Games worth discovering
Play a weird western with crazy cultists and one-shot kills - Kill the Crows Quick Review
5K View2023-08-26
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
A dance of bullets and revenge, in top-down shooter roguelite format | Review - Kill the Crows
The untamed landscapes, the rugged characters, and the thrill of a quickdraw duel – it's a recipe for unforgettable experiences. Kill the Crows, a fast-paced arena roguelike shooter, tries to encapsulate this feeling in a top-down roguelite format.
🟩Pros
+Simple, easy to pick up controls and mechanics +Intense one-shot, one-kill combat +Progression that is done via milestones and not resources and currencies +Immersive gunslinging experience
lyndonguitar2K2023-08-23
Retro Dead Redemption?? | First Impressions - Kill the Crows
Kill the Crows thrusts players into a world fraught with danger and overwhelming vengeance. The story follows a gunslinger consumed by the fire of retribution, wandering through the ruins of a forsaken wild west town and attacked by an onslaught of enemies, both regular goons and those with supernatural abilities.
Starting the game, Kill the Crows wastes no time in plunging players into the heart of the action. As a marksman gunslinger, players are tasked with surviving the onslaught of enemies. There’s really not much complexity here other than moving around, shooting, and surviving. That’s not to say the game isn’t challenging; in fact, it's actually ridiculously difficult. You can one-shot basically all enemies, but all it takes to kill you is also one shot—just one unnoticed bullet, and you're down.
lyndonguitar2K2023-08-23
Kill The Crows feels like a tediously repetitive slog
Kill The Crows (Reviewed)
Developer: 5minlab Corp.
Publisher: 5minlab Corp.
Released: Aug 21, 2023
Price: $5 USD
Kill The Crows is a top down arena shooter that feels like I was honestly playing a more boring version of Vampire Survivor. The game is basically a dodge, shoot, reload, repeat as non-stop crows charge at you in a variety of forms, including range, melee, explosive, and boss fights if you survive the multiple layers of 100+ waves.
Pawkt2K2023-08-23
View desktop siteTapTap looks better
on the app 
I love anything Cowboy related, too bad this isn't on mobile. don't know why they're advertising steam exclusives on an app for mobile games. would buy this they made even a mobile port for this.
2023-09-12
if this was on mobile I would buy it honestly
2023-09-07