Another Crab's Treasure Review | Bytesized

[@SecondWindGroup]

Hey folks! As a reminder we've recently updated Bytesized to Bytesized reviews, which is essentially 3MR 2.0 here on Second Wind! Expect to see a wide variety of games covered going forward from a number of different voices on Second Wind, including some new folks you haven't heard from before! Essays will continue as well, don't worry, we're just rethinking how we want to do those going forward. Stay tuned!

[@MariaVosa]

3MR was one of the formats I was really worried wouldn't be continued on Second Wind, so I'm really happy you are resurrecting it. And it's a nice forum for diverse voices and perspectives.

[@massimobolandrini9294]

I love the format, but I'd like a scoring system

[@SecondWindGroup]

@@massimobolandrini9294 Never! We hate scores :)

[@TenikoGames]

@@massimobolandrini9294out of curiosity, what would a scoring system do for you that a “here’s some good things, here’s some things I had problems with” doesn’t?

[@massimobolandrini9294]

@@TenikoGames Thanks for asking. Just a personal preferenze I guess. Since it's a short format, I would appreciate a scoring system that would sum up your opinion. Also a list of pros and cons would do that or a mark of excellence (like the essential or reccomended tag that Eurogamer used to have for some games ).

[@WBF_III]

The two best soulslikes of the last two years are about Pinocchio and a cartoon crab. The future is now.

[@AlbanianThrash]

time for crab

[@levinyl112]

And now a monkey with black myth!

[@Und3rWh3lm3d_]

The carcinization of Souls Likes lol Everything returns to crab

[@tach5884]

It's the crab cycle.

[@micuu1]

@@tach5884 THERE IS ONLY ONE STEP, AND IT IS CRAB

[@Haaalp]

Return? No, Return is monke. WE ADVANCE TO CRAB!

[@BloodyCaesar]

Evolve to Crab you mean? I personally can't wait for the "Return to Monke" soulslike.

[@MrFatalisDev]

@@BloodyCaesar Wouldn't that be Black Myth? That Son Wukong game from China that's coming out soonish?

[@nohbuddy1]

The give crab a gun option is amazing

[@nosoulboy13]

literally lol'd in my office looking at the tiny crab walking it around right side up... thx game. 😂

[@tommysalty5864]

KC has always been able to make those short reviews so dense with useful information, while finding space for jokes and puns (smooth sailing huh?;). And nothing feels rushed. Great job, as always!

[@darwinsdummy]

Fighting the camera, that's also a souls-like classic. Aside from the few stutters and bugs, it sounds like a lot of fun, will definitely be picking it up soon.

[@DirransRL]

It's odd he faced stutters. Only had a few dips at 1440p and no issues at 1080p. My machine many would call a relic too.

[@alexkaplan6581]

​@@DirransRLCould be driver issues

[@DirransRL]

@@alexkaplan6581 that'd be weird though, my system hasn't gotten driver updates in a minute; and it ran fine.

[@syelallouch]

"It's a Souls-like." Hm "You play as a cute crab." Okay... "You clean up the oceans and fight capitalism." Now I'm listening. "You also get a gun." I'M SOLD.

[@diegosaez4885]

"There's cosmetics, allowing you to dress in a maid outfit or cosplay as legally distinct Mr. Krabs, among other things. Also, there's an Among Us impostor plushie as a shell."

[@SunWarriorSolaire]

@@diegosaez4885 TAKE MY MONEY

[@RatchetSly]

Love all the nods to their previous game, Going Under, that're in this. The soda can shells are all different flavours of Fizzle, the drink startup that you were part of in GU, for example.

[@davidcook793]

Great spot 🤩 - I loved Going Under so will defo put this on my GamePass to-do list

[@DoctorTex]

"Give Kril a Gun" is my second favorite option in a video game, right behind "Give Sybil pants" from Pseudoregalia.

[@supersmily5811]

There F***ing BETTER be a gun% speedrun category. I WILL start it myself if it doesn't exist.

[@arielcahn7728]

Dew it.

[@SunWarriorSolaire]

Do it

[@supersmily5811]

Alright. I can't find any gun runs. A promise is a promise. :}

[@86fifty]

I saw this game a while back on IronPineapple's souls-like review series, and I'm so glad it's gotten so much attention now at full launch! AND very glad they left in the "give krill a gun" option, cuz they could totally have decided it was just for developer-testing-mode, but it's really funny, so I'm glad they chose to give it to the players!

[@DirransRL]

Been following aggro since pineapple got me onto Going Under

[@midnightmoron332]

Was looking for this comment. Steam dumpster diving baybeee

[@BeebletheBee]

This game looks adorable

[@SolaScientia]

I've been eyeing this one ever since I watched Iron Pineapple play the demo a while ago. To be honest, the camera issues just make it sound even closer to a FromSoftware game, lol.

