TArcane Kids, the Los Angeles video game collective, has a manifesto that I always think about, but especially when I find art that surprises me or approaches traditional forms in new and exciting ways.
The second line simply states, “The fastest route to the truth is a joke.” Another Crab’s Treasure, his second work for Australian indie studio Aggro Crab, is full of truths and jokes. There is also something else, something even rarer.
Another Crab’s Treasure is ostensibly a combat-oriented adventure game in which you play a small hermit crab whose shell has been stolen. To find out how to get the crab back from the lone shark, you will have to explore the depths of the ocean. The crab can then be returned to its peaceful life in coastal tidepools. For such a welcoming and colorful-looking game, the game has intense and complex Dark Souls-style combat, and the juxtaposition is truly refreshing. Our hero, Krill, only has a small fork, but with a little concentration and practice he can stand up to the huge and grotesque crustaceans he encounters again and again.
“It’s clearly a game about pollution.” Photo: Agro Club
To replace your lost shell, you can protect yourself by wearing as many objects you find on the ocean floor as you like, including soda cans, Rubik’s cubes, Lego blocks, and suspicious objects like Scrub Daddy’s sponge. If, like me, you need to adjust the difficulty of combat from time to time, you can select the “Give Krill a Gun” option from the Accessibility section. His cannonballs quickly become a large, disproportionate but extremely useful handgun, capable of killing enemies in one shot if he spots them. Once done, you can place your weapon on the sand and move on. There is always another object to use as a shell. The landscape where krill live is a treasure trove of human shells. Plastic as far as the eye can see.
Another Crab’s Treasure is clearly a game about pollution, but it approaches the subject of environmental destruction deftly and with surprising levity. The crabs we meet love trash. They wear silica packets as dresses and crispy packets as hats. A map on the back of a cereal box leads them to a hidden treasure, but when faced with real money they have no idea what it is. The in-game currency is microplastics. Plastic is king and trash rules the world. All the garbage we come across is useful to us.
Source: www.theguardian.com
