Game file / ROGUE BY ROGUEEverything is Crab
The Animal Evolution Roguelite. Hunt, Flee, Scavenge and Thrive in a living ecosystem. Choose from 125+ Evolutions and Specialisations for unique creature combinations in every run. Adapt to survive the natural curve in order to beat carcinisation... or get Darwin'd trying!
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Community discussion
A Spore-creature-stage-meets-survivors-like action roguelite (Odd Dreams Digital / Secret Mode, PC, $9.99) where you eat prey to level up and pick evolutions that visibly mutate your creature over roughly 20-minute runs.
Players and critics agree the core loop (eat, evolve, bonk, one-more-run) is charming, addictive and great value for $10, with an adorable art style and funny animal flavour. The recurring complaint is thin content: one map, repeating biomes, a small enemy roster, about five bosses, and a few dominant builds, so many players felt they had seen everything after 5-10 runs, especially if they had played the demo. Steam sits at Mostly Positive (about 76.6%, 7.4k reviews at snapshot) while Metacritic shows a Metascore of 74 from 11 critics and OpenCritic a 78 top-critic average (60% recommend). It launched May 8 2026 as a 1.0 (not Early Access) and has since sold 500k+ and received free updates (1.1 June 2026, 1.2 Aug 2026 with mid-run saves), so it is actively supported, not abandoned.
What players praise
- Intuitive, accessible core loop: eat prey, level up, choose evolutions; short ~20-minute runs make 'one more run' easy
- Very charming pixel art and the visual mutation of your creature, plus a feature to save your creature as a GIF to share
- Humour, animal facts and puns, and strong Spore nostalgia for the creature stage
- Several playstyles exist on paper (tank/damage, charm-army, pacifist/dodge-and-survive), though many reviewers say only about three builds actually work
- 20 pressure difficulty levels plus challenge modes give a skill ceiling for dedicated players
- Great price/value at $10; runs fine on Steam Deck and has full controller support and adjustable difficulty
- Developer is responsive: free content updates, Twitch integration, mid-run saves, new Tracker archetype added post-launch
What players criticize
- Low variety: effectively one map with three similar biomes that blur together, a handful of regular enemies and about five bosses that repeat every run
- Builds converge: most winning runs stack physical/plating/size/food-speed upgrades, so 'different' animals end up looking and playing alike
- Higher pressure levels mostly add enemy HP/damage and player debuffs rather than new content, so progression feels like a number change
- Biomes barely matter: hazards like cold and heat damage only the player, and there is little incentive to leave the plains or invest in resistances
- Charm/ally, ranged and pacifist builds are widely seen as weaker than big bulky physical builds
- Bosses are seen as damage sponges with predictable patterns; late-run difficulty swings between snowballing to near invincibility and losing early
- Released as 1.0 but includes 'coming soon' placeholders and feels like Early Access to many; paid DLC on the roadmap while base content is thin annoyed some buyers
- Demo players felt the full game added too little beyond the demo
- Most upgrades show up within a single run and the between-run progression does not unlock new biomes or change gameplay, so runs feel samey after 5-10 attempts
Distinctive features
- Spore creature-stage fantasy fused with a survivors-like/action roguelite structure
- Your creature visibly changes with each evolution; a run ends as an eldritch chimera you can export as a GIF
- Win by killing the boss or simply by surviving until the timer or cataclysm ends, so dodging and pacifism are real strategies
- Charm/social builds let you play like a summoner with an army of charmed critters
- Ecosystem framing: predators, prey, alphas, points of interest, day-night cycles and mutually exclusive evolutions (e.g. antlers vs horns, tentacles vs legs)
- Twitch integration lets viewers vote on evolutions and appear as named enemies
Divided opinions
- Whether 76% Mostly Positive and a Metascore of 74 mean a 'good short-session indie' or an under-contented game: many reviewers recommend it while listing the same content complaints
- Value: at $10 many say it is a steal, while others feel it ran out of content in under 10 hours and should not have DLC planned yet
- Build variety: fans praise 125+ evolutions and distinct archetypes, critics and many players say a few builds dominate and runs feel samey
- Difficulty/balance: some find it challenging but fair, others see the post-pressure-10 balance as broken or the early game as too easy
Repetition and friction
