Everything is Crab: The Animal Evolution Roguelite Review Summary

Last updated: 2026-05-09
  • Diverse and enjoyable gameplay experience
  • Visually appealing and unique art style
  • Addictive and engaging gameplay mechanics
  • Lack of depth and variety in gameplay
  • Repetitive and boring over extended play
  • Balancing issues with enemies and skills
Everything is Crab: The Animal Evolution Roguelite header

Emotions

Archetypes

Hardware

Windows <8GB VRAMpositiveWindows 12-15GB VRAMnegative

What players like:

Common complaints:

Gameplay feedback:

Performance notes:

Recommendations:

Other player notes:

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Review evidence

Why players say this

What players like

Diverse and enjoyable gameplay: The game offers a wide variety of gameplay styles and build diversity, making it highly replayable and engaging. Players appreciate the unique core gameplay and the multiple ways to play.

Visually appealing art style: The game features great visuals and pixel art style, which are visually appealing and charming. The cute characters and aesthetic add to the overall charm.

Fun and addictive experience: Players find the game incredibly fun and addictive from the start. The overall experience is polished and enjoyable.

Excellent roguelike experience: The game is praised as a fun and engaging roguelike, highly recommended for fans of the genre. It stands out as one of the best roguelites available.

Relaxing yet engaging gameplay: The gameplay is described as relaxing, enjoyable, and engaging, with a mix of fun and challenge. It offers a unique blend of chaos and relaxation.

Common complaints

Repetitive and boring gameplay: Many players find the gameplay loop to be short and repetitive, leading to a lack of engagement and boredom.

Endless mode unlock difficulty: Players are frustrated that the endless mode is locked behind a high difficulty requirement, making it hard to access.

Lack of external growth: There is a notable absence of out-of-game growth mechanisms, making it difficult for players to overcome increasing difficulty.

Lack of depth and variety: The game is criticized for lacking depth, playability, and variations, leading to a less engaging experience.

No save feature: Players are disappointed with the absence of a save or auto-save feature, which affects their gaming experience.

Gameplay and performance

Roguelite and survivor-like mechanics: The game features roguelite and survivor-like mechanics, blending elements from both genres to create a unique gameplay experience.

Adaptive enemy mechanics: Enemies in the game adapt to the player's actions, with variations in damage, speed, and behavior, adding to the challenge and replayability.

Progression and difficulty scaling: The game includes a well-designed difficulty progression system that scales appropriately, providing a good challenge throughout the gameplay.

Charm mechanic and playstyle: The charm mechanic allows players to charm minions and enemies, adding a unique playstyle and strategic depth.

Evolution and unlockable abilities: Players can unlock various evolutions and abilities, offering a wide range of customization and strategic options.

Crashes and stuttering issues: Some players experience random crashes and stuttering, particularly on Steam Deck, indicating potential stability and optimization problems.

Controls and input preferences: Players have mixed feedback on controls, with some preferring mouse and keyboard over gamepad, and others mentioning Steam Deck controls specifically.

Good Linux compatibility: The game runs well on Linux, indicating good compatibility with this operating system.

Resolution adjustment needed: Some players have noted that the game requires resolution adjustments, which could be related to optimization or compatibility issues.

Recommendations

Highly recommended for roguelite fans: The game is frequently praised by players who enjoy roguelite games, with many reviews highlighting it as a must-buy for fans of the genre due to its fun and robust gameplay.

General recommendation to buy: Many reviewers generally recommend purchasing the game, citing it as a fun and enjoyable experience without specific genre preferences.

Desire for specific evolutions: Some players have expressed a wish to evolve into specific powerful creatures, such as Rayquaza or becoming a big boss, adding a fun and aspirational element to the game.

Mobile port request: Several players have shown interest in getting the game on mobile platforms, indicating a demand for mobile accessibility.

Different starting classes: There is a desire among players for the addition of different starting classes to add more diversity to the game.

Buying context

Community fair range: $8.00 - $15.00.

Game completion: 200.0h.

Story completion: 25.0h.

Session length: 2.0h.

Endgame: 50.0h.

The game is perceived as fun and addictive from the very first minute, with immediate enjoyment and ease of play.

Player profiles

Roguelite Enthusiast: Strategic and repetitive gameplay focused on overcoming difficulty and unlocking new content. Motivation: Challenge and replayability. Stance: buy.

Casual Theory Crafter: Casual play with occasional deep dives into theory crafting and build optimization. Motivation: Accessibility and depth. Stance: sale.

Fun-Seeking Challenger: Balanced playstyle that enjoys both challenge and casual fun. Motivation: Fun and engagement. Stance: buy.

Platform notes

The game exhibits significant stability issues on higher VRAM systems, while performance on lower VRAM configurations remains unclear due to limited feedback.

Windows <8GB VRAM: positive. The game runs well, though some players may find the gameplay repetitive.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: negative. The game frequently crashes, leading to a poor experience.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals several key issues with the game on Steam Deck. The most significant problems include misleading verification, performance issues such as stuttering, and control issues with menu navigation and overall controller adaptation. These issues severely impact the user experience, making the game less enjoyable and more difficult to play. However, there are also positive reviews indicating that the game works well out of the box for some users.

Linux and Proton: The game generally runs well on Linux with no major issues reported for the standard Linux setup. However, there are significant performance problems on Steam Deck, with users experiencing consistent frame stutters, which negatively impacts the gaming experience on this platform.