A Free Squid Game Clone Is All Over Twitch Now

Everywhere on Twitch right now, Crab game– just as Cephalopodic Netflix so happily shows – is a multiplayer battle royale game where players go head to head in a series of events based on childhood games. One by one, they are eliminated, until the last surviving player is crowned the winner. It’s created by Norwegian developer Dani, who earlier this year found similar Steam-based popularity with the survival-roguelite game, Mud.

Unlike director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s drama series Squid Game, which criticizes capitalism and makes social commentaries on wealth inequality, Crab Game leaves politics at the door. It’s just a matter of crushing players in games of chance and skill, to get that sweet pogchamp.

Crab Game then gets even weirder, putting some old-school Xbox Live voice chat into the mix. The game uses proximity voice chat, but also gives the impression that player microphones are coming out of a megaphone next to you. Thank goodness voice chat can be turned off, but players will talk to you via messages unless you turn that off as well.

Don’t expect to find a gganbu in Crab Game. Image: Dany

The gameplay is basically like Death Run in Garry’s mod, if he had a Spirit Halloween Squid Game skin. There are games pulled straight from the Netflix series, like Red Light, Green Light, and Glass Stepping Stones, albeit perhaps with a twist, like playing on icy terrain where friction joins aggressive players to be your downfall. Other game types include King of the Hill, hide and seek, and a Splatoon-style game mode appropriately called Splat, where players must cover tiles with their team’s color.

Instead of participating in a series of life or death kid games with desperate, debt-ridden strangers, Crab Game’s player base is made up of gamers ™, who just want to see you lie in the dark. defeat. You would probably have more civilian time with the former.

Their expressions may be simple, but you can see the gears of deception spinning behind their eyes.Image: Dani

When you start the game you can either create a server or join someone else’s, but be aware that it is the Internet: voice / text chat and server names are just what you need to be. wait. Then again, I played with random online while being Black so your mileage may vary. When you lose, instead of being knocked out by a firing squad, your body explodes like you’re hit by a Fallout style. VAT high critical fire.

The only dividing line between Crab Game and Squid Game is its aesthetic which includes a nonchalant version of the show’s soundtrack, players wearing the titular suits, and a lobby that acts as the staging area in Squid Game. An interesting detail about the lobby is that there is a red button in the middle of the room. Unlike players who press the button for a majority vote to end games in the TV series, Crab Game players have to press the button to prepare. , where players are left in the lobby with weapons and reduce their competition before the lights come back on.

The game has a bit of jank, which is honestly its selling point. Physics is so comically strong that you can throw a player across the room with a baseball bat, or throw them in the air. Players can be seen floating above long gone, technically drowned platforms, but, you know, floating in the air. Oh, and either some players are gganbu with god, or the game can be hacked. In the few rounds that I have played, where I have lost a lot, I have seen players cheat by miraculously floating above a lava pit. In others, the game acknowledged that they had outlived Red Light, Green Light, when they were never on the field.

Unlike Squid Game, playing Crab Game won’t elicit a strong emotional response, other than the fun the game can sometimes be. Unless you turned on voice chat and didn’t weather the Call of Duty storm in the beginning. Considering the racism I experienced playing the game, I would say Crab Game is best played with a group of friends rather than strangers. Plus, it’s free, so that helps.