Do you love early PlayStation-style survival horror but don’t want to stare at a computer monitor and don’t own a Steam Deck? Well, hopefully, you own a Switch (or PS4), because it’s landing there on October 16, 2024.
If you’re like me, your October is already going to be packed to the gills with horror games, but also, if you’re like me, you’ve probably already played Crow Country on PC. If you’re not like me, lucky you! You’re way more fortunate than you think. I’m talking to you specifically because you should definitely play Crow Country if you haven’t.
Crow Country has Special Agent Mara Forest heading into the decrepit remains of the eponymous amusement park in search of its missing owner. Unfortunately: monsters. You have to explore the park, finding keys and solving puzzles. It’s classic survival horror at its finest and most concise.
I have no end of good things to say about it, as you can tell by this review I wrote. I gave it a 9? Nice. I rarely give anything a 9. I’m jaded and curmudgeonly, or, as I prefer to put it: nuanced. But Crow Country has a mind-blowingly creative horror plot and an interesting art style that looks like PS1-era low-poly characters and items over a PS1-era pre-rendered background, but the backgrounds aren’t actually pre-rendered. You can rotate the camera all you want, and still get that delicious early-CG look.
To go back to my original review, I admit that Crow Country doesn’t do anything to re-write the classic survival horror playbook, but it’s executed with a skill that makes it seem effortless. That’s not to say it isn’t without a few bruises and imperfections, but they’re lost among the many facets it does exceedingly well. So, if you weren’t able to play it on PC or PlayStation platforms, you should definitely give it a try on Switch (assuming that the port is capable).
Crow Country is currently out on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5. It is out for Switch and PS4 on October 16, 2024.
Published: Oct 2, 2024 01:30 pm