Game Theory: The ARG That Took 4 Years To SOLVE! (Crow 64)

Special Thanks To Opera For Sponsoring Todays Episode!

Crow 64 was a game we talked about YEARS ago on the channel when it was just a video series. Today we’re diving into the FULL game release that came from this series, Catastrophe Crow! What sort of dark story hides beneath the surface of this old school game? Well theorists… have I got a story for you!

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Need Royalty Free Music for your Content? Try Epidemic Sound.
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Credits:
Writers: Tom Robinson and Zach Stewart
Editors: Dan "Cybert" Seibert, Koen Verhagen, Tyler Mascola, Danial "BanditRants" Keristoufi and Shnaia "Naya" Llamera
Sound Designer: Yosi Berman
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#Crow64 #CatastropheCrow #ARG #ARGGame #Theory #GameTheory #Matpat

[GameTheory]

Thanks To Opera For Sponsoring This Episode!

[SilverFoxSpirit]

A horror ARG that deals with how the "protagonist's" actions affected his remaining family is super cool. I love how Nils isn't driven mad or forced down the same path as his father. Instead he learned from what he did and committed himself to being a better father to his own kids. Also the fact that he doesn't forgive his father, but he is willing to talk to him?

This whole ARG just feels a lot more mature than other ones I know, and not in the "adult" blood and gore sense, but rather that Nils feels likes a realistic person trying to get over the trauma of his sister's early death and his father's neglect. You could even take the supernatural elements as a metaphor and have the whole thing just be about Nils' journey to accepting the bad things in his childhood and moving on from them.

It's refreshing to have a story with such a mature and, actually, kinda uplifting ending.

[Kiitsun]

0:17
“Suffer! Suffer! Suffer! Suffer!”
- Ash and MatPat, 20/07/2024.

[X-SPONGED]

Y'know, when Matt announced he retired, I thought of that one scene in KP1 where Master Oogway gives away his staff to Shi Fu. Now I realize, it's more accurate that Matt gave away an infinite tower of worksheets and sticky notes to Tom instead of a wisdom staff.

[troubled-pasta]

To me as an Aussie, the coloured 'crows' actually look pretty instantly recognisable as a galah and two lorikeets. Maybe he moved to Australia to get away from his past?

[lucydalrymple]

I feel like the imagery of the scarecrow taking the body in the first game shows that the mother ended up taking her off life support, which is a brutal and tough decision. I think that's how their marriage broke apart with his hatred of her tough decision.

[blastortoise]

The indirect puzzle solving of the CANCER character was so crazy. Connecting dots instead of finding an answer is my favorite part of ARGs.

[ValeBridges]

14:40 What is a legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.

[annah]

There's something about ARGs being officially ended and "solved" after years that just feels so satisfying

[Adam-zsnh]

When the world needed it most… Catastrophe Crow Returned

[CamKoudo]

MatPat really wants Tom to suffer through everything he had to go through 😂😂

[tsuki-no-akuma]

This is so refreshing.
Something that has a sort of final, actual conclusive end with closure.
Poppy and FNAF and Banban feels like these forever horrors, nothing is ever answered or solved. Nothing feels good. It's this nebulous fog of maybe's that will never end.
This was good.

[phukyerpheefees]

13:20
Consider the narrator.
Originally, you were given the story through the eyes of Manfred, depicting others the way he saw them.
Now, you're given the story from Nils' perspective, depicting others the way he saw them.
Neither view is "the truth."
"The truth" lies somewhere in between.
Manfred viewed his wife as an obstacle to his progress in resurrecting his daughter, and saw Nils as assisting her in her obstruction.
Nils was separated from Manfred as a boy and had his mother's perspective impressed onto him as he was raised.
He likely only really remembers his sister getting sick, her passing, his father being stricken by grief, and leaving with his mother.
Everything else he "remembers" about the events were stories from his mother, heavily influencing what he *perceives* to be the truth, but is not.
Kind of an extremely obvious thing to overlook, and pretty scummy to accept one unreliable narrator's perspective but disregard the other's as the lies of some monster.
A father desperately tries to make his family whole again after a tragedy befalls them, albeit misguidedly, his wife leaves and takes his remaining child with her, leaving him alone with his grief that turns into resentment before he spirals downward into the darkness.
The son grows up separated from his father, his memories of him slowly replaced with memories of stories of him, and eventually creates a new version of his father's game, altering it to fit *his* perspective and tell the story as he "remembers" it.

[Snow-lemon]

Mat and ash: “suffer suffer suf-“
Tom: “(sigh) here we go again “

[redactedcookies]

Hear me out, in the original game where the 2 scarecrows come to your character after you fall down the stairs, it was supposed to represent Marta and Nils coming to check if Thea was ok. Manfred still saw Marta and Nils as monsters, but he was atleast able to accept the fact they were trying to check on Thea to make sure she was ok.

[Monkes]

16:30 Congratulations! Your Nils has evolved into Matpat!

[Goatcheese]

OMG we waited three years and it’s finally happening boys

…..maybe petscop has hope

[gmasterproductions]

Manfred demonising his wife as well as the image of Thea being taken away by the scarecrow always made me think that maybe Marta was the one to take their daughter off life support. It wouldn't be uncommon for brain cancer patients to end up brain dead due to intracranial swelling and be on life support despite having no way of recovering. Maybe he never forgave his wife for withdrawing support as he was never able to process that his daughter was dead.

[LillieCornelius-fdhc]

Chanting suffer. Of course he wants to make sure Tom goes crazy just like he did

[RILDIGITAL]

Great job in bringing this obscure game back into focus and presenting a possible conclusion to its story.