Another Crab’s Treasure, by Seattle based studio Aggro Crab, was just announced today on Nintendo’s Indie World showcase. The game, called a “Shellslike” in its trailer, tells the story of a Hermit Crab who must fight his way across the sea floor and take out numerous other crustacean foes in order to reclaim his repossessed shell. To do so he must scavenge replacement shells from the sea floor in the form of cans, cups, shot glasses and lego shells. Clearly inspired by the Souls series of games as well as the “Hit its weak spot for massive damage” meme, The trailer depicts the titular crab wielding a knife to fight a variety of enemies, crabs, fish, shrimp, and more, dodge rolling, swapping shells found on the ground during exploration and combat. The trailer also seems to imply that different shells will grant the crab different powers, as it is seen ducking into a tin can-shell to act as a shield, and using a shot glass shell to make a faster and extended dodge roll. The full extent of the available shells and their powers is entirely unknown at this point.
The short trailer also depicts interesting platforming elements, such as they ability to swim short distances before sinking back to the sea floor and a hookshot that allows your crab to attach to nets and netted objects. In a short hype segment, two of the creators said they wanted to preserve the Souls-style difficult the genre is known for, but also to present a much more approachable entry for newer players less accustomed to that difficulty. They also hinted at various challenge mechanics as well, such as potentially dying in one hit when shell-less, or having a 1% chance of losing your shell on every dodge roll. Whether or not these features will actually be implemented or are simply jokes by the developers remains to be seen however.
Game 2 is: ANOTHER CRAB'S TREASURE
– An underwater soulslike –
🦀 Crab vs crab combat
🗑️ Wear trash as shells
🌊 Explore a corrupted ocean
📉 Dismantle crabitalism??thanks for waiting y'all. we finally announced. i can go cry now 😭 pic.twitter.com/E2Y5lIK07E
— AGGRO CRAB 💥 (@AggroCrabGames) May 11, 2022
Despite only being two years out from their last and also first game Going Under– a 3D Rogue-like about exploring dungeons based around failed tech start ups- Another Crab’s Treasure already looks very polished even in this announcement trailer, The character models and animations look very fluid, and the few snippets of the larger crabs, presumably boss battles, show very unique and interesting designs.
Another Crab’s Treasure is currently slated for a 2023 release, which is an absolutely blistering pace for the Indie Company, and I for one cannot wait to give this game a try. I have a reputation to uphold, after all.
