An incredibly cool and inventive iso action RPG that hooked us in before dropping us on our faces with its terrible checkpoint system.
In Nobody Saves the World you play as a blank slate of a person wielding a wand that lets you transform into anything from a rat to a robot. In order to improve these forms and unlock more forms, you don't just have to kill X amount of enemies - every form has its own unique combat quests you must complete to earn XP to level up the forms - poison X enemies as a rat, dodge attacks as the ranger, gallop through 8 enemies at once as the horse. The game constantly has you rotating between forms for different combat encounters and it's incredibly fun.
It's absolutely perfect as a couch co-op game because not only is it fun to run around with a buddy, but all quest progress is shared between the players. So my wife could be the mermaid while I play the slug and we're both progressing the quests for our shared character pool. As you level up, you also unlock the ability to mix and match abilities across characters. Want to play as a rat that can siphon life using the zombie's passive or summon animals using the magician's secondary ability? Go for it!
We were having a blast until we died in the middle of a dungeon and the game drops you right back at the beginning of the dungeon. 10 minutes lost. "Wow. That sucks" we said. But we jumped back into this small side dungeon to beat it.
The next dungeon we did was one of the larger story dungeons. That time, we were almost at the end of the dungeon when we died and got sent back to the beginning. 20 minutes lost that time and nothing to show for it. With 30 minutes of combined gameplay lost in about an hour, we let out a huge sigh and turned the game off. I'm at a point in my life where I do not mess with games that don't respect your time, and lost progress on death is a big no-no. So, after 6 hours of mostly fun, we dropped it.
This game could've been great but making you replay dungeons on death is a baffling design decision in the year 2022. Why play more of this when I can play hundreds of other great indies that actually respect your time?
+ Great pool of characters to transform into for fun combat
+ Progression system based around combat challenges instead of just killing enemies
+ Fun visuals and good map design
+ Great couch co-op
- Terrible checkpoint system that sets you back 10-20 minutes on death with nothing to show for it
- Zero accessibility or difficulty options
In Nobody Saves the World you play as a blank slate of a person wielding a wand that lets you transform into anything from a rat to a robot. In order to improve these forms and unlock more forms, you don't just have to kill X amount of enemies - every form has its own unique combat quests you must complete to earn XP to level up the forms - poison X enemies as a rat, dodge attacks as the ranger, gallop through 8 enemies at once as the horse. The game constantly has you rotating between forms for different combat encounters and it's incredibly fun.
It's absolutely perfect as a couch co-op game because not only is it fun to run around with a buddy, but all quest progress is shared between the players. So my wife could be the mermaid while I play the slug and we're both progressing the quests for our shared character pool. As you level up, you also unlock the ability to mix and match abilities across characters. Want to play as a rat that can siphon life using the zombie's passive or summon animals using the magician's secondary ability? Go for it!
We were having a blast until we died in the middle of a dungeon and the game drops you right back at the beginning of the dungeon. 10 minutes lost. "Wow. That sucks" we said. But we jumped back into this small side dungeon to beat it.
The next dungeon we did was one of the larger story dungeons. That time, we were almost at the end of the dungeon when we died and got sent back to the beginning. 20 minutes lost that time and nothing to show for it. With 30 minutes of combined gameplay lost in about an hour, we let out a huge sigh and turned the game off. I'm at a point in my life where I do not mess with games that don't respect your time, and lost progress on death is a big no-no. So, after 6 hours of mostly fun, we dropped it.
This game could've been great but making you replay dungeons on death is a baffling design decision in the year 2022. Why play more of this when I can play hundreds of other great indies that actually respect your time?
+ Great pool of characters to transform into for fun combat
+ Progression system based around combat challenges instead of just killing enemies
+ Fun visuals and good map design
+ Great couch co-op
- Terrible checkpoint system that sets you back 10-20 minutes on death with nothing to show for it
- Zero accessibility or difficulty options
Perfect little game.
Just smiling through the credits right now.
Just smiling through the credits right now.
So after about 30 hours i finished it. I was close to giving up a couple times, but there was something about this game that always pulled me back. I loved the big bright colourful graphics, the animations, the different forms and their different attacks and perks. You can tell they really put a lot of effort into making a balanced game where you can get a lot out of every character if you put the time into it. The world map and all the different dungeons got a little grindy but still enjoyable enough to keep me playing. Oh shit, and the music! So fucking good dude. I had some of these tunes in my head for days.
I haven't got this addicted to a rogue-like since Hades, and that's a super high compliment.
I haven't got this addicted to a rogue-like since Hades, and that's a super high compliment.
Full video review: https://youtu.be/hnjo41l7oH0
From the same studio that brought you Guacamelee! comes a bit of a unique one. It’s a top-down action RPG hack and slash adventure with a very cool form-swapping mechanic.
