Crow Nation is such a meticulously put collectively sport, such a thought-through piece of survival horror, that I believe it has grow to be considered one of my go-tos to suggest for individuals new to the style. There are treasured few video games that leap straight to the highest like that, however Crow Nation is considered one of them.
You play as Mara Forest, a particular agent with a great humorousness, despatched to research a now-defunct amusement park referred to as Crow Nation. From there, the story by no means misses a beat. The sport’s pacing is extremely tight, with every puzzle main virtually seamlessly on to the following. What I respect most about Crow Nation is that there’s by no means any downtime. Or, reasonably, that the quiet moments aren’t meaningless, and the sport by no means feels the necessity to pad the runtime with unnecessary strolling. Enemy encounters by no means really feel too confronting, and the best way assets are handed out (a minimum of on the common problem) makes you’re feeling simply in charge of the scenario, supplied you land your pictures accurately.
The amusement park that lends the sport its title has just a few totally different themed sections – underwater, fairy, futuristic, and halloween – and none of them have unnecessary rooms or any sections that really feel like busywork. Puzzles are intuitive and simple to unravel; some embrace mechanics or minigames which can be by no means seen once more within the sport, however are really easy to regulate that it seems like the identical stage of polish went into them as the whole lot else. And the extent of polish… it’s uncommon to see a sport come out of the gate feeling this good to play, with no bugs or visible blemishes in sight.
The sport seems and seems like a relic from the Nineteen Nineties. Backgrounds that in the first place seem like pre rendered backgrounds (equivalent to you may see in Ultimate Fantasy VII or Resident Evil) may be rotated with the digicam, revealing a wealth of little particulars. Dirty indicators, blood smeared on the partitions or left to seep into the carpet, traps mendacity on the ground or dangling from the ceiling – all of this and extra is revealed by every room. Every room is so lovingly rendered that I can’t assist however linger in them, reveling within the element – and the helpful objects I discover by trying round. A few of them are so nicely hidden you’ll be able to’t assist however smile at your self for locating them, or think about the builders giving a understanding wink.
The sport is the proper mixture of linear and nonlinear, with some puzzles capable of be solved in a number of methods, and different puzzles requiring objects to resolve. So the sport is a wonderful mixture of linear and open, the place the park is open to discover and every room presents a brand new object that may trigger a lightweight to go off in your head. You get a ruby, so that you go, “oh, now I do know what to do!” and also you run all the best way again to a room that required a ruby-shaped object. You clear up that puzzle, and get one thing else, and the cycle continues. The sport has a beautiful manner of prodding the puzzle-solving facet of your mind, making you wish to maintain enjoying. It’s one lengthy string of puzzles.
If there was one (admittedly tiny) grievance available, it will be that the fight just isn’t fairly as difficult because it could possibly be. Enemies are typically simple to keep away from and you’ll run round about 60% of encounters – which is sweet horror design on the one hand, nevertheless it does are inclined to deflate the stress a bit whenever you’re simply sprinting across the place. However that’s in all probability on me, and the massive variety of horror video games I’ve performed. Crow Nation, to its credit score, does attempt to mitigate that with quite a lot of traps that power you to decelerate and look rigorously on the surroundings. And it’s a small grievance – aiming your gun could be a tense affair, significantly within the smaller rooms, and frantic bursts of lacking your pictures can imply hassle later down the monitor. It’s a sport that deserves to be slowly savoured.
But Crow Nation can also be a brief sport that by no means overstays its welcome. And it’s a sport that really does should be performed – it’s a love letter to a style that deserves to dwell on. The methods through which it modernizes the survival horror components, and streamline the puzzles, makes Crow Nation really feel just like the worthy successor to numerous different titles that got here earlier than it.
I’ve seen individuals critique the sport’s story, and I agree – it’s no Silent Hill or something, the place the sport is an elaborate metaphor for an individual’s personal emotions on the world. But not each sport must be some type of psychological thriller or perception into the human thoughts. Crow Nation does have heaps of nice characters, and tight writing that spells out what it must in a brief period of time. It is a deceptively intelligent sport, the place plot twists are literally attempting to dam your notion of different plot twists. Some twists are revealed within the smallest, most innocuous use of the person interface. Some issues aren’t fully spelled out to you, even by the top, however stuff may be inferred.
It’s a sport that makes use of its theme park motif to the fullest, however its different themes that run beneath the floor are additionally significant. The overarching thriller concerning the recurring quantity you see across the park, that may’t be entered into any of the keypads is only one thing more that may prod you to consider the sport and its story – whenever you’re not luxuriating within the elegant ambiance of a dilapidated bathroom stall. The sport’s soundtrack is super – the foremost theme evokes Yamaoka’s work (as many trendy horror sport composers do); however to not point out items for the theme park that sound genuine, in addition to haunting. It’s tremendous cool how all of the items of the sport come collectively underneath this one elegant ambiance, generated by graphics that haven’t any proper to look as superior as they do. However they do look superior. They create an virtually unrivalled sense of place and time.
I want I might write extra on it – I would do a assessment on the channel later – however I believe for now, I simply wish to sing the sport’s praises plainly. You understand how I hardly have any time for something in the mean time? Let this be a testomony to Crow Nation‘s design: instantly after I beat it I began a brand new save to attempt to beat it sooner. And I did. The sport is so well-designed. It’s the type of survival horror that sport design lessons ought to take aside and look at. It by no means overstays its welcome, by no means calls for an excessive amount of from you. If you wish to play it as a haunting puzzle sport, you’ll be able to! It has a mode to disable enemies, and a tough mode which makes issues rather more troublesome, purportedly. That’s what I’m going to attempt subsequent.
Crow Nation is a marvel of a survival horror sport, and if you’re a fan of classics within the style, you owe it to your self to play this super sport. Extremely really useful.
