Catastrophe Crow

Catastrophe Crow's logo.

***Catastrophe Crow*** was a video game developed by Opus Interactive, led by Manfred Lorenz. Originally intended for a 1999 release for the Nintendo 64, multiple delays caused the game to never release to the public.

## Development history

The game began development in January 1996. It was announced to the public in 1997 and was expected to release in Christmas of 1999. Manfred spent millions of dollars on the game's production to hire people to make assets and code the game alongside him. Some journalists had early access to the game, but it never released. The release date kept being delayed, and work stopped in 2001 due to the release of Nintendo's (then) newest gaming system, the GameCube. Because of this, all the staff was laid off and Manfred disappeared.

## Gameplay (public version)

After the title screen, the game starts with a message:

"He's not been home for days. Maybe he'll talk to you..."

At this point, gameplay begins in a field-like area leading to the workplace. The player controls a crow with a bandaged wing. Entering inside, an older, bespectacled crow is seen running through the office. The player then finds a computer that, when approached, enlarges to allow the player to go inside the screen with a double jump.

After entering the computer screen, the player arrives at a toy-box like stage, and at the top, the older crow can be seen typing away at a computer, surrounded by ten chess pieces feeding the computer information. After interacting with the crow, who says "H WQ HT ROEE" (which in Crow Language means "I am in hell") the game freezes before showing a view of a house, then returning to the field.

A scarecrow can now be seen in the field, and after coming close to it, the older crow reappears, running back inside the workplace. After returning to where the computer once was, a telephone will start ringing non-stop. It's impossible to interact with it, but it must be reached regardless to advance. After going back, the older crow will be running in the direction of a wall, which can be entered through a space in-between lockers. It leads to a black void.

Ater reaching the void, the older crow can be seen standing on a boat holding some computers, before jumping off the boat and sinking under the map. Following it will lead to an upwards view and the bubble sprites disappearing. The player will then be led to a foggy forest level, where they have to advance to the top of a hill reachable through a staircase. There, the older crow is at a grave with the inscription "crow", mourning for somebody. Interacting with the older crow will show an empty dialog box. Attempting to enter the hole will trigger the telephone noise to start again and the camera to go to a fixed downwards position. Attempting to go back down the stairs will cause the game to start glitching out, with the playable crow's model glitching severely. Before the screen goes black again to a closer house view, the scarecrow, as well as what looks to be a crawling version, approach the corrupted crow.

Finally, the player is now playing as the older crow, and the field area is now severely glitched. The workplace can no longer be entered here, so the player has to enter the house that has now appeared. After walking all the way to a bedroom with a chessboard and a teddy bear, one final cutscene will play out. The older crow slowly walks into the room as the camera shows the body of a crow (with more realistic textures than the rest of the crows) lying on a bed with an electrocardiogram and breathing heavily. The room slowly floods and something slightly unseen takes the body away as a scream is heard. After that, the game ends.

## Story

The initially playable crow is believed to be Thea, Manfred's daughter, who visited her father's workplace to try and talk to him. However, at one point, she tripped up on some stairs and had a nasty accident, and the scarecrows are believed to be Marta and Nils rushing to her aid.

In some videos of the game, Nils is seen to be playable, more action-worthy than his sister, able to fly around. He finds the cartridge on his sister's tomb, then a key at the top of the workplace.

The older crow, finally, is believed to be Manfred himself, having experienced the pain of losing his daughter. From the boat jump, it is possible that Manfred committed suicide with the stolen computers weighing him down. But this is not directly confirmed yet.

## Images

The drawing made by Thea that inspired the game's development.A development cartridge containing the game.