Another Crab's Treasure Steam-Diagramme & Statistiken

ist cool

so ein gutes Spiel

very good game

schöner Style, aber durch die Kamera für mich unspielbar. Gerade bei den Kugelfischen clippt man mehr in der Wand, als man die Angriffe der Gegner sieht. Sehr schade.

Expected a lifeless Souls rip-off with a bunch of crab-puns for a few bucks. Got a mechanically dense Souls-like with some truly meaningful themes and endless crab-puns for a few bucks. Fights are dynamic and as usual for Souls-Likes often require a careful choice of battle environment, but the variety of enemies is manageable and attacks are telegraphed more than enough. And while the game may thereby seem a little too easy for veteran Souls players, in combination with the fact that a number of key abilites, like parrying, charge attacks, block counters and also completely new ones, like grappling hook attacks, are introduced one after another by having to unlock them, makes it especially accessible for new players in the Souls-Like genre. Also, stats are few (4) and upgrades only available in limited quantity, making their choice have only minor influence on the gameplay overall. This takes away from replayability value as there are no "classes" or "builds" in the classical sense, but also again makes it more accessible as there are no "wrong" choices and there are way more reset items than necessary to find. Build-wise, having only one weapon will at first put Souls players off. However, the mechanical density lies in the variety of shells that are basically a shield you always carry around which allow the use of various spell abilities as well as some story bosses' abilites that can be used in addition to them. It's almost like they looked at Bloodborne taking away shields because they made players overly cautious and went the opposite way, making the game ENTIRELY about the shield, which works in its own way, especially since they peppered not only bosses but also mobs with unblockable and grab attacks. Level design is definitely Souls inspired, featuring convoluted levels on often several floors connected by shortcuts. "Jumping" puzzles are also a thing with even more variety including grappling and some more movement skills. It's almost sad the full potential of that is only used in the last level to get some special items. Mechanically, Another Crab's Treasure may bridge the gap between being accessible enough for new players to get into the genre step-by-step while also being dynamic enough for classic Souls players to find joy despite the ease with which one can bulldoze through the game if one is already firm in the mechanics. Now, aside from the gameplay stuff, obviously, everything is full of crab-puns and Spongebob references, but also explicit Dark Souls and Elden Ring references, some enemy attacks are down to the telegraphing lifted from there. The story however totally diverges from that, giving you an absolutely meaningless purpose (when compared to other games of the genre) for most of the game, which not only is a nice refresher, but also runs counter to the stakes at play. Themes of pollution, greed, and aggression are prominent, yet your character seems mostly oblivious to that, focussed entirely on his ephemeral goal. It's not until the end of the game that the story takes a turn and adresses those directly, diving head first into existentialist philosophy. That part however also feels the most rushed, crammed in between the final 3 back-to-back bossfights. It would feel better seeing a gradual shift of our MCs perspective over the game instead of a final, well, in this case actually a couple of final epiphanies about his modus operandi that have no bearing on the further story. All in all, I'd recommend Another Crab's Treasure to everyone - whether they're not sure they can get into Soulslikes at all (you will), or have played through Dark Souls thrice with nothing but a club (the puns and references are hilarious) - except Tech Bros and AnCaps, you will be brutally mocked by the game at every stage. :D