On the surface, Aggro Crab’s2024 surprise indie darlingAnother Crab’s Treasure is a cute, hilarious romp through the ocean as players control the recently homeless hermit crab, Kril, on his quest to reclaim his shell that’s been repossessed under the guise of a tax penalty.
While this silly setup doesn’t seem to go claw-in-claw with intense,Souls-like combat, Another Crab’s Treasure succeeds in melding together the vibe and humor ofSpongeBobwhile grinding down to dust every single shell Kril tries to use to protect himself throughout.
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Another Crab’s Treasure is one of thebest Souls-likes of 2024, and that’s made especially apparent in the challenge of many of the game’s 18 main boss fights.
Naturally, some of these are more difficult than others, so let’s take a look at the 10 most threatening predators to prepare you for your journey in The Sands Between.
Be warned, a few of these entries are spoilers for a couple of late-game bosses related to the title’s story.
10Inkerton
Crab Hunter
Hit Points
The Unfathom
Boasting the third-highest surplus of HP in the entire game, Inkerton the Crab Hunter is no joke. Though he’s encountered earlier on in the title as a surprise pop-up battle, his second appearance and true test comes again toward the end of the game after Kril navigates The Unfathom.
Armed with a lobster cracker for melee and a party popper for range, Inkerton can punish from all locations of his boss arena.This weapon combo, along with his general appearance, evokes the feelings of taking on another hunter inBloodborne.
Still, by this phase in the game, Kril should be amply powered and leveled up to conquer Inkerton without too much headache. Even so, it’s a memorable and stylish skirmish with enough HP to whittle down to earn a spot on the list.
While he wouldn’t rank highly on a list ofmost difficult Bloodborne bosses, he still dons his hunter garb honorably here.
9The Consortium
Not Your Chum
4,200 (6 Ropes Each With 700 HP)
Flotsam Vale
Another Crab’s Treasure’s only real gimmick fight, The Consortium is faced in the first half of the game and is sure to send players reeling when it’s encountered in Flotsam Vale. The Consortium is an amalgamation of octopus, crab, and… other parts all trapped together in a metal cage of Eldritch horror.
The challenge here is destroying six separate ropes holding the cage together, each with its own HP bar. Attacking the innards and appendages of the cage inflicts no damage, as the only goal here is releasing the contents held within.
There are plenty of nasty swipes and crushing rolls from the cage to dodge as Kril figures out the best openings to get up close to and on top of The Consortium to set it free.
This battle definitely has a case to crack thelist of weirdest boss fight gimmicks ever.
The False Moon
The most rudely-placed boss encounter in the game, Petroch appears at the very end of a long, dark, and confusing stretch of exploration in The Unfathom.
Initially looking like a sorely needed Moon Cave (bonfire) at the end of this jaunt, Petroch, the giant hermit crab, terrifyingly emerges and wears the Moon Cave as protection.
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Admittedly, Petroch’s move-set from here isn’t the most challenging in the ocean to learn from here. It can spawn easily avoided sharp crystals to dodge, has a telegraphed jump attack, and several run-of-the-mill claw swipes.
Regardless, the surprise of encountering Petroch combined with the player’s desperate need for a break at this point make Petroch worthy of a spot here.
The Ravenous
The Sands Between
Pagurus is a boss that players will encounter very early on in the game. However, he’s not actually required to challenge until around the title’s midpoint.
Serving more as a giant beast to chase Kril from area to area in The Sands Between, Pagurus feels legendary and horrifying in nature when finally taken on.
Whether he’s challenged at first encounter or later on in the game when the story requires it, Pagurus is formidable either way. Armed with a fork and knife to either skewer or saw Kril in half, Pagurus hitshardand gains ground on Krilquickly.
His HP is fairly low and there is a hilarious way to cheese (or banana) him, but if fought straight-up, Pagurus is downright scary.
Venture Crabitalist
The Mouth Of The Drain
The game’s main antagonist for most of the title, Roland, the top-hat-clad isopod, is a fittingly difficult way to cap off the first section of Another Crab’s Treasure’s story. His pirate-themed pinball machine turned barge also serves as the most memorable boss arena in the entire game.
Utilizing his species' ability to roll up like a pillbug, Roland pinballs around the stage and can quickly pummel Kril into oblivion. Additionally, his multi-armed nature allows him to eventually wield multiple Allen wrenches as frantically flung and hard-to-avoid melee weapons.
