Another Crab's Treasure sets out to create a game in the Soulslike genre that isn't afraid to lean into the silly side of things, with its underwater setting and charming cartoon art style. While it's clear that Another Crab's Treasure stands out thanks to this design, developer Aggro Crab had to find a balance between making the game accessible to all types of players while still including the core elements of a traditional Soulslike experience. Part of this design includes taking some of the genre's more difficult mechanics and translating them to be more approachable for a wider audience.

The Soulslike genre is infamous for its tough-as-nails difficulty, with punishing mechanics for failure that includes the iconic "corpse run," wherein players must run back to the location where they previously died in order to reclaim their corpse or risk losing all the resources they had on them before they died. Game ZXC recently spoke with Another Crab's Treasure creative director and narrative lead Caelan Pollock, who described the team's approach to this corpse run mechanic and how they balanced approachability with the Soulslike genre's core identity.

Kril wearing the Normal shell and the Aluminum shell in Another Crab's Treasure
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Another Crab's Treasure Will Feature the Soulslike Genre's Signature 'Corpse Run'

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Veterans of the genre are probably already familiar with the struggle of dying in a game like Dark Souls and frantically trying to get back to the site of their death to reclaim their precious Souls without dying again and losing them forever. Since these resources are often crucial for leveling up and improving the player's character, the corpse run adds an important element of tension to the genre that can be both engaging and frustrating to players. When it comes to Another Crab's Treasure's corpse run, Pollock explains that:

"You will lose your money if you don't re-collect your corpse. Since we're going for a more approachable game, it was a big question for us. We think this sense of risk and real stakes to dying is really important to the Souls vibe in a way that's much deeper than just 'Oh, this makes the game harder.' A lot of what we want to do, even though it is a more approachable Soulslike, is invite people to experience the Soulslike genre. We don't want to make it more approachable by cutting out what makes the genre interesting or unique."

Without this element of risk and reward, the Soulslike genre wouldn't stand out nearly as much from other action RPGs. It's ultimately good to see that Another Crab's Treasure is striving to keep its Soulslike identity front and center so that even newcomers to the genre can get an authentic Soulslike experience from the game.

How Another Crab's Treasure Makes Soulslike Mechanics More Approachable

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Although the corpse run element of the Soulslike genre appears in Another Crab's Treasure, the team at Aggro Crab actively looked for ways to eliminate other controversial mechanics the genre is known for without sacrificing the overall feel of a Soulslike game. One way Another Crab's Treasure accomplishes this feat is by following Elden Ring's boss approach and reducing the need for players to make a long trek back to a boss if they die during the fight. Pollock notes that,

"Almost every boss in the game, you can respawn very close to it. It was kind of inspired by Elden Ring doing something similar to a lot of their bosses. They've got the Stakes of Marika, where you can respawn very close by. We decided, once we started doing that, why not take it all the way and eliminate pretty much all of them."

This design decision serves as a nice trade-off with the inclusion of the corpse run, allowing players to experience that mechanic while not punishing them too harshly during a high-stakes battle like one of Another Crab's Treasure's boss fights. The result of this design should help Another Crab's Treasure successfully introduce newcomers to the genre to its staple mechanics without wasting the player's time.