[@jurtheorc8117]

I remember his video where he played Clash: Artifacts of Chaos. That one ended up not being quite a Soulslike, but a very good game nonetheless. Colorful and imaginative. Coincedentally there's a fighting style in that game called Crab Stance.

[@JohnGuyJohn]

If you're not being betrayed by the camera, are you even having a soulslike experience?

[@DEERCRACKERLOVER]

Dying so often on archer crabs is very reasonable

[@jcace13]

Making a Soulslike that isn’t just another grey depressing game is an idea I want to see more of. Though the pollution theme in this one is pretty depressing also.

[@Gigaheart]

OH you have NO idea. Heh heh heh

[@Weirdheros]

Well excuse you, some of us like being depressed

[@andrewhickinbottom1051]

Glad to see 'proper' bytesized back! Its a lot more focused and to the point now. Its a minor thing though, but i always have to skip that darn intro - for some reason that mouse click sound maddens me haha! I think its because its so emphasised and loud, and reminds me of all those dumb 'like, subscribe and click the bell' animations that play on some videos across youtube.

[@GCTubaTim]

Sponsor Block will skip intros and ads for you.

[@melephs_cap]

Seconding this! All those points are true to my experience, except I didn't experience slowdowns or camera issues. (People seem to agree performance is best on PC.) I did find a couple glitches, but the devs are hard at work patching them up. Also, worth noting that the game's stellar writing is aimed at adults and not at all at kids despite the cutesy aesthetic.

[@A-Spoto]

Yeah, my experience has been wonderful barring the glitches. I've played most of the game so far on PS5 and the amount of bugs and performance issues borders on unplayable at times. It's a great game that's held back by a lack of optimization and I really hope the dev team are able to remedy that soon.

[@SolaScientia]

@@A-Spoto I'm not too surprised at the issues with the PS5 version, because I think when I watched IronPineapple's play of the demo it was, at the time, only on Steam. Either way, there wasn't a PlayStation version in the works. I'm not sure if there was a mention of it coming to Xbox either at the time.

[@TheBlueArmageddon]

Love that the game offers an easy mode, this is what we need in soulslike for people who just wanna experience the story and world!

[@01-aleriorayyaarifaisal91]

Nah. Becuase even tough you manage to finish dark souls. You still doesn't know the story until watch vaatividya anyway.

[@GmodPlusWoW]

Now I think more about it, ACT is sort of the Spongebob Soulslike that we didn't know we needed, and also a lot more.

[@navyhusky2020]

0:23 Utterly disappointed you didn't go with "crabitalism"

[@vonriel1822]

It's okay, the game didn't miss that one! There's a rainbow-themed cosmetic called 'rainbow crabitalism' that you can pick up that I probably spent a disproportionate amount of time laughing at when I first saw it.

[@samadams8533]

Appreciate the reviews going back to a shortened format, concise and to the point reviews are great and lacking on the platform!

[@vincentrose8725]

Glad we got KC and reviews back. I'm excited.

[@PJB1995]

That crab enemy at 1:20 is literally the Taurus Demon boss from Dark Souls, same cramped curved battlement environment, even the same move set!

[@JeffKryger]

I like that they offer options to tune the difficulty if you get stuck or want an easier go at it.

[@liser]

Glad these reviews are smaller again. I like this snack sized reviews

[@AirsickDolphin]

These make me so happy. Love hearing about all the random games I never would hear about otherwise.

[@merman1974]

Thanks for another great Bytesized review, good to hear both the problems and the accessibility controls mentioned. Feels like too many reviews gloss over things like that. May have to check this out on Game Pass if I get time.

[@Anthropomorph0]

So many high quality puns KC, I love it!

[@GeekySkippy]

This looks way better than at first glance. Thanks for the honest review.

[@RobertMcGovernTarasis]

That actually looks fun, and the graphics are lovely. Cheers for reviewing. Oooo and its steam deck verified.

[@devincheeseman3867]

This actually looks fantastic

[@KeepTrucking-fb3lb]

wow, this looks much better than I expected!

[@eldibs]

Wait, you get to fight giant enemy crabs?! Can you attack their weak points for massive damage?!

[@RatchetSly]

With the Balance, Capsize and Hook mechanics, basically yes.

[@Zehn317]

One of the abilities you get lets you get a critical hit on a capsized enemy and literally says to "attack their weak point for massive damage", so yes

[@MrAsianadam]

i love this series, really has given me plenty of games to wishlist

[@Raida7]

What a clever difficulty option!

