Older readers of this website may remember of a game from two decades ago named Spore. Developed by the creator of Sim City and The Sims, it was a promising game where you would be able to live the legacy of a creature’s evolutionary line, starting from a single-cell organism, up until it became a fully intelligent spacefaring species. What felt like a promising idea ended up being a collection of small and unfocused minigames for each stage of its evolutionary line. But what happens when you pick the concept of evolving a creature through time, but in a smaller but much more focused manner? You get something that actually works quite well. In this case, the hilariously named Everything is Crab.

Start off as an innocent blob. You may try to avoid hunting down animals. Try to survive on fruit and plants.

Everything is Crab is a combat-focused roguelite in which each run starts off with you controlling an adorable, pixelated blob, in an environment full of other animals, be them predators or herbivores. Your goal is simple: survive. You can do that by consuming food, be it in the shape of fruit, mushrooms, or hunting down other animals and consuming their flesh. Upon consuming a specific amount of food, you can trigger an evolutionary trait for your animal. This is where the roguelike aspect kicks in: you are presented with a few options, such as legs, a horn, a beak, and much more. Choose one, and not only will you receive a new combat or survival skill, but your little creature will visually inherit that trait. In essence, you are creating a brand new freakish chimera in each new run.

You will eventually evolve, gain new traits, and become a skilled predator… or at least an animal that can defend itself against other predators.

It is actually a very simple concept, and you will basically see everything this game has to offer in your first run. This is a perfect case of “you’ll either click with it or get bored by it at first sight”. Everything is Crab adds new evolutionary traits by completing some goals, and there are some bosses here and there, but the loop is always the same: start off as a blob, eat food, gain traits, hunt down or defend against bigger predators, fight boss, keep surviving until a bigger enemy eventually consumes you. The combat is a bit half-baked, and the presentation is EXTREMELY simplistic, but there’s no denying that the gameplay loop works really well.

There will come an inevitable moment, however, when you’ll be killed by a bigger animal. Such is the law of nature.

Everything is Crab succeeds because it manages to feel fresh and creative in a genre known for feeling bankrupt of ideas. It’s a really simple roguelite with superficial combat and basic visuals, but its take on biological evolution and ensuring your adorable little freak will survive against predators is actually quite engaging and addictive. This game is very easy to pick up and play, incredibly silly to witness, and pretty enjoyable in short bursts. It won’t be anyone’s brand new favorite roguelite, but it’s really entertaining; that’s what really matters.

Everything is Crab is available now on PC.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB and Asus ROG Ally.

A copy of Everything is Crab was provided by the publisher.