Crow Country

The mystery of Crow Country was far richer than I had anticipated: the story is very completely drawn, and isn’t without a little levity and playfulness in the face of the darkness. I found the final sequences really bold – committed to the strange and unsettling all the way through, it certainly sticks the landing. Crow Country is far more than a pastiche of the giants of the PS1 era – it is a real triumph in and of itself.

If Crow Country were just styled like an old Resident Evil game I probably would’ve dropped it, but it manages to get everything perfect. If Capcom had released this as a non-canon RE side-story, it would probably be getting a thunderous reception right now. I don’t like nostalgia bait, but Crow Country is so much more. Whether you’re a ‘90s kid or not, all Resident Evil and survival horror fans should absolutely play Crow Country.

It's definitely worth a visit.

Crow Country goes beyond its nostalgic visual design, with some QoL elements, solid puzzles, a haunting ambience and a well-written plot. Heartily recommended to new and old fans of horror games.

What follows is positively giddying, in the manner of a well-tuned ghost train or haunted house, provoking chuckles and squirms at the same time. [Issue#398, p.116]

Fans of classic survival horror games don't need to think twice about picking up Crow Country. The game is a love letter to old-school horror titles from the 90s, and is one of the better attempts at recreating the feel of PS1 horror on modern platforms. It's a short, but sweet adventure with solid replay value and fun puzzles that perfectly captures the feeling of playing an old horror game on a PS1. The optional Exploration mode, which does away with combat to let players focus entirely on puzzle-solving, means that even horror fans who don't like 90s-era survival horror combat and ammo management can safely pick up Crow Country and have a great time.

The game succeeds far more as a puzzle object than as a horror freak-out.

Incredible love letter to OG Resident Evil and Silent Hill, with a fun, tongue in cheek tone. People complaining that aiming is difficult... yeah it's supposed to be. That's the entire challenge of the game outside of dodging enemies. Improve at the game maybe? This is not something devs need to "improve" and if aiming was super easy and you never take a hit, it wouldn't be survival horror.

Incredible experience from start to finish. Smart puzzles, constant dread and visuals make this a horror stand out. Classic Resident Evil fans will love this especially. The generally dark tone is juxtaposed against the wacky / zany dialogue.

Crow Country 7/10 Mr. Crow will see you now Crow Country is a blast from the past using a polygon art style that is akin to Final Fantasy 7 that was released back in 1997 on the playstation 1, that will be a draw for many people to feel that nostalgia through how the game presents itself. The game is a short one but it sets out to do everything it wanted to do in that short time, the story was fun and serviceable and had some predictable twists if you’re paying attention to dialogue. After that the gameplay is paying homage to the classic horror puzzle genre many people have grown to love like the old Resident Evil games, Parasite Eve, or Dino Crisis. You’re put in the large amusement park of “Crow Country” playing as protag Mara. You’ll be running all over the park solving puzzles and collecting one item that will eventually help you get more items to open that one door you’ve been passing by but couldn’t open. The gameplay loop is familiar and it works pretty well here. If you have played the classic horror puzzle games I had previously mentioned in my review then you know how the “gunplay” works here, it’s slow and a bit clunky but that’s on purpose, you don’t have to fight every monster you see and don’t have shoot evert trap everything can be easily ran passed if you so choose. I don’t have much to say about the game beyond what I've already said. If you like those classic hor/puz games and that polygon style of ff7 you’ll likely have a lot of fun playing this game. It’s short and simple and a quick bit of fun. I don’t smoke cigarettes, and I don’t drink coffee. TL;DR FUN GAME THAT PLAYS OFF THE CLASSIC HORROR PUZZLE GENRE IF YOU LIKE THE FF7 POLYGON STYLE OF OLD YOU'LL LIKE IT

An engrossing and streamlined homage to the PS1 era of tank control horror games. The setting is full of mystery and exploration, the story is pretty basic but has a good enough amount of lore to stand on its own.

Tried around an hour of the game and I couldn't get used to the controls. I feel in order to make up for the poor aiming they give a ton of bullets available for the player, and then to balance that they added respawning enemies. I feel like the gameplay could of been flushed out better from the beginning by giving the option for an auto aim or nuanced difficulty setting to make it more fun. The atmosphere and puzzle design was great just not enough for me to keep playing given the wonky controls and in your face tutorial.