YoIt’s fascinating to play games made by developers who grew up with 3D games, and Crow Country’s affectionate reference to Silent Hill is a great example of this. A survival horror game about the dark secrets that lurk in and beneath an abandoned theme park, it’s also a wonderful homage to iconic games of the past.
The look of the game is impressive: the thick, grainy patina on the screen gives the impression of playing on a CRT monitor in someone’s dimly lit room in 1997. The robust polygonal figure of the protagonist, the mysterious Mara Forest, offers a marked contrast. against the scenery and landscape, giving the impression of Final Fantasy VII’s lush pre-rendered backgrounds. However, these environments are not static like their predecessors, but fully and delightfully interactive – this is a game created with real attention to detail and a clear passion for the particular period of game design. It is a sublime pleasure to watch and listen to the sound design that is perfectly in line with the aesthetic, adding even more tension to the already dirty and gloomy world we must navigate.
There are two game modes offered on the title screen: survival or exploration. I initially chose the exploration mode, which gave me around 10 fascinating hours of gameplay. Without the grotesque Cronenbergian beasts roaming the park, the game still stands as a chilling adventure in an ever-decaying theme park universe. When a player leaves a room and returns to it later, they may find it littered with dead bodies and bloody text on the walls. At a certain point a torrential rain begins. The lights finally go out. The environment is truly alive and filled with complicated puzzles that may seem indirect at first but are very satisfying to decode.
After completing this mode, I embarked on the bloodiest route: in front of visitors and other grotesque creatures in the park, the horror appropriately increased. Combat is simple: shoot or run, and the game thoughtfully offers a set of control options for the gunfight so players can choose their approach. The creatures’ origins are deeply tragic and strange, but with or without their presence, the game offers great suspense. Even if you know you’ve chosen a route where Mara won’t get hurt, you still get the feeling that something terrible lurks around every corner. This game is a sort of horror runner, and as we progress through tunnels behind and beneath the park, things only get worse.
The mystery of Crow Country was much richer than I had anticipated: the story is fully drawn and not without a bit of levity and joy in the face of darkness. I found the final sequences really daring: committed to the strange and disturbing throughout, they certainly stick the landing. Crow Country is much more than a pastiche of the giants of the PS1 era: it’s a true triumph in its own right.
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