Products You May Like
Over the years, many games have tried to recreate the precise, difficult nature of FromSoftware’s Dark Souls, a revolutionary title that created the aptly named Soulslike genre. Another Crab’s Treasure, from developer Aggro Crab, is another one of these endeavours, albeit with a significantly more colourful approach compared to the usual intensity of many Soulslikes.
The adventure begins with the introduction of protagonist, Kril, a Hermit Crab living above the surrounding ocean in a small tide pool. Before long, Kril is removed from his precious shell, as he now seemingly owes money to a creature by the name of the Duchess due to new tax laws. A Loan Shark — who takes the form of a plastic Shark-head-on-a-stick toy with a top hat — takes Kril’s shell as collateral, sending the adorable young crustacean on a journey to the depths of the ocean to retrieve his shell and return to his lovely tide pool. The writing is charming and full of witty remarks from the game’s cast of characters, resulting in an engaging narrative that will provide a few laughs here and there.
At first glance, labelling Another Crab’s Treasure as a Soulslike may seem absurd if you solely focus on its vibrant art style and overall presentation. However, this underwater expedition contains the necessary characteristics, such as precise, punishing combat, deep skill systems, and penalties for death.
Fighting enemies is slow and methodical, with Kril using a fork as his weapon of choice, whilst also being able to dodge out of the way of incoming attacks, and stagger enemies upon filling up a meter. It’s all somewhat familiar, but Another Crab’s Treasure manages to innovate with its Shell mechanics.
As Kril is a hermit crab, he’s pretty much naked without a shell to call his home, and you will encounter 69 unique shells to equip throughout the journey. Each Shell comes with its own defence stat, allowing you to absorb damage by guarding, though it will break after a certain number of hits. The most interesting thing about the shells is their unique abilities, which come in all shapes and sizes. The first shell you find, a Soda Can, allows you to send a series of bubbles into an opponent, dealing a bit of damage as each one makes contact. Before long, you start to find more shells with wackier abilities, such as a Party Hat that explodes in an enemy’s face, or a Banana Peel, for some reason.
Most of the adventure is spent exploring the depths of the ocean, which features numerous main and optional areas to discover. There are moments where the game attempts to throw in some platforming challenges, though the responsiveness of the controls here is inconsistent, mainly due to slightly odd hit detection. Not only does this impact platforming but, frustratingly, it also influences aspects of combat, leading to some cheap hits from enemies, or Kril failing to land an attack.
Since the rise in popularity of these types of games, an argument has been made to include more difficulty options, and Another Crab’s Treasure includes an extensive list. From simple things such as lowering the amount of damage you take, to more absurd additions such as giving you a gun, there are plenty of options to customise your experience.
Of course, as expected, Another Crab’s Treasure features a lineup of significantly more powerful enemies in the form of boss encounters, and there are a lot of them. Aggro Crab has done an excellent job leaning into the underwater setting, meaning that boss fights are designed with the environment in mind. Each has a unique moveset and you’ll have to learn patterns and dodge unblockable strikes. Although these fights are enjoyable for the most part, there are often significant problems with the positioning of the camera. A more significant problem occurred for us when a boss decided to get stuck inside a wall, which led to a soft reset of the game.
Despite having some excellent ideas, Another Crab’s Treasure on Switch is buried under a sea of performance issues, with significant drops in frame rate, numerous game-breaking glitches, and washed-out visuals. In our experience, frame rate problems occurred in both handheld and docked modes, though it was a lot more noticeable in handheld, especially during boss fights and cutscenes. Performance issues in the Soulslike genre can be especially problematic due to the demanding precision required to succeed. There were moments where we were unable to dodge out of the way of a boss’s super move, as the game would freeze slightly before resuming the action.
Conclusion
Another Crab’s Treasure boasts the usual facets of a Soulslike whilst also implementing its own take on well-known mechanics. Nevertheless, significant drops in frame rate, numerous glitches, and occasionally awkward controls do hinder the experience, at least on Nintendo Switch. If you can look past these problems, or if updates arrive to patch them up, Another Crab’s Treasure may scratch your Soulslike itch.