Key



"Gotta have a orange to open that !"

- Cap'n Cuttlefish

Keys are mechanics in the single-player modes of the SS undefined: Octo Valley, Octo Canyon, the Octo Expansion, and Return of the Mammalians. Keys, upon being collected, can unlock vaults to allow the player to progress. Keys are sometimes hidden inside crates or dropped by defeated Octarians.

Description
Keys appear similar to typical keys, excluding the fact that they are roughly the same size as an Inkling's head. The top, curved portion resembles a crab with interlocked claws raised above its head, while the lower portion more closely mimics its real-life counterpart, being a long, narrow cylinder with teeth protruding at various intervals. They are gold in color.

Usage
The player collects a key upon touching it. Upon collection, keys appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen as a small icon. They can be used to unlock vaults, which typically block the path forward. When a key is used to unlock a vault, it disappears from the bottom-right corner of the screen and briefly floats in the air in front of the vault, before shrinking and disappearing altogether. If the player gets splatted with the key before opening the vault, they will lose the key.

In Octo Canyon, keys can also unlock a glass box that has an Industrial Squee-G inside in the same way as a vault.

Trivia

 * The crab design comes from the fact that the Japanese word for "key" (かぎ, or kagi) sounds similar to the word for "crab" (かに, or kani).