There are developers and games that try to abide by certain unwritten rules of game development, and then there is Aggro Crab and its upcoming Soulslike,Another Crab’s Treasure. By and large,Another Crab’s Treasureis unlike any Soulslike gameever made and will likely be the only one of its kind for quite some time — unless Aggro Crab chooses to develop another.
Despite being one of the most distinctive Soulslike games ever made,Another Crab’s Treasurestill shares one arguably necessary similarity to other games in the genre: its difficulty. Game Rant had the opportunity to chat withAnother Crab Treasure’s studio head/art director Nick Kaman and creative director/narrative lead Caelan Pollock about the game’s challenge and how it intentionally breaks a golden rule of game development.
Another Crab’s Treasure is Tough, Even for its Devs
The peak of any Soulslike game is its bosses, as these pose the toughest challenge and therefore typically result in the most rewarding experiences. It seemsAnother Crab’s Treasure’s Soulslike bosseswill be no different, as Aggro Crab has ensured each fight has plenty of different mechanics to keep players on their toes. When asked about boss design, Kaman laid out some details about howAnother Crab’s Treasure’s focus on pollution factors into each fight’s difficulty.
Most enemy designs in the game, including boss design, are “What’s a funny piece of trash we can give to the sea creature that they can use in an interesting way?” We’ve got the Samurai Crab, who uses a pair of chopsticks. At the start of the cutscene, he unsheathes it like a samurai sword, but a lot of the fun is figuring out how to make that weapon more interesting than just a stick. So, halfway through the fighting, he breaks the chopsticks in half. So now he’s got two sticks. Great! So it was just thinking in terms of: how can we make this character do something unique? And that’s where the difficulty is.
The boss Kaman is referring to was previously introduced in the game’s demo as Heikea, Intimidation Crab — a name obviously derived fromAnother Crab’s Treasure’s sense of humor. Aggro Crab has devised a way to makeAnother Crab’s Treasuremore challenging by incorporating its silliness into the mechanics for each boss fight, and it seems this will ultimately be revealed in the uniqueness of each battle. However, despite how normal it might sound for a Soulslike game to have formidable bosses,Another Crab’s Treasurebreaks a golden rule of game development, specifically regarding the game’s difficulty. As Kaman explained,
There’s this rule in Game Dev: if it’s hard for the devs, it’s way too hard for the players since the devs are going to be the best at the game. I think that rule doesn’t apply to Soulslikes. The fun here is that we get to just make the bosses as hard as we want them to be, as hard as they need to be to be fun for us, and then the players will also have to deal with that.
According to Kaman,Another Crab’s Treasureis challenging, even for its devs, but this is entirely on purpose. Rather than abiding by the rule that a game shouldn’t be hard for its devs, Aggro Crab lives by the notion that Soulslikes are of a peculiar breed and therefore should be handled differently. This can only mean that players will need to keep their wits about them as they traverse the underwater landscape ofAnother Crab’s Treasure, as it may throw even the most seasoned Soulslike veterans for a loop.
Another Crab’s Treasure
WHERE TO PLAY
As Kril the hermit crab, you’ll need to wear the trash around you as shells to withstand attacks from enemies many times your size. Embark on an epic treasure hunt to buy back your repossessed shell, and discover the dark secrets behind the polluted ocean.TRASH OR TREASURE?In this undersea society, trash is not only a way of life, but a valuable resource, used for everything from fashion to firearms. But with the presence of trash comes a mysterious infection known as the Gunk, which could spell doom for the entire ocean.LEARN FROM NATUREAs Kril explores the ocean, he’ll gain a variety of Umami Techniques—powerful attacks learned from the denizens of the seas. Punch your enemies with the overwhelming might of a Mantis Shrimp, ensnare them with the horrifying Bobbit Worm, and much more.UNEXPLORED DEPTHSThe ocean goes deeper than one can imagine. Fight your way through kelp forests, coral reefs, sand castle cities, and even the unfathomable darkness of the deep-sea trenches, all in the name of getting back your prized shell.
