During animated sequences (the game uses the same full-motion anime style as its predecessor), a pair of heart-shaped gauges appear on screen. The player adjusts a "valve" (slider) to determine Yuuki’s emotional reaction to events. Do you act jealous? Supportive? Timid? Aggressive?
In the end, Cross Days is not a good game. It is a deeply flawed, often repulsive, technically broken artifact. But it is also a brave one. It dared to ask: What if the hero wasn’t the center of the story? What if he was just a kind boy who showed up too late, armed with nothing but a library card and a bleeding heart? Cross Days
One of the most distinctive features of Cross Days is that it re-contextualizes the original School Days timeline. The game runs parallel to the events of School Days , showing the same timeline but from Yuuki’s perspective. During animated sequences (the game uses the same
So, is Cross Days worth remembering? Yes—but as a warning. Supportive
The "Bad Ends" in Cross Days
This means we watch Makoto Ito in action from an outsider’s lens. We see him ignoring Kotonoha’s texts, flirting with Sekai, and spreading his romantic chaos to a new set of side characters. In Cross Days , Makoto is not just a dense protagonist; he is a primary antagonist and a sexual predator. The game does not shy away from showing Makoto’s worst traits, leading to some of the most uncomfortable scenes in visual novel history.
The game features over 20 endings, ranging from sweetly mundane to dark. But one ending in particular—often called the "Worst End" or the "Nanami Bad End"—became legendary for all the wrong reasons. Without spoiling explicit details, the route involves the systematic bullying and sexual assault of Nanami Kanroji, orchestrated by the already despicable characters from School Days (notably Taisuke Sawanaga). The scene is unflinching, prolonged, and devoid of any narrative catharsis. It exists purely as shock.