Devolver's weird mud crab game just got a Steam demo

Bone Assembly and Devolver Digital have released a playable PC demo for The Dungeon Experience, a comedy adventure game guided by a financially motivated mud crab.

The game was originally announced last September, but this demo arrived just in time for Steam Next Fest. It gives players a fresh look at its bizarre mix of first-person exploration and multi-level marketing schemes. The premise is genuinely funny. It is always great to see independent developers trying completely unhinged new concepts instead of chasing safe trends.

Bone Assembly is an Australian indie team formed by Jacob Janerka and Simon Boxer. They have built a world that looks like a cardboard escape room populated by weird monsters. The entire environment has a handmade physical quality to it, like a haunted house built by someone who spent too much time on LinkedIn. According to the crustacean narrator, he runs a "high fantasy theme park adventure crossfit with business seminar." He started as a low-level monster at the bottom of the food chain. Now, thanks to some crab-scented essential oils, he owns a dungeon and wants to teach you how to succeed.

The ultimate goal of your quest is to achieve financial freedom. The crab explains that this wealth will allow you to afford luxury items like a crab lamp, a crab rug, a race car bed, a crab clock, and a crab phone. It is a direct parody of hustle culture and alpha-male business podcasts, just filtered through the lens of a bottom-tier RPG enemy. You are not saving the world here. You are just trying to get rich enough to buy themed furniture.

Full body awareness

The developers point out their use of "full body awareness tech" to improve first-person immersion. In practice, this means you can look down and see your character's bright pink arms and legs as you navigate the dungeon. It is a silly technical flex that fits perfectly with the game's aesthetic.

The team also spent time making specific tactile interactions feel satisfying in a first-person view. The trailer demonstrates this by introducing a muscular barbarian character whose chest is part of a puzzle. You literally have to press his nipples to activate a mechanism. The crab narrator even warns you to take care and not push them too quickly.

The dungeon holds a large cast of characters to meet along your journey to financial independence. The trailer briefly cuts away to an anime-style title card for "Galaxy Pirate Star Fighters" fanfiction. This quick detour shows off the variety of art styles and absurd side stories packed into the training program.

Bribery and business acumen

The marketing pitch gets increasingly desperate toward the end of the video. The mud crab narrator begs the player for a Steam wishlist and offers a bizarre trade in return. He covers himself in lemon and herbs and invites the player to eat him.

"Mukbang me, adventurer," the crab says. "My claws grow back."

He then realizes that trading one wishlist for one mukbang is a terrible business model, but he commits to the bit anyway. This kind of fourth-wall-breaking humor is difficult to sustain for a whole game, but the demo suggests Bone Assembly has the writing chops to pull it off.

The Dungeon Experience is scheduled to launch on PC in 2026. The demo is available on Steam right now. Devolver Digital has a long history of publishing weird indie games, and this fits perfectly into their catalog. Most games try to sell you on their epic narratives or tight combat loops. There is something deeply refreshing about a title that abandons the hero's journey entirely because it just wants you to touch a barbarian's chest and buy a crab lamp.