Crow Country Nintendo Switch Review
Summary: A worthwhile retro survival horror experience that utilizes every inch of its three-to-four hour runtime while paying homage to the greats. Even though it's lacking in scares, it manages to enthrall with its excellent brain-scratchers and deft design decisions. A small and successful slice of survival horror.
4.0
Retro Evil
Created by two people and wearing the viscous gloop of iconic survival horror franchises, Crow Country is a salivating slice of survival horror that looks to make its short impressionable existence count for something significant, but with the various pretenders that have attempted to remind us of Resident Evil’s enduring influence in the past, does Crow Country do enough to make us care about another blood-dripped love letter, or is its attache kit too small to carry such lofty ambitions?
The problem with paying homage to the greats is that new ideas take a backseat in the service of nostalgia. Crow Country is one of those games, but it doesn’t hide its inspirations more than it proudly embodies itself with them. As a small indie horror game designed with old-school tropes in mind, Crow Country wants to impress by bringing its foremost attention to a bygone era. Silent Hill and Resident Evil are the most evident progenitors of survival horror that Crow Country cribs from, and it does appear like Crow Country’s sole existence is to remind you of those halcyon days of old-school spooks and frights.
Nevertheless, in spite of being a pure homage to the greats, Crow Country does an impressive job of replicating the survival horror formula, dolling out a batch of head-scratching puzzles, an emphasis on inventory management, conserving ammunition wisely, and picking off the freakish malevolence you happen across while you explore an unnerving abandoned theme park.
Set in the year 1990, you play as FBI agent Mara Forest to investigate a missing person’s case. The disappearance in question is of Edward Crow, the founder of the theme park known as Crow Country, and along the way Mara bumps into a bundle of citizens also investigating Edward’s disappearance, such as a photographer named Arthur Mole who warns you about the nasty fiends roaming the theme park, as well as Edward’s daughter Natalie, a police detective, a lawyer, a foreman and Edward’s business Partner Marvin Trumble….he sounds like trouble.
Uncomfortable vibes abound in the unpredictable environment of Crow Country with only a sprinkle of friendlies to communicate with, the feeling of isolation is palpable, especially when you consider that the only interactions you’ll have are from a bunch of straight-laced or otherwise understandably worried citizens. This is how Crow Country goes about generating an eerie atmosphere while occasionally dotting in a few corny jokes to momentarily break the unease, once again demonstrating its loyalty to the greats that came before in the survival horror genre.
It wouldn’t be an ode to Resident Evil and Silent Hill if there weren’t doors to unlock and puzzles to solve, and Crow Country is stuffed with both of those. On the door-unlocking front, there are a bunch of keypads, safes and door codes you’ll find spread throughout the theme park, and the puzzles can be quite devilish, necessitating perseverance and perhaps a few quick solutions search on the internet or YouTube. You may choose to refrain from resorting to internet guide tactics thanks to a handy hints system, but some newcomers may feel a bit perplexed by Crow Country’s retro leanings.
Monstrosities in Crow Country are foil most of the time, and they’re unfortunately pretty forgettable and one of the only aspects of Crow Country where it slips up trying to be an old-school survival horror fans’ dream come true. The truth is there is no iconic monster or moment where a monster is encountered for the first time. People who recall their first encounter with the Resident Evil Remake’s initial zombie meeting, or the Licker from Resident Evil 2 won’t be impressed that Crow Country doesn’t bring a unique and terrifying fiend to the survival horror dinner party.
While the simplistic visual design is reminiscent of 90s Playstation and N64 games, it isn’t ravishing to the contemporary eye. Crow Country keeps it straightforward with shaders and smoothing to give the game an authentic presentation that mirrors its inspirations, working cohesively with everything else to strongly promote itself as a tribute to the horror games of yore. Yes, you will draw comparisons to the crinkly and polygonal designs of PS1’s Final Fantasy VII, but even so the vision of Crow Country is methodically built to immerse you with nostalgia.
Sound design is very eerie and works well to evoke the uncomfortable atmosphere and the dingy environments Mara traipses through in her desperate search for Edward Crow. Stinging sound effects abound that can make your soul flutter with dread exist to keep you treading forward gingerly in preparation of any muscle-jolting surprises. Weapons pack a wallop too, with rewarding feedback every time you pull the trigger.
At only a few hours in length, Crow Country doesn’t waste any time, although you will need patience for the amount of backtracking and item seeking you’ll no doubt be accustomed to throughout its brief runtime. The slight runtime completely works in the favour of Crow Country because the purpose of it is to be a pleasant pastiche of survival horror, not a fully-featured affair that overstays its welcome.
If you fancy turning back the years to a time where survival horror games innovated and immersed us with a terrifying atmosphere, taxing puzzles, and a meticulously layered design, Crow Country is a gripping and worthwhile effort that deserves your attention. The mysteries and secrets nestled inside the Crow Country theme park are very well worth unearthing, and this short ride never stops making you marvel at what an utterly deft tribute to survival horror this game is. No, Crow Country isn’t scary and its monsters aren’t memorable, but in every other way Crow Country successfully apes the tenets of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, and you won’t regret taking a short memorable trip to Edward Crow’s decaying amusement park.
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