Another Crab's Treasure Review Summary

Visually appealing, creative world: The game features a unique and creative art style, with colorful visuals, adorable character designs, and imaginative environments. The world is filled with details that show the developers' love and care, creating a visually appealing and immersive experience. This point highlights the game's artistic achievements and its ability to create a memorable and engaging world.

Engaging story with depth: The game's story is a major strength, with engaging characters, relatable themes, and emotional impact. The narrative builds up well and blends souls-like elements with the game's whimsical setting, delivering a message about creating positive change. This point emphasizes the game's ability to tell a compelling story that resonates with players.

Humorous and charming experience: The game is praised for its humor, charm, and lighthearted tone, which sets it apart from other souls-like games. It features funny dialogue, comical situations, and well-executed jokes, creating an enjoyable and memorable experience. This point reflects the game's ability to balance challenging gameplay with a fun and engaging narrative.

Balanced, accessible souls-like gameplay: The game offers a balanced and accessible souls-like experience, with adjustable difficulty settings and assist modes that cater to different skill levels. The combat is challenging but fair, with well-designed boss fights and rewarding progression. This point highlights the game's ability to appeal to both new and experienced players of the genre.

Addresses environmental, social issues: The game tackles serious themes such as ocean pollution, capitalism, and environmental awareness, delivering a message about creating positive change. The story effectively conveys these themes through the depiction of marine life affected by pollution and the consequences of human actions. This point highlights the game's ability to address important social issues in a meaningful and engaging way.

Buggy, unpolished, technical issues: Numerous reviews mention bugs, glitches, and a general lack of polish. These issues range from minor annoyances like getting stuck in the environment to more serious problems like crashes and corrupted save files. These technical problems detract significantly from the player experience.

Uninspired enemy/boss design: Enemy and boss design is frequently criticized. Reviewers cite a lack of variety, uninspired movesets, and frustrating enemy placement, especially ranged enemies in platforming sections. Some also mention specific enemies, like the laser crabs, as being particularly annoying.

Poor map design, confusing navigation: The game's map design and navigation are problematic. Reviewers report getting lost easily, a lack of clear direction, and a confusing map system. Some areas are described as empty and featureless, making exploration tedious.

Limited replayability, short length: The game lacks replayability due to the absence of a New Game Plus mode, limited customization options, and a linear storyline. Some reviewers also felt that the game was too short, leaving them wanting more content.

Poor platforming implementation: Platforming sections are frequently criticized for feeling clunky, janky, and unpolished. Reviewers report issues with jumping mechanics, collision detection, and getting stuck in the environment. The camera can also be problematic during platforming.

Soulslike combat with platforming elements: The game blends Soulslike combat with platforming elements, incorporating mechanics from Sekiro (grappling hook, parrying) and Bloodborne (charged attacks). Combat emphasizes parrying and dodging, with a posture system and unique parry mechanic involving timed shell exits. The game also features a fork weapon and various combat styles through accessories and skill trees.

Unique shell mechanic with abilities: A core mechanic involves using trash as shells, each with unique stats, abilities, and durability. Shells function as disposable shields, offering different playstyles and spells that consume Umami charges. Players must manage shell durability and find replacements, adding a strategic layer to combat and exploration.

Character progression and variable difficulty: The game features character progression through stat building and unlockable skills, allowing for personalized playstyles. While the game offers a satisfying challenge with new enemy types and rewards exploration, the difficulty can become less challenging in the late game due to an abundance of items and abilities.

Grappling hook and ocean exploration: The game features a grapple hook for traversal and exploration, with new areas unlocked using new abilities. The map design emphasizes depth and offers interesting exploration with memorable branching paths in diverse ocean environments.

Environmental message and satirical narrative: The game's narrative addresses societal problems brought about by capitalism and environmental themes, particularly marine conservation and pollution. The story incorporates black humor and satire, with elements like weapons and shells made from ocean trash and cities built from garbage.

Low-resolution textures/models: Several reviewers noted the low quality of some textures and character models. Some describe the graphics as resembling older console generations, despite requiring modern hardware. This discrepancy between visual fidelity and hardware demands is a point of criticism.

"Die instantly" option added: The developers added a "die instantly" option to the menus to address situations where players get stuck. This highlights the severity of the softlock issues present in the game.

Lost souls due to bug: One player reported losing a significant amount of souls, which could not be recovered. This type of bug can be very frustrating, as it directly impacts player progression.

Annoying grappling points: One player found some grappling points to be annoying. This is a minor issue, but it can still be frustrating for players.

Suboptimal Steam Deck profile: One player reported that the per-game profile setting on Steam Deck is not ideal. This is a minor issue, but it can still be frustrating for players who want to customize their settings.

Highly recommended Soulslike experience: The game is widely recommended, especially to fans of Soulslike games, and is considered a good entry point into the genre due to its approachable difficulty and assist options. Many reviewers suggest it's worth the price, particularly on sale, and praise its unique elements.

Desire for more content: Many reviewers expressed a strong desire for additional content, specifically a New Game+ mode, DLC, or a sequel. They enjoyed the game world and want to see it expanded upon.

Generally positive experience: Some reviews express general positive sentiments without specific details, or are based on personal biases. These reviews often include scores or simple recommendations.

Meaningful themes and messages: The game's themes and messages, particularly regarding environmental protection and personal reflection, resonated with some reviewers. They appreciated the combination of lightheartedness and deeper meaning.

Looking forward to future projects: Several reviewers expressed interest in future projects from the developer, Aggro Crab. This indicates a positive impression of the studio's work and a desire to see more from them.

Environmental message about ocean pollution: The game's narrative heavily emphasizes environmental themes, particularly ocean pollution caused by human waste and corporate greed. It explores topics like capitalism, inequality, and marine conservation, often using satire and allegory to convey its message. The story follows a crab reclaiming his stolen shell in a world grappling with these issues.

Darkening narrative with contrasting style: The game features a comedic narrative that becomes darker as the story progresses. The cute art style contrasts with the increasingly intense and brutal elements of the game, and the difficulty may not be suitable for all ages despite its appearance.

Immersive world with humorous details: The game world feels immersive and connected, enhancing the player experience. The developers demonstrate passion and creativity through small details and a good sense of humor, including fish puns and pop culture references.

References and easter eggs included: The game contains numerous references and easter eggs, including those from Dark Souls, SpongeBob, and other popular culture elements. These homages reflect the developer's dedication and add to the game's overall appeal.

Cute and refreshing art style: The game features a cute and refreshing art style that combines detailed pixel graphics with cartoonish characters. The artistic direction and character design are noteworthy.