SFB GamesWhen it comes to horror games, it’s impossible to escape the legacy of Resident Evil. The series the original game spawned of course continues to be one of the most popular horror series in gaming, but its influence is felt far beyond that. In recent years, horror developers have been increasingly enamored with the original survival horror classic, modeling both their gameplay and aesthetics after Resident Evil. Now, one of the best examples of that trend is coming to PlayStation Plus.Released in 2024, Crow Country turns the cheerful world of an amusement park into a venue for supernatural horror. It follows Mara, an investigator sent to find the owner of the park, who seems to have disappeared somewhere in its labyrinthine grounds. Upon arriving, Mara quickly realizes that this is no simple missing persons case, as the park is filled with monsters and other strange secrets, along with a cast of other characters following trails of their own.In many ways, Crow Country is a tribute to the games that inspired it. The interface showing your health and gear are highly reminiscent of Resident Evil’s heartbeat monitor and suitcase inventory, which has become common for modern survival horror throwbacks. Its low-fidelity character models and screen effects evoking old CRT televisions complete the effect, making Crow Country feel almost as much like a lost PlayStation game as a brand-new release.While it’s full of nods to old-school PlayStation survival horror games, Crow Country isn’t the kind of game that demands players already be masters of the genre. From the outset, you can choose between classic tank controls, which replicate the clunkier style of older survival horror games, or a control scheme that makes it feel more like a typical action game. Crow Country isn’t a particularly challenging game, either, with shambling enemies and relatively simple puzzles that make it approachable for players who haven’t honed their skills on other survival horror games in the past.Crow Country builds a tense atmosphere in the cheerful shell of a theme park. | SFB GamesThat all makes Crow Country easy to jump into for any player, but it does mean that if you’re looking for a big challenge, you might want to look elsewhere. Rather than giving players high difficulty to bang their heads against, it’s a game designed to be explored — there’s even an optional mode you can turn on that removes combat entirely. In the place of difficulty, it’s Crow Country’s central mystery and the frightening atmosphere of its theme park that make it worth playing. It’s clear from the very start that not all is as it seems at the park (even discounting the horrible monsters roaming around) and figuring out exactly what’s going on is plenty of motivation to keep delving deeper into its horrors.The explosion in retro-inspired survival horror has made room for all kinds of games offering spooky experiences that go far beyond jumpscares. The recent Heartworm succeeds on atmosphere and the esoteric logic of its puzzles. Signalis weaves a fascinating, horrifying love story through its dense cosmic horror. But of all the games of the retro horror revival, Crow Country may be the best entry point for new players, serving as a showcase of everything the genre has to offer without expecting you to already be familiar with its tropes and traditions.Since its release, Crow Country has gotten widespread acclaim for its story and pitch-perfect survival horror gameplay. Now with its release on PS Plus, it’s available to even more players, just in time for the Halloween horror season.Crow Country is available now on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC.