Crow Country

Lovely little experience. Had a lot of fun with the puzzles. The combat and the weapon variety was okay, the enemy variety was more than enough. The locations were super cool and the plot was good. Solid survival horror.

[b]“Staring into the flames, I feel something... It is a curious mixture of hope and dread. Maybe everything will be okay. Maybe it won't.”[/b] [i]-Mara Forest[/i] [hr][/hr] Incredibly beginner-friendly for those new to the survival-horror, [b]Crow Country[/b] should be treated as the gold standard for the genre from now going forward. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Survival horror is as classic as it gets: Both enemies and ammo are limited. The challenge comes not from action but from knowing where to apply resources to get rid of an obstacle, and what risk to take to maximize their effectiveness. Puzzles are the classic mix of using key items on the environment and deduction-based ones. [h1]Story[/h1] You fill the shoes of one Mara, agent(?) Mara Forest, as she investigates a missing person case that quickly evolves into a bigger mystery surrounding the titular Crow Country theme park. [h1]X-Factor[/h1] Retro survival-horror that goes for more of a cozy look than the usual grungy aesthetic. Controls have both tank movement on the d-pad and normal movement on the left stick, so you can play and switch between both on the fly. A lot of survival horror games feature puzzle elements that feel like a bizarre gamey rigamarole that doesn’t make sense within the setting itself, [b]Crow Country[/b] had the genius idea to set itself in an amusement park so it makes sense most of them to be some amusement-related entertainment. The map is quite small meaning all the fun is condensed into areas that don’t take you hours of running back and forth to traverse. [h1]Downsides[/h1] No real complaints, maybe it’s not really a scary game nor is ever tense, but maybe that’s the point. [hr][/hr] While it doesn’t do anything EXCEPTIONALLY well, it does do everything VERY well, all wrapped up in a cute short little package like Mara. It’s not a game where you will catch yourself thinking about it once you complete it, so I don’t know if I suggest this 8-hour experience at full price, I got it under 10$ and was 100% worth it at that price, wholeheartedly recommended. (extra game modes give the title more replayability if you really want to get the most bang for your buck)

I personally think it’s a little overpriced so definitely buy it on sale. I beat the game in about 6 hours, and the only achievement I didn’t get was the last S-rank one. But aside from the price, I think the story, gameplay, and graphics are really good. If you enjoyed this game, you’d definitely enjoy SIGNALIS, which is one of my favorite survival horror games. I think SIGNALIS is slightly better overall, although it’s also more confusing. This game wasn’t really that scary, though, especially for a survival horror game.

[h2] I don't leave serious reviews at all but this game was so enjoyable that I had to; [/h2] It's been a very unique experience with an easy to follow story, the puzzles weren't too out there and I'm absolutely in love with the graphic and art style. Definitely going back to get all the achievements. 10/10 game, would wipe my memory to play again.

The game is great. Loved almost all puzzles (the exception is the mushrooms one). If you played this sort of game on PS1, it will be a blast. But even if you didn't, you are up for a good time, as the modernization of the controls make this the sweet spot for both players.

It's great! Lovely little Resident Evil-like about exploring the world's most suspicious theme park. I especially love the rendering style - the way the graphics are filtered makes all the of the backgrounds look prerendered even though they're actually rendering in real time. It's a fantastic illusion. But besides that it controls great, especially fun in tank controls, and was basically the perfect length to not outstay its welcome or get tedious. I wanna go back to get better ranks!

I wish AAA companies put half as much love and personality into a survival horror game as the devs of Crow Country put into theirs. I liked this game a lot, so i recommend it