If you’ve been plugged into internet culture at all in the last five years, you may remember the crustacean party that virally swept social media. Back in 2018, we collectively lost our minds at the ridiculous adorableness of hundreds ofcrabs ravingon a beach. What started as EDM musician Noisestorm’s joke idea eventually led to a viral sensation that went as far as receiving a Certified Gold Single for 500,000 copies sold. Now, years later, Noisestorm returns to build upon “Crab Rave” with a solo development project: Crab Champions. Currently in Early Access on PC, Crab Champions is a fast-paced, FPS roguelike that feels like “Crab Rave”: The Game. Using many of the same design assets as the music video, players loop through various levels as gun-wielding crabs fighting against other crustaceans and creatures. With fast moving mechanics like sliding and dodging, Crab Champions is a speedster’s dream that’s got a dance-fueled soundtrack to match. Noisestorm has leaned heavily into his musical background as inspiration for the title overall and its sound. From chill beach themes with tropical influences to more intense EDM tracks, the electronic variety pairs so well with gameplay. Early levels feel relaxing as we work our way to the much harder content where we died. As we dive into more intense levels, edgier tracks feel appropriate for the Starship Troopers amount of enemies that inevitably populate the map. The OST makes sliding around chaotically feel even more enjoyable because of its musical range. Let’s jump into some notable tracks that make Crab Champions a playable rave.
The beauty of Crab Champions' OST is that its an ingenious way for Noisestorm to introduce the dual project of a new game with new music. Featuring a few different biomes where action occurs, we can hear how tracks meld with the environment to keep us in the groove. Our first biome is the beach and it’s easy to hear “Crab Rave’s” influence as “Technicolor” sounds like its paying the most homage with its tropical steelpan beats. Its tempo and composition also give an arcade feel to the gameplay, which compliments the overall aesthetic. It’s a track that’s energetic to start but dips to build up a bass drop towards the end that lines up well with the flow of the level. As we begin each level, enemies slowly start populating until a sizeable horde has formed. These moments are reflected in the track and add extra immersion with the inclusion of seagulls in the background. This ends up being one of my own favorite tracks for the beach biome because of the peaks and valleys in its composition that also reflect the action in gameplay.
After getting through the beach biome, chilled crustacean is served up next with the arctic biome. All the tracks for this biome give off an icy aesthetic with its use of varying bell sounds and synth. Usually higher pitch sounds accompany snowy environments when we do hear tracks with those themes since it sounds like ice ringing, and Noisestorm implements quite a few of these elements across all the icy tracks for these areas. In the “Glacier” track, we can hear the higher pitched notes and even lightly-reverberated bells. The track’s opening is a repeating sequence that’s reminiscent of plucked strings that can be found in winter-aesthetic sounds (we also see this in varying Christmas songs, for example). It speaks to Noisestorm’s attention to detail with the way this track is structured to place a lot of emphasis on the bell sounds for the arctic biome that feels like a fast-paced winter wonderland.
Throughout the soundtrack, it can be heard how frantic gameplay can be. With the track “Action DNB” – where “DNB” stands for “Drum n' Bass” – the use of fast breakbeats is heard alongside heavy bass with sub-bass lines to indicate some of the hardcore gameplay. Our quick little crab champion is constantly on the move while being hunted down by a horde of enemies. While there are moments where action builds up over time, some later levels just start frantically in their difficulty. One of the more notable elements of Crab Champion’s OST is how music blends so well with gameplay and much of this is due to the quick tempo. It works out, more-often-than-not, that certain gameplay elements even line up with what we hear in the background. Perhaps dodging midair lines up well with some of the beats, or sliding around getting kills lines up with the bass-line. “Action DNB” feels like it was composed with a lot of the more action-oriented gameplay sequences in mind as we fly through the air and slide along the ground.
Where we hear some of the most hardcore composition is within the track “Evil Song.” Playing in some of the volcanic biome areas and boss fights, with some of the heaviest bass. Giving off Matrix vibes – it feels appropriate as we dip, duck and dodge our way through bullet hell levels. It’s a track that feels intimidating, especially when paired with the giant mob that chases players down. Also taking inspiration from 80s action retro wave, we can hear a possible homage toKnight Riderwith its arpeggiated riff at the beginning. It makes a lot of thematic sense when we think about how slick 80s action felt. It feels so cool to unload high damage and take down a horde in our very own action sequence. Crab Champions offers a variety of gameplay moods to suit the moment as it ebbs and flows like the tides.
Crab Champions may have evolved from a joke, but Noisestorm is serious about its development. With a variety of EDM and synth compositions, many of the themes can be heard throughout the game. Each of the three available biomes feels unique because of their corresponding tracks. The beach biome feels high energy with their use of tropical beats and ambient samples. Steel drums accompany many of the tracks to give the crabs a warm environment to speed through. Arctic levels feel chilly with the use of higher pitches and bell sounds and stay true to the EDM composition with bass drops and percussive elements. Throughout the entire game, the use of various electronic components is heard to give Crab Champions its identity. Blowing through levels and dismantling huge hordes feels satisfying with all the high energy dance songs in the background. So many tracks find a beautiful balance between higher and lower tempos to also match the flow of gameplay during varying degrees of intensity. It just goes to show that we can have our rave and play it too. Noisestorm brings tons of fun in his solo project and treats us to an awesome dance party in the process.
