DuneCrawl

A giant crab becomes both your home and your war machine in a sun-blasted world where sandy oceans separate scattered oasis islands. DuneCrawl is an open-world action-adventure built around the Polloi’s resistance against the Ceramicists, an invading force of eerie jar-headed Vassals. Its colorful, strange setting mixes the threat of desert warfare with the playful spectacle of riding enormous insects, painting your crawler, and firing absurdly named weapons at hostile fortifications. The result feels adventurous rather than grim: a cooperative sandbox where each horizon promises a fight, a dungeon, or an odd new creature to commandeer.

Most of the journey revolves around steering the Crab Crawler between islands, taking on quests, searching ruins, and deciding when to engage enemies on the move or disembark for ground combat. Players collect Masks, Tunics, and Talismans that expand combat options, while tools such as the Buzzooka and Acid Harpoon give the arsenal a deliberately eccentric edge. The crawler itself is a major progression system, with defensive leg upgrades, guided weapons, cosmetic paint, and hats letting a crew tailor its role and appearance. Up to four players can split duties across helm, cannons, exploration, and fighting in local or online co-op; solo players receive help from a spectral partner instead.

What separates DuneCrawl from more conventional open-world adventures is its emphasis on shared vehicle ownership and insect-mounted travel. Beetles, Nymphs, Scorpions, and Ball Bugs offer alternate ways to cross terrain and enter combat, while hostile wildlife can become an improvised weapon instead of just another obstacle. Battles shift between crawler-versus-crawler duels, boss encounters, assaults on island defenses, and close-range skirmishes, giving the exploration a more varied rhythm than a simple loot hunt. Fans of the roaming freedom of Sea of Thieves and the cooperative chaos of Magicka, but who want a stranger single-player-friendly action game, should find plenty to like here.