Crow Country Review

Platforms: PS4/5, Xbox Series S/X, Microsoft

 When playing a specific section of Alan Wake II earlier this year I said to myself 'not enough horror games are set at an abandoned theme park.' Indie developer SFB games read my mind and said "don't worry dude, we got you!". Take the eerie sounds of Silent Hill, the resource management and puzzles of Resident Evil and the sprite design of the original final fantasy VII and you have yourself  'Crow Country'. Crow Country is a survival horror, PS1 looking, game that even includes tank controls and overly difficult aiming! It is exactly what I want from a survival horror and the game left me nostalgic and pining for more games like this.

Now, don't worry there is an option to use modern controls, so don't let that put you off, I am just a crazy person and wanted to feel the frustration I felt all those years ago playing Resident Evil 1 for the first time! Exploring this game is an absolute treat! It is so detailed and the puzzles encourage you to search and explore every inch of the game. The puzzles, by the way, are hard! You have to pay attention to clues around you and take time to read every piece of information you pick up. Luckily the writing in this game is great and has a dark sense of humour that made me want to read everything. I got stuck only a couple of times on the puzzles, but generally the level of difficulty is just enough that right as I was about to get stressed and rage quit - I figured it out and felt that classic 'I'm a smart boy' feeling figuring out a puzzle gives me. Also there are a lot of hints scattered around so if you are genuinely confused just make sure you have read everything. Plus there is a hint system in the game to keep things moving along. An irritation I had with the game is that you can only access your clues inside books in the safe rooms. This was frustrating as I kept having to go back and forth. So to fix this I had a notepad and pen and whenever I found a clue I either wrote it down or took a picture with my phone. It kind of reminded me of drawing out a map the first time I played through Zelda as a child.

The enemies are mainly your classic shambling zombies and slow moving monsters, and I love a shambling zombie! Because of this I found myself running around the enemies to conserve ammo. This again brought back memories of letting a zombie chase me around a table in Resident Evil 1 to avoid using bullets. However, much like Resident Evil, if there is more than one enemy in a small area, they become a real threat and the awkward moving and aiming makes it extremely anxiety inducing in all the ways a traditional survival horror should! Also there are many traps dotted around so you really have to pay attention, but the traps can be used against the monsters, so luring one into a bear trap solves to problems at once. Also there are boss battles that do get pretty intense and they are a nice change of pace. A slight disappointment I had with this game is I rarely found myself having to conserve ammo. I think this is because you have to use your gun a lot to help solve many of the puzzles to the developers have to make sure there is plenty of ammo in the game. But that is a minor complaint in what otherwise feels like a truly faithful homage to traditional survival horror. 

The reason why I would make this game more akin to a Silent Hill is because the horror aspects are more eerie and unnerving, rather than relying on jump scares. I wouldn't say the game had me screaming in terror the way Alien Isolation or Outlast did, but instead gave me a constant feeling of unease that left me worried to go to bed. This is mainly done through the flawless music and sound design. It felt faithful to tradition PS1 games but with a modern finish that really made the difference. I think if you played this game with the sound off, it wouldn't be anywhere near as scary. What also made this terrifying is that there are some insta deaths, which felt quite unfair! So make sure you save often because you never know when you are going to randomly die from clicking on the wrong thing.

The mystery of what is going on in this abandoned theme park had me completely immersed. In survival horror games I sometimes get a little fatigued with the insane plots, but this one had me wanting to know what had happened in this place before I arrived. The characters are also really interesting. I particularly liked Harrison who very self awarely complains at there being locked doors and puzzles everywhere and how frustrating it is. I love this kind of stuff in games like this. The fact that this is a game based on traditional survival horrors and it is poking fun at some of the old tropes shows me how much love the developers have for the games it is based on.

All in all this game was exactly what I wanted and I even found myself replaying it again on what is called the exploration mode - this is basically a play through of the game without enemies so you can take time and explore more. Honestly as far as indie games go, 'Crow Country' might be up there as one of my all time favourites. If you love survival horror and are nostalgic for the 90's, then get this game!

I give it a 9/10

Why not support me financially since I suck at supporting myself! Donate here 

Want me to draw something for you? Get in touch on Instagram