This was such a fantastic horror game. Despite the aesthetic being very cutesy and PS1core, this game is terrifying and always had me on edge even when I knew I was safe. I loved it.

I played a lot of Resident Evil games last year and they got me into the survival horror genre, but I wasn't really a fan of the first game's gameplay and structure, so I was initially worried as that's what Crow Country feels like. I am happy to say that this game feels like a much more refined version of RE1's structure. It does a good job of never making you feel lost while also not holding your hand. I was fully immersed in this game's titular location and always felt satisfied when exploring. I did end up looking up a couple solutions to secret puzzles as they do get really creative and difficult, but for the most part I was solving every puzzle by myself and it felt so satisfying realizing what new things you could do by finding the key items.

Also really got immersed in the story! I'm definitely gonna go back and study up on everything that happened here, but I like how new information is presented to the player and how the story unravels the more you find documents scattered throughout the theme park.

This game does atmosphere so well. The whole game takes place in this giant theme park and its dark hallways. Of course, being a theme park means there's a lot of fun areas! And being a horror game means those fun areas are still terrifying! I really loved that contrast. As the story progressed I also loved how certain areas changed, both for better and worse. The whole game was unpredictable and I jumped so many times. If you love the rush of adrenaline horror games can give you you'll love this one.

I finished the game in about five hours and even at that length I still think it's completely worth its full price. Being inspired by games like Resident Evil, it seems like they add a good amount of stuff for replays. I hope to play it again at some point in the near future.

I highly recommend this one! I loved it from beginning to end. I don't know what I expected going in, but I loved what I got.

Support indie devs!!! They make really great stuff!!!

Going into this one, I worried that I wouldn't end up liking it as much as the first (remake), but the more it went on the more I enjoyed it and can safely say that despite the shift to being more linear, I think this is a great sequel.

I loved how the first game (remake, which I will now stop specifying) mixed Resident Evil third person survival horror gameplay with a layout much like a Metroid game, so when I noticed they got rid of the map tab in the menu, I realized the genre of game had shifted a bit. This game is still very much a survival horror game, but is now extremely linear with very few revisits to previous areas. I was skeptical on this change at first, but the more it went on the more I appreciated it. You visit so many diverse locations in this one. Every area in the first game was fairly similar visually but had enough to make it stand out from the others. Meanwhile this game takes you through a weird cult church, a speeding train, so many city buildings, and they all feel distinct while keeping the tone the same. I can't say I prefer one game's structure over the other because they both accomplish what they set out to do very well, but I love how both are laid out.

Gameplaywise, it's hard to compare the two because one is a remake from last year while this game is over a decade old. Some of the weapons didn't feel like how they did in DS1's remake. I didn't like how the ripper felt in this game which made me sad because I loved using it in DS1's remake. But I did like the new weapons in this game quite a lot. The harpoon gun is my favorite of the new guns. Not only are the harpoons extremely satisfying on their own, but its bumper button attack making your last fired harpoon discharge a ton of electricity made it great for more durable enemies. It also just feels really cool. Not new guns but I enjoyed how the flamethrower and force guns were in this one. The flamethrower's bumper attack firing a canister that acted as a grenade was a nice substitute to the wall of fire from the remake of 1. I didn't use the force gun in 1 but I loved it here.

Overall the game is still just a ton of fun and I'm glad jumping back a decade didn't change that, although I will say some of the new enemies were more annoying than scary. The necromorphs that hide behind walls and charge at you and then run away were the most annoying for me. The ones that spit acid at you and make you slower weren't my favorite.

Early on in the game I felt that the way this game does horror relied more on jumpscares than building up scares with atmosphere, and it still did that later in the game, but toned down more. The atmosphere did get better as the game went on too. I think this game is really good at making you feel tense. There were a lot more moments where I found myself bracing for whatever the game threw at me, whether it be Isaac's hallucinations jumpscaring me or just watching out for the new enemy types. The ones that charge at you definitely made me feel this most as the rooms they're in are usually designed for them to charge and hide. Not so much scared, just incredibly tensed up. I feel that way about a lot of parts in this game and that's not bad by any means.

Overall, really great sequel! I don't know if I necessarily enjoyed one over the other as I feel they're both very different even if they do similar things, but I can safely say I am a fan of both. Very intrigued to see where 3 goes as I hear it's very controversial.

I played this game two times back to back, the second playthrough being on a higher difficulty with new game+ while only using the plasma cutter. I absolutely loved it both times through. I have never played a game that gave me a rush like this one did. It was incredibly fun yet incredibly terrifying and I adore it.

The atmosphere is one of my favorite things here. The dark halls of the Ishimura are unpredictable from beginning to end and I was still getting jumped even near the end of my second playthrough. The game knows how to shake things up whenever I feel just a bit too comfortable. I have so much respect for the fact that the scary music doesn't play during an enemy encounter until you physically see them. Before then all you can hear are the eerie noises they make. It's perfect for building tension. Even the way you fight them is insanely unique with how you have to focus on dismemberment rather than easy headshots. Each encounter felt like a puzzle and I never quite knew when they would end.

The story is also surprisingly engaging here as well. The characters weren't really that special but they all served the story well in their own ways. The fact that the game doesn't have many cutscenes that take control away and instead has a lot of interactable face to face/video conversations made them feel a lot more personal.

If I could change anything it'd probably be shortening some segments that went on a bit too long. Mostly rooms where you have to defeat all the enemies before leaving. That kind of broke up the pacing for me, especially in the last few chapters. I feel like the final chapter in particular is a bit too lengthy with all its enemy gauntlets. It could've been a lot shorter. Overall though, I think the game was paced pretty well.

Small nitpick: I wish there was a custom waypoint feature tied to your locator. There were times where I backtracked to look for doors I couldn't open until I had the right level of security clearance and I got lost a few times even following my map. Letting you place a destination anywhere and having your locator guide you to it would've really helped.

Other than that, I don't really have any issues with the game even after two playthroughs. My second playthrough was for getting the achievement for only using the plasma cutter, playing on hard mode, and getting the alternate ending. Overall I'd say it was worth it. Not for the alternate ending itself, it's nothing too special, but just for appreciating all the foreshadowing on the second playthrough. The plasma cutter only run on hard was surprisingly fun, although the tentacle enemies in the walls were incredibly frustrating during it.

I'd probably put this game on the same level as the Resident Evil remakes in terms of how much I loved it. I might even love it as much as 4's remake. This game just feels really special and I'm so excited to play the sequels.