Web Video / Catastrophe Crow

Caw!

Catastrophe Crow, or Crow 64, is an Alternate Reality Game centering around the eponymous unfinished game for the Nintendo 64, made by Adam Butcher, known for his Internet Story video.

The first video initially presents itself as a documentary of Catastrophe Crow, a game by the notorious perfectionist Manfred Lorenz. As the video goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that the game is no ordinary piece of software. The ARG is continued through multiple videos on various channels.

On August 19th, 2021, according to Adam Butcher, it appears that the ARG is over. However, Butcher finally released the game on April 26, 2024, with future updates planned. The game can be played here.

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Catastrophe Crow shows examples of the following tropes:

• Alien Geometries:
  • The platform above the Toy Level cannot be seen from the ground.
  • In "Catastrophe Crow N64", the hallway the computer's in has the same dead end at both ends once Mr. Crow enters it.
• All for Nothing: What the game's development amounted to; it's all but stated that Manfred Lorenz made the game with his daughter in mind, and later cryptically told a developer, "the player is gone". Even when bankrupt and without staff, he continued to work on the game... right as the Nintendo GameCube was released, signaling the end of the Nintendo 64 era.
• Anachronic Order: An unusual example. Multiple videos were posted before "WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64", but went unnoticed until the "original video" was posted and gave them context. In addition, the order these videos were made is unclear.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: The smaller of the two monsters that stalk Mr. Crow. It's implied to be the ghost of Brother Crow, and represent Nils Lorenz.
• Body Horror: We get to see Mr. Crow laying on his bed after the stairs accident, connected to life support, losing tons of feathers, almost unrecognizable, and breathing with difficulty... Not a pretty sight.
• Creator Breakdown: invokedIn-universe, Manfred Lorenz (already something of an eccentric) underwent one during Catastrophe Crow's development. As the game's release date kept being pushed back, he made odd demands of staff while staying away from home for months. Eventually, he let all of his staff go and seemingly kept working on the game by himself, before suddenly disappearing and drowning himself. Or at least, so it seemed...
• Cut Song: In-Universe example. The background music for the Kid World (heard in at least two gameplay videos) was removed, as seen in Adam Butcher's playthrough. The whole area is completely silent instead.
• Cypher Language: The bulk of the ARG involves tracing hidden messages in each video that are written in "crow language". The video "Forest Level" contains a key for deciphering phrases written in crow language into English.
• Dark Reprise: A (poorly looped) 4 seconds version of the title theme is played again after the player plays as a crow with glasses, but sounds deeper and melancholic.
• Death of a Child: Manfred Lorenz's daughter, Thea, apparently died during development.
• Decoy Protagonist: Despite Adam Butcher being the presenter of the original video, he isn't mentioned or seen in any of the other videos, and even falls quiet a few minutes before the end of the original video.
• Deuteragonist: In some videos, Mr. Crow is seen using a mirror in the Forest level to swap to a secondary crow character who's smaller and doesn't have a bandaged wing, thus gaining the ability to glide by flapping its wings. A conversation with the elder crow in "Let's Play Catastrophe Crow! 64 – Ep1" implies that this second crow is based on Manfred's other child, a son named Nils.
• Disappeared Dad: Manfred Lorenz faked his death, leaving Nils without a father. Even before Manfred's disappearance he would go long periods of time without returning home.
• Don't Go in the Woods: The Forest Level happens to contain some of the game's spookier elements, and marks the point in "WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64?" where things really start going off the rails once it's entered.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: As the interviews reveal, Manfred showed serious signs of things going wrong, but not once does the interviewer think anything's up.
• Driven to Suicide: Apparently Manfred drowned himself with his computer equipment, but it's quickly revealed that he's still alive in some fashion.
• Dummied Out: In-universe example, the ice and lava levels appear only in the previews and briefly in "Video", but do not appear to be currently accessible.
• First-Episode Twist:invoked The first video, "WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64", leads viewers to believe the game's title is "Crow 64", when in fact this was merely the Working Title. The actual name of the game - and series - is revealed later in the video, when the game boots up for the first time.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • In "WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64" when Mr. Crow falls down the stairs, all the textures briefly change to that of a brain scan.
    • In the same video, various magazine scans which flesh out the game are shown.
  • In "Catastrophe Crow N64" the family photo on the desk changes to a photo of two crows and the two monsters that approach Mr. Crow after he falls down the stairs.
• The Ghost:
  • Marta Lorenz is only mentioned once by name, and her whereabouts after leaving the country in 2001 is unknown.
  • Zig-Zagged with Nils Lorenz, who is not mentioned once in "WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64" but becomes a major character afterwards.
