If you’re a horror fan and Crow Country isn’t on your radar, it should be. The project from SFB Games combines the atmosphere of classic Resident Evil with the aesthetics of Final Fantasy 7, and it’s a match made in hell (in a good way, of course). Some months ago, a demo caught our attention, and an updated teaser has only upped the anticipation.
You can play Crow Country right now for yourself thanks to Steam Next Fest. The horror game is offering another sliver of gameplay completely free, where you can see for yourself just how well it channels those early 3D Resident Evil and Silent Hill vibes.
Appropriately enough, Crow Country is set in the early ’90s. 1990 to be exact, where you’re exploring the titular theme park after the owner, Edward Crow, mysteriously vanished. Your very arrival sends ripples through the decaying fairground, and you’ll need to do some digging to find answers.
The latest demo presents an even tighter snippet off the survival game, where you wander through a section of Crow Country examining clues and trying to avoid the terrors that appear. Mercifully, tank controls are eschewed in favor of a more standard third-person shooter control scheme.
There are so many nice touches here, from the CRT-like lens to the isometric rooms and cartoony shapes. Crow Country makes you feel like you’re huddled up for the night, too close to your TV in 1996, with some horrifying yet beguiling oddity you just picked up. And that’s one very specific vibe I can get behind.
The new demo features a challenge, to shoot 15 Crystal Crows throughout the available map, for a little sidequest while Next Fest is on. If this has you wanting more scares, check out our lists of the best zombie games and best horror VR games for more ways to squirm in the safety of your own home.
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