Crow Nation evaluation: a gloriously dirty revival of ’90s survival horror

At the same time as trendy horror video games turn into unnervingly immersive, there’s nonetheless a spot for the actual temper of old-school survival horror. By way of a combo of dirty visuals, cryptic puzzles, sluggish pacing, and clunky controls, PlayStation-era video games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill have been capable of create a definite type of rigidity and terror. Crow Nation is what would occur if that type of recreation by no means went out of favor. It has the appear and feel of the classics however with simply the correct quantity of recent flourish. It’s an ideal chew of traditional horror.

Crow Nation comes from indie studio SFB Video games — led by brothers Tom and Adam Vian — which has to this point managed to create fairly the eclectic library of releases. There was the playful Change launch title Snipperclips, the point-and-click homicide thriller Tangle Tower, and now a darkish survival horror recreation. Crow Nation doesn’t simply evoke the ’90s — it’s set through the interval as effectively. All the recreation takes place in an deserted Atlanta amusement park in 1990, as a girl named Mara units out searching for the park’s elusive proprietor who mysteriously disappeared. In fact, the place is teeming with monsters and thriller.

The very first thing you’ll discover is simply how a lot this appears to be like like a 32-bit recreation. The eye to element is immaculate, from the blocky characters to the fuzzy textures to the crunchy, distorted sounds. Even the menus are period-appropriate. This extends to how the sport performs and the way it’s structured. Initially, Mara solely has entry to a small part of the park, however slowly, you’ll open up extra by accumulating obscure gadgets, specific-colored keys, and fixing very unusual puzzles. The park itself is each scary and comical, like if the unique Resident Evil mansion was crossed with 5 Nights at Freddy’s.

You progress round like, effectively, a tank: motion is sluggish, it’s important to cease to shoot zombie-like enemies, and the aiming is deliberately irritating to amp up the stress. Equally, it’s important to cope with restricted sources, with comparatively scant ammo and drugs to maintain you going. All of this infuses even small encounters with hazard. You do not wish to waste bullets. It helps that the monster designs are actually unsettling, with fast-running toddlers, spindly-legged monstrosities, and shifting blobs with faces.

What’s most exceptional about Crow Nation, although, is the way it builds on these old-school sensibilities with some very welcome quality-of-life tweaks. Maybe the most important: the digital camera is definitely 3D, so you’ll be able to transfer it round to get a greater have a look at your environment. However there’s additionally a extra trendy management choice for higher capturing, a restricted trace system for once you miss a type of small clues, a really useful map, and secure rooms that really really feel secure, so you’ll be able to catch your breath and plan your subsequent transfer. There’s even a mode that removes enemies totally in the event you simply wish to discover.

The spectacular factor is that these updates don’t take away from that traditional rigidity. They merely take away some (however not all) of the frustration inherent in ’90s-era survival horror, creating maybe essentially the most accessible instance of the style whereas sustaining the look, really feel, and persona. Crow Nation does all of this whereas telling a wonderful thriller that dramatically builds in scope over 5 hours or so of playtime. It doesn’t fairly surpass its inspirations, but it surely’ll remind you why you really liked them a lot within the first place.

Crow Nation is on the market now on the PS5, Steam, and Xbox Collection X / S.