It has been absolutely ages since I last wrote a stand-alone “Horror Videogames Series” article. And, since I started playing “Crow Country” (2024) at the time of writing in early-mid May, I thought that I’d talk about how this 1990s-inspired indie survival horror game – set in an abandoned theme park – can get away with being so generous.
(Click for larger image) This is a screenshot from “Crow Country” (2024), a modern indie survival horror game with an amazing PS1-inspired aesthetic.
Whilst there is an optional “hard mode” and an optional “No monsters, just puzzles” easy mode, the standard normal difficulty is astonishingly generous. At the beginning of the game, I was constantly finding healing items. And, not only can lots of pistol ammunition be found if you search the rubbish bins but, if you shake the vending machines enough times, you’ll be well-stocked with grenades too. In fact, because the pistol is required to solve some puzzles, you can also always return to your car to pick up a fresh box of ammunition from the boot (or, for Americans, the trunk) whenever you have less than about eight bullets left.
If you know anything about survival horror games, you’ll know that scarcity and careful resource management is often the name of the game. It’s one reason why, for example, the classic “Resident Evil” games make you manually raise your weapons before firing them. It’s an extra split-second of “Do you really want to use up these bullets right now?” thinking time. In survival horror games that let you fight the monsters, you almost always also have the option of running away instead. These are games where you have to think carefully about how you will use the limited resources that you’ve found. The “survival” part of “survival horror”.
So, how does “Crow Country” (2024) get away with being comically generous on normal difficulty, whilst still feeling like an old survival horror game?
Remember how I said that I kept finding supplies at the beginning of the game… well, that was before I encountered the first monsters in the game. I was feeling well-stocked and well-prepared… and then two hideous flesh-creatures lurched into view right in front of me. Survival horror games thrive upon and rely-upon close proximity to danger. And the game has a very obtuse combat system. Not only can’t you move whilst your weapon is raised, but you have to precisely aim it using the keyboard or – for controllers – the D-pad. No easy and intuitive mouse-aiming here!
(Click for larger image) Yes, the game gives you a laser sight… but you still have to aim precisely, from a raised angle, using just the keyboard or – for controller players – the D-pad.
It’s slow and cumbersome enough that the classic “Resident Evil” games seem user-friendly by comparison! Even the optional “precise aiming” system in Casper Croes’ “Alisa” (2021-22) seems simple and intuitive by comparison!
The aiming system in “Crow Country” (2024) is based on the aiming system from “Resident Evil 4” (2005/2023), but without the over-the-shoulder camera that helps a lot with aiming in that game. “Crow Country” (2024) also rewards headshots and close-range shots too. The main character’s pistol also only holds eight bullets, meaning that you’ll also have to reload often. During my first monster encounter, I wasted almost all of my ammunition frantically trying to hit the monsters right in front of me and then – thanks to the bizarre (apparently, since updated) keyboard controls – I accidentally wasted all of the grenades I’d found earlier too. And I needed to use one of the healing items I’d found.
The two basic monsters, the very first monsters in the game, had been defeated… but I was almost out of ammo and I was also injured as well. Suddenly, the game’s generosity made a lot more sense. Combat in this game is difficult enough that – often – it is literally just better to run away from monsters than it is to fight them. The combat system – and the (since updated) keyboard controls for the GOG launch-day PC version – are weird because it gives seasoned survival horror game players a chance to re-experience the frantic confusion that they felt when they played their very first survival horror game back in the 1990s or early 2000s.
Yes, there are a lot of clever, innovative and/or unique things about “Crow Country” (2024) – the game’s art style and mood, for starters – but the way that it tricks you into thinking that it will be an easier game than it actually is, by “breaking the rules” and being ultra-generous… only to then pull the rug out from under you by making combat ridiculously difficult… is both a clever innovation and also part of a very long tradition (going all the way back to the starting area in “Alone In The Dark” from 1992) of survival horror games messing with the player. It’s genius!
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Anyway, I hope that this was interesting 🙂
