Okay, so the souls-like genre of games is pretty well known nowadays and we've all dipped our hands in one or more versions of it. We've played as warriors and hunters adventuring through derelict areas, a puppet in search of truth, and even as a dude in an exosuit beating back a robotic threat. How about we leave our humanity truly behind and dive beneath the waves and enter the carapace of a new hero in, Another Crab's Treasure.
Krill is the hermit crab we'll be playing as who was quietly enjoying his life with his shell when a... 'shark' snatches it away due to taxes? We quickly scurry into the water to not become easy prey for the gulls and chase after that shark to reclaim what's ours. Rather quickly, Krill discovers that the world is far bigger than the tide pool he had known as; kingdoms, a city, and even an absurd treasure hunt will take him on an adventure he never could have dreamed of.
While the story and characters here are more forward than most souls-like games you'll play, the real pull here is the gameplay and areas you'll be romping through. As you may expect, we're playing from a 3rd-person perspective with the ability to attack with a rusty fork and do a more powerful charged attack. Krill can also dodge roll and jump as well to aide with avoiding big sweeping attacks from enemies or devastating overheads. All enemies, bosses included, also have a stagger meter that once full or close to, just needs a charge or super attack to force them into a stunned state. For bosses or mini-bosses, this feature can be the difference maker in giving you that critical moment to heal or to get in some solid free hits.
Beside from the basics, Krill will gain access to two sets of upgrades. One tree is dedicated to giving Krill more options in fights like parrying and countering or giving a shell you're wearing the ability to spawn back upon breaking. Additionally, there's another skill that will allow Krill to do massive damage to a foe you've successfully put into the stun state, although the window to get the attack is a little too tight, similar to the counter-attack I found. The second upgrade tree focuses on upgrading the 8 adaptions you can find in the game which can all be upgraded to a 3rd level. Unfortunately I only found myself using 2 of the adaptions for the majority, mantis punch and electrocute, as both had uses for opening up otherwise locked off areas and mantis punch is devastating. A fully upgraded mantis punch builds up a lot of the stagger bar and can trigger the stun state too while also taking out a nice chunk of a boss' health bar, making it a staple in my arsenal. Upgrades materials for both trees can be found in crystals, enemies with glowing eyes, or upon defeating bosses but they're in abundance so not to worry.
Krill's weapon, the rusted fork is his only weapon but thanks to the upgrades it can be altered some to play more like a hammer. Additionally, the fork can also be upgraded a few times which alters its appearance as well as improve its attack stat. While your main weapon won't be changing much, Krill's 'shell' will be swapped out fairly often as they all come with their own pros and cons. By far one of the biggest pros is simply the uniqueness of the shells you'll be swapping between; from the simple bottle top to a soda can at first, then expanding to crab husks, faucet pieces, skulls and so many more. Each shell comes with it's own health, glass based shells can't take more than a couple hits whereas metal based shells have a hefty chunk of health but the bulkier the shell the slower your dodge roll so try to keep that in mind. The shells also come with their own abilities too like taking a bite out of a banana peel will restore your health, the party hat can be fired like a tiny shotgun and there's plenty more.
Enemies and bosses found within the game are interesting and diverse... until you get a few hours in. Crabs, small fish, and prawns make up a good majority of the enemies you'll find along the seafloor. While there are one or two additions here and there that do help to shake things up some, it quickly fizzled out for me with what was offered and I just wish there was a bit more variety. Bosses make up a mostly crustacean bunch but there were a couple nice surprises like a boss that was made up of a bunch of creatures trapped in crab cage or another that was a moray eel that could change it's attacks but you could also disable those attacks. Overall I didn't find the bosses too difficult and the more abilities and shells you find can render a fight moot at times, although I did also discover that simply sticking to a boss' left side that enabled me to easily circumvent the fight as the boss wasn't able to correct themselves or get a hit. Falling to a boss though isn't so bad either as there's a close checkpoint they bring you to where you can easily pick up your materials and get right back into the fight. Overall, I found the bosses offered a good challenge but they quickly get outpaced by your own growing powers and skills.
The world itself ends up being a fun time to explore as there are different zones like; a seaweed forest, a dump site rife with gunk, and the darkest depths of the sea floor. Each area offers a great amount of variety in it's design and even moving around like using a metal shell to get utilize a magnet or bashing a strange tower in the depths and discovering it's a glow-stick that lights up the area. Gaining new powers even helps to open up new areas that have great rewards hiding within and the areas themselves are surprisingly bigger than I would have thought them to be. I found myself almost always delighted to see the creativity put into the areas and even what the characters are wearing. The city for instance has the mile long CVS receipts acting as the walkway and discarded bottles as the towering buildings, then some characters are even dressed in silly things like those silicon packets. Krill's own look can be altered with some outfits you either find in the world or an assortment you can buy and even these were cute nods and nudges like one that can have Krill looking like a certain sponge's boss (and you can even find his house) or even a fairly well known sun-loving warrior.
Let's dip back into the story for a moment before we get to the achievement talk and my final thoughts. The story maintains a fairly cute and light-hearted nature throughout as Krill is dragged into finding pieces to a map from the back of a cereal box to find enough treasure to buy back his home from the loan-shark. This somehow leads to Krill discovering an ancient power and then needing to properly harness his anger as we reach the end where Krill discovers he has more to learn about himself and he wants to venture further to make those discoveries. While the last boss feels very forced, I did enjoy seeing Krill go from being this meek crab to a more confidant and dependable character for those around him and himself.
Achievements found here are a easier venture than you may expect from a souls-like. About half of the acheievos just come from defeating the bosses and aside from a couple that are off the beaten path, you'll collect those easily enough as you continue through the game. Aside from that, the only achievements that may take some time is gathering all the shells and adaptions but the guides here will help you clean those up in no time. Thankfully there's no achievement out of your reach and nothing here is going to consume a lot of your time, though you're likely looking at a 15+ hour completion time. But if you'd like to speed it up... why not introduce these foes to our old friend, the gun?
Another Crab's Treasure is a welcomed newcomer to the souls-like genre as it knows not to overstay it's welcome and maintain it's own level of fun. More enemy variety and the ability to examine the full map do feel needed but aren't enough to take away from this game. Though it does suffer in it's final sections as the game just isn't able to keep up with your growing powers and skills as the right build will carry you effortlessly to victory. While the game's ease was noticeable, I believe that if you don't toss this away as mere garbage, you'll discover plenty of gleaming riches that make it worth your while.
3.5