I feel most of us are continuously attempting our hardest to fill the Darkish Souls and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice-shaped holes in our lives. They’re merely among the best video games ever, and nobody can actually be blamed for searching for extra of them. Time and time once more, studios have tried their palms at soulslikes, and time and time once more, they’ve fallen in need of the alchemical combine that makes FromSoft’s genre-defining efforts such an enthralling rush. Of late although, a crop of recent and creative video games have appeared that appear to be difficult the established order, and whereas One other Crab’s Treasure is finally somewhat on the protected facet, it’s an excellent try to breathe some life right into a style that usually fails to face by itself two legs.
Sure, in the case of shaking up soulslikes, Aggro Crab—the builders behind the missed roguelike Going Beneath—are taking a stab at it. One other Crab’s Treasure follows Kril, a hermit crab whose shell will get claimed by a foul and corrupt monarch. As Kril journeys to search out his shell and take it again, he comes to fulfill the denizens of the ocean, who open his eyes to the issues that plague them and the world at massive. All the things in One other Crab’s Treasure is a few type of trash, from the buildings of New Carcinia to Kril’s weapons and armor. Humanity’s refuse has a house on the backside of the ocean, and Kril and firm vogue a lifestyle out of it. All of the whereas, although, gunk is slowly driving all of the crabs to wanton homicide and destruction. Society is collapsing and we’re choosing at one another for scraps moderately than banding collectively to forge some form of resolution. Now why does that sound so acquainted…
As crustacean society is eroded and erupts into violence, Kril takes up his rusted fork and plumbs the depths of the oceans for treasure with a purpose to purchase his shell again. Earlier than he lays a claw on any treasure, nevertheless, he finds a secure of worthy opponents standing in his approach. One other Crab’s Treasure is totally not as exhausting because the video games that impressed it, however it is usually tuned a good bit increased than it would seem at first blush. The typical enemy isn’t actually a pushover, and managers will examine you exhausting when you don’t study to maintain up with them. Very similar to Sekiro, it form of calls for you study a couple of particular mechanics, particularly a game-changing parry, with a purpose to make it to the tip with out ripping your hair out. Take it from somebody who went an embarrassing size of time with out utilizing these mechanics and suffered for it.
When you lock in although, fight in One other Crab’s Treasure falls right into a satisfying circulate paying homage to the back-and-forth circulate that made FromSoft’s samurai motion sport so instantly iconic. You don’t get the identical clang of katanas viciously bouncing off each other, however One other Crab’s Treasure’s marriage of sound and motion isn’t any slouch, both. Each hit has a crunch to it that jogs my memory of Hole Knight and the parry is accompanied by a dopamine-inducing knock impact. The convenience with which you’ll hit it and land a riposte all however assures that almost all gamers can really feel as cool as a (sea) cucumber all through their time with the sport. When all of it comes collectively, One other Crab’s Treasure simply feels rattling good. It falters in some areas—specifically, the digital camera screwed me over in some actually tight spots—however for essentially the most half, it’s an abject pleasure to play.
One other Crab’s Treasure can be a pleasure to observe and hearken to. It’s deeply humorous, and delivers its in any other case darkish story in regards to the ethical (and literal) decline of society with a wink and a slap on the again. A personality known as Firth assists you to find a treasure that’ll assist Kril purchase again his shell (the forex and XP on this sport, for what it’s price, is microplastics), however he additionally spends nearly all of the sport blindly admiring a enterprise capitalist often known as Roland. Regardless of all indicators pointing to his shittiness, Firth insists time and time once more that Roland is solely a participant within the free market and that the havoc he unleashes on the lives of these he exploits is because of a failure of capitalist constructions, moderately than those that partake in and thrive off that system. He’s each would-be economist who realized the phrase “supply-and-demand” in grade faculty, stopped internalizing anything after that, and jumps into your mentions to let you know off once you criticize Elon Musk.
That humor, in addition to the cartoonish nature of One other Crab’s Treasure, is Aggro Crab’s bread and butter, and it extends outward into the development of the world and the sport’s aesthetic. Since ACT performs out from Kril’s diminutive perspective, it takes some liberty with the exaggerated proportions of human trash, like some very lengthy model legs that join the higher and decrease crusts of the sport’s central hub, New Carcinia. One of many boss fights is in opposition to a crab who makes use of the cracked glass lid of a pot as a protect and a takeout field for a helmet. The primary boss you battle shouts at you—in what can solely be described as essentially the most violent voice route I’ve ever heard—from throughout an enormous battlefield in regards to the being a “clawbreaker” earlier than charging you want a lancer. After which, after all, there’s the matter of your individual gear.
ACT is a soulslike with a gimmick I genuinely liked. As a crab with no shell, you possibly can crawl into a lot of the trash within the ocean and switch it into makeshift armor. Something from a shot glass to a pc mouse could be made into armor, in addition to weapons down the road, persevering with ACT’s comedic visible language. There’s nothing fairly like going up in opposition to some fearsome monstrosity from the depths of the ocean with a fucking Rubik’s Dice in your again, you understand? The shell system isn’t only for laughs, although; it accommodates unfathomable depth.
