Crab champions is a fast paced shooter where you defeat hordes of enemies and collect a ton of loot.
Run-based gameplay
The core mechanic involves completing runs on islands to defeat enemies and collect loot. Victory runs usually last around 30 minutes with an option to loop endlessly for survival. This run-based structure leads to a dynamic where players strive to improve their performance and survive longer, creating a “speedrun” mentality. After each run, the player gains more experience on how to deal with each enemy and adopts different strategies to maximize time. This contributes to the challenge aesthetic, since faster times and higher run levels contribute to more satisfaction out of the game. You are rewarded for your skill and overcoming the obstacles of unique and stronger enemies.
Build Crafting
The game also features build crafting mechanics, where players can collect different types of loot. Players can experiment with different combinations of weapon, grenade, and perk mods. With limited inventory space, this dynamic encourages players to find the most effective and powerful builds for their type of playstyle, often trashing or skipping mods that would potentially waste space. This contributes to the discovery aesthetic since there are hundreds of new mods to discover and new combinations to try out with different outcomes.
Multiplayer
While mostly played solo, there is an option to cooperate with up to three players, encouraging teamwork and cooperation to progress further into the game. In multiplayer runs, players often adapt a divide and conquer dynamic to maximize on time and also manage resources (loot) efficiently. For example, in a duo it’s more effective to have one player focus on weapon mods while another focuses on melee mods. It encourages the fellowship aesthetic because it is advantageous to actually work together to defeat the enemy crabs.
