Crow Country launches on Switch just in time for Halloween

October is the perfect time to buy some horror games to suit the season. Of course, not everyone likes truly disturbing thrills and chills. For those who are not ready to enter the Silent Hill 2 remakeBut still itching for something spooky to set the mood, the Nintendo Switch just has the perfect game for you. Crow Country is an indie game inspired by the titans of the survival horror genre, but it’s a more relaxed and welcoming experience that won’t scare you.

Crow Country released on every other major console earlier this year and quickly gained a following thanks to its modern take on the familiar tropes of its genre. The Switch version was released on October 16th. Like other games in the currently booming trend of retro-inspired horror, Crow Countrymechanics remain close to the central pillars defined in Resident Evil and silent Hill. You fall into a frightening setting, in this case an abandoned theme park, which is plagued by monsters that block the path to whatever your objective is. As detective Mara Forest, you are trying to find the park’s reclusive founder to get answers about what may have happened here. To do this you will have to manage a limited inventory while trying to fight monsters and solve absurdly complex puzzles with many components.

There are two main points that make Crow Country suitable for scared cats and newcomers to the genre. The first is its unique aesthetic – although it is inspired by the PlayStation 1’s limited polygonal graphics, Crow CountryThe visual style of doesn’t embrace the more realistic visuals of Resident Evil and silent Hill. Instead, the game’s aesthetic is more in line with another PS1 classic, Final Fantasy 7so Mara and the rest of the cast of living and undead from Crow Country are rendered in low-poly, almost chibi models. It’s much more cute than scary. The game also feels tailor-made for newcomers, with puzzles that aren’t too difficult and a combat system that isn’t so threatening that you’ll continually die.

I admit I wasn’t very impressed with Crow Country when I revised earlier this year, but part of that has to do with my gaming history. I already love horror games and have played more than I can count. This isn’t my first rodeo, so the simplified mechanics sometimes bother me, but for those who aren’t as ingrained in the genre it’s the perfect game to pick up and play with the lights off.

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