Saving the world feels secondary here
to simply enjoying the process. Yes,
there’s a story, as protagonist Nobody
sets out to gather five crystal
fragments that will stop a cataclysmic
spread of malignant
fungus. But as with
DrinkBox’s previous
work, Guacamelee, it
comes with an ironic
nod to genre cliches,
and nobody but
Nobody is expected to
take it seriously.
The star of the show
is undoubtedly the main character.
Nobody is a plain white cardboard
cut-out of a human. But as much as
this is a game about the journey more
than the destination, it’s also about
what you become along the way –
literally. With the aid of a magic
wand, Nobody can transform into a
host of animals, beasts, and vocations,
calling on their unique skills to beat
back the monster hordes.
The heart of Nobody Saves the
World is in toying with the individual
quirks of these forms. There’s
something wonderfully absurd, for
example, about assuming the personaof a magician in a fantasy world
where wizards and magic palpably
exist, yanking aggressive bunnies
from a top hat. I’m also a big fan of
the slug, back-pedalling from enemies
to draw them into its
slimy trail, slowing
them down to be
picked off.
Each form begins
with a unique signature
attack and passive
ability, and eventually
learns one or two
rechargeable special
moves. But the real fun begins once
you mix and match abilities from
different forms. So, you might equip
the rat’s poison buff on the horse,
adding real venom to its kicks. Or
maybe you want a turtle that can
sneak up and backstab foes, or give
your bodybuilder the ability to gallop.
Crucially, all these possibilities are
used to ensure that the grind is never
merely about watching XP bars fill.
Levelling up is tied to ‘quests’, which
include completing dungeons or
errands provided by NPCs, but also
objectives linked to each form’s
abilities. The most basic of theseinvolve hitting a certain number of
enemies with attacks, but they
quickly evolve to demand you stack
powers and master their nuances.WORLD WARRIORS
Absorbed in these quests, I was
largely content wandering the map,
experimenting with various skills.
But the overworld is well worth
exploring in its own right, tightly
plotted with connecting passageways,
fields, lakes and underground
tunnels, and stuffed with monsters,
treasures and amusing distractions.
There are also plenty of dungeons
to crawl, and these add extra bite to
combat by introducing ‘wards’
(shields that must be broken by a
specific kind of attack) and location-
specific rule changes. Yet, while their
themes and décor are imaginative, in
practice they’re quite similar – a
series of procedurally generated
monster mazes. I would have been
happy with fewer of them if each had
more distinct content.
The enclosed spaces also tend to
expose some haphazard aspects in
the game’s combat. Generally, it’s
slick and consistent, but there’s no
real sense of impact between the
characters, and hits don’t visibly
register other than the numbers that
pop up, so when the screen turns into
something of a mosh pit, you might
struggle to gauge who’s winning, or
lose yourself amid the chaos.
Mostly, however, Nobody Saves the
World is a delight. Under the brash
exterior lies a wonderfully technical
game that offers the freedom to let
you discover the quality of its craft at
your own pace. Grinding through
quests is pleasurable and, well, who
doesn’t want to be a horse with the
powers of a slug?80
Nobody does it better?
Not quite, but Nobody
Saves the World is a
highly entertaining
action RPG.VERDICTN
obody Saves the World puts the grin in grind. DrinkBox’s
dungeon-crawler isn’t ashamed of its XP farming demands,
and won’t let you quickly mainline its story without them.
But neither is it harshly traditional, withholding challenges
until you’ve eaten your greens, with occasional stat boosts
to demonstrate the nutritional benefits. Rather, it asks, what if the grind
wasn’t a means to an end or an imposition, but satisfyingly playful in itself?FEELING SLUGGISH
NOBODY SAVES THE WORLD is a delightfully silly and inventive dungeon-crawler
By Jon BailesThe real fun
begins once
you mix
and match
abilitiesTOP FORMS Some great picks for causing carnage
HORSE
Run at enemies
backwards to deliver
a swift kick, or gallop
in head first.R AT
Nimble, venomous,
and toothy, its
devour skill also
recoups lost HP.MONK
Pummel enemies
and blast them with
divine lightning. Fast
and powerful.GHOST
Hit foes with a
spooky aura that
causes pain and
scares them witless.BODYBUILDER
Throw out slow, but
incredibly heavy
attacks and looks
great doing it.NEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
A tongue-in-cheek
dungeon crawler with a
shapeshifting hero
EXPECT TO PAY
£20
DEVELOPER
DrinkBox Studios
PUBLISHER
In-house
REVIEWED ON
RTX 2070, i7-10750H,
16GB RAM
MULTIPLAYER
Two-player online co-op
LINK
bit.ly/367Ff10Nobody Saves the World
REVIEW