Review: Crow Country Celebrates the Survival Horror Genre

In recent years, the unstoppable craving for an old-school survival horror revival has been growing within me. It seems I’m not the only one feeling that way, as various indie developers expanded on some of my favorite aspects of the genre, with excellent games like developers Jasper Byrne’s Lone Survivor and rose-engine’s Signalis. Now Crow Country joins the list by offering a true-to-form classic survival horror adventure that draws inspiration from and pays tribute to PS1-era titles, all while doing its own original thing.

The game takes players back to 1990 Atlanta, Georgia, and it starts when protagonist Mara Forest breaks into the eponymous Crow Country abandoned theme park. Her job is to find the owner Edward Crow, due to his daughter filing a missing persons report. As Mara delves deeper into the creepy locale, she discovers a plethora of terrible monsters roaming the park, putting anyone that approaches the place in danger. Determined to discover the secret hiding behind these creatures and Edward’s disappearance, she pushes forward. Throughout the game, she meets a variety of characters that found themselves drawn to the place. While their reasons for being there differ, their motivations are the same: investigating the monsters that roam the park and the cause and consequences of their appearance.

I really enjoyed the story in Crow Country. The central mystery is engaging and unique, and it keeps things simple and easy to follow. The environmental storytelling is also very effective, with the park having plenty of files that go into the history and creation of the place. One of the things I appreciated the most about the story is how the narrative is confident enough to not overexplain how and why everything happens, leaving just enough unanswered and ambiguous. After all, desperately trying to seek answers for things we don’t understand can lead to unforeseen consequences.

The setting of a theme park is ideal for a horror game, and I thought that Crow Country effectively uses this concept to its full potential. Using a creepy theme park as the setting for a horror game allows the layout to feel like the Spencer Mansion in the original Resident Evil without the puzzles feeling out of place. Furthermore, Crow Country expands on the concept of a location like the Lakeside Amusement Park in Silent Hill 3, showing different flavors of horror with the contrast between the run-down public facing areas and the fenced-off staff rooms and corridors. While its main fairytale area is supposed to be charming, the decay and abandonment has rendered it eerie and unwelcoming. Its tacky haunted mansion-style zone wouldn’t really scare anyone under normal circumstances, but given the situation I felt like I was being effectively gaslit into doubting whether what was threatening me was a part of the fictional spectacle or if I was truly in danger.

The gameplay loop in Crow Country will be very familiar to those that have played any early Silent Hill and Resident Evil entries. The park is divided in different sized “rooms” and areas, similar to Resident Evil, while the inventory system veers closer to Silent Hill. Mara carries all her weapons and items all the time, reducing frustration and making puzzles more about the experience than backtracking to safe rooms. The game uses a limited camera angle that players can freely rotate. Not being able to see clearly made the game pretty frightening in my experience. This coupled with some weird things that start happen as the plot moves forward, I found myself always on edge. Even after I cleared up a room full of enemies, I felt like I couldn’t trust myself.

As with all PS1 survival horror games, combat is de-emphasized in Crow Country. Aiming weapons is slow and locks you in place, while shooting enemies from up close deals more damage but puts you at risk of being hit. Mara starts with a pistol and can find a shotgun, a magnum, and a flamethrower, as well as being able to use grenades to deal with various enemies at once. While the guns only offer different damage values, I really enjoyed the flamethrower as an AoE weapon, as well as how the pistol also serves as a tool for solving some puzzles or interacting with boxes and bottles, creating an interesting item economy.

The visual direction for Crow Country is one of the strongest suits of the game. It captures that low-fi feel that games like the original Resident Evil had, while keeping things modern and crisp. Mara is very well animated, and the chunky 3D character models mesh very well with the environments. The enemies are extremely freaky looking and uncanny. Finding a new unspeakable horror in Crow Country is always awfully refreshing. In fact, I would often leave rooms as fast as possible when finding new enemies to try and gather myself before counting my bullets and healing items, deciding if I wanted to tackle whatever I just saw. (Often opting to just bail.) The soundtrack of the game was composed by Ockeroid, and it is equally as fantastic as the visuals. One of the reasons I was so tense while playing is thanks to the oppressive and chilling soundtrack, which also gets a chance to be playful and breathe at times.

It took me approximately 6-7 hours to beat the game. And, even though it felt like the right length, I still wanted to spend more time in the park. After completing it, I spent a few hours trying to find as many secrets as I could and completing some of the optional content that unlocks after seeing the ending. The only blemish I found in an otherwise spotless experience was being unable to unlock one of the weapon upgrades available in the game after completing the required challenge. Fortunately, this is something that a patch would easily fix.

Crow Country is one of those games that answer all of my needs for an old-school survival horror title. The game isn’t shy about its inspirations and it is a clear homage to PS1 survival horror games. While it is a somewhat short experience, Crow Country shows that sometimes less is more. And I want more of this.

Crow Country comes out on May 10, 2024 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam.