I recently played the demo for Crow Country demo on PS5 and after enjoying it a great deal was hoping we’d get an Xbox announcement – well, lo and behold, we did! And, dear reader, let me tell why this is one of my favourite survival horror throwbacks in quite some time.
SFB Games clearly have a lot of love for the PS1/Saturn era classics, from the grainy, chunky visuals to the slightly awkward combat, twisting story, and excellent use of audio to make the fairly simplistic areas feel way tenser than they may look in the screenshots here. Hell, they even sent a review guide designed to look exactly like a PS1 instruction manual, something that was very cool indeed!
So Crow Country is played from an isometric view point, though unlike some of my survival horror staples we can freely rotate the camera horizontally as we play. We take charge of Mara, a detective heading to Crow Country – a long abandoned theme park – in search of its owner Edward Crow. He shut the park down and disappeared two years earlier under mysterious circumstances, and now Mara is out to seek the truth about where he is, what happened, and how any damage can be undone.
It’s a short but sweet affair, and the tale told was enjoyable enough, with some interesting characters to meet that all fill the survival horror mould of frustratingly vague so as to keep the mystery going while offering up small hints to proceed. The ending twist was fairly obvious early on, but it was handled well enough that I still went a little Leo:
The gameplay is where Crow Country really won me over though. It truly does feel as though it’s a game of the era, albeit with a few modern allowances. Mara can be controlled in full 3D or with tank controls, but either way is just the right level of awkward without being too frustrating. As we explore we’ll come across various elements of the scenery to interact with – some useful, some more lore-building – and it’s a small touch but I loved the way we get a small line of dialogue as we approach rather than just a simple A button prompt.
The visuals have a prerendered look to them but because they are fully 3D modelled we can swing the camera around to get the best view. This is needed as SFB aren’t shy about hiding useful items such as med kits or ammo in plain sight, relying on the CRT grain and lighting to help them blend into the scene. We’ll need everything we can find too, as Crow Country is the tightest theme park I’ve ever been too, which means when the enemies appear we don’t have much room for escape around them.
Combat is handled well, although the genre’s staple limited ammo is in place here so is best avoided as much as possible. Pressing the bumper will raise Mara’s gun, with a press of B firing off a round. While it’s not given directly to us, early on we’re able to find a laser sight for her pistol which makes aiming much easier, though even without it we do get a small cursor to alleviate the camera angle we’re playing with.
The park itself is (aside from the aforementioned tightness) is very well designed, with four distinct areas that gradually unlock as we play. In true survival horror fashion, we’re looking for various coloured keys, specific random objects (something egg-shaped, a floppy disk etc) that inevitably require us to backtrack and solve puzzles to unlock the next McGuffin. I found a few moments where I was a bit stuck, but generally the game has been designed to not have us truly stumped. This is partly due to the world not being huge so we can easily go room to room and see if we’ve missed something, but also thanks to the map screen. Rooms with unsolved puzzles are marked with a red circle, and so when we do find ourselves stuck these are usually the best places to start.
Should we need further help, there are various kiosks about that will offer a guiding hand, though these are limited to 10 uses total. I had to use one at one point as the game, despite the above helping hands, doesn’t explicitly give us an objective, so coming back to my save after a day or two I couldn’t really remember what I had been doing. The hints are vague enough so as to not spoil a solution, but good enough to get us back on track for sure.
Saves are manual only, and only at designated safe rooms. Here we can save at the fire spot, read old memos and gameplay tips, and stock up on a few items too. Even when we know we’re safe though, these rooms still exude a creepiness to them that never really subsides thanks to the lighting and audio.
All of this (and a few more secrets which I’ll let you discover for yourself) rounds up to a fantastic take on the retro survival horror genre. Crow Country is the kind of game that nails every aspect it set out to do, keeping the gameplay flowing without overburdening players with too much busy work or padding. All in all, it took me about 7 hours to get through, though that could go either way depending on a few factors (again, that I’ll leave for you to find). I loved the smartly designed levels and puzzles, and while the camera angle can make it slightly tricky the combat is simple but effective stuff too. Add in an interesting cast and story, and some excellent audio/visual work, and Crow Country is an easy recommendation indeed.
Conclusion
Crow Country is top-tier retro survival horror. It has fun, engaging puzzles, some excellent presentation work, and is a tightly paced affair that keeps the gameplay flowing nicely. Easy recommendation for players familiar with the genre and new players alike.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
