Have you ever wanted to become something else? Perhaps you fancy yourself as a bit of a magician but don’t want to put in the graft to learn sleight of hand? Maybe you want to become a strongman but the thought of eating raw eggs makes your stomach turn? Maybe you want to be a rat, to bite things a lot and fit through small gaps. Nobody Saves the World allows you to fulfil every one of those fantasies, and then some.
For the uninitiated, Nobody Saves the World is a dungeon-crawling action adventure game from Canadian developer Drinkbox Studios. They are perhaps best known for their fantastic Guacamelee titles, which, if you haven’t already checked out you totally should. NStW carries the same humour which Guacamelee players are sure to enjoy, but brings it to a top-down perspective, with a far heavier emphasis on RPG elements. This is a gorgeous little title that can easily get its hooks into you through satisfying combat and a regular dopamine hit provided by the consistent filling up of various bars as you complete tasks.
This does not have Bob Odenkirk in it
NStW is the tale of discovering one’s self. After waking up in the basement of a random shack, you play as the titular Nobody. Nobody is a pale, meek, talentless, oaf. I love them, their design is so charming, with large expressive eyes that often telegraph the feeling of frustration, despair or even a little bit of sassiness. It’s a clean and simple character who I can relate to a great deal.
Upon emerging from the shack you encounter Randy, the entitled assistant of a powerful sorcerer named Nostramagus. He’s very much Nobody’s rival throughout the adventure, think of him like the Malfoy to your Harry Potter, just clumsier and asthmatic. His master Nostramagus however has gone missing and Randy is determined to track him down with the use of the powerful wand he left behind. The trouble is, Nobody already found the wand, and finders keepers, I guess.
Nobody, our self-centred hero keeps the wand for himself whilst agreeing to look for Nostramagus as he is the only one who can fight back against “The Calamity”. Yes, The Calamity, we really couldn’t think of anything else and decided to go with this fantasy trope. This magical dark force is consuming the land and is sure to take over the entire world, unless Nobody can find Nostramagus and get him to join the fight.
Off we go then, armed with our stolen wand, into the wide open world. The world is reminiscent of early Zelda titles and you’ll have to explore it thoroughly to gather strength, money, conquer dungeons and help the residents of this doomed land.
There are more RPG elements than the Bob Odenkirk movie, Nobody
So, what does this wand actually do, and why does Randy the pompous assistant want it so bad? It allows the user to transform into various forms, unlocking new skills and abilities. Pretty cool. Each form has a signature move, a passive ability and other special moves which can be customised.
For example, your horse has several attacks, a stampede to charge forward and powerful kick which only damages those behind you. The passive ability of the horse means that whenever you break objects within the world, you’ll replenish a bit of your mana, so it synergises well.
Each attack also has a damage ‘type’, there are four in the game and every attack is either sharp, blunt, light or dark. You’ll need to master all of these elements to do extra damage and break coloured barriers throughout your adventure. In combat then you will be switching between these forms and dealing different types of damage, but where NStW gets really spicy is when the customisation opens up allowing for you to mix and match different attacks and passives you have unlocked across forms.
This allows for you to make some crazy combinations such as a turtle which can flex like a bodybuilder to increase attack damage and then pair that with a missile launcher from the robot form which always critical hits. It gets pretty crazy and NStW does a great job providing feedback to the player when these combinations are working well. There’s no shortage of deep, booming sound effects, explosive animations to treat your eyeballs and the plentiful brain tickling jingle of various riches hitting the dungeon floor after you wipe out a particularly numerous mob. This combat in and of itself is great, it allows for creativity, personality, even sometimes hilarity.
The money in the game which shoots from vanquished foes and breakable scenery is spent on passive buffs which can be equipped to various forms and permanent damage or defence upgrades. I personally like how the money in the game is not a single currency, it all goes in the same pot, in increments of 10, but the items themself can take the form of dollars, yen, gems and other monetary assets. This means after you dispatch an enemy horde the dungeon floor can look like you just emptied that draw in your house full of old keys, screws, light bulbs and excess currency from past holidays.
