With this timeless classic, Ariel, the protagonist of The Little Mermaid, was tried by her scissor-handed friend, Sebastian, to see better, so that she would no longer be stranded on dry land. Why would you go there, because life under the surface of the water is wonderful, and even though you can’t walk, the saying goes that “don’t leave the beaten path for the untraveled”. Well, it seems that the attitude of the crab population can be contagious, because the main character of Another Crab’s Treasure, Kril, has a similar attitude about life to Sebastian. He also wants nothing more than to live peacefully in his favorite little shell, but the bureaucracy intervenes and he is evicted from his home in seconds. The reason is simple, our hero has tax arrears, according to which the usury shark confiscates the property without saying a word and leaves the decorated crab car behind as a naked gut fish. Kril, on the other hand, overcomes his cluelessness and gathers courage and, albeit a little hesitantly, finally throws himself into the unknown depth, which begins an adventure for which neither he nor we were prepared.
This is how Kril’s humorous underwater story begins, in which the way to our much-coveted shell house leads through plenty of jokes and laugh-out-loud moments, but for the sake of the noble goal, it will not be enough to sit on the first wave and slide along the seabed. We will have to struggle hard with the obstacles rolling in front of us, which is not surprising, since we are dealing with a soulslike game, but at the same time, spinning the good-natured story all the way through can be worth a try even for players who are allergic to this kind of torture. This is mostly due to the fact that the creators were so kind and made the difficulty fully customizable, thanks to which we can increase our defense at any time in the menu, weaken the opponents, slow down the gameplay, and even the most perverted ones can even attach a weapon to the back of their cute crab. Using the latter, the challenge ceases to exist as such, since the targeted opponents and bosses are killed by one shot, which is not a very fair attitude to deal with a disagreement, but no one forced the others to come to a pistol duel with scissors in hand.
By the way, these aids can be turned on and off at any time, we do not suffer any disadvantages as a result of their activation, but I would like to add that the basic difficulty is also impossible, in fact, most of the time it is not the opponents that will make our brain water boil. Of course, if several people jump on us at the same time, we can easily bite into the sand, but by moving and using our abilities that have been opened up in the meantime, the facilities available from the menu are almost completely unnecessary. The gameplay will not cause any surprises, except for one more serious element, we hit, throw, parry and occasionally spend lives. There is no stamina, that is, we can dance freely, and if we have dealt enough blows to our opponent, we can launch a more serious attack, with which we can lay them on their back and beat their softer parts with impunity. A unique interest in this area is the use of various “houses”, of which there are many and one of them can always be active. Each of them has unique statistics and abilities that can be useful in different situations, so it is recommended to try them all, so that you don’t have to find out the beneficial effects of an energy drink can lying in the wasteland right in the middle of a fight with a main opponent.
In the Moon Snail Shells, which have been opened in the meantime as rest and teleport points, you can also compare the alternative houses, thus making the decision between them a little easier. However, it is worth paying attention to the fact that they can be easily damaged during parrying and blocking, so in time we will definitely be forced to replace them, because even the weakest paper cup is worth more than our bare bottom that glows red. The latter is true even if we will develop on the go, in several ways. On the one hand, there are our basic statistics that can be increased from the points received for defeated opponents, the objects found on the courses that provide passive reinforcement, and our abilities that can be unlocked for crystals. Nothing extra, but just enough to train completely unique crabs, whether our favorite is the more massive crawfish, the more nimble shrimp, or the lobster that attracts admiring glances with its huge scissors.
No matter which way we go, due to the low-level nature of the combat system, our adventure will not be cloudless with any of them, which is mostly due to the undeveloped animations. Unfortunately, because of this, it is quite difficult to detect what the opponent is up to, and the hitboxes also slide around, which is not helped by selecting our current nemesis. The latter does provide a solution to the unruly camera in some places, but at the same time, a black strip appears at the bottom and top of the screen, due to which our field of vision is significantly reduced, which is really annoying, especially in the case of larger enemy teams. However, thanks to the features that can be turned on and off continuously, we will not mention the creators’ relatives here, but rather while exploring the various locations, because the course design is simply beyond criticism. Long-distance opponents at unreachable heights, nose crabs in invisible corners and all kinds of pits that are imperceptible at first, into which we can start the given platform section again.
It’s true, it’s like that, we jump under the water and fall into the depths, and even the hook you can get in the meantime, the shortcuts you can open, and the save you can use anywhere won’t help. I can’t tell you how many times it happened to me that I got up to a high place with great difficulty, and then, swinging left and right, I swung to a seemingly stable platform, where I stepped into an invisible hole and, whoops, all my progress went into the crab soup. And the fact that underwater our main character can only slide with the current for a short time is simply laughable, especially since afterwards, like a piece of brick, an arrow falls straight into the depths. Fortunately, frequent saves can mostly eliminate the frustration caused by such moments, which is also a good idea to use, as the game tends to freeze. During my approximately 15-hour adventure, the program threw me at least half a dozen times, which made me not want to continue even though the tour itself is quite magical.
The realization of the underwater color world is amazingly atmospheric, the linear and more open locations that can be visited are each spectacular and the characters that appear in the meantime are also adorable. Although we don’t get full synchronization, the little that is there fits perfectly into the overall picture, and those who, like me, love exaggerated puns, will really foam at the mouth of the game’s script and mingle with each and every aquatic creature, just in case he hears something intoxicating again. bullshit. By the way, the pleasant, cartoonish overall effect is also reflected in the music, catchy tunes reminiscent of fairy-tale afternoons, the only beauty flaw of which is that they quickly become repetitive when wandering around in one area or another. However, even with this, the overall picture is almost flawless, thanks to which I immersed myself again and again in this magical underwater world, even though I knew deep down that at any moment reality could slap me in the face in the image of a bulky, rusty hook.
Unfortunately, this duality is true for the entire game, because as much as you enjoy it at one moment, you get upset the next thanks to the sub-critical course design, the cheap combat system, or just a sudden freeze. The worst part is that Another Crab’s Treasure isn’t a bad game in the truest sense of the word, in fact it has its moments, from the humorous and cartoony setting to its unique gameplay solutions, but at the same time it overshadows every good idea like a huge oil slick. incompetence arising from design decisions. Of course, minor bugs and frequent freezes will surely be fixed with time, but the real problems should not be looked for on the surface, but much more deeply, buried in the sand, where from time to time, like a ghost crab, they will come out again and again to annoy Kril and together with our lives.
Another Crab’s Treasure will be available on April 25 for PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and PC. We tested it on the latter.
