Kill the Crows Review: The Best $5 I’ve Spent in a Long Time

My favorite opening line in literature — or any medium, really — is from Stephen King’s The Gunslinger. If you’ve read King’s science-fantasy epic, you know the words well: The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.

Kill the Crows, developed by South Korean studio 5minlab and published by its parent company, Krafton, opens with an obvious ode to King:

As I fled across the desert, I looked back several times to make sure no one was chasing me.

The damned Crows didn’t give chase, much to my relief.

Having survived in a twisted world for so long, I had pushed them out of my mind.

Yet, the unyielding, brutal, and uncompromising furies have been silently trailing me for a decade.

And alas, despite all my efforts, they found me.

Allusion aside, the intro hooked me. Why is the narrator being chased? Who are the Crows? What happened to this world, and what do these pursuers seek?

Yet, Kill the Crows isn’t one to give you the answers up front. As its title decrees, you’ll have to earn each sliver of additional lore — with blood as your currency.

The Woman in White

Kill the Crows puts you in control of a gunslinger named Isabelle. Although she’s fleeing, Isabelle is far from helpless. Armed with her trusty sidearm — what else but a revolver — she must battle hordes of incoming Crows intent on her demise.

The action takes place from the top down and plays like a traditional twin-stick shooter. You’ll fire, reload, and dodge your way around increasingly difficult waves of enemies, which include everything from axe-wielding slashers to snipers who pick you off from afar. Like any good Western game, you also have access to a “Showdown” ability (think Dead Eye from Red Dead Redemption or VATS from Fallout) where you can tag enemies and strike them down in quick succession.

But the real draw with Kill the Crows is its one-hit-kill hook. Every enemy in the game — including bosses that appear after every interval of 100 enemies — dies with a single bullet. Similarly, though, you’ll go down with a single hit yourself. Thus, Kill the Crows sets the stage for a battle of unending bullets, bodies, and pools of blood.

Endless Enemies for Her. Endless Hours for Me.

It’s a gleefully good time, made possible by smooth controls, terrific enemy design, and a surprisingly robust loadout system, which lets you swap in/out various weapons, perks, and Showdown abilities until you find a play style you love. As the seconds ticked by, I found myself in a familiar loop: Die, learn, adjust, repeat.

Before long, I’d sunk hours into Kill the Crows, watching my kill count slowly ascend. What started as a battle to reach 100 soon became a fight to 200, then 300, then 500. The more I played, the more gear I unlocked — and the more devastating combos I opened up for Isabelle.

Equally important, however, were the lines of dialogue I earned through my tribulations. With my first boss encounter came a cryptic exchange: “Remember me? / Who you are doesn’t concern me. Just tell me what you’re after. / Only at the point of dyin’.” Subsequent boss battles yielded similarly puzzling conversations. Eventually, though, the pieces started to fit together, giving color to this otherwise dreary hell.

Final Thoughts: A Mighty Fair Price

While there’s technically an “end” to Kill the Crows, the real game arguably starts once you’ve finished it. After about eight hours, I’d unlocked all guns, played around with a multitude of loadouts, and saw our gunslinger’s story through to its conclusion.

After reflecting for a few seconds after the credits rolled, I jumped back in. There were still perks I’d yet to use, lines of dialogue I’d yet to see, and difficulty modifiers (known as “curses”) I’d yet to enjoy. Most important, though: I just wanted to enjoy Isabelle’s last stand a little while longer.

When you consider the polish of everything — the story, the gameplay, the replayability — it’s hard to find fault with Kill the Crows. But that praise becomes even more deserving when you take into account the asking price: just five bones.

If you’ve got the Lincoln to spare, Kill the Crows deserves it more than just about anything else I’ve played in recent memory.

Score: 9.0/10

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Kill the Crows, developed by 5minlab and published by Krafton, released on August 21, 2023, for PC and Mac, and on October 7, 2024, for Nintendo Switch. MSRP: $4.99 on PC and Mac; $4.49 on Nintendo Switch. Version reviewed: PC (via Steam Deck).

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Author’s note: I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that Krafton is currently embroiled in a messy legal battle after ousting the leadership of Unknown Worlds, developers of the upcoming Subnautica 2. The conflict centers around a massive $250 million bonus, which was contingent upon the game releasing in early access in 2025. That bonus is now seemingly in jeopardy, following a top-down decision from Krafton to delay the game to 2026.

While Krafton has since extended the bonus window into 2026, the whole situation begs further analysis. Was the delay truly made for the sake of the game, or was it foul play? Was it true that Unknown Worlds’ leadership had neglected their duties on Subnautica 2, or was that just a convenient way to oust them? Only time — and the forthcoming legal battle — will tell.