Is it blasphemy to call a survival horror game “cozy”? Maybe so, but as I remember my game of The land of crowsthe word popped into my mind more than a few times.
There is no argument from the start The land of crowsThe PlayStation 1’s PlayStation 1 influence that its creators at SFB Games have been open about: it’s very deliberately the creepy-sweet child of Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Final Fantasy VII. The game, which was released on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox X/S on May 9, pretty much ticks all the boxes for a survival horror, but has a softer take on the genre, making it feel more like a mental test. endurance against some all-consuming gloom rather than a constant fight for your life. (A hard mode is apparently on the way though).
You play as Mara Forrest, who must painstakingly make her way through an abandoned amusement park in 1990 to find its elusive and apparently corrupt owner, Edward Crowe. Resources such as ammo and health kits must be scavenged. Skinless monsters can emerge from the shadows at every turn to grab you, and puzzles of varying complexity promise to halt your progress. There is a set of characters who – including the main character – seem to have dubious motives.
It’s a familiar formula, paired with a familiar character design style, paired with a familiar unsettling atmosphere, but The land of crows manages not to feel like it’s propped up by nods to its predecessors. With more emphasis on mood and mystery than violence (and a little humor sprinkled throughout), it’s unique enough to stand on its own as a standalone work. The whole experience carries this air of reflection, and I think the developers describe it perfectly in their own synopsis of what The land of crows offers: “a beautiful, strange combination of tension and calm.”
Nostalgia really hit me like a truck as I took my cautious first steps around the eponymous Crow Country theme park as Mara. Naturally, she walks at a snail’s pace and comes to a complete stop when she fires a weapon. Her movement speed is good though, and you have 360 degree control over the camera angle, so it’s not entirely burdened with the limitations of the PS1 era (blessing).
I was ready to be disappointed during the game with the stop and shoot part, but I got over it once I realized that the monsters were too slow as hell. Well, most of them. You can run right next to them in almost any situation if you want. This made killing a choice rather than a necessity, and immediately reduced the sense of urgency with which I had entered my first encounter with the enemy. That’s not bad at all. At lower stakes, I treated these meaty monsters like target practice and shot them mostly for fun. This, along with the gradual realization that there won’t be horrors every 5 seconds, put me in a much more comfortable experience than I expected.
Without anxiety fueling my every decision, I was able to take my time exploring all the nooks and crannies of the theme park, making sure to stop and read every notebook or piece of paper and check out every item on the ground or hanging on the walls. I could concentrate fully on the puzzles in front of me, some of which were really challenging. At one point I even had to get out a pen and paper. It also wasn’t too hard to stock up on essentials like ammo, medkits, and antidotes that could be found randomly around the park and in the vending machines where they sometimes regenerated so I could come back for more later.
The soundtrack by Ockeroid (which just got its own separate digital release) is eerily soothing and helped create an atmosphere that absorbed me completely. The land of crowsThe save mechanism also leans heavily on the game’s contemplative atmosphere: you can find respite at various sources of fire that Mara will stare into before reciting a thoughtful thought about hope and fear in the face of uncertainty. i played The land of crows on the Steam Deck, huddled with my cats on a grey, stormy day, and I can’t think of a better way to take it all in.
In typical survival horror form, the environment becomes increasingly hostile as you progress through the game; creatures start to appear in greater numbers, faster joins the mix, it starts to rain, it gets darker, someone is shooting at you from the shadows. But any real weight in the Crowe County is balanced by just the right amount of playfulness. The characters are often so frivolous, going back and forth with irreverent dialogue. And you can’t ignore the wacky raven-themed objects that are everywhere—you rely on some of them for resources and insight.
initially The land of crows hints that there’s more to Mara than we’re being told, but doesn’t explain who she is or why she’s really in this abandoned theme park. Nor does it explain in the beginning why this park is filled with writhing abominations and apparently overwhelming references to the number 2106. These mysteries hooked me and kept me going deeper as things unfolded. The ending tied everything together in a way that felt really satisfying.
It’s short but not too short, takes anywhere from 5 to 10 hours to complete depending on how deep (or slow to solve puzzles) you are, and has a lot of replay value. This game is full of secrets that aren’t vital to the plot but can make your life a little easier—there’s even a map that shows you where they are if you can find them—and they add another layer of challenge to the overall scavenger hunt. The upcoming hard mode could also make revisiting it even more interesting. The game currently gives you the option to play in Survival Horror mode (the version I played) or an exploration mode where you “won’t be attacked”.
I missed a few secrets on my first playthrough, so my main goals for the next playthrough are to find the rest and reach 100 percent of the achievements. I’m also curious to know how different choices in my interactions with other characters can affect how the story unfolds. Finally, I found myself moved The land of crows for reasons that had little to do with nostalgia.
