Another Crab’s story
Another Crab’s Treasure enters a long list of Fromsoft clones but manages to stand out from the pack with its Spongebob like aesthetic, sea pun related humor, and somehow very relatable tone and story towards the end. The beginning may seem silly and it is but the entire second have gets more serous then one might expect.
You are Krill. Krill is a hermit crab. A crab who’s basically minding his own business when a loan shark shows up, informs him the tide pool where he lives is now control of The Duchess and he now owes taxes. Krill not having any idea what that mean gets annoyed when said shark basically takes his house(shell) ’til he pays. As Krill you will wander through The Shallows, New Carcina, the Sands Between(see what they did there?)and many others on an adventure to find that which was taken from you.
Along the way you will make friends, you will make enemies and you will encounter Gunk. Gunk is more or less an infection caused by all the trash that’s found about that the sea’s citizens use for its economy. Think of Gunk more or less like the T-virus from a certain famous Capcom series and you sorta get the idea.
Another Crab’s Gameplay
The gameplay is more or less what you’d expect from a soulslike with under the sea style added in. For a weapon you get a fork with optional steel upgrades which will enhance damage. You get “shells” for armor. Things from soda cans, bottle caps, coconuts, banana peels mostly different forms of trash. These “shells” can be swapped at your command as you discover new ones. All armor options will come with an ability attached. These abilities very but are powered by Another Crab’s Treasure’s magic, Umami.
Instead of Souls or runes this game has microplastics. Microplastics are used in the same way you’d use runes in Eden ring. Basically you use them to level up or as currency. You do have a skill tree as well. To unlock abilities in the skill tree you collect Umami crystals which you can gather by defeating enemies or by smashing chunks of the crystals which you’ll find through the game.
Unlike a lot of soulslikes Another Crab’s Treasure can cater to the unskilled player. While being one of the more difficult games I’ve played in awhile adjustments to shell durability, enemy health, and damage taken can be made. You can even have a one shot shell gun if you want. I will warn you if you suck at platforming there is no option that will save you from that. Also this game explains things a bit better then say Elden ring, though still without holding your hand. There are no map markers so make sure you pay attention to what direction your sea pals are telling you to go. Your on screen compass will come in handy for this.
Another Crabs Gripes
Now while I enjoyed Another Crab’s Treasure I have some gripes. All of which are performance based. The first half of the game preformed very well for me. Somewhere around Flotsamvale I started running into some major frame hitching. The game basically froze in time for 15 to 20 seconds at a time before somewhere powering its way forward. In the later stages of this area I came across some audio issues to. The noises Krill makes when attacking enemies were suddenly gone and the music seemed louder. This happened twice, but was fixed by quitting to the games main screen and restarting from the last save point. No progress was ever lost thankfully. For the record I played on PC on Game Pass with a 2080ti gpu. I’ve heard the Switch version has more issues then the rest but I can’t entirely speak to that.
Crabs… A conclusion
All in all I really enjoyed this game. While this review might seem a bit short that’s kind of the point. It has enough of the typical dark souls stuff you’d expect while having an over skin that sets it apart from the typical clones you might be used to. While there is a good story most of your time is going to be spent in game play battling difficult bosses and exploring every edge of the map. I spent about 25 hours beating the main story but I explore a lot. Your millage may vary. If souls games are your thing I highly recommend you give this game a shot.
Another Crab’s Treasure was reviewed on PC. It is also available on Nintendo Switch, PS4/PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One.
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