Souls<\/em>-like games for years, as the industry embraced parries and dodge rolls as a staple of video game combat.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s an inaccessibility that Aggro Crab\u2019s cofounders, Nick Kaman and Caelan Pollock, understand well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of factors that contribute to Souls<\/em> games feeling unapproachable,\u201d they say in an email conversation with WIRED, \u201cfrom the punishing difficulty to the lack of explicit direction to the cryptic narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cFrom Software prefers to create work that is exactly what it is out of the box, with minimal knobs to turn on the part of the user,\u201d they continue. \u201cHonestly, that\u2019s a pretty cool vibe, but obviously it is always going to wind up restricting the player base to those who are comfortable playing that core product.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was especially true for Elden Ring<\/em>, which drew criticism from players and developers alike for its inaccessible UI and quest design\u2014among an extensive laundry list of inaccessible design decisions.<\/p>\nMany players created workarounds for those design issues; others simply stopped playing. But Kaman and Pollock believe there\u2019s room for different approaches in Souls<\/em>-like games to welcome a broader spectrum of players.<\/p>\n\u201cWith our game\u2019s cartoony art direction and (somewhat) less grimdark themes, it made sense to be accommodating to players who might be experiencing the genre for the first time,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n
Those accommodations include ways to mitigate enemy damage, slow down gameplay, and increase parry windows\u2014features that feel overdue in the subgenre. Another Crab\u2019s Treasure<\/em> also includes the option to give Kril, the titular crab, a gun. Kaman and Pollock say it \u201cwas just too good a visual gag to pass up.\u201d<\/p>\nThe ability to one-shot undersea enemies with a gun may be a bit of fun in keeping with Another Crab\u2019s Treasure<\/em>\u2019s tone and a demonstration of how Aggro Crab is pulling away from the typically self-serious From Software. But it\u2019s also, according to Kaman and Pollock, \u201ca great way to illustrate our commitment to letting players play the game however they want.\u201d<\/p>\nPlayer control hasn\u2019t been forthcoming in previous Souls<\/em>-like titles. Fortunately, however, developers are starting to listen to players about what they need in this style of game.<\/p>\nFor Aggro Crab, this began with the studio\u2019s previous title, Going Under<\/em>, understanding what worked there and iterating further, helped by feedback from players at events like Summer Games Fest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n