There’s a very specific kind of game that instantly feels at home under the Ratalaika Games banner. Pixel art? Check. Fast action? Usually. Retro vibes? Absolutely. But Codename: Black Crow looks like it’s aiming for something a little more emotional alongside all the bullets and explosions.
Launching now on Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, this latest retro-inspired action game from developer SEEP mixes top-down arcade combat with RPG progression, crafting systems and a personal story centred around a former child soldier trying to outrun her past.
And yes, there are still plenty of brutal bosses and pixelated firefights along the way.
At A Glance
- Title: Codename: Black Crow
- Publisher: Ratalaika Games
- Developer: SEEP
- Price: £9.99
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch
A Retro Shooter With A Darker Edge
Set after the events of Biomech Hell, Codename: Black Crow follows Aurora, a young soldier trained by war veterans Rock and Stan – better known to some as Thunderflash.
Raised in conflict and shaped by violence from childhood, Aurora’s journey seems far more grounded in personal survival than simple heroics. The game blends that heavier narrative with high-speed arcade action, using illustrated anime-style scenes and focused dialogue moments to flesh out the story between combat encounters.
Players begin with little more than a knife, limited supplies and a hostile world packed with enemies. From there, it becomes a constant cycle of exploration, scavenging and upgrading as you push through more than 100 interconnected areas.
Explore, Upgrade And Survive
Alongside the top-down combat sits a progression system built around gathering resources, crafting equipment and unlocking blueprints at workbenches. Better gear opens up fresh routes and tactical options, while levelling systems and radar-based exploration add a slight RPG flavour to the experience.
There are also multiple endings to discover depending on how events unfold, giving players a reason to revisit the campaign after the credits roll.
And it goes hard into chunky 16-bit pixel art aesthetics, helped along by detailed hand-drawn illustrations from Coconut Art that add extra personality to the story scenes.
Another Interesting Addition To Ratalaika’s Growing Library
Ratalaika Games has built a reputation for bringing a huge range of smaller indie experiences to consoles over the years, from visual novels and platformers to horror and arcade throwbacks.
Codename: Black Crow feels like another solid fit for that catalogue – retro-inspired, mechanically straightforward on the surface, but with enough added systems and narrative ambition to stand apart from the crowd a little.
If you enjoy pixel art shooters with a bit more substance behind the explosions, this one may be worth keeping an eye on.
Codename: Black Crow is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One via the Xbox Store. It’s also on the PlayStation Store and playable on Nintendo Switch thanks to the Nintendo eShop.
