Horror fans have been singing their praises of the recently released Crow Country, a retro-inspired survival horror game set in an abandoned theme park developed by the fine folks at SFB Games. Players are tasked with overcoming puzzles and riddles as they uncover the dark mystery surrounding the theme park’s closure and its owner’s disappearance.
We got the chance to ask Adam Vian, Creative Director at SFB Games, a few questions about the challenges that come with developing a retro-style game, the amazing reception the game has received from players since launch, the game’s unique Exploration Mode, and more. Here’s what they had to say!
In the age of live streaming, horror games are arguably reaching larger audiences now than ever before. Did this play a role in the development of Crow Country?
Vian: Not live streaming specifically, but it was nice to know there was still a large audience for horror games. In recent years, AAA games like The Last of Us and a handful of Resident Evils have been huge successes. The genre is really healthy at the moment!
That said, I’ve only ever really wanted to make something I myself wanted to play – and I wanted to play a classic-style survival horror game. I’ve never been someone to worry about market trends.
Streaming is a weird one. It’s a good thing if streamers play your games. I can’t deny that. In fact, I’m very, very grateful for all the attention Crow Country has got from streamers. But then, all the people watching that stream… are they going to buy the game? Didn’t they just watch the whole thing? Do they watch a streamer play it instead of buying it?? More than once, I’ve watched a stream of Crow Country, and the streamer would finish the game, and the credits would be rolling. And someone in the chat would say ‘This game seems good, I’m going to buy it’. And – while I’m glad they said that – I’d think ‘but you just watched the whole thing!!’ I don’t quite understand it.
Looking back at the studio’s past titles, Snipperclips stands out as a vibrant outlier. Were there any lessons learned from that 2D co-op puzzle game that applied to Crow Country?
Vian: I’d actually like Snipperclips to be less of an outlier. Which is to say, I’d love to make more vibrant games. I think super-vibrant games are something that’s lacking in the modern industry. But, instead, I made another gloomy game. Sorry about that!
But to answer your question, yes, definitely! Making Snipperclips made me a much better puzzle designer. That game has about 100 levels and I designed most of those puzzles. And for each level that made it into the final game, there was another one that didn’t! I learned a lot about how to properly communicate puzzles to players with visual information, and I learned about iterating your designs, and properly taking feedback on board. Thanks, Nintendo!
Crow Country has received significant praise since release for its retro sensibilities. During development, did the game’s retro mechanics ever feel like a risk?
Vian: Hmmm, not really. We had things like Signalis to look at and say ‘well, this worked, people liked this’. Or a bit further back – Shovel Knight and the like.
I actually see ‘retro sensibilities’ as something of a soothing balm against the overly complex bloat of many modern AAA titles. I think people want tighter, simpler, more memorable, and more meaningful experiences. I think they always will.
I did worry that we’d get in trouble for not including any kind of checkpoints or auto-saves. It’s pretty rare, these days. You actually have to manually save your game, or risk losing all your progress! But thankfully, people seem to get it. I’m glad I stuck to my guns, there.
Branching off of that, when making a “retro-inspired” game, how do you balance the old and new when it comes to visuals, controls, etc?
Vian: During early development, the game only had ‘tank’ controls. I didn’t think to add ‘modern’ controls until I got some feedback from someone that really didn’t like the tank controls. I’m so glad I added them, I think almost everyone uses them now – myself included.
After the demo released, but before the full game came out, we added ‘modern’ aiming controls – after it was requested on the Steam discussion board. Someone thought it was really weird that you raise your gun with R1 and shoot/reload with the face buttons. That’s how you did it on the PS1!! But these days, people want to do all that stuff with just the shoulder buttons… so we added that in as an option.
The visuals have always been the way they are. Some people have requested an option to turn off the camera filter. I’m not doing that, sorry! That’s not how it’s supposed to look!!
With Exploration Mode, Crow Country offers players the option to play through the game without enemies. How do you balance a game’s pacing and story with a mode like that?
Vian: I think either way, the game should be fun without the combat. The game should be a compelling puzzle adventure mystery narrative game. And then, you add the combat on top, and it becomes even more fun/stressful. Or – in the case of the exploration mode – you don’t!
There were a few hurdles, though. What about the final boss? In exploration mode, you still have to shoot it – but it dies quickly, and doesn’t really fight back.
Also, the enemies are an important part of the story, and the characters will mention them – and mention seeing them. So, for exploration mode – you occasionally find enemies dead on the ground, so the player can get an idea of what they are.
How has Crow Country evolved from its initial pitch? Were there ideas left on the cutting room floor that you’d still like to explore?
Vian: The biggest change the game underwent during development is the scope. I set out to make the smallest possible survival horror game, since I’d not done it before. Crow Country just kept growing until it was (approximately) full-size. Scope creep in full effect, although in this case, it worked out for the best.
I wouldn’t say they were left on the cutting room floor, but there are several survival horror mechanics that didn’t fit into Crow Country, that I’d love to explore next time. Things like crafting resources, pursuer enemies, limited inventory space, magic item boxes, limited saves, multiple characters, multiple endings – all that stuff. The next horror game I make may be quite different to Crow Country, by virtue of it being a list of things I haven’t tried yet.
Now that the game has been “out in the wild” for a few weeks, has there been anything that surprised you about player reception?
Vian: Before release, I optimistically hoped speedrunners might pick up the game, eventually. I was looking forward to seeing some speedruns… maybe a month down the line. Well, they picked it up immediately and started taking it apart within the first week. The glitchless any% is around 18 minutes, currently. Mindblowing!
It’s been fascinating to see players discuss the more subtle aspects of the story. Not everything is fully explained, I left a few things somewhat vague, hoping people would enjoy speculating about it, and that’s exactly what’s happened. It’s a writer’s dream!
The most amazing thing, though, is all the fan art. People love drawing Mara! and some amazing cosplays, too! I couldn’t have ever imagined there’d be so much, all in the first couple of weeks.
That’s it for the interview. A huge thanks to Adam for sharing these insights with us and our readers! Crow Country is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. There’s also a demo on Steam for players wanting to sample the spooks. In the mood for more developer interviews? Then check out our interview with Laure De Mey, Creative Director of the botanical puzzle game Botany Manor.
