Another Crab’s Treasure, the review

Souslikes have taken many forms over the years, but in general they have always had an adult slant, with an often dark atmosphere. Another Crab’s Treasure However, it changes things and offers us an adventure characterized (at least initially) by colours, light-heartedness and comedy.

Developed by Aggro Team, Another Crab’s Treasure will be available from April 25th on PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series Xbox Game Pass subscribers will be able to find it on their subscription from launch. Let’s see if you should immediately dive into this underwater adventure in ours review of Another Crab’s Treasure.

Another Crab’s Treasure, in pursuit

Another Crab’s Treasure begins with our protagonist, Krill, which lives in solitude and tranquility in its own pool near the coast. The hermit crab is disturbed by the arrival of a toy shark that basically asks him to pay protection money: having nothing to give, Krill doesn’t know what to do and the shell that protects him is thus stolen. However, a hermit crab without a shell is a goner and so our man sets out to recover it, shortly after finding a fork to fight with.

Thus begins our journey, which will lead us to discover a vast underwater culture in which a slime is corrupting the minds of the inhabitants, making them feral. The story of Another Crab’s Treasure puts us in the shoes of an antiheroa small creature who only wants to get back what was taken from him and has no particular interest in making friends, helping others or finding out what really happens in the world.

Another Crab’s Treasure is not a fantasy story of heroes and supervillains, but a tale that criticizes pollution, capitalism, disinterest towards othersall with a light tone and various funny characters who, however, contain an important lesson that unfolds as we progress.

Aggro Crab’s soulslike knows how to make you smile and knows how to make you think, with a story suitable even for the youngest. The descent towards more serious topics is also paced and conveyed by the setting: if in the early stages we find ourselves in colorful and cheerful places, little by little the areas become dirtier and darker and the suffering of those who live in a world that we have rejected becomes more evident. Krill himself evolves, going from a little boy fearful of everything to a warrior who doesn’t want to give up. It all works: he certainly won’t move you particularly, but it’s a good fairy tale that reminds us that we can all do something to change the situation.

A shell-like

Speaking of gameplay, Another Crab’s Treasure offers all the basic elements you might expect, using it as a reference more Sekiro than Dark Souls. The centerpiece of the game is the shell, of which there are over 50 variations. Each object – be it a tennis ball, a can or a boxing glove – has a defense value, a number of blows it can absorb before breaking and an offensive or defensive ability to be activated by consuming umami, basically gods magic points that are recharged by fighting.

The key thing is that parrying is a must in Another Crab’s Treasure. You can dodge and there are counterattacks, but the pace of combat is a mix of parries and responses, as various abilities are related to defense, including an increase in attack power. The lack of a stamina bar encourages you to act more aggressively, but the truth is that you have to find a middle ground between defense and attack, also to be able to stun enemies: similarly to Sekiro, there is a balance bar that empties if we stop attacking and which, if full, allows us to turn the enemy upside down and inflict more damage.

What you should expect is a dynamic and fun soulslike, with various attack possibilities between basic weapon combos and special abilities. It must be said that often it is enough just to block the incoming blow and counterattack, occasionally using the grappling hook to pull enemies towards us or launch ourselves towards them. Each area offers new enemies that are always different, except in the final phase where it tends to recycle some ideas a little too much and, more importantly, the only new ones are actually annoying, such as having to move in the dark or fight enemies that go out of view.

Own the final area is the only one that loses points in terms of entertainment. The team themselves say that the game is too big and that they have been too ambitious: they are joking, but we are not. Another Crab’s Treasure exaggerates in the end and to lengthen the adventure it offers an area that has some curious ideas, but overall it gives the feeling that the experience could have been shortened to improve the pace and avoid repetitions. Even more importantly, if you have explored the game well, you reach the last area with all the skills you have already acquired and the equipment you find are identical to those you already have, thus eliminating any sense of wonder that had emerged up until that moment. every time we found an object.

Yes, of course, we are not talking about an area that pushes you to abandon the game, but about a section that could have been managed more carefully and that leaves a slight sense of bitterness after an adventure in which every moment was nothing but positive, between unique bosses with interesting mechanics and areas that are not exceptional but more than pleasant to explore. The level design in particular is never original and, apart from a few slightly more linear sections, we spend the bulk of the time in circular maps in which to wander in search of secondary bosses and crystals necessary to enhance skills.

In this respect, Another Crab’s Treasure It focuses heavily on platforming, always keeping the difficulty low. The final result is an action platformer fused with soulslike ideas (the bonfires, the souls, the healing and level up system… all recreated in a marine version) that works and is fun. It becomes a bit easy in the advanced stages or at least that’s how it was for us since we created a character who can heal both his shell and his own health by attacking, becoming almost immortal.

As for the longevity, we finished the game in 16 hours, with an 80% completion (by eye, there is no precise percentage). On average, expect around twenty hours for 100%. We would also like to point out that if you are not too expert in Soulslike, you can activate a section of help, such as damage reduction, greater invincibility of dodges, a larger parry window, avoiding losing objects upon death and also a decrease in the speed of the game. These are excellent options that can be defined in total freedom on multiple levels and which make Another Crab’s Treasure perfect for every type of player.

Conclusions

Another Crab’s Treasure is an action and platform game inspired by soulslikes that manages to propose some original ideas and knows how to entertain. It’s a shame that it drags on a bit in the ending, making the last section too long, but overall it’s an adventure that we recommend, both for its valid combat system and for its story, which is mostly cheerful and comical. tells of the evil of pollution and capitalism.