A free retro racing game

XC (demo) is a free racing video game wherein you can run in a foot race against other NPCs. This indie game has a retro pixel art style—2D flat models placed around in a nearly-open world 3D environment. Developed by CrossCountry, it’s only a demo and a prototype, consistently being updated and improved over time.

An interesting challenge

In XC (demo), you get to participate in a school race. You can’t customize your avatar—instead, you type in your name for the leaderboard rankings and for the chance to redeem prizes if you’re a member of the developer’s Discord server. When starting, there are three types of races or difficulties on the main menu: Junior Varsity, Varsity, and Elite. You only unlock the last two after winning the first choice.

The controls are simple and use only the keys F, G, H, and J. The brief tutorial shows that G and H are for actually moving forward. You alternately press these two to run and press them faster to speed up. Meanwhile, F and J are for turning farther to the left and right whenever you encounter those sharp turns on the path. You need to time these right, or else you’ll overshoot the turn. 

You also can’t just run fast all the time. There’s a stamina bar on top of the screen, which will deplete faster every time you sprint. You must stay close behind other characters in order to conserve it—and this can be tricky since you can collide with them and lose your momentum. The numerous obstacles in the environment are solid, as well, and you can quickly fall behind if you keep hitting them.

A demo with potential

Overall, XC (demo) is a challenging racing game to play despite appearances. The controls are easy to understand but hard to master since the energy system does not allow you to regenerate it under normal circumstances. The main menu interface is pretty bland, too. Plus, your computer might think the game’s a virus. If it does, open System Preferences, Security & Privacy, and then allow apps downloaded from anywhere to run.