After the huge success of Vampire Survivors, the Survivor-like genre has become one of my favorites.
Over the past 4 years since VS launched, we’ve received a lot of great titles such as: Brotato, Megabonk, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, and Yet Another Zombie Survivors.
Each of them brought something innovative to the genre and started setting the direction for future survivor-like games.
On May 8, Everything is Crab is launching, which in my opinion may set a new trend or even an entire sub-genre for games inspired by Vampire Survivors.
Everything Is Crab
Release Date: May 08, 2026
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Strategy, Indie
Table of content
Meet Darwin
In Everything is Crab, we play as a blue… “thing” named Darwin. Our goal is to evolve the main character in such a way that we don’t end up at the very bottom of the food chain and survive each level thanks to the combinations we choose.
The stage mechanics are familiar from most survivor-likes: we land in the middle of the map, enemies appear around us, points of interest show up, and at specific moments we face a boss.
There is also the well-known progression system in the form of cards that grant Darwin various bonuses such as more HP, additional attack damage, speed, damage reduction, or dodge chance.
Things get interesting once we go a bit deeper – in Everything is Crab, we are not the only character being hunted. Just like in nature, there are predators here that hunt weaker species.
Additionally, there are no automatic attacks performed by our character – unlike in Vampire Survivors or Megabonk.
Every attack is our input, and every action has its own cooldown, which adds more strategic and skill-based elements to the game.
Every fight with an enemy can end in defeat, which means that despite its very friendly art style, Everything is Crab shows the brutality of nature, where not only strength matters but also cunning and tactics.
A Variety of Combinations That Affect Gameplay
Another thing that sets EiC apart from most survivor-likes is the number of tools the game offers, which directly affect how we approach each run.
The map consists of different biomes – a starting forest, swamps, desert, or tundra – and each of them affects how we move, how Darwin reacts to temperature, and what enemies we may encounter.
If we want to cross a body of water without the proper upgrades that allow us to swim or float, it’s better to abandon that path and choose another one.
I learned this quickly when I was defeated by… “frogs,” or whatever that was. Despite having really strong attacks, due to movement difficulties, enemies attacked me from a distance and I quickly experienced my first “extinction.”
Everything is Crab brutally teaches us that even the strongest melee build, in certain conditions, is useless – such as in water combat.
This makes every evolution capable of defining how we approach the game. And for me, this is something new, something that Everything is Crab does really well.
Prepared for Vegans
Another fantastic aspect is that the game doesn’t limit us to being a bloodthirsty predator but also allows us to complete a stage as a pacifist.
We can evolve not only by feeding on meat or carrion but also on fruits or mushrooms, which have their own separate mechanics that allow us to create a build focused on being a mushroom gatherer.
And now the question arises: “Alright, you can be a pacifist, but what about boss fights?” Odd Dreams Digital thought about that too, because each boss has its own “time bar” located under the HP bar.
When it drops to zero, the enemy simply retreats – maybe it sensed there wouldn’t be much meat on such a Darwin, or maybe it just didn’t like the look in his eyes after eating too many mushrooms.
Adapt, Evolve and Survive
Most survivor-likes quickly teach us what the “meta” is and which combinations are OP.
In Everything is Crab, even with what seems like the weakest build, we can come out victorious. Especially since we are not limited only to what we find on the ground – the game also offers many points of interest that can grant us an ally, a full level, attack boosts, and much, much more.
Everything is Crab quickly hooks us into its “just one more run” gameplay loop – and that’s something essential for this genre.
So if you’re looking for another EVOLUTION of the already well-known Vampire Survivors formula, Everything is Crab will be a really great title to check out, especially since you can still play the demo and see if you can reach the top of the food chain.