Oh, the good old days of survival horror. It was the era where, despite the grainy-esque image, it could still cause a chill to spark down your spine. Likewise, it was never knowing just what awaited your arrival around the corner. Add in the fact that you were desperately seeking the few scarce resources to keep you alive and the monsters away; these games could keep you sucked in for hours. There wasn’t the odd jump scare in hopes of striking fear upon the player. No, this is all about setting a dreary mood and tense storyline that could easily grip you for the long haul. The folks at SFB Games seek to convey that same feeling with their upcoming release, Crow Country.
SFB Games is an indie development studio founded by brothers Tom and Adam Vian. The duo has released several games over the years, such as the Nintendo Switch’s Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together! to their most recent release, Tangle Tower. However, their next big release to hit the marketplace is the upcoming Crow Country, which is set to release on May 9, 2024.
In this game, we’re sent back into the year 1990, where you’re stepping into the role of Mara Forest. The mysterious disappearance of Edward Crow had resulted in the closure of his theme park. Players will guide Mara into the theme park in hopes of uncovering the answers to what happened to Edward.
With that said, we had the chance to speak with Adam Vian, the Creative Director for SFB Games. Our interview, which you can read in full below, will help give you a little more insight into Crow Country and some of the decisions made during development.
Gameranx: You can see some of the inspirations that went into this game. For those who might not have experienced some of the early survival horror games, could you touch on what inspired the development of Crow Country?
Adam Vian: Crow Country is inspired by the seminal survival horror games from the PlayStation 1 era. Namely; Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Dino Crisis and Parasite Eve. These games tend to have a few things in common – a strong sense of place, a small but memorable cast of characters, a thick atmosphere, meaningful exploration and backtracking, strong puzzle design.
I was also inspired by Final Fantasy VII – which isn’t a horror game, but I really like its aesthetic of simple, chunky character models set against more detailed environments.
Gameranx: The premise in Crow Country revolves around the disappearance of Edward Crow, the former owner of Crow Country, a theme park. We’re stepping into the role of Mara Forest. What can you tell me about Mara?
Adam Vian: Not much is known about Mara at the start of the game. She’s a young woman who is a police agent of some kind, and she seems determined to find out the truth about what’s really happening in Crow Country. Mara is clever, thoughtful, kind, and resourceful – but she’s not exactly a seasoned veteran, and she can be a little naive. Players will learn more about her as the game progresses.
Gameranx: How close were we to using old-school fixed camera positions in this game? Were there some mechanics that almost made it before being replaced with something a little more modern?
Adam Vian: I never really planned to use fixed camera angles in Crow Country – from the start of development, it’s always had the overhead camera that follows the character around. I did briefly experiment with a system that would swap to fixed camera angles at certain moments, for dramatic effect. But it threw up issues that I didn’t feel like solving, so I got rid of it.
Early on, the game only had tank controls, i.e. the old fashioned kind of ‘character-relative’ movement. I was being really stubborn about it at first, but I got some feedback and grudgingly decided to add modern controls as well. I’m really glad I did, as I think the vast majority of players are much more comfortable with those – myself included, to be honest.
Something that I stuck to my guns on is not having any automatic checkpoints. If you get killed, you need to load your game from your most recent save. It’s becoming rarer and rarer to have this kind of system in games, but I kept it for two reasons:
1. I really need the player to worry about getting killed – I need there to be stakes to dying.
2. I needed the save rooms to matter. Saving your game is important in Crow Country, and I wanted players to feel a sense of relief when they reach a new save room, or loop back around to an old one.
Gameranx: Can you offer some insight into the Exploration Mode?
Adam Vian: Exploration Mode basically removes all the combat from the game. You won’t be attacked, and nothing can kill you. So you can enjoy Crow Country at your own pace, without the stress of the enemies jumping out at you, or springing a deadly trap.
There are a number of people who would really enjoy what Crow Country has to offer in terms of atmosphere, exploration, story and puzzle design – but would never choose to play it, because they’ve decided they can’t/won’t play horror games. I wanted those people to be able to enjoy the game too!
Gameranx: Are there difficulty settings besides Exploration Mode for the final release?
Adam Vian: No, currently there’s just Survival Horror mode and Exploration Mode. I’m very much hoping that Survival Horror mode will offer a solid challenge, but this will vary quite a bit from player to player. Perhaps, in the future, I’ll add a Hardcore mode of some sort – if people want it.
As it stands, if you’re looking for a bigger challenge, there are two things you could do:
1. Just use the tank controls! Moving Mara around with the tank controls is definitely a little slower and trickier, there’s no denying that.
2. Try to get an S Rank. It’s not easy.
Gameranx: There was some concern online about the potential lack of PC mouse and keyboard support. It’s since been confirmed that this isn’t the case, correct?
Adam Vian: The game does support PC keyboard controls. It works fine, I’ve completed the game multiple times with just the keyboard, but it’s really not the recommended way to play. We strongly suggest that you use a controller of some kind!
As for mouse and keyboard, no, we didn’t implement it. I’m not a fan of using the mouse to aim and shoot in a game like this, so I didn’t even think about it. Some people have requested it, of course. Maybe in the future, if we have time, we could look at it.
Gameranx: How long has this been in development? Are we still on track for a release on May 9, 2024?
Adam Vian: I started working on the game in early 2020, so it’s been around 4 years. I was often working on it full time, but we’ve also been working on another game, (The Mermaid Mask, the follow-up to 2019’s Tangle Tower) so my time was sometimes split between the two projects.
We’re on track to release May 9! Everything is looking good! Some people who got review keys have even completed the game already.
Gameranx: Crow Country is currently set for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. Are there any potential plans to see this game come out for the Nintendo Switch?
Adam Vian: Good question. Crow Country would be great on Switch, I think. I’ll get back to you about that!
As mentioned, players interested in a classic-style survival horror gameplay experience won’t have to wait long. Crow Country is heading into the marketplace on May 9, 2024. While we don’t have a Nintendo Switch platform release, we can still expect the game to release on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and the PlayStation 5 platforms. In the meantime, you can check out a trailer for the game in the video we have embedded below.
