Another Crab's Treasure Review

Where every battle, is a crab battle!

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Platform: PS5 PC Xbox X|S Switch

Reviewed on: PC

Developer: Aggro Crab

Publisher: Aggro Crab

Release: April 25, 2024

Time Played: 14 Hours

Genre: Souls-like Action RPG

ESRB: T

Intro:

Another Crab’s Treasure takes you under the trash filled sea in an epic tale of strife and struggle as you fight tough enemies and search for the ultimate treasure. This game may look cute but packs a punch with its mean souls-like mechanics and offers quite a few humorous bits that will at least pull out a light chuckle. So, stick around while I explain the ins and outs of the game before giving it a rating and placing it on my shelves.

Where it starts

Kril is a simple hermit crab, content to spend his days alone secluded inside his precious home. Until one day a loan shark stops by informing Kril about the new boss in the area requiring a tax with every new tide. Unable to pay the tax Kril’s home is seized and he’s forced to enter the waters to try and get it back, thus starting a long journey full of violence, rude crabs, and some magic.

Can the kids watch

Another Crab’s Tale had cute characters viciously fighting to the death. The combat wasn’t graphic, no blood and guts flying everywhere, but there was one enemy who used a questionable weapon that could be used as a back massager but is better known as something else. The language was good, if there was a place for a curse word it was replaced with a nautically related word like shuck, the worst thing I heard was gullshit.

Combat

Fighting in this game didn’t feel as tight and responsive as other games. You could lock onto enemies, attack, dodge, or block. Kril could use light or charged attacks with his fork enacting different combos depending on how many times or how long you pressed the attack buttons. When dodging it felt like there were i-frames, sometimes, other times the dodge would be interrupted by an attack or the enemy’s body. There was also a parry option while guarding, but that was awkward to time, instead of blocking the second before an attack, you had to release your block right as the attack hit allowing for a strong follow up attack.

Shells

Being a hermit crab, Kril can fit himself into many different shells to protect himself. There were many shells to discover and use in the game, each with a special move and differing stats. Heavy shells give a lot of defense but slow you down while lighter shells offer little defense but allow for quick maneuverability. The shells abilities can be used in combat at the cost of an umami charge or two, they range from powerful attacks to buffing your stats during the fight.

Umami

Umami is the magic that flows through the world, visible only to a special few, Kril being among them. With his innate Umami abilities, he has so many charges at his disposal, able to recharge them as they are used. The charges are needed for shell skills but are also used for special abilities gained from special bosses. They use a lot of charges but make a big difference in the middle of a fight, giving Kril access to powerful attacks, however, he can only have two equipped at a time, so you need to decide what skills are most beneficial to you.

Stowaways

Beside his fork and shells, Kril will find stat increasing items in the form of stowaways. Stowaways are small organisms and pieces of trash Kril can attach to himself using stowaway charges and slots. There is a limit of three stowaways at a time, but the charges can be increased for the right price from the right NPC. As you progress through the game you can find upgraded versions of the stowaways you’ve found already, giving more stats than the original for a higher charge cost.

Microplastics

Everyone under the sea loves trash so much it’s the basis of currency. They were obtained after defeating enemies and for selling items. After you gather enough and find a safe moon snail shell, you’ll be able to increase one of four stats, leveling up with every purchase. It can, however, be quite difficult to keep your hands on all earned microplastics. If you happen to fall in combat you will leave behind all your microplastics. If you can manage to get back to the location you died at, you can get them back, but, if you die again before grabbing them, they are gone forever.

Assist Mode

If you start playing the game and find some things to be a little too difficult or unfair, the devs did provide an assist mode. In the settings you have a lot of different options to play with like increasing your parry windows or not loosing your microplastics on death. You can also recover all of your microplastics if you happen to die somewhere it would be difficult to get them back. They even added a gun shell for Kril, able to one shot anything in the game, taking away all challenges whatsoever.

Outro:

Another Crab’s Treasure was a fun cute experience, I enjoyed the humor, and the characters were a hoot. However the souls-like portion didn’t quite hit the mark for me. It had everything a souls-like should, the currency used for levels and shops, loosing it on death, and the difficult combat, but the combat didn’t feel tight. When fighting sometimes my buttons didn’t register, I would sit there tapping attack and Kril would just stare at the boss. I could dodge incoming attacks, but it was a crap shoot on whether I would avoid damage or not. As much as I didn’t want to there were times I took advantage of the assist mode. Especially near the end, I was getting a little fed up and didn’t want to study the bosses and figure out a way to beat them properly.

The graphics were great, there were plenty of different areas to explore in the game and the moods were set perfect between the different colors and environments. Even the music was excellent, most of it anyway.

Kril’s growth throughout the story was good, well put together and the character interactions worked. Even though I enjoyed the story and most of the gameplay, I wouldn’t want to get back and replay the game. Going through the game once was experience enough for me.

Have you played Another Crab’s Treasure yet, or seen someone else play? Please let me know what you think in the comments below, I don’t forget to subscribe for me reviews in the future! While you do that, I’m going to start the ratings.

Visuals were pleasing and nothing seemed out of place, I’m giving it a five.

The story had some interesting moments I would never have seen coming and was told quite well, I’m feeling another four.

Gameplay had it’s ups and downs, I felt like I experienced more downs than ups it’s getting a two.

By the end I was just happy to be done with it, I wouldn’t want to go through again, even for the achievements, that’s a one.

There was a lot of fun to be had with the game, even though I was tired of it at times, the assist mode made for some pretty good laughs and enjoyment, I’m handing out a three.

Giving Another Crab’s Treasure an average score of three out of five. With that, I’m placing it at the uppermost end of the Midshelf. I loved the humor and most of the gameplay, I just wasn’t impressed with the combat and the majority of the game is combat, however with assist mode most of my issues could be resolved. Even though I did take advantage of assist mode, it still felt kind of dirty, I prefer to own my triumphs instead of leaning on easy mode, but to each their own.