When it comes to seeking a new gaming challenge, the underwater world of Crab's Treasure offers a unique twist, drawing inspiration from the unconventional physics of SpongeBob SquarePants. While underwater levels in games are notorious for their difficulty, especially in Soulslike genres, Crab's Treasure manages to avoid the pitfalls by infusing its physics with the whimsical logic of the SpongeBob universe.

The SpongeBob franchise is renowned for its offbeat underwater rules, where physics defy expectations, creating a world that doesn't always feel submerged. In a recent interview with Game Rant, Caelan Pollock, the creative director and narrative lead of Crab's Treasure, sheds light on how the game's underwater mechanics were influenced by the imaginative physics of SpongeBob.

Capturing SpongeBob's Quirky Physics Underwater

Both SpongeBob and Crab's Treasure share an underwater setting that operates on its own set of rules, distinct from traditional underwater environments. For instance, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, a 3D platformer set underwater, retains mechanics akin to a typical land-based platformer. Pollock explains how they fine-tuned Crab's Treasure's underwater physics to feel intuitive:

By sidestepping conventional water physics, Crab's Treasure aims to offer players a natural experience, blending SpongeBob-inspired logic for an immersive underwater setting. As various SpongeBob media have demonstrated, breaking the norms of underwater physics can add charm and enhance user-friendliness.

Reinventing Annoying Underwater Levels

While underwater levels in games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Water Temple are infamous for their frustration, Crab's Treasure subverts this stereotype. With most of the gameplay set underwater, Aggro Crab's team has tailored the underwater physics to feel organic. However, Pollock hints at occasional dry land segments in Crab's Treasure:

Nick Kaman, the studio head and art director of Crab's Treasure, believes that:

Unlike the aggravation often associated with water levels such as Ocarina of Time's Water Temple or Kingdom Hearts' Atlantica, Crab's Treasure flips the script by making underwater traversal the norm, potentially making land segments the true challenge for players.