The Silent Hill 2 remake may have dominated much of the October survival horror discourse, but Crow Country remains an indie gem you should check out if you haven'?t had the chan??ce. Plenty of folks have already, to the tune of 100,000 copies sold. 

This not-so-macabre milestone comes just a week after Crow County made its debut on Nintendo Switch, and roughl?y six months after it first launched on Steam. There are still more monetary med kits in store for the folks at SFB Games, too. In fact, the game hit 100k prior to this week's launch ?on PlayStation 4.

According to the press release, over two-thirds of the copies sold so far were on Steam. The rest were divided between the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch version??s. 

The numbers clearly blew SFB Games' Tom Vian's mind, too. "100k copies in under 6 months is far beyond our highest hopes for Crow Country," he said. Before thanking everyone who has played so far, he added, "It’s been incredible to see so many people enjoy the game and recommend it to each?? other, especially now in the?? runup to Halloween."

It's true; now is undeniably the very best time to play Crow ??Country. If you have fond memories of PS1-era survival horror, it'll scratch that itch in both fresh and familiar ways. For those who have already plumbed its horrifying yet oddly comforting depths, there's also a bunch of merch on the way from Fangamer. The first round of items is set to launch on October 29, with more �including physical releases for PS5 and Switch �following some time in 2025. 

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There are now more PS1-inspired horror games out now than there were actual horror games on the PS1. That isn’t a milestone that was crossed by Crow Country, it’s just an observation.

It’s hard to say what, exactly, made the PS1 the perfect visual home for horror. It’s possible that it’s because it was modern enough to enable various ways of depic?ting the horror, but old enough that your imagination was left to fill in some of the blanks left by the low-poly, low-resolution graphics. It could also be because? it was probably the last console that a lot of people played through fuzzy RF, and something about video noise makes the experience feel more tangibly real.

Nonetheless, returning to the blocky pixelation of the early 3D era brought about a renaissance in the horror genre, and if Crow Country is any indication, it’s sti?ll a ??long way from running out of gas.

Crow Country (PC [Reviewed], PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Developer: SFB Games
Publisher: SFB Games
Released: May 9, 2024
MSRP: $19.99

Crow Country is heavily inspired by the survival horror sub-genre, taking cues from games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. This not only is apparent from the visual style, but the? puzzle design as well. The eponymous amusement park that you explore was built by people with strange ??notions towards door locks and where keys should be stored.

You play as Special Agent Mara Forest, wh?o is investigating the disappearance of Edward Crow, the namesake creator of the amusement park Crow Country. The park closed down two years prior to the start of the game, following the injury of a guest and other strange h??appenings.

Crow Country is played from a ¾ angle. While the graphics try and replicate the low-resolution blockiness of the PS1 hardware, it does so in an interesting way. The environments are actually quite detailed in a way that wouldn’t be possible on the console, and that’s because, while they’re 3D in actuality, they’re supposed to look like the pre-rendered 2D backgrounds used in games like Resident Evil and Parasite Eve.

This is done?? surprisingly well, since you’re still able to freely rotate the camera, but through the use of clever lighting, it still manages? to replicate the awkward 3D of the era. Characters and interactive objects still stand out because they don’t have the same sheen as everything else in the environment, so the whole effect comes off quite cleverly.

While the camera is at a fixed angle, you’re still free to aim for the heads and shoulders, knees, and toes of your enemies. Headshots do more damag?e (if they have anything identifiable as a head), but attacking from a close range is the mo??st important factor.

While being a?? survival horror game, you can’t carry much ammunition for your weapons, but vending machines throughout the environment will provide a bit more to keep you going. Enemies in the environment will stay dead, but as you progress, areas change, and new enemies will take their place. This means that the whole “survival�part of survival horror is pretty understated. It isn’t difficult to stay alive, but that’s maybe not the point.

When I played the demo back in October, I was kind of worried that Crow Country wouldn’t do enough to differentiate itself from the games that inspired it. However, I think what manages to separate it is?? the aloof confidence it presents itself with.