[@maromania7]

Honestly I was just sold by it being from Aggro Crab, since Going Under is a game I adored!

[@veiddimaddur8354]

Time for Crab

[@JustJulyo]

We need more games with Rainbow Mantis Shrimps in it

[@calebcrumlish1670]

Especially rainbow mantis shrimps that're martial arts masters with teleporting pressure point blows like Hit from DBZ, lol

[@JustJulyo]

@calebcrumlish1670 definitely need to download this soon!

[@Gigaheart]

This game is great. They devs have already patched out or are working on those issues with the camera and performance problems. They are very responsive to feedback. I am having a blast with this game. Very good soulslike and very good game. Worth the time and it is even on game pass.

[@Ecter]

Already bought it and intend to play once the first few rounds of patches get done. Good news - devs are hard at work patching the game, so hopefully nobody's gonna have a bad time with this game except for ones who got on it early enough to get softlocked :3

[@kitthekat6844]

Oh, 3MR is back? Awesome!

[@lyleblue6739]

this artstyle massively reminds me of spyro 2, especially that one underwater level

[@MangetsuSAMURAI]

You had me at "GUN."

[@IRules2244]

I am currently at the boss in the bleached city. As my first souls like game I have gotten fairly far in, I reely enjoy it.

[@lazarus_089]

For his special, he wields a gun

[@morguenmorguen6862]

Can I get a "yee claw!"

[@FluxChanneler]

I was already considering buying this game, but now I'm sold.

[@Pecisk]

That is another very reasonably priced good looking game!

[@Rocketboy1313]

This is adorable. And kind of represents how the style of game has given up on trying to steal Dark Souls style. It is like how platforming used to be the realm of funny mascots characters and now it is various rectangles. Or how shooters used to be Doom clones and now you can ranch slimes. Just the logical evolution of any game style to move it outside of the initial tone or art style and into just... stuff.

[@gamepapa1211]

I love that this game is both a tribute AND a giant middle finger to Soulsborne games. The lack of a stamina bar is a good step forward. And the one-shot gun reminded me of all those Gun Mods for Elden Ring and how it actually made the game fun again. Yeah I said it. Elden Ring was fun with a gun mod. Eat it, Git Gud Crowd.

[@Erlaxis]

Looks ok. I don't think this will go into my wishlist just yet, but maybe at some point down the line.

[@alwaysasn]

Honestly I finally got a little bit interested into the soulslike genre last year. Got about 4-5 hours into Dark Souls 1 and found it a little too rough around the edges. This seems like a neat entry point for the genre.

[@SolaScientia]

If you want to start with an actual Dark Souls game, 3 is probably your best bet. Enemies, weapons, and flask usage are all sped up and closer to Bloodborne in terms of speed (maybe not as fast as Sekiro enemies). They're still slower than Bloodborne enemies though, but it's a much smoother experience than the first 2 Souls games or Demon's Souls. I've honestly never gotten far in Dark Souls 1, Dark Souls 2, or Demon's Souls, but I've completed Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, and Elden Ring.

[@revolutionofthekind]

Wait a second, its only 30 bucks????? Thats unreal! I noticed this game when it was first revealed and its just such a cool direction for a soulslike i really want it to succeed. Between this and Lies of P, i really hope more studios get really wacky with the soulslile formula more often

[@dubstepbee6892]

do you think this could get Yahtzee out of his soulslike fatigue

[@justinbuergi9867]

Did this start off as a game jam game? I definitely played something very similar to this during a Ludum dare jam

[@Oscar97o]

I don't think it did, Aggro Crab is an established studio.

[@justinbuergi9867]

@@Oscar97o weird. It looks so similar to that game. But I guess hermit crabs looking for shells isn’t that uncommon of a mechanic

[@NoJusticeNoPeace]

Would have been helpful to talk about replayability. A game that short needs to have more life in it than one playthrough for the price they're charging.

[@TalynWuff]

More games need a F*** this Shit gun option.

[@shakyjosh3337]

I honestly feel like I'm crazy when it comes to this game. Like I enjoyed it when it worked, but it wasn't just the camera that was broken for me.😅 I would be clipping in to aeas that I could not clip out of (lost 13000 mp to that dadgum fishnetted leg), I had to use the unalive instantly button multiple times in just the first section. Enemy placement also didn't feel super good a lot of the time, but that could honestly just be me and I don't hold that too much against the game. Has no one else had issues with clipping into all sorts of objects, wall climbing on things like nets going into walls and throwing you off, or weird physics where you get thrown across the map or up into the air when blocking against geometry. Got to the point I eventually put it down out of frustration for those issues. I just don't see anybody really talking about that. Was that just me? Do I need to give it another go?

