This is a superb survival horror game that thrives on fantastically rendered art and dense atmosphere, but stumbles with its combat features and overall balance.
Crow Country is a PS1-inspired survival horror game that follows detective Mara Forest, who is assigned to investigate an abandoned theme park, that was closed for reasons unknown. The story that unfolds here is sublime, achieving the perfect equilibrium between the supernatural and the scientific. By the end of it, I was completely sold on the world they were building and hope that they explore more of it in subsequent games. Crow Country itself is rendered with such strong attention to detail, in that it feels like no expense was spared when it came to creating new assets that fit the particular location. The soundtrack compared by Ockeroid was a real delight to listen to, particularly the save room music.
Crow Country's one big flaw is its lack of tension, owing to the resource / damage balance that seems skewed towards the player. Though the gunplay itself is sound, the tuning of enemy damage and overpowered running mechanic makes combat and resource management feel trivial. Enemies rarely deviate from the "creepy thing that walks slowly towards you" template. As such, I never found exploration in Crow Country to be suspenseful, much less scary.
Still, SFB games display a tremendous amount of range here. I cannot believe this is the same studio that made Snipperclips and Tangle Tower — two very bright & cartoony games —, and that they nailed the survival horror format on their first attempt. Highly recommended to any type of players, even people who don't usually play this sort of game, since there's an exploration mode which removes the enemies.
Crow Country is a PS1-inspired survival horror game that follows detective Mara Forest, who is assigned to investigate an abandoned theme park, that was closed for reasons unknown. The story that unfolds here is sublime, achieving the perfect equilibrium between the supernatural and the scientific. By the end of it, I was completely sold on the world they were building and hope that they explore more of it in subsequent games. Crow Country itself is rendered with such strong attention to detail, in that it feels like no expense was spared when it came to creating new assets that fit the particular location. The soundtrack compared by Ockeroid was a real delight to listen to, particularly the save room music.
Crow Country's one big flaw is its lack of tension, owing to the resource / damage balance that seems skewed towards the player. Though the gunplay itself is sound, the tuning of enemy damage and overpowered running mechanic makes combat and resource management feel trivial. Enemies rarely deviate from the "creepy thing that walks slowly towards you" template. As such, I never found exploration in Crow Country to be suspenseful, much less scary.
Still, SFB games display a tremendous amount of range here. I cannot believe this is the same studio that made Snipperclips and Tangle Tower — two very bright & cartoony games —, and that they nailed the survival horror format on their first attempt. Highly recommended to any type of players, even people who don't usually play this sort of game, since there's an exploration mode which removes the enemies.