Another crab’s treasure doesn’t shy away from his inspirations. If one area called “The Sands Between” isn’t enough for you, this colorful souls-like about a crab looking for its shell is a constant reminder of FromSoftware’s entire oeuvre Ax: Shadows Die Twice. That doesn’t do it Another crab’s treasure just another FromSoftware clone in an increasingly crowded field. Another crab’s treasure is a different beast: a rare soulslike with a sense of humor, lots of underwater pizzazz, and a surprisingly accessible take on the formula.
The difference becomes immediately apparent as our crustacean hero Kril is transported into a vibrant world of underwater crime, murderous sea life and oil slicks, all depicted in primary colors. Even the mountains of garbage that litter the seabed are colorful. This trash becomes your friend, both as currency (in the form of microplastics) and because Kril carries shot glasses, soggy tennis balls, and even a gun for protection in place of his shell.
Another crab’s treasure‘S SpongebobHowever, the -like color palette is not just an inviting alternative to the dark worlds of typical soulslikes. For the first time in years of playing these games, I could reliably see what was going on during my playthrough. Kril appears from the background and enemies are easy to spot. Combined with a simplified combat loop consisting of just four stats, Another crab’s treasure Compared to its predecessors, it is characterized by impressive basic accessibility.
To strengthen this strong foundation, Another crab’s treasure Also includes a number of utility features that rebalance the game’s combat. Players can reduce incoming damage, reduce enemy health, increase the durability of your improvised grenade, increase evasion invincibility frames and parry windows – but the game never actually tells you How to parry – and even slow down the game. Fall damage that only occurs when falling into an abyss can be reduced or eliminated, as can the risk of losing your microplastics when you die. If you die on a boss, you will also respawn nearby, with items in tow, rather than at the final checkpoint. Of course, as developer Aggro Crab’s marketing has highlighted, you can also replace Kril’s grenade with a one-shot weapon everything.
Despite these attitudes Another crab’s treasure is hard
In other menus, players can also remap keys, switch sprinting from a hold input to a toggle, adjust sound balance, and reduce motion blur and camera shake. Perhaps most notable besides the support options: you can pause Another crab’s treasure. It may seem strange to highlight this, especially since breaks shouldn’t be uncommon in this genre. Last year, however Lies from P has shown that a single-player offline soulslike does not guarantee a pause function.
This all leads to a multitude of options – perhaps excluding weapons – that many players have been begging to implement for years. The Another crab’s treasure Attempting to take the plunge is clear evidence that the formula can be made more accessible without compromising its challenge. Because even with these settings Another crab’s treasure is hard. Accessibility does not reduce the game’s difficulty. Rather, a positive interaction is created between the game’s inherent difficulty and the player, in which the player is given control over his or her own experience. That is shifting Another crab’s treasure from a little tedious in places to something more enjoyable.
Take on the game’s first boss: Nephro, Captain of the Guard. He is an underwater facsimile of An axeis Gyoubu Oniwa and a relatively easy opponent with only a few attacks. Although I quickly learned his dodges, I had a hard time capitalizing on them since his attacks always blocked him from my dodges. It prolonged the fight and with the fatigue came mistakes – and with them frustration. But having the ability to mitigate incoming damage and improve my shield allowed me to eliminate the grind, give myself room to develop new strategies, and start having fun.
This happened several times during my playthrough, and whether accessibility mitigated my mistakes or the developers’ mistakes or both is perhaps debatable. Most importantly, it allowed me to enjoy what might otherwise be frustrating – and painful – sticking points. It’s a strange, almost emotional feeling, playing a Soulslike who relinquishes control of his experience back to himself after years of doing the exact opposite.
I was able to get rid of the rush, give myself space to develop new strategies and start having fun
However, much of the accessibility is in Another crab’s treasure is combat oriented. This means the game still falls short in other areas. Although it generally points players in the right direction and the game encourages getting a little lost, there were many situations where I wasn’t sure where to go next – due to a missing waypoint sign or just plain confusion . This was also not supported by a static map, which appears to have been intended for reference only Elden Ring. In other areas of cognitive accessibility, there is a welcome directory of previous tutorials that can be accessed at any time, but information is lacking (including, as mentioned, how to parry).
This and more will be a problem, especially for blind and visually impaired players, as none of it is voiced and there is no audio description or integrated text-to-speech functions. But for a few short cutscenes set to music, Another crab’s treasure is a fairly quiet game without a varied collection of sound effects. Slippery platforms and levels full of pitfalls mean that even with help, this game is not fully accessible to visually impaired players, especially when it comes to a certain area that is shrouded in darkness and difficult even for sighted players to move around.
Other smaller elements creep in too, like the unusually muted indicators for unblockable attacks and the frequent slowdowns in loading zones – which also include a visually unpleasant blurring effect on the screen. While mileage depends on how annoying they are, even these small moments have a negative impact on relative accessibility Another crab’s treasure.
Although they are often referred to, a comparison may be unfair Another crab’s treasure too often to his predecessors. But it is striking that when it is at its weakest – in general and in terms of accessibility – Another crab’s treasure bears a striking resemblance to his influences. Another crab’s treasure thrives when it strays as far from its FromSoftware roots as possible, becoming a rigorous distillation of those fundamentals but cloaking them in colorful presentation, irreverent attitude, and accessible gameplay.
Perhaps the most striking thing about it Another crab’s treasure is how clearly – how quickly – Aggro Crab understands that it has no authority over its players’ experiences. Instead of beating yourself up against it like so many soul mates do, Another crab’s treasure leans forward and grants us an unprecedented level of control over how we play. In doing so, it sets an example for everything that comes after and opens the genre to a wider range of players.
More than anything, Another crab’s treasureis a timely reminder that despite all the challenges, Soulslikes can still be fun.
Another crab’s treasure will be released on April 25th on Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC and PS5.