Though Kril doesn’t earn the satisfaction of actually killing Roland, his stylish boss fight still pushes everything to the absolute brink.
5Praya Dubia
The Ocean’s Agony
Phase 1 – 3,000
Phase 2 – 3,000
Bottom Of The Drain
Up next is Praya Dubia, the penultimate boss fight in the game and one that features two very different stages to tackle.
In phase one, Praya Dubia possesses Kril’s frequent travel acquaintance, Chitan, the knightly lobster that used to stand guard at Castle Slacktide. Kril has to fend off hoards of summoned crabs between chances to chip away at Praya Dubia’s HP.
All the while, Chitan barrages with energy-blast sword swipes as Praya Dubia rains down energy bombs from above.
Phase two sheds Chitan and instead turns into a near-bullet Hell survival challenge between Kril and the ghostly jellyfish.
There’s no need for combat in this phase as Praya Dubia’s final shrieks whittle down its health bar automatically, but lasting long enough while endlessly dodging dozens of lasers, bombs, and spikes makes this one a unique and worthy late-game threat.
The Bleached King/Reborn
Phase 1 – 5,800
Phase 2 - 8,000
The Old Ocean
Another two-phase encounter, Camtscha, comes at the end of the most challenging and dangerous areas in the game, The Old Ocean and The Bleached City.
Such dastardly areas deserve a worthy opponent at their conclusion, and Camtscha does not disappoint.
Stationary in phase one, The Bleached King throws shock wave AOEs and toilet brush barrages at Kril nonstop. Even worse, Kril can pick up a “bleached” status ailment in this phase, which renders any of his Umami powers useless.
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After besting phase one, Camtscha sheds his bleached skin and reemerges anew, bringing a much more aggressive and mobile move-set to the party.
Just to make it extra challenging, his HP has now climbed to an insane 8,000, which gives both phases of this fight combined the largest health bar of any enemy in the entire game.
The Intimidation Crab
Expired Grove
As the first real skill-check boss in the game, Heikea doesn’t boast the massive health bar that most others on this list feature.
However, his crushingly strong attacks, his ability to frighten Kril and temporarily prevent him from being able to attack, and his early appearance in the story solidify Heikea as one of the most threatening fights in Another Crab’s Treasure.
While he doesn’t feature a true second phase, he still breaks his chopstick melee weapon in two when he reaches his 50% HP mark, making him even more unpredictable and able to catch Kril off guard with a quick swipe.
This will be the boss that serves as a turning point for a player to decide whether they want to adjust any difficulty and accessibility settings moving forward, which can turn Another Crab’s Treasure into one of thebest Souls-likes for genre newcomersif youreallyget stuck here.
Avatar Of Waste
Phase 1 – 5,000
Phase 2 – 5,000
Trash Island
The final boss in the game, Firth finally steps out of the shadows of the story and reveals himself as Kril’s main opponent.
Both phases combined, Firth leverages a whopping 10,000 HP against Kril and his entire arsenal of powers.
Mainly a straight-up fork versus spoon battle in phase one, Firth’s phase transition sees him fully powered up as he launches Kril’s same Umami power-ups, pillars of swirling water, and melees from multitudes of ghostly tentacles now attached to his shell.
This fight is a very fitting finale to Another Crab’s Treasure, but there is one more that poses an even steeper challenge.
1Grovekeeper Topoda
Not Shrimping Around
Following the typicalSoulsborne trend of final bosses not actually being the hardest in the game, Another Crab’s Treasure’s toughest challenge in faced early on in the Expired Grove.
Technicallyan optional boss encounter, Grovekeeper Topoda is not to be missed if players want to experience the highest degree of difficulty that Another Crab’s Treasure can throw at them. A mantis shrimp trained in martial arts, Topoda lies in wait for any opponent foolish enough to wander into his grove.
Topoda can unleash devastating right hooks, a hurricane of rapid-fire jabs, and tail smacks while on the offense. He breaks parries like a demon and can summon a swirling wall of sand to hide in and launch attacks from.
Though not required to complete the main story of Another Crab’s Treasure, besting Topoda encourages him to reward Kril with his devastating mantis punch adaptation and the ability to level up all other acquired adaptations at the expense of some extra Umami crystals.
Another Crab’s Treasure
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