Crow Country Review: A Masterpiece In Survival Horror
A trend in the gaming space is survival horror games that take direct inspiration from the PSX era without having an impact other than “Hey, this reminds me of Resident Evil or Silent Hill.” Every once in a while, we see something special, and thankfully, that time is here again. From the minute I laid eyes on Crow Country, I knew it was going to be something unique. With an evident love for the late nineties survival horror games, it’s clear that Crow Country is doing something different. I want to be clear before you read any further. Crow Country is not just incredible; it’s a game that stands out. Since I have been playing it for review, I have played it to completion four times, and I look forward to playing it more on PlayStation when it comes out since I played it on Steam.
Crow Country follows Mara Forest as she enters the abandoned Crow Country amusement park. Having been closed down under mysterious circumstances, and the owner Edward seemingly missing. It’s up to Mara to discover the secret behind his disappearance and unravel what is happening to the park. The story is not just impactful; it’s a narrative that will keep you on the edge of your seat with its eerie and, at times, comedic elements. It hits this incredible medium of all three that keeps you guessing and on your toes.
Elevating Survival Horror To A New Level
Mara is written wonderfully as a curious teenager who enters Crow Country to discover what’s happening. What surprised me was how unique each NPC was, as I got excited to run into each of them every time, from Edward’s daughter, who filed the missing person’s report, to Arthur Mole, another teen who sneaks into the park to try and get some pictures of the rumored phenomena taking place in Crow Country. There are only a handful of characters in the game, but each one is fleshed out or has one-dimensional purposes. It’s clear that SFB Games understood the task but simultaneously elevated the game far beyond what it took its inspiration from.
Gameplay is where you can feel the call of late nineties survival horror with a modern spin. Taking on a more closed-in isometric view with the ability to rotate the camera lets us more freely inspect every ounce of the park. But this change feels perfect as it plays into the aiming system in Crow Country. Instead of your static aiming akin to Resident Evil, Mara will plant her feet, but we have free aim anywhere on the screen. It’s a good thing, too, as some enemies running around in Crow Country require some serious precision. Along with this, they utilize this ability with great intent, being able to solve puzzles and interact with the environment in exciting ways that I wasn’t expecting from a retro survival horror.
It’s All About The Puzzles
Speaking of puzzles, Crow Country absolutely nails the puzzles. They are challenging, but not to the point of frustration. During my first time through my roughly six-hour playthrough, I found myself stumped multiple times on puzzles, but it led to what has to be my favorite meta experiences with games like this. You put the controller down, walk away, eat dinner, and do SOMETHING else. When the answer hits you, you will move hell and high water to run back to the game to get the answer before you forget it. That happened to me three times during Crow Country, and I couldn’t be happier. The answers are always very clear and basically staring you in the face, but when I couldn’t figure something out, I never felt like the game was unfair; I could put that blame squarely on my thinking power.
On top of the puzzles littering the park, there is also a secrets map that you can find that will lead you to the many secrets, usually ending up with a new weapon or some form of upgrade. They have hidden behind very clever puzzles that make you think but also make it so that you can give yourself that extra edge on repeat playthroughs. Note that there are still two of the fifteen secrets I can’t find the solution to, and when the moment strikes me, I fully expect to be championed around my house, hooting and hollering.
Evoking The Golden Age Of Horror
The general design of everything—sound, environment, characters—is very evocative of the early 2000s. It hit home as someone who started obsessively experiencing horror games around then. The way the creatures vocalize themselves is incredibly eerie and haunting. When realizations hit later in the game about the whole Crow Country experience, it also hits home really hard. It’s just an incredible game overall.
Crow Country is exactly what I needed. It revitalized me in a way I didn’t know I ever needed, with an incredible story that doesn’t take itself too seriously and gameplay mechanics that not only feel right at home in the early 2000s but evolutions to them that feel great to use today. Crow Country is my new favorite horror game.
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Crow Country
Summary
Crow Country not only invokes PSX era horror, but evolves it with incredible story telling, and a gameplay loop that has me diving back in again and again.
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