Trendy survival horror video games seeking to recapture the aesthetics and essence of basic titles from the ‘90s usually make one deadly mistake. You see, when followers who had been round to play Resident Evil and Alone within the Darkish: A New Nightmare on the PS1 look again, they achieve this with a stage of fondness that, frankly, makes the video games sound like the most effective issues since sliced bread.
The reality, nevertheless, is that the earliest survival horror titles, with their awkward controls and glued digital camera angles, haven’t aged significantly properly; heck, there’s a motive so lots of them are getting fashionable remakes. Veterans will perpetually adore them (this author included), however newcomers usually come away questioning what all of the fuss was about.
So when a sport launches that’s successfully an homage to the survival horror increase of the late ‘90s, there’s a very good likelihood it should fall flat with out the advantage of private nostalgia. Crow Nation, fortunately, manages to keep away from this downside completely. Developed by SFB Video games of Snipperclips fame, this can be a style sport that effortlessly captures that particular ‘retro’ feeling whereas including a wealth of recent conveniences to make it really feel fully contemporary.
Happening in a dilapidated amusement park, Crow Nation stars Mara Forest, a particular agent investigating the mysterious goings-on whereas trying to find the park’s founder, Edward Crow. Upon her arrival, it’s not lengthy earlier than the true horrors of the park are revealed, with ugly creatures generally known as ‘Friends’ shuffling all through an surroundings plagued by perplexing puzzles, locked doorways, and purposefully obscure notes and messages.
Briefly, it’s the quintessential survival horror expertise, however it does away with all the dated mechanics that you just may need anticipated. Beginning with the apparent, full 360-degree motion is applied right here over tank controls, whereas the isometric digital camera could be rotated at will. That is significantly vital with Crow Nation, as the sport’s world has been designed to be scrutinised fastidiously, so that you’ll end up consistently rotating the digital camera to see what merchandise is likely to be hidden in an alcove, or which creature is likely to be lurking within the shadows.
Naturally, you’ll be able to dispatch the creeps with an assortment of weapons (although like all survival horrors, merely legging it out of the best way is equally viable). Firing your weapon requires you to face nonetheless and purpose with the proper analogue stick, providing you with full management over the place you wish to sink your bullet.
It could really feel a little bit twitchy at occasions and, relying on the angle of the digital camera on the time of aiming, it may be a bit awkward nailing essential headshots. All in all, although, it’s a system that works much better than the trial-and-error mechanics seen in classics like Resident Evil. In the event you miss your shot, it’s completely your fault, and ammo definitely isn’t plentiful on this amusement park.
What’s good is that whereas Crow Nation definitely isn’t a straightforward expertise (until you go for the ‘Exploration’ problem setting), there are many alternatives to spice up your possibilities of survival in the course of the six-to-seven-hour expertise. Med Kits and ammo packing containers could be present in bins, whereas crates or show cupboards usually cover equally helpful gadgets or weapon upgrades.
It looks like a little bit of a big gamble with the crates specifically, as you’ll have to expend a treasured bullet to see what’s inside, however the devs strike a terrific stability of offering a serving to hand whereas sustaining an acceptable stage of problem all through. In the event you occur to get a bit misplaced, there’s a helpful trace system that you need to use as much as 10 occasions throughout your playthrough, pointing you in a obscure, however helpful course.
One thing we despised, nevertheless, was the environmental traps that begin cropping up as you progress by way of the sport. These pop up out of nowhere and are sometimes positioned in areas you’ve already explored, providing you with a false sense of safety. The issue, nevertheless, is that they’re not scary or intelligent, they’re simply irritating. We nearly threw our Change out of the window after spending a very good chunk of time making some first rate progress, solely to die by the hands of a falling chandelier whereas limping to a close-by save room. Completely infuriating.
It is a blip in what’s in any other case an exceptionally well-crafted survival horror. It’s robust to say whether or not you’ll discover it outright scary or not, however it’s definitely creepy sufficient and the familiar-yet-modernised mechanics will possible enchantment whether or not you benefit from the old-school classics or desire one thing a bit extra up-to-date.
The purposefully blocky visuals may take a little bit of getting used to — significantly since they’re juxtaposed in opposition to creepy, ambient music (plus a beautiful, ethereal save room theme), groaning zombies, cackling crows, and sinister lighting results — and we’d have appreciated a few of the room transitions to be a tad faster to load, however in case you’re after one thing that may scratch that ‘retro survival horror’ itch, Crow Nation is leagues above many of the competitors.
Conclusion
Crow Nation is a superb retro-flavoured survival horror that manages to pay homage to the ’90s classics whereas offering a bunch of recent conveniences that make the sport really feel contemporary and, extra importantly, enjoyable. Exploring the creepy but charming titular amusement park is a pleasure because of its wealth of intriguing secrets and techniques and nasty creatures. There are just a few annoyances that hold it from being a masterpiece, like the marginally delayed display screen transitions and the infuriating traps, however like Signalis earlier than it, Crow Nation is properly price investigating in case you’re after a retro-style horror sport that, miraculously, would not really feel dated proper out of the gate.
