"Crow Country" Demo Review - A Retro-inspired Horror Game
"Crow Country" is an upcoming Survival Horror game. Its Demo is one of the Free Demos that were offered in Steam Next Fest. Here’s the Steam page for Crow Country!
The story is set in 1990. You play as Mara Forest, a special force agent tasked with investigating the disappearance of Edward Crow and the closure of his park, the titular “Crow Country.”
Mara’s arrival broke the silence of the place. Will she find the truth at the depth of these mysteries?
Crow Country's visuals are its most distinct aspect. The game features low-poly 3D models for the characters and the environment. The map is navigated through a rotatable isometric view. HUD elements are placed in perfect areas of the screen for them. The whole screen is filtered through an eerie grain that adds to the creepiness and makes the whole thing visually unique.
The gameplay is excellent as well. The controls are responsive and I like the aiming system. It’s the first game I played with this aiming system. It simultaneously feels modern and retro. It's easy to control, and I like that both face bottons and trigger buttons could be used to fire. The gun reload mechanic is interesting because Mara can only hold one extra Ammo box at a time.
The sound design of this game is on point. I was really scared when I first encountered enemies and heard that baby-scream-like music effect.
For healing, there are various types of Med-Kits scattered around. Small kits that heal some health, a lot of health, and poison. They give me a Resident Evil vibe.
I like how there are a lot of trash boxes that you can reach into. For some reason, a lot of them have Med Kits and Ammo Boxes. Who were the people who were here before?!
The game opens up with a nice introduction to the gameplay. You need to pick up the Gun and bullets from the Car to destroy the Park's lock. Investigating the next area will lead you to find a laser scope for the gun, the first mystery, and the first survivor.
I was amused when I saw the survivor, because his pose, typical for horror games, is one I named "The Umbrella Pose" along with my brother because a character setting in that pose in Resident Evil 2 kept saying "umbrella" when we played RE2 as teenagers who had limited English knowledge.
As for the mystery, there was a code written by blood that says 2106, but there's a numbers keypad nearby that doesn't have a zero. It took me a while of exploration to know if this code was a red herring or if there was an actual way to use it with the keypad.
Speaking of exploration... Despite everything being clearly marked on the map, I had trouble finding the door to the corridor, (one of the areas,) and when I finally found it by rotating the screen, (which I should've tried from the start,) I was surprised to find my first set of enemies.
The enemies were doll-like creatures that move slowly and I emptied out my whole gun on them but they didn't die. They were easily avoidable if I'm okay of enduring a few bites. I finished the run while I was under the impression that they couldn't be killed. I later realized that wasn't true. They could be killed with precise shots. Mine weren't.
To sum up my review, Crow Country is an upcoming game for PC and PS5! I didn't reach the end of the Demo. I spent too much time exploring and had to close the game. I wishlisted it, though. Maybe I'll buy Crow Country during a Sale after its release.
- Some screenshots are taken by me. Other screenshots are taken from the game’s Steam Page.
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