[@Gigaheart]

They now have an ability to restore your junk in the assist menu in the latest update and they are working on getting those areas of instances where the player can fall through or get stuck, ironed out. I have clipped into a few things and gotten stuck but I did not have a lot of junk on me, so it was not a big loss. Shell Insurance ensures you can keep your favorite shells.

[@shakyjosh3337]

@@Gigaheart Happy to hear that! I think I'll let it sit on gamepass for s while and give it another go.

[@Gigaheart]

@@shakyjosh3337 Gamepass doesn't have that update yet, so that's a good idea.

[@janvangils5560]

29,99??? dang that is a very fair price. Like I would have found 45 fair

[@NoobsDeSroobs]

This game was a very easy entry to the genre, but that is not necessarily bad. Still wrong to call it 'the same grimdark' as other soul games.

[@Gigaheart]

Oh it is very dark, don't let that cute aesthetic fool you.

[@TheCreepypro]

seems like fun

[@d_-xr8se]

Voice acting was good. Wish it was more than intermittent.

[@OldBuggaboo]

They give you a glock 😭😭💀💀

[@TheGiggleMasterP]

Can confirm: Global Warming is causing the crabs to gain sentience.

[@iDetzy]

This game sounds hillarious

[@icarue993]

Everything evolves to crab, even dark souls

[@LuminalSpoon]

This feels like a PS2 game, in a good way though

[@JaceGarrdok]

Clawitzer Gaming

[@lucasportasio]

I like how seriously people are taking this game

[@BintanginTaya]

I mean you kinda do a disservice to the effort the developers did if you don't take it seriously. Being dispassionate seems more insulting tbh.

[@Soul-Burn]

To be fair, it's well designed and plays well. Just goes to show graphics/theme aren't everything.

[@mullerpotgieter]

@@Soul-Burn Aesthetics far out strips graphics in the modern era.

[@LocalSlasher]

Mind clarifying that?

[@lucasportasio]

@@BintanginTaya well at first glance, i thought this was like, a joke game, like that stupid soulslike Penguin game, when i realized It was more than that i worried people wouldnt actualy buy it or talk about it, so im glad people are taking It seriously

[@hkh4-onehandedvidya]

Fighting camera souls like staple

[@JULR0W]

I love the developer but I kinda don't like the areas in the beginning. The combat was alright

[@Barakon]

I’m the 987th like! Backwards numerical order! Haha!

[@eminence_]

It needs FPS cap. My 7900 XTX is melting my PC when I try to play this game

[@BumbleCrumble1072]

Crab

[@damie9412]

Nice

[@knickknack675]

I really liked it but it was super frustrating to play (which duh cause souls like) but nah it feels like the scaling was weird and the exploration was wonky/boring

[@coreysierchio4650]

Crab with a gun, lol

[@memyselfandisaacmusic7819]

Yo I made it here at 40 seconds what the heck, this is exciting- I didn't even know the time since release went that low!

[@puppyizm]

cartoony crab souls like about pollution and capitalism ok i need this right now

[@Seio0987]

Since it wasnt mentioned - do NOT get it for Switch. It sadly runs horribly, especually on handheld and the graphics are extremely toned down. It sadly made this solid game a disappointing experience.

[@duncanblue4744]

"...of a cartoon I'd absolutely watch, let alone interact with" that's not how you use the phrase "let alone"; I think your word choice is expressing the opposite of what you meant

[@veiddimaddur8354]

🦀

[@illboi42069]

Every time I've played a Souls like that has removed stamina management it fundamentally no longer feels like a Souls like it always feels like something much closer to God of War from the PS2 era always seems like people are Maybe using the wrong word to describe these games

[@Gigaheart]

They limit your attacks and rolling. Far as I can tell the hammer has 2 attacks max and the fork has 4. Then there is a hard reset where you can not attack for a few moments. You can't just spam your way through. Things have weight to them. Like you can not dodge until the moment your first attack is done, even if you pressed it, as an example. You can be hit mid animation for most attacks, including parry and riposte. The same types of decision making needs to be done as in Souls games is here. Lack of stamina management does not mean lack of decision making and pressure. If you try to spam your attacks, you will struggle on some of the later bosses. You need to know when to dodge, block, and attack. Stamina bars are not necessary in games. They are a hindrance to fun. Just my personal opinion.

[@illboi42069]

@@Gigaheart So the stamina bar is just hidden then?

[@Kerwell]

I genuinely really hated this game. I played through the end, but it’s such a buggy mess.

[@hihihi1q23]

This game is unironically a better, much more original game than Stellar Blade. Originality and passion > AAA budget and soulless waifu shit.

[@Gigaheart]

Hey, you leave my waifu's alone.

[@earthdust00]

Game pass you say....