Another Crab's Treasure, as the name suggests, is a humorous and pun-filled world where the sea is your Soulslike oyster. A fork acts as your actual sword, while various other leftovers from above, like shot glasses, soda cans, etc., act as your shields. With a fork in his hand and a can on his back, Kril, a shy but easygoing hermit crab, sets out into the aquatic kingdom to find his favorite shell, only to be beaten by a loan shark. stole from you. The sequel is an adventure that excels at being a fun and bright escape from the dark and horrifying Soulslike genre. However, the action doesn't hit the same highs; while unique and expansive in some ways, it feels too floaty, too imprecise, and too often annoying, tainting a fun 15-hour jaunt through an ocean full of garbage.
Developer Aggro Crab played with the game's premise smartly, and the results often made me giggle. Whether it's in-world jokes, poking fun at real-world and man-made problems with the ocean, or simple puns (words like shuck, carp, cod, etc. curse words that have similar sounds in the real world), I constantly smiled as I interacted with the various creatures of the ocean. The design and solid voice acting also make each NPC and boss interesting.
This reliance on the premise also extends to the game's action, but it is less successful. As noted by Aggro Crab, the combat plays out in a meaningful way with different, eccentric mechanics and abilities. Instead of the standard weapon-based parry, you must hide in your shell and pop out of it just before the enemy attacks to parry properly; defeating a large crustacean boss will grant you a special hammer-claw-like ability to perform far-reaching attacks; The “Umami” magic inside each shell manifests itself in interesting ways, such as a glass breaking into pieces when attacked, a bowling ball-like ball rolling inside a tennis ball shell, or Carbonation bubbles shoot out of a soda can.
For example, most of my joy in combat comes from seeing “new” stuff – special Umami spells in a new guise, new abilities gained after defeating a big boss, or go-to accessories New contraband increases my vitality or defense. There's no shortage of quirks in the combat, and there are some respectable departures from what I usually expect from Soulslikes.
That's why it's a pity that the combat foundation is so shaky. It may be on purpose, as Kril's adventure mostly takes place underwater, but the trade-off for that feeling is a lack of precision that doesn't suit such challenging gameplay. The camera is also finicky, forcing me to fight several different enemies at once, who cornered me so that I didn't have a realistic view of what was happening. Importantly, when I died in combat, it often felt less like something I could personally improve on – a key aspect of the genre – and more like the game had tricked me to death.
All of this is exacerbated by a story that starts off strong before moving into a rushed finale, with my least favorite area and a series of bosses that each feel as if they have Could be the final boss in the game. It didn't help that various crashes and game errors in the final hours slowed my progress here.
Although the battle between helpful and annoying threatened my enjoyment, I still enjoyed the flow of Another Crab's Treasure. Kril's reluctance to become a hero and his subsequent journey, the message surrounding the dangers that corporations pose to our oceans, and the clever twists in the formula Soulslike delivers a satisfying, albeit uneven and flawed, ride through uncharted waters.