The dialogue is laced with humor, but it’s rarely in a self-?deprecating way. When it does poke fun at its own video-gaminess, it does it with a sort of wink without laboring on a joke. It’s not a parody of survival horror, it’s just amiable and light-hearted.

While I didn’t find Crow Country to be all that scary (I’m rarely horrified by horror in general these days, so I’m not the best judge of fear factor), I was extremely impressed by the plot and storytelling. I probably shouldn’t be surprised with Adam Vian behind the ??pen.

The story is largely told through documents in the environment and characters that you meet. There aren’t really any cutscenes, but there are m?oments of dialogue. Mostly, you’re given pieces of the greater mystery, and it’s extremely competent at giving you just enough that you’re able to ??start figuring things out before it’s more overtly told.

There are threads to the mystery, and you follow them, bit by bit, until they all converge in the end. Information that ties into Crow Country’s overall conclusion is handed to you directly from the start. If you’re re??ally sharp, you can guess some of the twists, but even then, I did not see the ending revelation coming.

If anything, I’m jealous of how masterfully the story is told. But, again, it's to be expected from SFB Games.

When all is said and done, Crow Country clocks in at around 6-8 hours. There are some optional bosses and secret pu?zzles that you can do that will stretch things out a bit. Then, once the game is complete, some extras get unlocked for your next playthrough.

Crow Country doesn’t exactly rewrite the playbook for survival horror. It leans pretty heavily on those that came before it. However, what it builds on top of the foundation is extraordinarily impressive. This is easily one of the best horror games I’ve played, and it doesn’t even seem like it’s trying that hard. It maybe lacks some of the more psychological themes that have made others stick firmly in my memory, but the playfulness and confidence of Crow Country more than make?? up for tha?t. It’s definitely worth a visit.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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SFB Games has announced that their retro-inspired survival horror game, Crow Country, will be released on PC and PS5 on May 9th.

Crow Country has you playing as Mara Forest, an investigator who explores an abandoned amusement park t??o discover its dark secrets. While it uses an angled, ¾ angle camera system, it has a more detailed aiming system, allowing it to feel like a mix of modern and classic design. The amusement park also has you roaming, solving puzzles, and g??athering items in a metroidvania/gated exploration sort of way.

I played the demo when it dropped back in October, and have been anticipating this release ever since. I simply love its style and storytelling chops. A new trailer dropped alongside this announcement, which shows off some areas and events that weren’t featured in the demo, so now I’m even more inter?ested. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait long.

Crow Country is being released on PC and PS5 on May 9, 2024. A demo is available to play no??w.

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As part of the Day of the Devs Digital Showcase, SFB Games, the developers behind Snipperclips and the upcoming Crow Country, has revealed that their 2019 detective hit Tangle Tower is getting a sequel called The Mermaid’s Tongue. It’s set to release o??n PC in 2024, but has a demo ??available today.

The Mermaid’s Tongue is once again a murder mystery that brings back the duo of Grimoire and Sally. It will once again be a mix of point-and-click adventure, visual novel, and puzzle game. This time, the victim is the “captain of the world’s strangest submarine.�I’m going to directly quote the press release?? on why it’s so strange: “Some say the captain was an immortal time-traveler. Others say he was a vampire, cursed to stay hidden beneath the wav??es forever.�Yeah, me too.

What’s been shown off so far is what you’d expect from a Tangle Tower sequel. Wonderfully animated characters and fabulous backgrounds. I could ??watch that animation all day.

I played the demo, which does a great job of setting up the mystery and getting you hooked in before it stops abruptly. When it ended, I audibly said, “You dick!�I mean, I didn’t expect a demo to contain the whole game. It was inevitably going to end mid-mystery, but it feels like an episode of Columbo showed th?e murder and cut out before the investigation. That's a me problem. I probably shouldn’t have played the demo, I guess.

The Mermaid’s Tongue has a p?lanned release in 2024 on?? PC. The demo is available today.

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