Nobody, the movie, may be more fun in the moment
All of this customisation would mean nothing if there was no incentive to experiment though. Thankfully Drinkbox discourages sticking with the same loadout too long with the dopamine factory that is the quest screen. Each form comes with plenty of quests to sink your teeth into, these are entirely based on using certain attacks, activating passives and inflicting status effects. Nearly all of these force you to try different combinations to clear them.
There are several meters to fill, you have your individual form rank, which increases the more quests you clear with that particular form, once these are capped out, no more will come, encouraging you to change up your play style. You also have your overall rank which is denoted by a second bar, this increases at a slower rate than the form-based meter, but grows from more general actions, like turning in quests, completing dungeons and the like. Each of these quests gets ticked off manually, physically stamped with the ‘Nostramagus seal of approval’ and a satisfying thud. Following this you hear a pleasant sound and see several bars increase. It is textbook mobile game design, psychologically refined to provide a hit which just keeps me coming back for more. It also means that progress is continuously felt, no matter what you spend your time doing, quests can always be completed, and you’ll be stronger than before for it. Honestly, the quest log can look overwhelming at times, but once you get used to the iconography and can parse out some of the noise, it isn’t so bad.
Thankfully there are no shortage of arenas to test out your favourite combinations and fulfill the various quests. The map is littered with loads of dungeons to discover, each with unique modifiers that provide a new challenge. Most of these will require you to mix up your load out to make the most of changes, or mitigate against them. Figuring out what works and what accelerates your journey to the grave was one of the more satisfying aspects of NStW. I will say that some of these feel quite unfair, like the ‘all damage is multiplied by x9999’ dungeon or the ‘enemies damages shoot missiles’ dungeon, but this just makes them all the more satisfying to overcome.
I should note that mandatory dungeons remove the ability to gain XP, meaning that you are encouraged to bring in your strongest combination – this is really the time to flex those muscles without the opportunity cost of XP hindering your enjoyment. These dungeons provide the biggest challenges of the main story, and end with a final showdown that can look as ridiculous as you like, depending on whether you go for the exploding slug build that I often opted for or not.
All of this is extremely addictive, there is no doubt about that. However, it comes in such volume, and at such scale that repetition and monotony does begin to creep in during the latter half of the game. This is a real shame, because it has the potential to be a really fun time. NStW could benefit from shaving a few hours off the campaign and adding a bit more challenge and tactical depth to the combat – the strategising is really fun, but executing on these plans leaves a little to be desired.
Presentation
From a visual and aesthetic standpoint, NStW is on par with, if not stronger than all games which Drinkbox have put out. There’s so much personality here and the illustrations are excellent, being both expressive and humorous in equal measure. If something as nebulous as Exploding Kittens is able to earn itself an animated series, NStW is certainly worth one too. This type of art style would fall apart without a premise whacky enough to support it, and thankfully the whole game feels out of pocket enough to do just that.
The music on the other hand is less inspired. Once again quoting that I’m no expert in this medium, the repetitive dungeon crawling is only exacerbated by the humdrum melodies. I get that Nobody is a plodding and inherently uninterested protagonist (that’s part of his charm) but I wish there was a bit more energy in this regard.
Final thoughts
Overall, Nobody Saves the World is a fun, addictive dungeon crawling adventure. Although the combat can begin a little bit shallow, the constant barrage of quests and ever-growing numbers made it difficult to put down, even when the repetition began to show. Whilst it isn’t a game I’d recommend for everyone, if you’re partial to a ‘make the numbers get bigger’ grind, there’s a lot to love here. You can tell that there is a lot of heart in here, something becoming increasingly rare in the industry. That alone is something to be celebrated. It doesn’t hurt that you can pick it up for free on PS+ and Xbox Game Pass right now either.
Lap Full of Crumbs 