- Repeating the same map, enemies and five bosses at ever-higher pressure levels
- Restarting runs at high pressure to roll a good early attack and scaling ability, since early rolls predict the whole run
- Late-run hordes and chaos where balance reportedly breaks down after about pressure 10; some argue the game wrongly tries to be a survivors-like
- Invulnerable turtle-shell enemies that are best avoided rather than fought
- Environmental damage over time that affects only the player, making resistance upgrades feel like wasted slots
- Slow unlock rate and a limited ability pool noted by critics
Hoped-for improvements
- More biomes, maps and enemy types, ideally with biome-specific enemies and rewards that give a reason to travel and adapt
- Randomised or mutated enemies/alphas so the evolution theme applies to the world, not only the player
- More and more varied bosses beyond the current basic set
- Rebalance so ranged, charm and pacifist builds compete with physical tanks; nerf the dominant bulky physical build
- More meaningful meta-progression and higher-pressure modifiers that change gameplay rather than inflate stats
- Quality-of-life asks: ability to banish evolutions, more UI customisation (damage numbers, enemy HP), mod support, seeded run sharing and more social/multiplayer features
Launched May 8 2026 at $9.99 on Windows only (no Mac/Linux); a well-played demo and playtest built hype, and streamer coverage (one reviewer cites NL) drove sales. Early Steam reviews were high but slid as players hit the content ceiling, leaving a Mostly Positive rating at snapshot (a search snippet quoted 87% Very Positive, likely an earlier or different window). Controversies: 1.0 release with 'coming soon' placeholders and a paid DLC announced on the roadmap before the base game felt full. The studio has sold 500k+ copies and shipped free updates: 1.1 (late June 2026: Tracker archetype, Lick Wounds ability, Twitch integration) and 1.2 (Aug 2026: mid-run saving, Jet dash evolution); a community-designed update and premium DLC are planned for autumn. Metacritic user score discrepancy: fetched page showed 8.4 from 18 ratings while a search snippet said 9.0; 8.4 used. Metacritic critic count was 11 and OpenCritic 15 reviews.
Community sources
- Top helpful positive and negative English Steam reviews (local file) ↗
- Steam metadata: release date, price, 76.6% positive, 7,439 reviews ↗
- Metascore 74 (11 critics), user score 8.4, critic and user quotes ↗
- Top critic average 78, 60% recommend, outlet scores ↗
- 8/10 review: abundant evolutions but samey runs ↗
- 7/10 review: brilliant concept, repetitive, aggressive builds outperform passive ↗
- Review praising build variety and visual progression, noting repetitive bosses ↗
- PC Gamer review (72/100 per OpenCritic listing; body not retrievable) ↗
- Publisher news: 500k sales and free 1.1 content update (via search snippet) ↗
- Update coverage including 1.2 mid-run save and roadmap (via search snippet) ↗
Archived creator commentary 1
Third-party summaries based on automatic captions may contain transcription or interpretation errors.
Tier list Part 5 (2026)
Everything is Crab is a cute evolution simulator where you eat food, evolve a creature (Darwin) by picking passives and actives, and watch it visually change while the world around it evolves too. He loves its simplicity, visuals and vibe, and finds it addictive and replayable. He is held back by thin content (few events, few bosses, one final boss), repetitive runs, tiny-range attacks that feel alike, and unlocks gated behind challenge modes. He sees big potential if the roadmap adds content, but rates it a solid B for now.
What the creator praises
- Very simple, accessible core loop: walk, eat, evolve, fight a bit
- Visual evolution of the creature makes builds feel immersive and unique each run
- Great visuals and vibe
- Living world where other creatures evolve and fight each other
- Multiple build paths: aggressive, sneaky/vegetarian, social with allies
- Good pacing and replayability, some survivor-like feel without bullet hell
- Has a roadmap and active updates
Issues raised by the creator
- Can get repetitive; runs differ mostly by small stat variations beyond the main paths
- Not enough events and bosses; the final boss is always the same
- Unlocking evolutions pushes you into challenge modes, which he dislikes as non-main content
- Attack range is tiny and attacks all feel the same, making controls awkward
- He feels he has already seen most of what the game offers
Design observations
- The creature visually evolves with the chosen mutations
- The surrounding ecosystem evolves and lives its own life alongside you
- Feels like a canvas where simplicity is the appeal; he does not want the core changed
