Info about Everything is Crab: The Animal Evolution Roguelite:

Official game description:
Roadmap
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About the Game
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Set in a **living ecosystem**, 'Everything is Crab' is a **cute, challenging, highly replayable action roguelite**. Make animal inspired **evolutionary choices** to concoct your own unique creature every run, both mechanically and visually.
_It's **Spore** meets **Modern Roguelites**_
As everybody knows, eventually, every organism ends up evolving into a crab. Right?
Well, except for you. Choose your own evolutionary path and strategy to thrive and defeat convergent evolution. Take that, science!
Over 125 abilities combine to create a plethora of different builds and playstyles: Become a wily trickster, a ferocious predator, a gregarious leader, a nimble nomad, or take on any number of other survival strategies.
Legs! Claws! Pincers! Wings! More Legs! Fur! Tail! Scales! Tentacles! I SAID MORE LEGS!!!  
Build your formidable, visually awkward chimera or get Darwin'd in the process.                                           
*   **125+ evolution based abilities**
    *   Endless possibilities and visual combinations
    *   Strategy-defining evolutions
    *   Many viable survival strategies and playstyles
*   **A living, thriving ecosystem**
    *   Many different critters with their own goals and strategies, each of them with several stages of evolution
    *   Four distinct biomes with different rules, climate events, points of interest, flora and fauna
    *   Night and day cycle          
*   **A variety of bosses that may (or may not) appear with each run**
*   **Huge meta-progression layer**
    *   Difficulties system (if you dare!)
    *   Genetics (starting Characters), which can be combined to create endless starting character combinations
    *   Challenge Scenarios to push your adaptation skills to the limit
    *   More evolutions
*   **Endless runs**
    *   Prove your survival skills to unlock Endless runs, ditch the timer, and outlast the apocalypse! 
*   **Track your findings, meta-progression and achievements in the Codex** 
**Have a Crabby day!**

Release date: May 8, 2026

Categories: Roguelite, Survivor-like, Character Progression, Evolution System, Build Crafting, Procedural Generation, Pixel Art Style, Action

Feature scans:
- Proton/Linux: score 20; verdict: Works Well with Minor Issues on Steam Deck; summary: 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.
- Steam Deck: score 55; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: 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.

- Hardware Profile:
  - Summary: The game exhibits significant stability issues on higher VRAM systems, while performance on lower VRAM configurations remains unclear due to limited feedback.
  - Sample size: 61 (10% coverage)
  - Audience skew: Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
  - Windows <8GB VRAM (positive, 21 reports): The game runs well, though some players may find the gameplay repetitive.
  - Windows 12-15GB VRAM (negative, 21 reports): The game frequently crashes, leading to a poor experience.
  - Caveats: 61 of 635 reviews expose hardware metadata.; Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $8.00 - $15.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence suggests that users find the game worth its price, with specific mentions of prices around $8 and $30 being reasonable. The general sentiment is that the game provides good value for money, with one user explicitly stating that the price is a little higher than usual for a roguelite but still worth it. This indicates that the community considers the fair price range to be slightly below the current base game price of $9.99, but not significantly lower.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 200.0h
  - Story completion: 25.0h
  - Session length: 2.0h
  - Endgame: 50.0h
  - Reasoning: The evidence provided includes several quotes from users discussing their playtime with the game. The quotes mention playtimes ranging from 12 hours to well over 200 hours, indicating a wide range of engagement with the game. The reasoning for the extracted values is based on the following points:

