I might like to begin this One other Crab’s Treasure overview with an admission: I did not know issues have been so brutal beneath the ocean. Do you know crabs are actually killing one another down there with improvised swords, bows, and even weapons? It is loopy how a lot crabs have advanced over the centuries, is not it?
Clearly, that is not true, but it surely’s actually true of One other Crab’s Treasure, which is a cartoony and cutesy Soulslike from Aggro Crab, the nice people behind satirical internship roguelite Going Underneath.
Soulslikes are sometimes gloomy, grandiose affairs, however One other Crab’s Treasure is a way more lighthearted tackle the style, at the least at first look.
That stated, it is nonetheless received all the trimmings of a Soulslike: winding, interconnected ranges, block and dodge-based fight, and boss encounters that can check your fight mettle. Will this uncommon tackle the style pay dividends, or is One other Crab’s Treasure only a shell of its betters?
One other Crab’s Treasure Tells a Surprisingly Compelling Story
Not like many Soulslikes, One other Crab’s Treasure has an overt and pretty conventional story.
Kril is a hermit crab residing in a blissfully uneventful tide pool, however at some point, he is instructed by a “mortgage shark” (ha ha) that he should pay taxes to the Duchess of his kingdom or have his shell taken away.
Naturally, Kril would not know what taxes are, so his shell is repossessed and he embarks on a quest to retrieve it.
Beneath the ocean, Kril discovers an unlimited civilization troubled by an odd polluting sickness identified solely because the Gunk, and he should unravel what the Gunk is and the way it threatens his world.
One other Crab’s Treasure‘s story is surprisingly affecting and compelling.
I discovered myself genuinely caring about Kril and his plight, and with out wishing to spoil, there are moments in a while within the story that hit me exhausting emotionally, significantly one latter-stage degree that makes use of environmental storytelling to nice impact.
Aggro Crab has constructed a cleverly constructed and quietly transferring world in One other Crab’s Treasure. Human detritus is strewn throughout the ocean ground; you may come throughout bottlecaps, cigarette butts, and plastic bottles, amongst many different monuments to our civilization’s tendency for waste.
After all, to Kril and his compatriots, these objects are sometimes sacred artifacts, improvised weapons, and even treasure maps pointing to legendary hauls.
It is all immensely endearing stuff, but it surely packs a punch as nicely; whereas Kril’s world is fictional, the issues that afflict it are very actual.
One other Crab’s Treasure Retains Its Soulslike Gameplay Contemporary
One other Crab’s Treasure is, at its core, a hybrid of conventional Soulslike gameplay and 3D platforming. Think about Darkish Souls crossed with SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Backside and a a lot much less terrifying Subnautica and also you’re in the correct ballpark.
Fight and exploration listed here are pretty customary stuff for Soulslikes; you may discover large ranges, search for shortcuts, and battle numerous crabs and different sea creatures as you achieve this, anticipating weak factors and punishing hesitation on the a part of your enemies.
There are a few key improvements that assist One other Crab’s Treasure stand out, although. First amongst them is the protect system; as a substitute of carrying a protect, you may scavenge one from the particles scattered round you, utilizing objects like shot glasses, shotgun shells, and tin cans to guard you.
It is each lovely and heartbreaking to see tiny hermit crab Kril wandering round with a soda can on his again, however this technique additionally provides an additional dimension to gameplay within the type of talents.
Every protect has a unique means that you should utilize in fight, in addition to a weight score that dictates how sluggish your dodge roll can be. The aforementioned soda can, for example, can summon magical bubbles to assault your enemies, whereas the shotgun shell can deal huge explosive injury, though you may lose the protect within the course of.
You are usually restricted to the shields you see round you, however you can even pay foreign money (“microplastics”, additionally heartrending) to insure a shell, which means you may all the time spawn with that shell while you return from dying.
It is an ideal little system meaning you all the time should be scanning your setting and in search of the best shell, and it additionally results in some brilliantly bushy moments in fight as your shell shatters and also you scramble to seek out one other one.
One other Crab’s Treasure Has Some Fairly Compelling Boss Fights
Bosses in One other Crab’s Treasure are one other sudden spotlight. They’re different and attention-grabbing; I do not suppose I got here throughout two bosses who really felt the identical over the course of my 15-hour playthrough. Some are simple one-on-one encounters, whereas others demand just a little extra technique from you.
I’ve usually felt like there’s way more room for Soulslikes to innovate by way of boss construction, and fortunately, One other Crab’s Treasure explores some new methods to current basic Soulslike boss fights.
There’s nothing earth-shatteringly completely different right here, but it surely appears like Aggro Crab desires to push the style ahead moderately than simply wallowing in its tropes.
True to kind, nonetheless, One other Crab’s Treasure‘s loading screens will usually warn you that it is supposed to be a troublesome expertise and that should you’re struggling, it might merely be as a result of you have not honed your abilities sufficient but.
I can solely converse for myself, however as a veteran of the style, I did discover One other Crab’s Treasure to be a contact on the straightforward facet.
Whereas enemy variants do use completely different abilities in a while, the identical handful of primary movesets are reused pretty ceaselessly, and as soon as I might realized the timings for every enemy, dodging and parrying grew to become a breeze. Bosses momentarily offered just a little extra problem, however their restricted movesets meant it did not take lengthy to grasp them.
After all, your mileage will range greater than common on this level; should you’re not a fan of higher-difficulty video games, then One other Crab’s Treasure could function the right entry level to the style, and it’s possible you’ll discover it a more difficult expertise than I did.
Simply do not go in anticipating any Malenia, Blade of Miquella-level occasions, as a result of, for essentially the most half, One other Crab’s Treasure is on the better facet of the Soulslike problem spectrum, even when it does have its pricklier moments.
One other Crab’s Treasure Evaluation | Ultimate Ideas
I used to be very pleasantly stunned by One other Crab’s Treasure. The Soulslike style is arguably beginning to present indicators of stagnation, however Aggro Crab’s effort exhibits that it’s attainable to create genuinely fresh-feeling and new video games that also adhere to acquainted gameplay loops.
When you’re in search of the form of obscure background storytelling that From Software program excels at, then One other Crab’s Treasure will not be for you, however should you’ve ever thought that Darkish Souls or Sekiro could be well-served by a wholesome injection of Jak and Daxter, your day has come.
One other Crab’s Treasure was reviewed on PC with a duplicate offered by the developer over the course of 15 hours of gameplay – all screenshots have been taken throughout the strategy of overview.