Hey guys. Thanks for stopping by! Here's the link for the Keeper's Diary. Let's support the hell out of this thing and show Hollywood moviemakers what happens when real RE fans take the reins! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-j6f8MrpCz34.html
Hey, Conscript is out! Good luck, have fun, and I'll look forward to your review of it in the future! Also, the intro jam goes hard! All love and wishing you the best 😀
RE or Biohazard now kind of sucks they all care about how pretty they look or action and cursing up a storm to look epic. I prefer the original remake or even the classic versions. Not the Fbomb being dropped every line to epic gory action back to back.
It was crazy good. Just the way I always seemed to know exactly where to go next, means those guys really understood how to design a survival horror environment.
The thing I have noticed with graphics and I'm sure others have also is that it's not that either old or new graphics are "better" it's that newer graphics are more often than not used to mask shallow gameplay whereas older graphics are used for style with more often much deeper and more refined gameplay.
@@randallsmith6270I love the simplicity of PS1 and PS2 graphics and back then they used to focus more on making an amazing game than make each character look good or make walls look 3D 😅
This is what I liked most about Crow Country: I was in, I was out around 8 hours later, and I wanted to play again immediately after. It wasn't yet another 120 hour bloated time sink, but a fun weekend run. The perfect length.
You touched on this a bit, but while I certainly can appreciate how much the fixed camera and pre-rendered backgrouds defined genres like survival horror and early 3D JRPGs (not to mention carving out a special place in a lot of gamer’s hearts), I suspect that developers of the time would have loved to have the processing power to realize a fully 3D environment with the kind of detail they needed. Ultimately we all know that limitations foster creativity, but I feel like the movable camera in Crow Country is a bit like bringing those worlds to life in a way that PS1 devs could only dream of. It’s a cool sort of “what if” scenario.
Could not agree more. It felt to me like that exact situation playing out. I got into PSX stuff with resident evil and other games like Parasite Eve and Baulder's Gate (on PC) really set my expectations and cemented my love of the style. Seeing this thing in motion was just so surreal and beautiful to me.
I mean you're definitely right, but through those limitations, they also stumbled onto a really effective way to frame gameplay while maintaining a bleak and "anything could be around the corner" type of atmosphere. I feel like that style would have worked with Crow Country's world and controls a little better. Wouldn't require the player to keep the camera in near constant motion.
I never realized the shower washed off her hair-dye, what a cool little trick. And I think that's the real draw of Crow Country. It really feels like a good, complete game. A small sand box to explore and really PLAY in, where a lot of modern indie horror chooses to make their games feel like walking simulators with lots of stories where you are guided down a hallway and shown cutscenes- more focus on vistas and writing, than interactivity. The puzzles, dangers and short cuts that you can build between different sections makes the world so much fun to walk around in, rather than just walk through. Add to that having to judge when to conserve ammo, the secrets included and often giving you the ability to skip boss battles by solving a puzzle if you're not psychic enough to see the battles coming (even if I admit I had to use a guide to solve the riddle of the boss that shows up from beneath the pool table because I just could NOT see where the clues were pointing me)... there's a lot of game here, and I am all for it. Even if it meant that I too missed out on the shotgun, because I completely misinterpreted the games instructions that the submarine shooting game lacked power to mean I had to find a way to RESTORE the power, instead of just bypassing it by shooting the targets and winning the shotgun with my actual gun... because I didn't want to spend ammo unless I had to. I didn't even know the gun could destroy the poison-crow traps until someone told me. So much interactivity I missed out on because I was so obsessed on saving ammo... Though I must admit, it may just be the times we live in affecting my view, but I almost find it easier to believe that people would come from the future and accidentally transform into monsters, than a rich guy actually contributing to the solution of the mess he himself had created. And I'm not sure the virus was what caused the apocalypse, but that it was rather just a general environmental collapse they were fleeing and the virus was just a side-effect that was solved by Edward just as he caused it.
So dope that you gave another shout to Keepers Diary. It was an awesome short film and I really think that team needs to be given a full Hollywood budget. If they could achieve that with such limited resources, they would absolutely kill a full length RE film with a Hollywood level budget. Great vid as always bro, thanks putting in all the work it takes to keep up the content. I listened to your RE retrospective series while working and now I don’t allow myself to miss an upload.
Crow Country is my favorite game of the year. Genuinely beautiful, masterfully orchestrated, delightfully witty, and something made from a 5 star chef. Also Mara is unironically the funniest horror game protagonist and it’s on purpose too lmao. Great video Jared!
Thanks dawg! Yeah, this is gonna be a wild year. Crow Country is amazing. Conscript is flat out incredible so far. We've got some real heat comin at us.
Crow Country has one of the best endings to a game. So many conflicting feelings: satisfaction of overcoming the odds, the melancholy that things are still going to end poorly regardless of what you've accomplished...like you survived but at what cost??? Love it. 10/10.
Finally, a review with plot spoilers/the story. Most of the past ones avoided the plot or didn't even bother talking about it besides the opening plot. Thank you @AvalancheReviews
I've been thinking about possibly not including the spoilers in future videos, but I just can't seem to describe the story well without the full picture.
@@AvalancheReviews I think keeping them confined to a segment like how your videos are currently is still the best way, since it allows people to watch some of the video to see if they're interested in the game, but also allows discussion for those who have already finished.
@@AvalancheReviews Im really proud of everyone involved. It's like I have said for decades, fans do it better. And this film cements that statement even more than ever.
Hey man I've loved your channel for about 7 years now and that's why I started to support your patreon, but the entire tech staff at the company I work for just got laid off so now I'm watching every dollar and had to end membership. But once I get to another company Ill be right back to it. Thanks so much for your great content
Man, I appreciate the hell out of your support. Don't even sweat it. You gotta make sure you're taken care of first and foremost. Take your time and make that money dawg!
In regard to the story: SPOILERS The bacteria are likely just regular bacteria living on and in the human body that got twisted by the malfunctioning portal, just like their hosts. This was kinda sorta soft confirmed by the devs on steam. The more likely world ending disaster is likely far more mundane. The backrooms seen at 17:16 get more and more filled by scribbles done by the Guests as the game progresses. Eventually, you will find crude drawings of smokestacks and pumpjacks on the walls. Furthermore, the guests set the globe in the haunted mansion on fire, causing Mara to literally quip "the globe is on fire". As such, the world ending catastrophe is most likely man made collapse of the earth's environment. That also mirrors Crow exploiting a finite resource out of pure greed, digging it out of the soil DESPITE knowing of the consequences. I think the parallels are kind of obvious. As such, maybe things are gonna turn out okay. They probably wont.
I keep confusing avalanche reviews with Boulder. Punch, the style of their videos are very similar and their voices are very similar too and they always do videos on similar games.
I genuinely enjoy seeing one of them commenting on the other's videos. It happens frequently, which leads me to believe that they're actually good friends. A collab video with the two would be very fun (if a bit audibly confusing at times).
@@tyrus1235 I mean, Avalanche Reviews, Boulder Punch, The Sphere Hunter, Ink Ribbon, and Resident of Evil would be a fantastic dream collab (I remember that some of them met up to watch the Welcome to Raccoon City movie)
Best way to keep it straight is keep in mind one is a maple slurping, beaver baiting, puck punting dirty fucking Canuck, while the other remains a true Patriot
Crow Country has so much charm to it. A perfect blend of spooky and cozy, I for one can't wait to replay it (definitely going in the Halloween rotation). The team over at SFB really knocked this out of the park.
Wonderful video mate. I'm probably gonna hold off till winter to get this though. I dunno what it is, something about the cold dark nights over here that always get me in the mood for horror. The retro vibe absolutely kills here too.
I wanna comment about the keepers diary. I had the same hesitation u had, but it really is legit good considering it's their first go at something like this. Go support em
42:00 To explain this we need to talk about relativity. Tank controls were made because games in the survival horror genre's origins used a static camera the camera has alot of implications in how a character moves. But Tank Controls biggest claim to fame is there relative to your characters direction so even if the static camera shifts from dramatically different angles controlling the character can be done in almost any situation since left turns them left, right turns them right, and forward and back word move them in the direction to and the opposite of the direction there facing respectively. But the downside is in a dynamic camera environment like one where you have control of the camera the problem is the lack of mobility to quick turn any direction compared to 360° analogue which is why Tank Controls really shows a weakness in that environment in the form of stiff non free movement in a environment that you should have more freedom in movement and while it can work with a dynamic camera and some games give Tank control users extra features like the ability to 180° quick turn on a dime or limit what 360° analogue can do in said environment to match Tank Control movement limitation, but it is almost always better to use 360° analogue movement when using a dynamic camera environment to take advantage of the controllable cameras mobility and directional freedom. Now you may be saying then that should make it better in a static environment as it lends more control...Problem 360° analogue movement is relative to the CAMERA when a static cameras position is changed the relative definition of up or forward is relative to the direction the camera is facing not your character as there is no pointer like the character turn buttons to attach it to the relativity of the character. So when the camera changes position or turns so to does the relative direction of the input this is what causes all of the mishaps with a static camera transitions where your holding a direction and then that direction changes when the camera changes. Now some games combat that by allowing a temporary character relative state of having the input be tied to the characters direction and not the camera after transition until you let go and input a new direction relative to the cameras new static position but that's more a stop gap to avoid situations where you camera transition back and fourth like a bobber on water because the 2 camera positions face each other making forward go into the others screen transition then a valid solution. So the general solution is to only use 360° analogue movement or some variant of it in a game where the camera is dynamic to offer the most control and freedom. With tank controls being more a novelty to harken back to the roots of a genre in this environment then a functional use case due to its much more limited movement options that don't take advantage of the freedom of control of the camera. And Reserve tank controls in a environment where the camera is static with the option to use 360° analogue movement as while it is tricky to use in a static camera environment if you get good at it with the game its in and its implemented correctly it has a much higher skill ceiling then tank controls due to its greater degrees of freedom but its just much more difficult then using tank controls in such a environment due to the directional relativity not working the best when using 360° analogue movement in a static camera environment.
I think what did it for me for me in figuring out that Mara isnt who she claimed she is was whenever you would interact with cigarettes and she said "I'm not allowed to smoke." And that immediately registered to me and I went "Girl, you're 25. The hell you mean you're not allowed to smoke."
Fantastic game. I love seeing art that perfectly mimics the pre-rendered look of FF7's backgrounds move in full 3D. It was a little easy at release, and I did guess the twist almost immediately, but it's still a masterpiece. I was also shocked that the jokes never got old. It's a shame SFB won't be making more survival horror.
I played this game twice, and it's one of the most fun survival horror games ever made by a group of small indie teams. They went from making flash games on Newgrounds to making an awesome indie horror title. I can't wait for your review on Conscript.
We Old School Survival Horror fans are really eating good with this and Conscript. never seizes to amaze me how this genre never gets old! Modern in this sense is Classic Evolved. Bou't time those AAA dudes feed us too. another awesome vid man!
I bought it last night cuz I’ve been on a kick with Tormented Souls and Signalis lol I picked up Alisa as well. I love this modernized take on survival horror and I hope it becomes the newest indie niche the same way Metroidvania’s have become revitalized; it’s a refreshing change from all the “hide n seek” horror games.
I loved the parallels within Crow Country of preserving our world and our nostalgia by preserving genres and styles of games many still resonate with. Such a memorable release for the year! 💜
I bought it as soon as it came out. I love it, the style, the puzzles, the mystery. I've beat it twice, and will play it in the future. So many great titles like this. Signalis, Alisa, and a lot of the other recent games you've covered. Also, how hyped are you for .45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND? A Parasite Eve like game from Sukeban games.
Spoiler alert! About that time paradox - I believe the cure has indeed worked on the survivors BUT I have a theory that the titular crows spread the disease even before Mara could do anything about it. At the beginning of the game they are clearly feeding on the organic remains of one of the "guests". The ending is suggesting that "maybe everything will be fine, maybe it won't" as a uncertainty of the impending doom.
Wow. So the the live actor for Chris portrayed the Keepers diary in a short film where he portrayed the progress of the zombification of the keeper. Just wow. Talk about dedication to his craft he worked on.
Played "Haunt the House" von Vita & "SnipperClips" on Switch. This is a huge step up for SFB. So impressed with how they handled the Survival Horror genre in tone and mechanics. Crow Country is this years "My Friendly Neighborhood", genuin Indi Surprise.
Hey Jared been a long time fan and subscriber for a few years now. I love your vids Especially your resident evil and silent hill ones. I had a Question though do you plan on ever doing a retrospective of the alone in the dark games?
Thanks man! I have considered it, but playing the first 2 games again feels like a nightmare. I think at some point I'll have to for sure though. I'd like to play and cover the newest one. It looks pretty cool.
Hey, Jared! It's been a while... Hope you guys are doing good. :) I just so happened to finish this game this afternoon! Absolutely blew my mind how faithful it felt to what I remember of playing these kinds of games... It just got into my soul and gave me a 30 year old hit of nostalgia. No spoilers, I promise. You mentioned the mystery and that late game reveal; there's a super early clue to that in the first screen of the game if you're perceptive. I didn't notice it the first time I refilled, but the second time, when I went to check on Arthur, it was like 'hey, wait...' The devs went far above and beyond in the attention to detail department at every level. Even if they never made another game, they've made a genuine work of art here. Anyway, I gotta get back to work. I really hope you guys are okay and life has been good to you. I'll try and stop in a stream if I can.
We're doing great! How've you been? Glad to see you've got good taste. This game was a huge breath of fresh air for me. All the classic survival horror gameplay, but with a story and a look that really clicked with me. I'll see you in the Signalis comment section. HA!
@@AvalancheReviews Gonna be honest, I hit a wall at like mach 2, but I'm getting back on my feet. Neither here nor there, improvements have been made and things are getting better. :) I look forward to the video! I'll check it out tomorrow!
Really glad to see your inevitable video on this. 😁 I must say I didn't get the impression that Edward had actually caused the end of the world in the future here - if I remember rightly there was a diary in his hidden room that suggested his father found the roots when he was a child, and that's why he bought the land in the first place... something about this (and I must admit I haven't played it since my two playthroughs the weekend it came out) suggested to me that the issue in the future wasn't necessarily a plague, but just a "the world isn't sustainable any more because of humanity", and that 1986 was the point of no return which they were heading back to to warn humanity. I could be totally wrong of course! But my take on it was definitely more "Ed happened upon the pool and the antenna and destroyed them which prevented humanity from being warned", rather than the equally viable closed loop theory. I don't know why I typed all of this out, but it was fun to see a different take on a story that I also loved. Oh, but to save you some hassle - there is only one ending.
See that's the thing about a time loop. Them coming back is what caused the bacteria to mutate and exist in the future. Little did they know it, but they were locked into a crash course with the end of the world. It couldn't necessarily be prevented because it's them coming back that caused it and they need to come back to tell us to avoid it. It's a serpent eating its own tail.
@@AvalancheReviews yeah, the more I've thought about it since you said it, the more sense it's made. 😁 Add in the fact that any human traveling back into the past would then expose anyone to new bacteria that _only_ existed in the future too and I guess it also kind of amplifies. 😁 I watched Keeper's Diary immediately after watching this video too btw, absolute top shelf stuff. ❤️
@@AvalancheReviews Don't write him off for that. He told me when he gets hair he's going to have a yakuza-esque pompadour, so he clearly doesn't suffer from baldness of the soul.
This game is really good story wise. I could see a sequel, or prequel, where in 2106 the entire world is just the Guests and the protaganist has to make it to an even worse version of Crow Country to travel back in time to Edward Crow. The story's just so planned out that its possible a sequel or prequel of this game can be made
Thanks for swaying me on this. Downloading the demo now. Out of curiosity, have you ever tried Evil Tonight on Steam/Switch? One of my favourites from last year.
I love watching your reviews, but I don't typically play most of the games you review because I'm not big on the classic RE games. This is the first time you've convinced me to take a chance on a game like this and I'm so glad I did because this is easily a new favorite of mine, I couldn't put it down until I beat it. It might be time for me to give the RE1 remake another chance because I think this game taught me how to appreciate survival horror. Great review as always! PS. Any chance we'll get a vlog of your experiences in Japan? My wife has been sending me vids of influencers she follows in Japan with recs on where we need to go for our upcoming trip, but I'd be curious to know what your recommendations are for a retro gamer.
