I am become Crab

Everything in nature eventually evolves into a crab.

Based on the French absurdist play Rhinoceros as well as The Shadow over Innsmouth, “I am become Crab” is a short, dark comedy game about transformation and conformity in the face of hardship.

Long Description

“An organism never returns exactly to a former state, even if it finds itself placed in conditions of existence identical to those in which it has previously lived.” - Louis Dollo, 1893

“Where's your imagination? There are many sides to reality. Choose the one that's best for you. Escape into the world of imagination.” - Eugène Ionesco, 1959

Summer has come to the scenic Mediterranean village of Vallavega. But this year, something different is in the air. One by one, family businesses are closing. The mayor has been seen publicly feuding with the Chief of Police. And summer tourism is at an all-time low, after reports of strange attacks on travelers by giant crabs.

You can feel it, too. It would be something, wouldn’t it? To leave all this behind, and return to the sea? But that would be monstrous. No decent person would abandon their family, their home, and their responsibilities like that. The crabs won’t bother us anyway, as long as we all agree to ignore them.

“The phenomenon which may be called ‘carcenization’... the animal assumes the general body habit of a crab. To this end, by devious routes, evolution has proceeded...” - Lancelot Borradile, 1916

“We shall swim out to that brooding reef in the sea and dive down through black abysses... and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory for ever.” - H.P. Lovecraft, 1931

“I am become Crab” is a dark comedy game about carcinization, the process by which everything in nature eventually evolves into a crab. It’s also a game about rebellion and conformity in the face of hardship, and the self-justification that occurs on both sides of changing social norms. Inspired by Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros and Lovecraft’s Shadow over Innsmouth, the game focuses less on the experience of monstrous transformation, and more on the stress, conflicts, and social isolation that might drive such a transformation.

Depending on your perspective, it is either a silly game about a serious topic, or a serious game about a silly topic.

Players may notice some similarity to a variety of real-life political movements. The goal of this game is not to focus on any specific politics, but simply to explore how members of a community might come to embrace a lifestyle and viewpoint which they previously decried as monstrous. (Nobody in this game will be playing a fascist, though turning into a crab — or remaining human once all your friends are crabs — may be treated as an extreme ideology of its own).

There are two parts to this game.

As a human, you might have frustrating human goals, complicated politics, unfulfilling relationships, or a failing career, which you might not have the means to solve. We’re calling this “Secrets and Powerlessness”

As a crab, you might engage in a movement-based exploration of the world around you, building new relationships, new forms of communication, and a new way of life.

How much you think you would enjoy each of these parts of the game may affect your decision, as a player, on when/if you transform into a crab, and that is perfectly okay.