- **Game Completion**: The mention of 'well over 200 hours' suggests that some players have invested significant time into the game, likely completing it multiple times or engaging in extensive gameplay.
- **Story/Campaign Completion**: The mention of '12 hours' and '20-30 hours' suggests that the main story or campaign can be completed within this range, depending on the player's pace and engagement.
- **Session Length**: The mention of 'a couple hours at once' and '7 hours' suggests that players can engage in sessions lasting a few hours, indicating a flexible session length.
- **Endgame**: The high playtimes of 'well over 200 hours' and 'over 50 hours' suggest that there is substantial endgame content or replayability that keeps players engaged beyond the main story.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game is perceived as fun and addictive from the very first minute, with immediate enjoyment and ease of play.
  - Stance: Fun immediately
  - Anchor: N/A
  - Time to anchor: 0h 0m
  - Friction: N/A
  - Unlock drivers: N/A
  - Conditions: playing the demo; engaging in co-op play
- Player Archetypes:
  - Roguelite Enthusiast (buy)
    - Motivation: Challenge and replayability
    - Playstyle: Strategic and repetitive gameplay focused on overcoming difficulty and unlocking new content.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: Roguelite fan; Rogue-like fan
    - Reference games: Vampire Survivors; Dead Cells; Patch Quest; Binding of Isaac
  - Casual Theory Crafter (sale)
    - Motivation: Accessibility and depth
    - Playstyle: Casual play with occasional deep dives into theory crafting and build optimization.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: Casual gamer; Theory crafter
    - Reference games: Vampire Survivors
  - Fun-Seeking Challenger (buy)
    - Motivation: Fun and engagement
    - Playstyle: Balanced playstyle that enjoys both challenge and casual fun.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: Fun-seeker; Chill gamer
    - Reference games: Vampire Survivors; Dead Cells


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Diverse and enjoyable gameplay (weight 0.59): 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 (weight 0.43): 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 (weight 0.38): Players find the game incredibly fun and addictive from the start. The overall experience is polished and enjoyable.
- Excellent roguelike experience (weight 0.3): 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 (weight 0.27): 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.
- Great build options (weight 0.27): Players appreciate the variety of build options and the ability to try out new builds. The buildcraft system is well-regarded.
- Well-made evolution system (weight 0.24): The evolution system is fun and well-made, adding depth and enjoyment to the gameplay. Players love the visual transformations and mutations of creatures.
- Great value for the price (weight 0.21): Players feel that the game is worth every dollar, offering great value for the price. The full release adds a significant amount of content.
- Challenging difficulty (weight 0.15): The game offers a good challenge with higher difficulty levels, providing a satisfying experience for players seeking a test of their skills.
- Unique runs and creature transformations (weight 0.13): Each run feels different and challenging, with players evolving into unique creatures. This adds to the replayability and excitement of the game.
- Positive overall impression (weight 0.13): Players describe the game as awesome, incredible, and genuinely great, highlighting its overall high quality and enjoyment.
- Rich content in full version (weight 0.12): The full release of the game adds a ton of content, providing a rich and fulfilling experience for players.
- Interesting and refreshing concept (weight 0.12): The game features an interesting and refreshing concept that stands out in the genre, making it a unique and enjoyable experience.
- Engaging enemy interactions (weight 0.12): The game features original and engaging enemy interactions, adding depth and variety to the gameplay experience.
- No grindy unlocks (weight 0.12): The game offers plenty of unlocks and progression without feeling grindy, making the experience more enjoyable.
- Strongly engaging process (weight 0.12): The game is described as strongly engaging, with a process that keeps players hooked and interested.
- New content additions (weight 0.12): The game has added new content, including many species, enhancing the variety and depth of the gameplay experience.
- Hopes for future updates (weight 0.11): Players express hopes for future updates, DLCs, and deeper expansions, indicating a desire for continued development and improvement of the game.

Common complaints:
- Repetitive and boring gameplay (weight 0.2): Many players find the gameplay loop to be short and repetitive, leading to a lack of engagement and boredom.
- Endless mode unlock difficulty (weight 0.19): Players are frustrated that the endless mode is locked behind a high difficulty requirement, making it hard to access.
- Lack of external growth (weight 0.18): 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 (weight 0.16): The game is criticized for lacking depth, playability, and variations, leading to a less engaging experience.
- No save feature (weight 0.13): Players are disappointed with the absence of a save or auto-save feature, which affects their gaming experience.
- Enemy balancing issues (weight 0.12): Enemies are criticized for being too strong, dealing high damage, and lacking variation, leading to an unbalanced gameplay experience.
- Skill balancing issues (weight 0.12): Some skills are perceived as overpowered, leading to concerns about the overall balance of the game.
- Poor art and optimization (weight 0.09): The game's art design and optimization are criticized for being poor, affecting the visual experience.
- Difficulty adaptation issues (weight 0.09): Players find it challenging to adapt to the game's initial difficulty, which affects their overall experience.
- Initial novelty wears off (weight 0.09): The initial excitement of the game declines sharply after the first few plays, leading to a drop in player engagement.
- Long cooldown for dash skill (weight 0.08): The cooldown period for the dash skill is perceived as too long, affecting gameplay fluidity.
- Disappointing demo execution (weight 0.08): Players find the demo execution disappointing, which affects their perception of the full game.
- Fast monster speed (weight 0.08): Monsters, especially early in the game, are criticized for being too fast, making it difficult for players to keep up.
- Movement and sprinting issues (weight 0.08): There are notable issues with movement and sprinting mechanics, affecting the overall gameplay experience.
- Poor controller support (weight 0.08): The game lacks good controller support, which is a significant issue for players who prefer using controllers.
- High reliance on luck (weight 0.08): The game's difficulty is perceived to rely too much on luck, which can be frustrating for players.
- Wonky and glitchy controls (weight 0.08): Players report issues with wonky and glitchy controls, particularly with gamepads, affecting their gaming experience.
- Menu control improvements needed (weight 0.07): The gamepad control in menus needs improvement, as the current setup is not user-friendly.
- Monotonous visual and audio effects (weight 0.07): The visual and audio effects in the game are criticized for being monotonous, lacking variety and excitement.
- Increased difficulty compared to demo (weight 0.07): The difficulty of the game has increased significantly compared to the demo, which may be challenging for some players.
- Language selection issues (weight 0.06): There are issues with language selection options in the game, affecting players who prefer different languages.

