This ‘Resident Evil’ Riff is One of This Generation’s Best Games

I don’t know about you, but Resident Evil Requiem made me want to revisit some old-school survival horror. Crow Country might be a modern game, but it wears its PS1-era survival horror influences on its sleeve, drawing heavily from games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

Aesthetically, however, it owes even more to Final Fantasy VII than it does to its survival horror inspirations. The polygonal characters, prerendered backgrounds, and interactable environmental objects all call back to Square’s iconic RPG while still creating an atmosphere that feels both oppressive and mysterious.

The game takes place in 1990. Our protagonist, Mara Forest, heads to an abandoned theme park, “Crow Country,” in order to find the missing owner. The run-down theme park, however, is awash with mysterious creatures, traps, and environmental hazards. The gameplay follows the blueprint established by those PS1-era survival horror games. Players collect keys to unlock new areas, solve environmental puzzles, and piece together the story through both cutscenes and documents scattered throughout the park. Exploration is rewarding, with each new discovery uncovering more of the park’s dark secrets.

Combat also echoes the games that inspired it. Mara begins her journey equipped only with a simple handgun, but she gradually expands her arsenal with a shotgun, grenades, and even a flamethrower. Like the classics it draws from, Mara can’t move and shoot at the same time. Instead, the player must stop, line up their shots, and manage limited resources while dealing with ever-encroaching enemies.

One major difference between Crow Country and those original survival horror games is the camera. While at first glance, Crow Country looks to use the same fixed-camera perspective as Resident Evil or Silent Hill, this is not actually the case. The camera can rotate to show different angles of the area that Mara is currently exploring. This allows for a more thorough investigation of the area while still maintaining the sense of dread and oppressive atmosphere.

succeeds because it understands just what made those original survival horror games so compelling and memorable. The developers are not interested in recreating the same games note for note. Instead, they chose to preserve what made these games great—the pacing, environmental storytelling, and constant sense of unease that defined the genre—while creating something that still feels fresh and unique. For anyone who misses the PlayStation era of survival horror, will absolutely scratch that itch.