Gameplay
So an immediate comparison I would make here is to that of Shantae. The core mechanic in Nobody Saves the World is that you’re able to freely swap between different “forms”. There are over 15 of these different forms and they each have a full slate of unique abilities to use in combat on top of their base traits like some being able to travel in water and some being able to go through tight spaces.
It’s a very cool mechanic and is made only better by the sheer variety and detail behind it all. Some forms are faster, some forms are tankier, some are ranged, some are melee, some are a mix of both - there are plenty to choose from and they fit all sorts of play styles.
That’s not all though, because shortly into the experience you’re granted the ability to customize each form further by equipping abilities from any of the other forms. You can get stuff like a horse with the poison traits of the rat or a ghost with the water spray ability of the turtle. Because each form levels up individually, you’re encouraged to hop around and not stick with just one form, but at the same time, this customization allows you to take some of your favorite abilities from one form and apply them to another - a very cool combo.
The combat was already fun enough on its own with most of the base forms, but the addition of ability swapping really elevates it and especially so later on once you have most of the abilities unlocked and come up with some crazy synergies. And it’s not just the combat - the quests and puzzles build off of this mechanic too. One quest, for example, has you destroy a bunch of targets using specific damage types in a limited amount of time and you’ll need to come up with some sort of form combo with just the right abilities to complete that task in time.
Maps & Aesthetic
The maps are a good mix of environments with cool designs, cool characters to meet, and fun quests to complete. Unlocking more forms gradually opens up more of the map, so exploration is encouraged too. And of course, the map greatly benefits from the game’s colorful art style. Great coloring, plenty of world detailing - it’s just an all-around good looking game and with some nice music to match too.
Quality of Life
My main complaints are mostly with the quality of life side of things. For example, the “quick select” wheel that allows you to change between forms is a bit finicky once you have enough forms to fill it up. In the event that you want to swap to a form that is not on the wheel, you have to pause the game, pull up the form menu, select that form, and hope that it does not replace another form that you also would like to swap to. I don’t know if my friend and I were missing something, but it seemed that the form would be put on the quick select wheel randomly, so it became a bit of a pain once we had to juggle all of these forms.
I also wasn’t the biggest fan of how quests are tracked and submitted. To do so, you have to pull up a menu manually and submit them before progress can be made on the next part of that quest. This is a bit of an annoyance because sometimes you’ll complete one in the middle of combat and have to pause right then to submit it or waste the next several kills not getting tracked towards your next quest.
Technical Issues & Performance
I did run into a few issues with the multiplayer. Whether that be the occasional lag spike that lasts a while or the random disconnect forcing me back to the main menu - both were annoying. The latter could easily be solved by keeping at least one player in the game instead of booting both, but as it stands that is not the case.
Otherwise, the game plays fine. I ran it at 1440p and 120 fps without any performance issues. The game lacks mouse controls but does have rebindable keyboard controls. They are a bit obtuse, but at least doable if you do not have a controller on hand.
Overall
I went into Nobody Saves the World thinking - okay, basically top-down Shantae, but it’s a lot more than just that. Fun combat with plenty of depth, quests that actually do something unique and don’t just have you running to and from, solid music and colorful art with plenty of detail - it’s got a lot going for it in spite of some technical and design flaws. It’s fun enough as a singleplayer title, but an absolutely easy recommendation if you have a friend to do online co-op with.
From the same studio that brought you Guacamelee! comes a bit of a unique one. It’s a top-down action RPG hack and slash adventure with a very cool form-swapping mechanic.
Gameplay
So an immediate comparison I would make here is to that of Shantae. The core mechanic in Nobody Saves the World is that you’re able to freely swap between different “forms”. There are over 15 of these different forms and they each have a full slate of unique abilities to use in combat on top of their base traits like some being able to travel in water and some being able to go through tight spaces.
It’s a very cool mechanic and is made only better by the sheer variety and detail behind it all. Some forms are faster, some forms are tankier, some are ranged, some are melee, some are a mix of both - there are plenty to choose from and they fit all sorts of play styles.
That’s not all though, because shortly into the experience you’re granted the ability to customize each form further by equipping abilities from any of the other forms. You can get stuff like a horse with the poison traits of the rat or a ghost with the water spray ability of the turtle. Because each form levels up individually, you’re encouraged to hop around and not stick with just one form, but at the same time, this customization allows you to take some of your favorite abilities from one form and apply them to another - a very cool combo.
The combat was already fun enough on its own with most of the base forms, but the addition of ability swapping really elevates it and especially so later on once you have most of the abilities unlocked and come up with some crazy synergies. And it’s not just the combat - the quests and puzzles build off of this mechanic too. One quest, for example, has you destroy a bunch of targets using specific damage types in a limited amount of time and you’ll need to come up with some sort of form combo with just the right abilities to complete that task in time.
