Making your way through the crumbling ruins, you stumble upon an eldritch entity that’s quick to harass you about the futility of your efforts to change the world’s inevitable cruelty. No, this isn’t Dark Souls, and you’re not some armor-clad knight — you’re a lonely little hermit crab just trying to make the polluted ocean a better place.
Another Crab’s Treasure is one of the most inventive Soulslikes ever made. It’s full of charm and personality, but still has rock-solid gameplay chops to back it up. In a genre obsessed with the dark and dreary, Another Crab’s Treasure is a tremendous breath of fresh air... and it’s now free on Xbox Game Pass.
The best way to describe Another Crab’s Treasure is Dark Souls meets Spongebob Squarepants. A tough-as-nails action RPG with a bubbly aesthetic and sense of humor, you play as Kril, a hermit crab blissfully living out his days in a tide pool. But when an evil shark grabber toy steals his cherished shell, he’s left a homeless crab who must embark on an epic journey through the ocean and its many horrors to get it back.
Another Crab’s Treasure is brimming with personality.
Another Crab’s Treasure has a remarkably dynamic story that walks the tightrope between whimsical and serious. Dialogue is smart and snappy, like it’s come from an animated sitcom. You’ll meet a wide array of weirdos on your adventure, from a shrimp haplessly stuck in a bong to a capitalist isopod trying to exploit the current trash boom.
To these underwater denizens, trash is basically gold, and everyone wants to get their fins on microplastics. That lets the game dive into some heavy environmentalist themes, using its charming world as a filter to discuss how human consumption endangers our natural resources.
Despite those heavy themes, Another Crab’s Treasure can also stand toe-to-toe with any Soulslike out there in terms of sheer fun. If you’ve played any game in the genre, then you know the formula: the methodical combat is all about positioning, timing, and parries. Losing means you drop all your resources and have to recover them.
Kril has to fight a wide variety of enemies, from crazed crabs to angry pufferfish.
It all feels just as good as any other Soulslike by From Software’s many competitors, like Lies of P or Lords of the Fallen. All of Kril’s moves have a good sense of flow, and the game adds some light platforming elements by giving him a Yoshi-esque jump and a grappling hook. But the real brilliance of Another Crab’s Treasure comes from one unique idea: Kril’s shell.
Kril can pop off his shell and pick up another one whenever you want, and there are dozens of different items that can serve as his home. Every shell gives Kril a unique ability, giving you a wealth of options to complement your combat style. For example, a shotgun shell lets you create an explosion that hurts enemies, but also damages you. A soda can lets you shoot a blast of pressurized air, while a pill bottle can recover your health.
The innovative shell system is unlike anything in the Soulslike genre.
On top of that, Another Crab’s Treasure has a robust suite of difficulty options that let you fine-tune nearly every aspect of your experience. And if you get really fed up, there’s even an option to give Kril a giant handgun that takes out any enemy in one hit.
Another Crab’s Treasure stands out amid a very crowded genre by taking the basic elements of a Soulslike and using them to craft a unique story and gameplay experience. It proves that we need to stop living in the shadow of Dark Souls, and it’s also a lot of adorable fun.