  • Sir Cat is supposedly the villain of the game, but is only mentioned in the briefly shown magazine scans.
• Haunted Technology: Implied, but nowhere near confirmed to be the case with the Catastrophe Crow game.
• He Also Did: In-Universe, Opus Interactive and Manfred Lorenz are touted for their other (and ultimately only released) game, an acclaimed SNES title called Ocean Quest. Becomes a bit of Fridge Horror when you consider Lorenz' eventual fate.
• Justified Title: The game actually does depict a catastrophe, specifically invokedthe creator's own breakdown. It's implied this was invoked by the creator himself, as the game was previously given the invokedWorking Title Crow 64, before the ensuing invokedDevelopment Hell took its toll on him.
• Lethal Lava Land: The lava level.
• Locked Out of the Loop: By the late stages of the game's development, even the rest of Opus Interactive's staff didn't know what was happening anymore. There are differing accounts from ex-employees as to what was causing Manfred Lorenz's changing behavior, and the modelers and artists were being told to make assets without knowing what they were for.
• Meaningful Background Event: The video entitled "Video" shows various levels briefly as the player falls, including one of the few instances of the purple monsters.
• Meaningful Name: Opus Interactive's name is derived from the Latin word for "work".
• Mind Screw: The previews show that things were weird even before Catastrophe Crow entered invokedDevelopment Hell.
• No Ending: In "WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64?", Video Review Show host Adam Butcher stops giving live commentary once the game gets going, saying he'll come back to give his thoughts at the end of the video. This never happens.
• Ominous Visual Glitch: Towards the end of "WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64", and again in many of the other videos.
• Refuge in Audacity: Lampshaded. It's pretty clear that all members of the Crow family uses the same eye sprites as Mario from Super Mario 64. Even Manfred was concerned about this when he sent the character design to Nintendo for approval. However, in the e-mail included with the game's development documents, the design was approved, and while Nintendo noticed the eye sprites, they let the issue slide and pass it off as mere coincidence. But viewers also found out that the main HUB area also uses the same skybox as Shifting Sand Land, only with the desert being recolored to make it look like a grassy field. It's unclear if Nintendo gave Opus some assets from Super Mario 64 or if Manfred stole them from Nintendo.
• Riddle for the Ages: So what happened to the Lorenz family? And what does Catastrophe Crow! and its weird imagery represent in regards to the tragedy? Is the game really haunted or did Manfred Lorenz add all the freaky events in order to illustrate something? How does the so-called "eternal revival" system factor into things? Even constructing together all the clues presented in the ARG only leaves a partial answer to things, leaving fans to draw their own interpretations.
• Rule of Symbolism: The development cart seen in the eBay photo is a mostly blank N64 cartridge with just the word "CROW" on it. In the game footage, Mr. Crow encounters the elder crow crying in front of a grave... with a gravestone that just says "CROW" on it, in the same lettering as the gray coincidentally tombstone-shaped cartridge, possibly symbolizing the cart's status as a memorial.
• Scary Scarecrows: The taller of the two monsters that stalk Mr. Crow. It's implied to be the spirit of Mr. Crow's mom, and represent Marta Lorenz.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The ice level.
• Subverted Kids' Show: Catastrophe Crow initially seems like a dark but otherwise kid-oriented game, but when gameplay is shown it quickly becomes obvious that it is something else.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Even though many unusual things appear in the previews and in Adam's playthrough, very few remarks on them are made in-universe.
• Vaporware:invoked The titular Catastrophe Crow is a fictional example, being a game announced in 1997, having its release date pushed back multiple times as development struggled, before ultimately going unreleased as the Nintendo 64 era ended.
• Wham Shot:
  • Mr. Crow falling down the stairs.
  • The player spinning the camera around to reveal Mr. Crow's house has always been behind the starting point... and that they're playing as a different crow with glasses now.
  • The glasses crow entering what looks like a little girl's room and seeing Mr. Crow laying on a hospital bed on life support, looking near death.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Adam Butcher goes progressively quiet while presenting footage of the game in "WHAT HAPPENED TO CROW 64" and doesn't appear again after the gameplay ends, despite saying he'd be back to talk more about the game afterwards.
• When Trees Attack: A development document reveals that the trees are actually hostile (complete with an eyeball). This fact makes gameplays featuring the Forest level such as these two even more unsettling than they already are.
• Whole-Plot Reference: A (possibly) haunted game that was supposed to be dedicated to the daughter of the lead developer? Aren't we talking about Nanashi no Game?
• Working Title:invoked Was previously known as Crow 64 in press statements, before being finalized as Catastrophe Crow in the latest build.
• Written for My Kids:invoked Catastrophe Crow's main character came from a drawing by Manfred's daughter, and it's implied that the game was developed by him with her in mind. It's also implied that she died during development, causing/contributing to Manfred's breakdown.

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