Crow Country

About Crow Country

Crow Country is a survival horror game by SFB Games, the London studio of brothers Tom and Adam Vian, who have made games since 2002. Adam directed it and Tom programmed it. It came out on 9 May 2024 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on 16 October 2024. The year is 1990. Edward Crow, owner of a small theme park on the rural outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, shut it down without warning two years ago and has not been seen since. You play Mara Forest, a young woman who comes to the closed park looking for him. Soon after she gets past the locked gates she finds an injured man on a foggy boardwalk.

The game is built in low-poly 3D that recalls the survival horror of the original PlayStation, seen from a high camera, and it was inspired by early Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The park is full of bright, slightly off things: crow statues and crow-head bins, a ticket booth, a fairy pond, a fairytale town and swan boats, with staff offices and utility corridors behind them. As you unlock new areas and backtrack through old ones, notes and the people you meet help you piece together why Edward closed the park.

It plays like the classics it draws on. You start with a handgun and limited ammunition, and grenades, a shotgun and a flamethrower can be found later. You stop to aim and cannot shoot on the run. You carry a short inventory of supplies and keys, a status screen shows your condition, and puzzles and riddles stand between you and the next part of the park. Some puzzles mean combining items, notes give hints, and secret puzzles reward you with weapon upgrades. Monsters roam the grounds, and the game keeps their nature a mystery.

There are two ways to play. Survival is the standard game; Exploration Mode lets you walk the park without being attacked, for those who want only the story and the puzzles. A harder difficulty, Murder of Crows, was added in a later update. The main story takes about five hours according to HowLongToBeat, and about eight to see everything. The violence is stylised rather than realistic, though there is blood, gore and some strong language. A free demo is on the PlayStation Store for PS5 and on itch.io for Windows. It suits fans of older survival horror and newcomers who want a small, focused game in that style.

How to play Crow Country

1. Enter the park as Mara and explore from the gate, checking the map as you go.
2. Pick up ammunition, healing items and keys, and manage your inventory.
3. Shoot or avoid the monsters you meet, watching your condition and ammunition.
4. Solve the puzzles and riddles that open new areas, then backtrack to places you could not reach before.
5. Read what you find to learn what happened to Edward Crow and his park.

Tips

• Count your bullets; there is not much ammunition to spare.
• Stand still and line up your shot, since Mara cannot fire while running.
• Check the map often; it marks areas and helps you plan backtracking.
• Read every note; many of them hint at puzzle answers, and secret puzzles lead to weapon upgrades.
• Keep notes on riddles you cannot solve yet; the answer often lies in another part of the park.
• If you want the story without combat, choose Exploration Mode.

Questions