2.5/5 ★ – bokonon764's review of Another Crab's Treasure.

Another Crabs Treasure is just another soulslike. There’s a joke in there somewhere. Despite playing however many fuckin souls-likes since I first played Bloodborne damn near ten years ago, I still keep buying these things. Apthough, there is a fun concept here, and enough of a fresh take on the souls-like subgenre, add in some great humor and a unique artstyle, Another Crabs Treasure feels like it should be a win for me…but it’s just not. The game takes place in a cartoonish society of crabs, and you play as a hermit crab named…….who can remember; the player crab is on a mission to get his shell back from a debt collector that’s actually just a shark head grabber thing, like those tools for reaching high shelves. Hilarious concept, and the laughs keep coming. The crab character uses different trash from the human world, such as thimbles, shot glasses, aluminum cans, etc.; herein lies one of the games unique takes on soulslikes and one of its core combat mechanics. The shell system is fun in more ways than one: the shells are collectible, they each have their own unique abilities to discover, and then there’s the kitschy charm of finding a red solo cup to use as a shield. The shells are disposable and can be switched between other shells on the ground. Once this defense bar thingy runs out, the shells wasted, and you move on. Other than that, it’s standard hack and slash fair, complete with a grappling hook, and…of fucking course….. Of course, there’s a parry mechanic that is integral to much of the combat, and of course, I couldn’t nail it down. This is yet another game that poses this ever-present personal question…am I bad at parrying, or is it bad in the game? I’ll say for about Another Crab’s Treasure, there isn’t enough of a visual cue to let me know the parry was successful. It’s either that, or I’m so bad at it I never got one off. I can do it in other games, why not this one? Whatever. I’ll never know. I spent a lot of time wandering around the first area of the game, which was not very enjoyable. It feels kind of empty and aimless. I got through maybe three different areas, and while the platforming and environs change enough, it still feels a little too monotonous. So I can’t really down this game too much, even though I really didn’t like playing it. Ultimately, it just sort of fell by the wayside, I may come back to it one day, but I doubt it. I really wanted to like this game; I really wanted to see where it was going. It’s concept and humor are a 10/10, it’s just the execution that’s a problem. There’s just too many games to spend time on one that isn’t fun or compelling enough to keep me going.