The narrative set-up ofCrow Countryis simple. A special police agent named Mara arrives at an abandoned theme park, armed with a handgun and a file declaring the disappearance of the park’s owner. It’s a far cry from the dizzying spectacle that opens theoriginal story ofFF7, but as Mara ventures into the park and begins to unravel the secrets within, the reasons forFF7fans to check the game out become increasingly apparent.
Crow Country Brings The FF7 Aesthetic To New Life
Charming Environments With Familiar Inspiration
Crow Countrymight be a survival horror game in name, but it’s not especially focused on scares. In its loving look back at the PlayStation 1 era,Crow Countryhones in on the charms of chunky characters and cluttered environments, building up a world that’s as endearing as it is moody. Through a haze of dithered greenish fog, the details of the park become the big selling point, and even those who aren’t especially into horror could find a lot to love in poking around.
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WhileCrow Countrydoesn’t use pre-rendered backgrounds likeFF7, it constructs its 3D environments with a very similar touch to the wayFF7’s art is rendered.The low-poly amusement park has the same clay-like look as the Gold Saucer, but the industrial style of otherFF7locations is equally present. Underneath a grungy level of general disrepair that brings Midgar to mind, the park is as clunky as it is beautiful, and venturing into the areas not meant for the public to visit reveals a surplus of machinery held together by shiny, over-sized bolts.
The originalFF7features two areas that draw explicitly on the aesthetic of classic horror, and, unsurprisingly,Ghost Square and Shinra Manor are the most obvious sources ofFF7inspiration inCrow Country.One haunted mansion exhibit in the park ends up feeling a lot closer toShinra Manor than evenFF7 Rebirth’s takeon the material does, even if the vampire sleeping inside an open coffin isn’t Vincent Valentine himself.
Gameplay Differences From FF7 Shouldn’t Be Alienating
Survival Horror & RPGs Can Have Shared Appeal
Crow Country’s gameplay obviously diverges heavily fromFF7’s — there aren’t any turn-based battles to be found — but it still doesn’t feel that far off from the parts ofFF7where battles aren’t the focus. Puzzles encourage Mara to prod the environments of the game, and although a surplus of clues prevents anything from rivaling the one or two real head-scratchers inFF7, they’re cast in a similar mold. Minigames also feature inCrow Country, and an unlit arcade doesn’t remain out of commission forever.
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As for the combat, it mostly consists of lining up shots to gun down lumbering, grotesque enemies with a control scheme that splits the difference between retro standards and modern fluidity.On the standard difficulty, it’s easy enough to make it through the game without ever dying, so familiarity with the style definitely isn’t required. It’s also possible to turn off combat entirely and simply focus on solving the challenges of exploration, which is likely to be engaging enough in its own right.
Crow Country Is A Proven Hit That’s Perfect For October
A Perfect Halloween Experience For 2024
To be clear, the link betweenCrow CountryandFF7isn’t speculative.The creators of the game weren’t shy about referencing it as a chief source of inspiration, slipping it in alongsideResident Evilin some promotional material, like a tweet from developerAdam Vianin March. It’s certainly not the only game to be influenced byFF7in the decades since the release of the juggernaut RPG, but it is one of the few to linger so directly in the aesthetic ofFF7’s bygone era.
There’s also a lot to back up the notion thatCrow Countryis a standout experience, although that’s more subjective by nature. OnSteam,the game holds an “Overwhelmingly Positive” 98% rating with over 3,000 reviews, a titanic feat for a game that was mostly made by two brothers. It’s a sentiment asserted inScreen Rant’s review of the game, which places it among the site’s most acclaimed titles of the year.
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The Halloween season provides a great opportunity to get comfortable with a hot drink and indulge inCrow Country, which fits squarely into the kind of horror that’s as oddly comfortable as it is unnerving. It’s the perfect time in more ways than one, actually, asan October 16 release for the game on the Nintendo Switch was just announcedin a trailer onNintendo of America’s YouTube channel. Considering the focus on reveling in atmosphere, it might not be the best for playing on the go, but the low-poly graphics can remain beautifully intact on a less powerful system.
Crow Countryis also coming to PS4 on October 16. The game is already available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
At the end of the day, there’s no other game that scratches an identical itch toFF7, butCrow Countrymight be about as close as it gets in some regards. Although the difference in genre means that the truly horror-adverse should probably still avoid it, it’s a great option for anyone comfortable with the slightly more gruesome touch. With several more years likely to pass before the final chapter of theFF7Remaketrilogy shows up,Crow Countrycould be a nice way forFinal Fantasy 7fans to spend a few hours of that long wait.
