Environmental messages are growing more common in video games, particularly indie titles. Colorful Soulslike game Another Crab’s Treasure is no exception, as it includes a pervasive environmental threat encountered by crab protagonist Kril.
In Another Crab’s Treasure, the Gunk is an infection of sorts that threatens life under the sea as a result of the trash–or treasure–that humanity has littered the oceans with. In this way, Another Crab’s Treasure stands shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow indie titles like FloraMancer as well as big-budget sensations like the Horizon franchise in tackling humanity’s impact on natural environments. Game Rant recently spoke to the game’s creative director/narrative lead Caelan Pollock (alongside studio head/art director Nick Kaman) about the Gunk and what it means for Kril’s world in a recent interview.
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Another Crab’s Treasure: Gunk is Not Just an Allegory
Pollock explained that the Gunk is more than just pollution of the sea, but a larger threat to the residents of Kril’s world.
The Gunk is, essentially, this substance that has the appearance of crude oil that is spreading across the ocean. And then, as time progresses, it sort of becomes clear that this isn’t just a physical substance, but is also spreading through people’s minds.
The image of crude oil spreading on seawater is evocative of some of the worst pollution disasters in history. Both the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and 1989’s Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska are prime examples of what damage crude oil can do in aquatic ecosystems. But the Gunk is also evocative of other aquatic hazards created by humanity as well, in particular the disposal of microplastics. The way human trash-slash-crab treasure contributes to the problem of Gunk mirrors the way the large floating garbage patches in the ocean seep microplastics into the sea and. from there. into the animals living in it.
As for the psychological effects of the Gunk, this is also mirrored by the real-world environmental consequences of human activity. In both oil spills and cases of microplastic consumption, fish behaviors change noticeably. These issues weaken group cohesion among fish and prompt those exposed to become more aggressive and to engage in more dangerous, high-risk activities.
Climate Catastrophe in Another Crab’s Treasure
But the deeper meaning of this allegory is something Pollock says the players will determine for themselves as they traverse the bright and silly Soulslike game. It is also something that extends beyond merely the physical effects of pollution on aquatic life, he explained, but may have other influences behind it as well.
I don’t want to get too into what the allegory of it all means to me, because I think that actually is something people will experience for themselves later in the game. It’s not exclusively just a representation of physical pollution. It’s this mental deterioration that’s taking place across everyone as their world starts to crumble … I was very interested in less approaching it from the perspective of “How do we solve climate change or pollution?’ and more about how do we, as people, build community and maintain something to live for in a world that feels like it’s dying.
It can be a mistake to oversimplify what Gunk can mean. While pollution and environmental destruction is a worthwhile allegory and can form the backbone of games like Terra Nil, Aggro Crab’s previous title, Going Under, also provided commentary on the way people. Specifically, it put players into the shoes of an unpaid intern who must complete dungeon crawls through failed tech startups. That means Gunk can also carry a meaning of a more spiritual kind of pollution as well. This may be hinted at by the game’s narrative, which features humanity’s trash sparking an undersea industrial revolution that, among other things, means protagonist Kril now has to pay taxes to the Duchess of Slack Tide. The game focuses heavily on the cascade of effects stemming from this rapid shift in aquatic society.
And, Pollock explained, that the more spiritual side of the Gunk is in keeping with the game’s broader themes. Another Crab’s Treasure is not about pollution in the way that Horizon isn’t really about machine corruption. Both, instead, are ruminations about how the game world reflects on a true, and preventable, apocalyptic disaster. Whether those more spiritual forms of pollution take the form of greed, apocalyptic thinking, or something else entirely will be something best explored through the eyes of a hermit crab who has to pay his taxes when Another Crab’s Treasure releases April 25.
Another Crab’s Treasure
Aggro Crab’s Another Crab’s Treasure provides a maritime twist on the Souls-like formula. Using the trash around him as armor and weapons, Kril must travel across an underwater kingdom while fighting off all sorts of impressive threats.
- Released
- April 25, 2024
- Developer(s)
- Aggro Crab
- Publisher(s)
- Aggro Crab
- Genre(s)
- Adventure , Soulslike , RPG
- Engine
- Unity
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Crude Humor, Language, Use of Tobacco, Violence