As much as I have enjoyed all of the "Souls" offerings from FromSoftware, I never quite latched onto "Soulslike" games made by other developers. It always had something missing about it for me...and that changed with Another Crab's Treasure.

That's an interesting thought right? Here's this game that is colorful, cutesy and chockful of wonderful humor. And honestly, I think that fresh take is what made me really enjoy this game so much. It's so nice to be playing a challenging game where the environment is so jovial. The aforementioned humor has a similar vibe to SpongeBob which really jived with me. Yes, sometimes the humor, especially the homages, can get a bit over the top and obnoxious but I think it really works as one of the game's major strengths.

Accompanying this humor is a story that is mostly straightforward about a crab that gets his shell taken by a "loan shark". While I did mention that the world is largely bright and colorful, it does go into some dark and serious areas talking about income inequality, using the ocean as a dumping ground and personal growth. While the ending is a bit abrupt, I found the story, the characters and narrative to be surprisingly strong.

What you will be doing the majority of this game however is some serious soulslike combat. This game is not joking around with its difficulty and the bosses in particular will crush you quickly if you're not careful (Although the game offers an array of accessibility options). While the game strips down the roleplaying aspect to stat boost and skill trees, the mechanic of using different shells, with accompanying unique attacks associated with it, to battle with is a mechanic truly unique to this game and fits the setting well.

As strong as I found the gameplay to be, there are some areas for improvement. First, the map is frankly useless and does not help the user find things majority of the time. It is also a bit buggy...with several boss attempts I had randomly being launched 1000 feet in the air or deep below the level. I also feel that the gameplay is not quite polished to the level that FromSoftware games are with messy hitboxes and command queue woes.

But all in all, I'm not sure if that's fair for me to expect that out of Aggro Crab. This is a game made by a much smaller team than the giant that is FromSoftware. And despite some of its..."jank", what I got was a pretty unique soulslike with engaging gameplay, bosses and memorable cast of characters. If you're in the mood for a challenging game with some levity, I highly recommend that you check out Another Crab's Treasure.