macOS, Linux, and PlayStation 4, with a Nintendo Switch version following on July 26, 2018. The story follows a group of five teenage friends in 1986 who find a pink stone that lets them shift between two worlds, pulling them into a government conspiracy. Players control all five kids, each with unique abilities, as they fight enemies and solve puzzles.
The plot begins in Tajunga, California, where friends Chris, his younger brother Kevin, inventor Matt, strongman Big Joe, and tomboy Charlie discover a corpse named McKittrick by the river, along with a Duat Stone. Matt builds a device to harness the stone’s power, which lets them see and interact with ghosts. However, the stone drains the life of its holder, leading to Kevin’s death when a gang leader named Quincy Queen steals it. After mourning, the remaining four steal back the stone and use it to speak with Kevin’s ghost. They also meet McKittrick’s spirit, who reveals he worked for Major Oh Russ, a former U.S. Army general who wanted to use the stone to control the dead for a world invasion. McKittrick had rebelled and taken the stone.
Tajunga is quarantined under the cover of a contagious disease, and the friends escape but crash into a forest. There, they free ghost children from an evil spirit. Returning to town, they find their families captured by Oh Russ. They flee through a river into a cavern, where Big Joe dies from his injuries. Inside, they discover hieroglyphs suggesting the Duat Stone is a divine artifact. After escaping and dealing with Old West ghosts, Oh Russ steals the stone and kidnaps Charlie. Matt and Chris infiltrate his headquarters, meeting Osis, the Egyptian god of balance, who explains that Oh Russ serves Seth, the god of destruction, who usurped Osis as Keeper of the Living Balance. Oh Russ is using the townsfolk as an energy source. The boys defeat Oh Russ and rescue Charlie, but Matt dies. Charlie and Chris share a kiss before Charlie escapes with the townspeople, while Chris activates an interdimensional portal and destroys Seth with his soul, sacrificing himself.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Crossing Souls
- Developer
- Fourattic
- Publisher
- Devolver Digital
- Engine
- Unity
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
- Released
- 13 February 2018 · Nintendo Switch · 26 July 2018
- Genre
- Action-adventure
- Modes
- Single-player
- Designer
- Juan Diego Vázquez · Daniel Benítez · Juan Gabriel Jaén
- Programmer
- Juan Diego Vázquez · Alfonso Cueto · Fernando de Luna
- Artist
- Daniel Benítez · Juan Gabriel Jaén
- Composer
- Chris Köbke · Timecop1983
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The story is set in 1986 in Tajunga, California, where five teenage friends—Chris, his younger brother Kevin, Matt, Big Joe, and Charlie—discover a corpse with a Duat Stone. Matt builds a device to unlock the stone's power, which allows them to see and interact with spirits but drains the holder's life force. Kevin is killed by street gang leader Quincy Queen, who steals the stone. After mourning, the remaining friends steal back the stone and communicate with Kevin's ghost, learning from the ghost of McKittrick that the stone was used by former U.S. Army general Major Oh Russ to control the dead for a world invasion plan.
The friends escape a quarantine lockdown and encounter a military camp of ghost children, liberating them. They return to Tajunga to save their families but are captured; Big Joe dies during an escape through a cavern. The surviving trio discovers hieroglyphs suggesting the Duat Stone is an artifact of the gods. Major Oh Russ kidnaps Charlie, and Matt and Chris infiltrate his headquarters, meeting Osis, the Egyptian god of balance, who reveals Oh Russ serves Seth, the god of destruction. Matt dies defeating Oh Russ, and Chris sacrifices himself to destroy Seth. In an epilogue, an elderly Charlie tells the story to her grandchildren and uses a machine to send her soul to the afterlife, reuniting with her friends.
Reader's Guide
Crossing Souls received 'generally favourable reviews' for the PlayStation 4 version, while the Windows and Nintendo Switch versions were met with 'mixed or average' reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game's storyline was largely influenced by the films The Goonies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Super 8, while its level design and orthogonal view were adapted from the original The Legend of Zelda. The cutscene animation style was inspired by 1980s properties such as Teen Wolf, Saint Seiya, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Development began in January 2014 after the final update for Fourattic's previous game, Bin This Pic: Guess the Wrong One (or Odd Pic Out). The pre-production was presented on TIGSource forums on 5 February 2014, receiving positive reception. After running out of money around March 2014, the team created Pixel Puzzle Mania, a free-to-play iOS puzzle game released on 29 August 2014. In August 2014, Fourattic partnered with Devolver Digital for a publishing deal. A Kickstarter campaign from 17 November to 17 December 2014 raised US$51,983 against a US$45,000 goal. Using the funds, Fourattic moved to a new office in Sevilla, Spain in January 2015 and rebooted development. A demo was shown at E3 2015 and Gamelab Barcelona 2015. The game was released on 13 February 2018 for Windows, macOS, Linux, and PlayStation 4, and on 26 July 2018 for Nintendo Switch as part of Devolver Digital's 'Summer of Devolver'.
Did You Know?
- The game's story was influenced by The Goonies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Super 8.
- The Kickstarter campaign raised US$51,983, exceeding its US$45,000 goal.
- The game was released on Nintendo Switch on 26 July 2018 as part of Devolver Digital's 'Summer of Devolver'.
More in Adventure Games of the 2010s, Part 1 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced