Play a weird western with crazy cultists and one-shot kills - Kill the Crows Quick Review
33566318 
SHOULD I PLAY KILL THE CROWS?
Play it if you’re a fan of top-down shooters or are looking for a simple, old-school game you can play in short bursts. Kill the Crows is a western about a lone gunslinger on a quest for revenge. There are no bullet sponges here; players, enemies, and even bosses can be felled by a single bullet, and just one mistake can bring a run to an end. At first, this felt frustrating, but once I got into the swing of things, racking up one-shot kills was incredibly satisfying.ﾠ
TIME PLAYED
I played around four hours of Kill the Crows, which was more than enough time to experience the entire game. There’s some equipment to unlock, but there’s just one arena and a handful of enemy types. It’s definitely a small game, but it has a small price tag to match, and it’s got decent replayability even though it’s light on content. Sometimes, you just want to shoot through enemies until one of them takes you out.
WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT KILL THE CROWS?
• Amazing pixel art. Kill the Crows’s visuals are simple, but they still manage to fully capture the feeling of a weird western. I loved it when I scared away a flock of crows with my footsteps or when I spotted interesting little details in the background, like a sheet riddled with bullet holes. Early enemies look like classic wild west villains, but eventually, they take on a bit of a Mad Max vibe, which is pretty cool. It’s clear that a ton of love and care went into this game, and the awesome art style really takes it to the next level.
• Fast-paced gameplay. Kill the Crows is the perfect game to play when you’ve got a few minutes to kill. Once I loaded the game up, I could start shooting enemies within seconds, and even longer shootouts didn’t last more than ten minutes. There’s an optional tutorial, but there aren’t any detailed explanations or cutscenes you have to get through before you can start playing. This is a game that really respects the player’s time.
• Addictive action. I struggled with Kill the Crows at first, but once I had a handle on its mechanics, it was hard to stop playing. There are five enemy types to shoot through, and each one has a distinct attack pattern. If I successfully shot my way through a hundred enemies, I had to face off against a boss. After I killed the boss, I’d shoot through another wave of enemies, and then another.
Along the way, I unlocked new equipment and some passive upgrades, and that’s when the game really started to shine. Changing my loadout had a huge impact on the feel of the game, and I had a ton of fun experimenting with new builds between runs. It was easy to take out early enemies once I had more powerful guns, so even when I got shot down, I felt like I was making progress.
WHAT SUCKS ABOUT KILL THE CROWS?
• Weird difficulty progression. Kill the Crows is a punishing game, especially at the start. Since enemies can kill you with one shot, some of my early runs ended in less than a minute. It takes fifty kills to unlock a new weapon, and once I managed to hit that point, the game got substantially easier. The enemies did get more powerful as I got further into the game, but since I had more tools to take them down, things never felt anywhere near as hard as they did at the start.ﾠ
• No real controller support. You can technically go through Kill the Crows with a controller, but it’s basically unplayable. Trying to shoot enemies feels impossible without a mouse and keyboard. The lack of support isn’t a huge deal, but it’s definitely a bummer. This game is perfect for quick play sessions, and it would amazing on Steam Deck if it actually worked.
• There’s not that much to it. Kill the Crows feels like an old-school game, for better and for worse. I appreciate its no-frills gameplay and speedy battles, but I felt like I’d seen just about everything it had to offer after the first hour or so. There are unlockables, but there aren’t any hidden secrets to uncover. If you’re looking for a deep game with tons of content, this isn’t for you.
💬 Are you ready to visit the wild west in Kill the Crows, or are you looking for a shooter in another genre? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Mentioned games
Comments
Latest
No more comments. Why not add one?
