Everything Is Crab Review: More Than Just a Shell of a Good Idea

I’ll admit it, I bought into the hype. When Everything Is Crab became one of the breakout indie hits of the year, earning more than 6,000 Very Positive Steam reviews and becoming one of the most-played demos during Steam Next Fest, it quickly found its way onto my wishlist.

A twenty-minute roguelike where everything is, well… crab, was enough to catch my attention on its own, but the buzz surrounding it really made me want to find out if it was as good as everyone said it was.

After spending the last few weeks playing it, I can certainly see why it’s been making waves. While I don’t think the developers behind Everything Is Crab have done anything particularly revolutionary, it takes a wonderfully ridiculous and cute idea and turns it into a genuinely addictive roguelike that’s incredibly easy to lose twenty minutes in… then another twenty… and another after that.

But did it live up to the hype? Let’s find out…

Evolution Never Stops Being Fun

The thing that surprised me most about Everything Is Crab is just how quickly it makes you care about your next evolution.

Every run you start off as a tiny blob, but it doesn’t take long before you’re choosing new traits, adapting to different environments, and watching your tiny creature slowly transform into something completely ridiculous, yet cute. Sometimes I’d end up with a creature that looked surprisingly practical. Other times I’d finish a run feeling like I’d recreated Frankenstein’s monster.

What I really enjoyed is that the changes aren’t purely cosmetic. Every decision shapes how you approach the rest of the run, whether that’s improving your survivability, making exploration easier, or helping you deal with the increasingly dangerous wildlife around you. It gives every upgrade a sense of purpose instead of simply feeling like another percentage increase to your damage.

That constant evolution is what I was striving for. I wasn’t just trying to survive for another few minutes, I genuinely wanted to see what bizarre combination of adaptations I’d unlock next. Even after hundreds of runs, there was still that little sense of curiosity every time I was offered a new choice, and I think that’s one of the game’s greatest strengths.

Twenty Minutes Somehow Turns into Two Hours

On paper, twenty-minute runs sound perfect. It’s the sort of game you tell yourself you’ll play once before moving on to something else. In reality, Everything Is Crab has a habit of turning one quick run into another… and then another. Before I knew it, an evening had disappeared.

A lot of that comes down to how well the progression is paced. Every run unlocks something, whether that’s new evolutions, additional challenges, higher pressure levels, or another goal to work towards. The game is constantly giving you a reason to jump back in, and it does so without ever feeling overwhelming. The game knows exactly how to keep you addicted.

Every Evolution Feels Like a Real Decision

Some upgrades encouraged me to become much more aggressive by unlocking attacks like Claws or the poison-inflicting Stinger, while others, such as Carapace or Regenerative Tissue, focused on keeping me alive for longer. There were even movement abilities like Slide that completely changed how I escaped danger or repositioned during fights.

That variety meant I was constantly adapting my build instead of chasing the same upgrades every run. Sometimes I’d lean into a creature that could absorb punishment, while other runs rewarded speed, poison, or mobility instead. It made every evolution feel like a meaningful choice.

The World Was More Alive Than I Expected

One thing I wasn’t expecting was just how alive the world of Everything is Crab feels. Instead of wandering around an arena waiting for enemies to spawn, it genuinely feels like you’re stepping into a living ecosystem. Predators hunt smaller animals (including you), prey scatter when danger appears, and you’ll often stumble across fights that have nothing to do with you.

My favourite discovery was the Spineapple, a predator that disguises itself as a harmless piece of fruit before revealing what it really is. It’s little touches like that which kept catching me off guard.

The different biomes also help keep each run interesting. Moving between grasslands, deserts, snowy regions, and water isn’t just a visual change, as each environment presents its own challenges. Add in the day and night cycle, where darkness reduces your visibility and changes the feel of exploration, and the world never feels static.

None of these systems are particularly complicated on their own, but together they make Everything Is Crab feel much more like a real ecosystem than just another roguelike map.

Could the Game Still Use Some Evolution of Its Own?

It’s difficult to find many faults with this game, but I did find the controls took a little while to get used to. If you’re playing on a laptop without a mouse, as I was initially, you’re going to struggle. Switching to a mouse made a noticeable difference, but even then, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the game would be even more enjoyable with a controller.

Thankfully, that’s already an option. Everything Is Crab fully supports both Xbox and PlayStation controllers, and after spending time with the keyboard and mouse controls, I honestly think that’s the way I’d recommend most people play. It’s certainly not unplayable on PC, in fact, once I adjusted, it controlled perfectly well, but if you have a controller within arm’s reach, I’d definitely plug it in before starting your first run.

Final Verdict

Everything Is Crab didn’t completely blow me away, but I did find it fun and addictive, earning it a solid eight out of 10 from me. Those twenty-minute runs are brilliantly paced, and the animal evolution system kept every run feeling a little different.

While I do think the controls are better suited to a controller than a keyboard and mouse setup, that’s a relatively small complaint in the grand scheme of things. Beneath the quirky premise is a genuinely fun and surprisingly addictive roguelike that understands exactly how to keep you coming back. And despite the name, you’re evolving into far more than just increasingly bizarre crabs. From predators to prey and everything in between, discovering what strange animal you’d become next was half the fun.

If you’ve been wondering whether Everything Is Crab is worth the hype, I’d say the answer is yes. It’s charming, easy to pick up, and is packed with personality;

I can already see myself dipping back in whenever I fancy half an hour of gaming… even if history suggests it’ll probably turn into an hour or two.