Gameplay feedback:
- Roguelite and survivor-like mechanics (weight 0.39): The game features roguelite and survivor-like mechanics, blending elements from both genres to create a unique gameplay experience.
- Adaptive enemy mechanics (weight 0.2): 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 (weight 0.19): The game includes a well-designed difficulty progression system that scales appropriately, providing a good challenge throughout the gameplay.
- Charm mechanic and playstyle (weight 0.17): The charm mechanic allows players to charm minions and enemies, adding a unique playstyle and strategic depth.
- Evolution and unlockable abilities (weight 0.17): Players can unlock various evolutions and abilities, offering a wide range of customization and strategic options.
- Similarity to Vampire Survivors (weight 0.15): The game is frequently compared to Vampire Survivors, sharing similar mechanics and gameplay elements.
- Attacking and movement mechanics (weight 0.12): The game features specific mechanics for attacking and moving, which are central to the gameplay experience.
- Pacifist and varied playstyles (weight 0.11): Players can adopt different playstyles, including a pacifist approach, enhancing the game's variety and appeal.
- Similarity to Spore (weight 0.11): The game is compared to Spore, particularly in its creature stage, offering similar creature-building and evolution mechanics.
- Creature transformations and building (weight 0.09): Players can transform and build their creatures, adding a layer of customization and strategy to the gameplay.
- Meta progression system (weight 0.09): The game includes a meta progression system with unlocks, providing long-term goals and rewards for players.
- Character customization and evolution (weight 0.09): Players can customize and evolve their characters, adding a layer of personalization and strategic depth to the gameplay.
- Random skill acquisition (weight 0.08): Skills are randomly obtained through upgrades, adding an element of unpredictability and variety to the gameplay.
- Synergies and traits (weight 0.08): The game features synergies between different traits, encouraging players to experiment with various combinations.
- Gene-splicing mechanics (weight 0.08): Initial gene-splicing mechanics provide a unique way to customize and evolve creatures, adding depth to the gameplay.
- Periodic boss fights (weight 0.08): The game features periodic boss fights, adding challenging encounters and variety to the gameplay.
- Limited active skills (weight 0.08): Active skills are limited in range and slots, requiring players to strategically choose and use their abilities.
- Multiplayer potential (weight 0.08): There is a suggestion for a multiplayer mode, indicating potential for expanded gameplay experiences in the future.

