I hope none of you are allergic to shellfish, because Shrimp Game is exactly what it sounds like: a game about shrimp! And yet that is a complete bastardisation of what it is, for you do not simply play as a shrimp, you are piloting a shrimp, or SHRIMP (Submersible Hydrodynamic Research Integrated Marine Platforms), and you must survive a hellish underwater landscape filled with sea creatures that strive to see your life ended and “Lovecraftian bosses.”

There is a hint of games like Armored Core to be found here, more so in movement mechanics. You don’t pick out parts for your shrimp, but you do pilot it as if it were a mech, zooming around the seascape, shooting at other fishes and the like with your abilities. These abilities are based on elements like fire and earth, or light and dark, and you can even mix and match them to a certain degree. You will also find, amazingly, that you can play the game’s campaign in six-player co-op, or you can try out its PvP modes like “Shrimp Royale, Shrimp Tag, and Capture the Turtle!”

Shrimp Game currently has a demo on Steam that I spent a bit of time with after spotting it in The Virtual Moose’s most recent indie game round-up – just in the campaign mode, though its online mode is available too – and it is as frenetic as it is wacky. Enemy attacks approach you at all angles, you need to be constantly aware of your surroundings otherwise you’ll end up sleeping with the fishes, literally and figuratively.

Its world is tantalizingly weird and mysterious too, as silly as it might be to feel this way about something called Shrimp Game, I really vibed with its salty hellscape. I want to learn about why this world exists in the way it does. I want to understand why I have to pilot the shrimp.

When can I do this? Well, sometime in 2026, as it doesn’t have a more specific release date beyond that, but you can wishlist the game on Steam (and try out the demo) right now.