Hell yes! I'm glad to hear you got into it. Also, me and the wife are planning on making content about our lives here. Should be able to get a channel going some time soon.
I got this the week it came out It took me back to simpler times I actually felt abit lost after completing it tbh a true testament to how it gets our generation of gamers in the feels
That's a genre I didn't realize I loved so much until I got older: great little games. Finish them in a weekend or a handful of afternoons. Rebirth took over my life and I don't think I can sink that kind of time into something unproductive again.
This was a great game. I was drawn to it for the same reason as you in that it looks like a ps1 jrpg game. The story was intriguing and I enjoyed the puzzle-solving and combat. I sincerely hope the developers keep making more survival horror games.
This game seems really cool. I liked the demo I’ll have to get around to the full thing. Conscript review incoming too? We eating well these days with horror survival throw backs
This game almost got me the same brainworm as Signalis after I first bought it. Played nothing else for a week until I had every achievement and collectible.
I saw this game pop up but didn't get around to looking into it. Its looks like another winner from the indie scene who tend to put out the best survival horror these days. I'm happy that more and more games like this are showing up on the consoles as well. I also saw the keepers diary and its funny how in that short film they captured what a live action RE should be when hollywood cant seem to get it down even with multiple movies and a TV show.
I absolutely love your content on survival horror. I've always had an obsession with survival horror games. I like to see new and intriguing games coming out that have that classic touch. I find it's really hard for me to get invested in modern titles I feel there is an essence missing that I can't quite put my finger on. I have recently be revisiting titles that were on ps2. I feel that era of gaming had more love put in. Yess the acting can be a bit cheese but you know it was made with love. A great example of cheese but obsessed non the less is ObsCure. I've fallen back in love with those games. I feel it loosely follows the survival horror formula. Not heaps scary but it was definitely made with love and for enjoyment. I feel like it's a fusion of silent hill and Until Dawn. 💝💝
I know right!! I still loved the 2nd but it definitely wasn't as traditional in the Survival Horror stand point but loved the story and characters. Do you think you might cover ObsCure in a retrospective?
Got it when it came out, got platinum after i think 16 hour total, really neat game, would love a couple more game modes to give more excuses to go back
Day one purchase for me and I think I beat it twice in the span of a day or so? Really solid and hopefully not the last time the dev's do survival-horror.
Just finished the game myself, the only thing I didn't like was how janky the aiming is when you do need to fight. The few deaths I had was from not being able to aim shots in time in tight quarters. While the explosive barrels and electrical panels were useful I found myself conserving them for later when I discovered that areas repopulate and by the end of the game I realized I had hardly used any of those in combat as a result since I kept saving them in case stronger enemies appeared later.
Just beat the game today and I can finally watch this😊 don't know what I'm more excited about but WOW I had to give this a 5/5. Was contemplating on buying for a while and boom; I pulled the trigger when this video dropped. So happy I get to watch this now🎉 the dye in the shower blew my mind!!! Take the s-h-l-l out of marshall 😂😮 Also (spoiler alert) 1)Was infuriated that I didn't get the green laser for the shotty til the end even though I had the secrets map wayyyyyyyy before 2) wanted to slap myself once I realized that control room in Crow's office had numbered dice on the floor
Everything is perfect on the game the music the ambience the style the only thing i hated was how short the game is but other than that i love this game
I spent the first 20 minutes not realizing the camera was movable. The filter was very effective and I straight up thought the game was just pre-rendered. Was a really nice realization when I moved the c stick.
Looking forward to this one, pleasently surprised how well its been recieved. Got it purchased but only just started on Song of Horror... and Super Mario RPG...😅
I want you to check out the House of Velez remake. It’s pretty much turning into torture porn but the original had old school 90s point and click horror vibes and the new one is looking like a more twister version of Silent Hill 3.
0:21 It's not classic survival horror, but Sonar Shock draws pretty heavy inspiration from the classics, mechanically speaking. For its low price, it may be worth checking out.
Seriously one of my favorite games of the year. I enjoyed every minute of it. I do agree with you on the lore memos and shit Jared. It did become a nuisance. I enjoyed the lore, but they could have handled that better.
