Another Crab's Treasure Review - Crab Battle

I'd like to start this Another Crab's Treasure review with an admission: I didn't know things were so brutal under the sea. Did you know crabs are literally killing each other down there with improvised swords, bows, and even guns? It's crazy how much crabs have evolved over the centuries, isn't it?

Obviously, that's not true, but it's certainly true of Another Crab's Treasure, which is a cartoony and cutesy Soulslike from Aggro Crab, the good folks behind satirical internship roguelite Going Under.

Soulslikes are often gloomy, grandiose affairs, but Another Crab's Treasure is a much more lighthearted take on the genre, at least at first glance.

That said, it's still got all the trappings of a Soulslike: winding, interconnected levels, block and dodge-based combat, and boss encounters that will test your combat mettle. Will this unusual take on the genre pay dividends, or is Another Crab's Treasure just a shell of its betters?

Another Crab's Treasure Tells a Surprisingly Compelling Story

Unlike many Soulslikes, Another Crab's Treasure has an overt and fairly traditional story.

Kril is a hermit crab living in a blissfully uneventful tide pool, but one day, he's told by a "loan shark" (ha ha) that he must pay taxes to the Duchess of his kingdom or have his shell taken away.

Naturally, Kril doesn't know what taxes are, so his shell is repossessed and he embarks on a quest to retrieve it.

Beneath the sea, Kril discovers a vast civilization afflicted by a strange polluting illness known only as the Gunk, and he must get to the bottom of what the Gunk is and how it threatens his world.

Another Crab's Treasure's story is surprisingly affecting and compelling.

I found myself genuinely caring about Kril and his plight, and without wishing to spoil, there are moments later on in the story that hit me hard emotionally, particularly one latter-stage level that uses environmental storytelling to great effect.

Aggro Crab has built a cleverly constructed and quietly moving world in Another Crab's Treasure. Human detritus is strewn across the ocean floor; you'll come across bottlecaps, cigarette butts, and plastic bottles, among many other monuments to our civilization's tendency for waste. 

Of course, to Kril and his compatriots, these objects are often sacred artifacts, improvised weapons, or even treasure maps pointing to legendary hauls.

It's all immensely endearing stuff, but it packs a punch as well; while Kril's world is fictional, the problems that afflict it are very real.

Another Crab's Treasure Keeps Its Soulslike Gameplay Fresh

Another Crab's Treasure is, at its core, a hybrid of traditional Soulslike gameplay and 3D platforming. Imagine Dark Souls crossed with SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom and a much less terrifying Subnautica and you're in the right ballpark.

Combat and exploration here are fairly standard stuff for Soulslikes; you'll explore giant levels, look for shortcuts, and battle countless crabs and other sea creatures as you do so, watching for weak points and punishing hesitation on the part of your enemies.

There are a couple of key innovations that help Another Crab's Treasure stand out, though. First among them is the shield system; instead of carrying a shield, you'll scavenge one from the debris scattered around you, using objects like shot glasses, shotgun shells, and tin cans to protect you.

It's both adorable and heartbreaking to see tiny hermit crab Kril wandering around with a soda can on his back, but this system also adds an extra dimension to gameplay in the form of abilities.

Each shield has a different ability that you can use in combat, as well as a weight rating that dictates how slow your dodge roll will be. The aforementioned soda can, for instance, can summon magical bubbles to attack your enemies, while the shotgun shell can deal massive explosive damage, although you'll lose the shield in the process.

You're often limited to the shields you see around you, but you can also pay currency ("microplastics", also heartrending) to insure a shell, meaning you'll always spawn with that shell when you return from death. 

It's a great little system that means you always have to be scanning your environment and looking for the ideal shell, and it also leads to some brilliantly hairy moments in combat as your shell shatters and you scramble to find another one.

Another Crab's Treasure Has Some Pretty Compelling Boss Fights

Bosses in Another Crab's Treasure are another unexpected highlight. They're varied and interesting; I don't think I came across two bosses who truly felt the same over the course of my 15-hour playthrough. Some are straightforward one-on-one encounters, while others demand a little more strategy from you.

I've often felt like there's much more room for Soulslikes to innovate in terms of boss structure, and happily, Another Crab's Treasure explores some new ways to present classic Soulslike boss fights.

There's nothing earth-shatteringly different here, but it feels like Aggro Crab wants to push the genre forward rather than just wallowing in its tropes.

True to form, however, Another Crab's Treasure's loading screens will often warn you that it's intended to be a difficult experience and that if you're struggling, it may simply be because you haven't honed your skills enough yet.

I can only speak for myself, but as a veteran of the genre, I did find Another Crab's Treasure to be a touch on the easy side.

While enemy variants do use different skills later on, the same handful of basic movesets are reused fairly frequently, and once I'd learned the timings for each enemy, dodging and parrying became a breeze. Bosses momentarily provided a little more challenge, but their limited movesets meant it didn't take long to master them.

Of course, your mileage will vary more than usual on this point; if you're not a fan of higher-difficulty games, then Another Crab's Treasure may serve as the perfect entry point to the genre, and you may find it a more challenging experience than I did.

Just don't go in expecting any Malenia, Blade of Miquella-level events, because, for the most part, Another Crab's Treasure is on the easier side of the Soulslike difficulty spectrum, even if it does have its pricklier moments.

Another Crab's Treasure Review | Final Thoughts

I was very pleasantly surprised by Another Crab's Treasure. The Soulslike genre is arguably starting to show signs of stagnation, but Aggro Crab's effort shows that it is possible to create genuinely fresh-feeling and new games that still adhere to familiar gameplay loops.

If you're looking for the kind of obscure background storytelling that From Software excels at, then Another Crab's Treasure won't be for you, but if you've ever thought that Dark Souls or Sekiro would be well-served by a healthy injection of Jak and Daxter, your day has come.

Another Crab's Treasure was reviewed on PC with a copy provided by the developer over the course of 15 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the process of review.