And I mean that literally, from the way the combat works to the difficulty and several mechanics being very similar to what you'll find in various FromSoft titles. But this game has a sea of original ideas of its own to set itself apart from others in the genre.

For one thing, there's a bit more of a focus on platforming in this game compared to other Souls games. You can swim in mid-air for a short time kind of like Yoshi's flutter jump, and thanks to the drop shadows that always appear right below you, I rarely had issues lining up my jumps properly. The grappling hook you get very early on also unlocks more platforming opportunities and is used very effectively with the level design. It all works well and is very enjoyable, with some surprisingly tough platforming challenges towards the end.

This is also one of the very few 3D platformers to actually have good combat. Unlike many other games in the genre where you can just spam the attack button over and over making it feel mindless, you won't get very far if you try to do so in this game. Similar to Souls games, knowing the best timing to dodge, block or strike requires paying attention to the enemy attack patterns then reacting accordingly. Each enemy type has different attacks that keep you on your toes, constantly evolving as the game progresses and remains interesting from beginning to end.

The combat isn't without its issues, however. The camera can be rather problematic sometimes, occasionally obscuring the view of the enemy you're targeting, leading to me getting hit when I can't even see them. I've also had times where enemy AI gets confused and doesn't really try to attack as they should, leading to me getting some very easy hits on them when I shouldn't. Fortunately, these issues don't happen too often and aren't bad enough to ruin the experience.

Scattered throughout the ocean are various shells you can wear. Simply equipping one will drastically reduce damage taken, but each one also comes with their own skills you can activate with an Umami charge. You can hide in a shell to protect yourself from damage, which goes to the shell instead, but will break after taking too much damage so you may be better off dodging if you can. Parrying is possible by leaving your shell just as the enemy hits, but can be very tough to time so I usually don't bother unless I do so by accident.

The game looks very nice. I loved the ocean setting this game uses and is full of its own personality. Characters are expressive and well animated, each environment feels unique, and the real time cutscenes, when they do show up, are entertaining to watch while also having voice acting that usually gets the job done. What I certainly wasn't expecting, however, was a short mini-documentary of sorts about aquatic ocean life when I booted this game for the first time, yet it still somehow fits into this game's narrative perfectly.

True to the Dark Souls series, this game is tough. Enemies hit hard and you'll die very quickly if you don't "get good" at combat. Microplastics, which are this game's Souls or Runes, can be used to level up at Moon Snail Shells, which are this game's Bonfires or Sites of Grace, but you'll drop every single one on death. You can go back to collect them at the spot you died at, but you'll lose them for good if you die again before doing so. Although punishing, it's never unforgiving, and it helps that dying at a boss will respawn you right before the boss, allowing you to try again quickly without having to go all the way back.

If you do find this game too difficult at any point, however, there are assist options that allow you to reduce damage taken and/or increase damage dealt. There are settings to disable losing Microplastics, as well as giving you a gun to shoot enemies with if you find melee combat too frustrating. However, I "got good" and was able to beat the entire game without them, and I'm glad I did as it made conquering every single challenge feel like a satisfying accomplishment, which I would've felt deprived of had I resorted to changing these settings to make it easier on myself.

For the game's asking price, you're getting a good amount of content as well. The main story can be finished at around 20-30 hours depending on how much you explore and how good you are at the game. New Game Plus becomes available after finishing the game which increases enemy damage drastically and changes enemy layouts, with much stronger foes appearing early on where they did not on your first run, but to make up for this, your shells, levels and most items will carry over. An overall nice way to provide replay value for the more experienced players looking to get even more out of it.

At the time of writing this review, my experience with the genre is very limited. The only other Souls game I have played is Elden Ring, and only for a few hours before getting absolutely destroyed by it. I don't know how this game's difficulty compares to that or other Souls games, but if you want a gateway game to get into the genre, this is a good place to start with. Mechanics are much more simple and not so overwhelming, there's a good amount of platforming and exploration to break up the combat, while also maintaining the difficulty the genre is well known for.

Other than the occasional camera hiccups I mentioned earlier, this game runs really well on my computer with very few glitches, short load times and at 60FPS with very few performance issues even when running on the highest graphics settings. I haven't tried running this game on Steam Deck yet, but for those who have one and want to play this on the go, I have heard it runs fine on that as well.

Not only is this overall an easy game for me to recommend to anyone that's never played a Souls game before and want to get into the genre for the first time, but the unique game mechanics, art style and setting also makes this worth playing even for Souls veterans. It regularly goes on sale, but has enough content to make it worth buying at full price unlike many AAA releases nowadays. It's also gotten me interested in checking out the Dark Souls series of games that inspired this someday in the future, and perhaps giving Elden Ring another chance.

If you do pick this game up but don't end up liking it in the end - just remember that One Crab's Trash is Another Crab's Treasure!