## 04252024 I am *really* enjoying this game, to an extent I wasn't expecting. I loved *Going Under*, but it's wild to see how much more of an in-depth and impressive offering *Another Crab's Treasure* has been. It has this beautiful mix of *Dark Souls* gameplay combined with a 3D platformer. The combat feels pretty good, and the nice thing is that it can be easily fine-tuned with numerous assist options that let you enjoy the game at your own pace, from reducing damage to increasing parry / dodge windows to just giving the main character a gun that can one-shot kill everything in the game, because why the fuck not?? I especially love the shell mechanic. The game has a myriad of shells - like actually tons of them - each with durability of various levels, different weights, and an "Umami" abiility that's casted with points that get refilled from doing attacks. I actually *adore* the fact that Kril's shells constantly break. It fully fits the scrappyness of the character. Scrambling from shell to shell, popping off abilities and scraping out a win is immensely satisfying. This one's definitely got me by the hooks, and I'll absolutely be seeing it through to completion. ## 04272024 So far so good for the most part. The game is a lot bigger than I thought tbh! Right now in the poison swamp but got stuck on some electricity puzzle. I wasn't expecting the metroidvania-like aspect of the game. You pick up abilities that unlock new areas and treasures you can loot. The plot hasn't gotten much more interesting but I can feel it coming together in a big way via bits and pieces. I hope I'm supposed to agree with that ronin lobster talking about how violence sometimes *is* the answer because they're right LOL. I'd like Kril to grow a ~~shell~~ spine and start affecting change and being a little less s~~h~~elfish. (sorry) ## 04282024 Feels like I'm at the end, shockingly sooner than I expected. Or maybe not - maybe this is proof that the needless difficulty of Souls games inflates their runtimes for no reason. Maybe! Anyways, to get into some stuff I don't like about the game: it's buggy as sin. Normally I don't care about that but good God I've had so many bugs where I get stuck on the geometry, or fall through the floor. Or have an enemy stick to my body and hurt me constantly even after they're dead, or getting stuck in a fall loop. You can tell the team knew this'd be an issue the minute you see a "Die Instantly" button. The camera also sucks ass, and gets stuck and caught or rotates too much. It'd make a weaker Barquq get motion-sick. The plot finally seems to be coming together. This one's been a bit more ambitious, so it doesn't all land because there's like 8 million things that Aggro Crab is trying to cover. It reminds me of [[TEVI (2023)]] in that way. I appreciate the swing they're making, and I did get a little emotional. Here's hoping it sticks the landing. ## 04292024 It stuck the landing! The end-game could easily overstay its welcome if you don't use the assist options, and the glitches continued to irritate, but *man* does this game end on a solid note. The bittersweet-yet-hopeful ending, the INCREDIBLE credits theme that could just as easily be in a big budget animated movie: it fired on all cylinders. I was expecting something good, because *Going Under* also had a great ending, but this one made me way more emotional. I loved Kril's journey, and the recognition that you can be angry at the state of the world, but with a sense of purpose. It's a subtle, thoughtful ending that grew on me even more the more I thought about it - and I already liked it! Very, very good game over all. # 3.5 🌟, 4 if they get rid of the bugs