A lot of the 69 (good) shells you possibly can purchase share a sure variety of Umami abilities—consider these because the distinctive “Ashes of Struggle” skills tied to tools in Elden Ring—however fluctuate in type, measurement, weight, and defensive capabilities. Some shells shoot out bubbles that hone in on approaching enemies, whereas others offer you a rising uppercut assault. On the opposite finish of the spectrum, some grant a defensive buff or a prickly glass backbone, and one in every of my favorites will get Kril drunk, which dulls his response time, however makes him hit tougher. Attributable to their completely different defensive rankings, in addition to the depth of lots of ACT’s foes, you’ll usually break shells whereas defending your self in fight, which provides many encounters (particularly in opposition to bosses) an improvisational really feel. My best victories got here after I was scrambling essentially the most, and making use of assorted shells and their respective skills. The construct prospects in ACT are as huge as they’re hilarious to appreciate.
Upgrades and different items of kit construct upon and feed into the promise of the shell system and make it explode. A grappling hook, for instance, means that you can pull shells towards you in the midst of fight, rewarding fast considering when the going will get tough. An improve I unlocked allowed me to get better my shell’s well being, which will get knocked down once you block, by attacking instantly afterwards ala Bloodborne’s well being mechanic. A hammer improve permits you to stick any shell on the tip of your weapon and make it extra highly effective, whereas concurrently granting you a second protect and set of skills when you select to swap between your armor and weapon. After unlocking an almost impervious shell—which must be sought out and worn or purchased to unlock completely—I insured it at a shopkeeper (which means that I might spawn with it), discovered a approach to duplicate the shell, and doubled up on it as armor and a weapon. By the tip of the sport, I used to be successfully within the chunkiest armor possible, fats rolling in all places, and two-handing a max-level Zweihander that I swung with reckless abandon. If you understand, you understand, however for the parents that don’t: One other Crab’s Treasure has obtained the sauce.
Now, on condition that boss fights are essential to any good soulslike, let’s take a beat and discuss ACT’s large baddies.. This sport has a ton of them—some are even non-obligatory—and very like these in FromSoft’s personal Souls video games, they span the vary of “nice” to “why?” The extra that these encounters centered on fairly stage one-on-ones, the higher they had been. However in paying homage to the style’s finest, ACT falls into some pitfalls it would’ve been higher off avoiding. One late-game non-obligatory boss is a very egregious gimmick battle that appears much better than it feels and ultimately, a couple of of the fights begin to get somewhat same-y of their building. The quantity of instances I circled a single large crab and waited for my flip to swipe at them is just too excessive for a sport that’s very often so inventive. ACT’s fan-service leaks into different features of the sport too, and results in equally combined outcomes.
ACT wears its soulslike flag proudly, and that’s evident within the format of the sport and a few cheeky references to ranges and video games previous. An enormous stretch of the sport is that this practically barren wasteland that connects varied areas known as the Sands Between, which Elden Ring gamers would possibly recognize. Quickly after your first journey by way of the Sands Between, you come to a grove that has a little bit of a poison swamp theme going for it, and never lengthy after that, you come to a city with an enormous central lane and one large sniper crab on the far finish.
These are the form of enjoyable nods that ACT’s upbeat aesthetic usually brightens and adapts, and I’m totally right here for them. On the flip facet, there are additionally some oppressively darkish caverns that really feel paying homage to spots just like the Tomb of the Giants from the primary Darkish Souls, which was by no means actually nice to start with! To make issues worse, one actually late-game space leans into this even additional and sticks a bunch of enormous, strolling turrets into these darkish caves that laser you out of goddamn nowhere and pad out the ending a bit. In a way, Aggro Crab recreated “Horsefuck Valley” out of Darkish Souls 2, an infamously tough space that ought by no means have been made within the first place.
I can also’t talk about the issue of taking part in ACT with out drawing some consideration to its efficiency. I’m not often the form of critic to make point out of these things, since I really feel it’s the least necessary a part of a sport’s evaluation and it’s typical to count on some bugginess when taking part in video games previous to their launch, however ACT toed the road of what even I might settle for at instances. Efficiency usually held up, however once in a while, I’d hit a reasonably noticeable hitch as zones loaded throughout transitional areas, which practically impeded me from progressing at one level. However then I seen that the longer I performed, the more serious the efficiency obtained on PS5.
Some areas weren’t as optimized as others, resulting in some acceptable body drops (if this sport wasn’t already sufficient of a soulslike, now it positively was) however by the tip of my longest periods, my sport was completely chugging regardless of the place I went. I as soon as spent the higher a part of a minute merely attempting to stay a shell onto my weapon proper in entrance of a boss battle as a result of the sport outright froze about three completely different instances. Loading screens would additionally catch on a small little bit of the sport’s soundtrack like a document with a scratch in it. And although I’ve been in communication with the crew since, they usually’ve assured me that it will likely be fastened as quickly as attainable, I hit a bug towards the tip that has really fully softlocked the sport, stopping me from taking over the ultimate few bosses and beating it.
Whereas I’m certain post-launch patches will spare most people these complications, it feels price mentioning, on the off likelihood that it isn’t all resolved by the point ACT launches, that it’s positively coming in somewhat tough, particularly on consoles.
Efficiency points and tough homages apart, One other Crab’s Treasure is way and away one in every of my favourite soulslikes. It clearly loves that lineage of video games sufficient to copy their formulation fairly effectively, however it’s at its finest when it steps out of the shadow of the inimitable Souls video games and has its personal enjoyable. A wholesome secure of boss fights preserve issues recent and vibrant whereas the story displays on the plights we’re at present going through and the ripple impact they’ve on the world round us, giving gamers a style of the candy and the bitter. However it’s the shell system right here that appears like a revelation, and the truth that it additionally works as an important visible gag is solely the cherry on high. Regardless of some tough spots, One other Crab’s Treasure is just too charming, humorous, and creative a sport to overlook.