Performance notes:
- Crashes and stuttering issues (weight 0.13): Some players experience random crashes and stuttering, particularly on Steam Deck, indicating potential stability and optimization problems.
- Controls and input preferences (weight 0.09): Players have mixed feedback on controls, with some preferring mouse and keyboard over gamepad, and others mentioning Steam Deck controls specifically.
- Good Linux compatibility (weight 0.05): The game runs well on Linux, indicating good compatibility with this operating system.
- Resolution adjustment needed (weight 0.05): 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 (weight 0.17): 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 (weight 0.17): Many reviewers generally recommend purchasing the game, citing it as a fun and enjoyable experience without specific genre preferences.
- Desire for specific evolutions (weight 0.1): 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 (weight 0.09): Several players have shown interest in getting the game on mobile platforms, indicating a demand for mobile accessibility.
- Different starting classes (weight 0.05): There is a desire among players for the addition of different starting classes to add more diversity to the game.
- True branching evolution (weight 0.05): Players are interested in having a true branching evolution system, which would allow for more varied and unique gameplay experiences.
- Request for workshop support (weight 0.05): A reviewer expressed interest in having workshop support for the game, which could enhance modding and community content creation.
- Two-player mode request (weight 0.05): There is a request for a two-player mode, indicating a desire for cooperative or competitive multiplayer options.
- Mutation mechanics (weight 0.05): Players have mentioned the mechanics of mutating after collecting enough genes, which seems to be a key feature or interest point in the game.
- More social elements (weight 0.05): There is a request for more social elements in the game, which could enhance player interaction and community engagement.
- Typo in game title (weight 0.05): There appears to be a typo in the game title as noted by a reviewer, which might need attention.
- UI customization (weight 0.05): Players have shown interest in having more UI customization options, which would allow them to tailor the user interface to their preferences.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Excitement (weight 0.21): Players are thrilled by the game's unique mechanics, such as character progression, role-playing elements, and the variety of builds and creature designs. The addictive and fast-paced gameplay, along with the full release and improvements over the demo, contribute to this excitement.
- Frustration (weight 0.17): Players are frustrated by several issues including game crashes, performance problems, and difficulty spikes. The lack of progression, repetitive gameplay, and balance issues, particularly with boss fights and movement mechanics, also contribute to this frustration.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.13): Players enjoy the variety of builds, transformations, and gameplay elements. The game's unique mechanics, such as creature creation and evolution, along with its charming pixel art style and engaging gameplay loop, contribute to this enjoyment.
- Disappointment (weight 0.09): Players feel disappointed due to the lack of depth and variety in the game. Issues such as limited evolution paths, lack of new content, and the game's underbaked state contribute to this disappointment.
- Excited (weight 0.06): Players are excited about the fun gameplay and the possibility of breaking the game with high EXP gains. The enjoyment of unique evolutions, such as becoming a crab, and the anticipation of new evolution twists contribute to this excitement.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.05): Players are satisfied with the game's additional content and enjoyable gameplay. The evolution system, different routes, and control over upgrades and abilities contribute to this satisfaction.
- Joy (weight 0.04): Players find joy in the character evolution and customization, as well as the fun and engaging gameplay. Playing with kids and enjoying the unique experience, along with cute descriptions of evolutions, contribute to this joy.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.03): Players feel nostalgic as the game reminds them of old GBA games and childhood favorites like Spore. The comparison to these classic games evokes a sense of nostalgia.
- Amusement (weight 0.03): Players are amused by the unique gameplay experience and find the game's idea funny and enjoyable. The animations and illustrations in the game contribute to this amusement.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Players are angry due to game mechanics and progression issues. Frustration with boss design, difficulty, and strong dissatisfaction with multiple aspects of the game contribute to this anger.
- Hopeful (weight 0.02): Players are hopeful for the developer's future updates and the potential for more content and mutations. The great potential for more content contributes to this hope.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.02): Players are enthusiastic about the defensive gameplay strategy and the unique features and charm of the game. The enjoyment of the game and the desire to play more contribute to this enthusiasm.
- Happy (weight 0.02): Players are happy with the full game after enjoying the demo. The final version being great and the full game being incredible contribute to this happiness.
- Frustrated (weight 0.01): Players are frustrated with the difficult turtle monster and balance issues. Tedious gameplay and these challenges contribute to this frustration.
- Approval (weight 0.01): Players approve of the game quality and its positive comparison to E.V.O. for the SNES. This approval is based on the game's overall quality and its nostalgic elements.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Players feel bored due to the game becoming repetitive. Repetitive enemies and RNG difficulty contribute to this boredom.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Players appreciate the devs' attention to detail and clean UI. The value for the price contributes to this appreciation.
- Gratitude (weight 0.01): Players are grateful for the enjoyment of the game and the Ukrainian localization. The inclusion of Ukrainian localization contributes to this gratitude.
- Happiness (weight 0.01): Players are happy with the whacky evolutions and sprite changes. The enjoyable gameplay contributes to this happiness.}