Maps & Aesthetic
The maps are a good mix of environments with cool designs, cool characters to meet, and fun quests to complete. Unlocking more forms gradually opens up more of the map, so exploration is encouraged too. And of course, the map greatly benefits from the game’s colorful art style. Great coloring, plenty of world detailing - it’s just an all-around good looking game and with some nice music to match too.
Quality of Life
My main complaints are mostly with the quality of life side of things. For example, the “quick select” wheel that allows you to change between forms is a bit finicky once you have enough forms to fill it up. In the event that you want to swap to a form that is not on the wheel, you have to pause the game, pull up the form menu, select that form, and hope that it does not replace another form that you also would like to swap to. I don’t know if my friend and I were missing something, but it seemed that the form would be put on the quick select wheel randomly, so it became a bit of a pain once we had to juggle all of these forms.
I also wasn’t the biggest fan of how quests are tracked and submitted. To do so, you have to pull up a menu manually and submit them before progress can be made on the next part of that quest. This is a bit of an annoyance because sometimes you’ll complete one in the middle of combat and have to pause right then to submit it or waste the next several kills not getting tracked towards your next quest.
Technical Issues & Performance
I did run into a few issues with the multiplayer. Whether that be the occasional lag spike that lasts a while or the random disconnect forcing me back to the main menu - both were annoying. The latter could easily be solved by keeping at least one player in the game instead of booting both, but as it stands that is not the case.
Otherwise, the game plays fine. I ran it at 1440p and 120 fps without any performance issues. The game lacks mouse controls but does have rebindable keyboard controls. They are a bit obtuse, but at least doable if you do not have a controller on hand.
Overall
I went into Nobody Saves the World thinking - okay, basically top-down Shantae, but it’s a lot more than just that. Fun combat with plenty of depth, quests that actually do something unique and don’t just have you running to and from, solid music and colorful art with plenty of detail - it’s got a lot going for it in spite of some technical and design flaws. It’s fun enough as a singleplayer title, but an absolutely easy recommendation if you have a friend to do online co-op with.
Nobody Saves the World can feel very grindy, so much so that there were points where it felt more like busywork than an enjoyable dungeon crawling ARPG. Sometimes you're rewarded way too quickly and have pings for more XP to claim way too often, other times the combat challenged felt overly complex leading to numerous repeat encounters to meet the requirements.
But once you get past a certain threshold for each class, everything instantly becomes more freeing, and you can deftly switch from being a fire breathing bodybuilder who throws his literal weights around to a superfast slug with the ability to summon bunnies and tigers (stolen from the magician class) that's main attack is crying at its enemies. I'm not sure the semi-procedural dungeons works entirely (I think curated design could have worked just as well, if not better) but I appreciated that each dungeon had a modifier or limit on one mechanic which encouraged playing around with different skills and loadouts.
Creating your own unique build among the varied roster of classes and setting them loose in each dungeon that makes this game worth the effort and I'm glad I was able to overcome that initial hurdle to get to this point as I (eventually) had a ton of fun with it.
But once you get past a certain threshold for each class, everything instantly becomes more freeing, and you can deftly switch from being a fire breathing bodybuilder who throws his literal weights around to a superfast slug with the ability to summon bunnies and tigers (stolen from the magician class) that's main attack is crying at its enemies. I'm not sure the semi-procedural dungeons works entirely (I think curated design could have worked just as well, if not better) but I appreciated that each dungeon had a modifier or limit on one mechanic which encouraged playing around with different skills and loadouts.
Creating your own unique build among the varied roster of classes and setting them loose in each dungeon that makes this game worth the effort and I'm glad I was able to overcome that initial hurdle to get to this point as I (eventually) had a ton of fun with it.
Sometimes, you just have to appreciate a well-oiled machine, and Nobody Saves the World is exactly that. It's a game that reveals its entire hand to you in little more than an hour's time, but it's also a clever game that finds a way to make its transparency work in its favor. Though its presentation is very much modern (as long as you don't mind characters that are adorably and intentionally kind of hideous), its focus on maintaining an extremely consistent gameplay loop feels delightfully old school. You could easily call it a one trick pony, but it's a dang good trick!
The story provides a sufficiently interesting mystery to explore, has charming characters with humor that generally lands and visuals that do an excellent job of depicting genuinely disgusting things as a way of portraying a world covered in a calamity that seeks to warp it into something unhabitable. Ultimately, though, the crux of this game, what makes it truly stand out, lies with its transformation system and how everything you do feeds into it and other aspects of the game simultaneously. Your character is capable of using multiple transformations that allow him to take specific forms for the matter at hand. To give a few examples, you can become a knight and fight at close range, you can try becoming a mermaid to travel across water and find different approaches, or you can just turn into a slug and shoot tears from a distance while your sliminess slows your foes down. You can even become an egg and roll around if that's your thing! Combat on its own isn't particularly deep, with a basic attack and three skills being all you get per form, but the sheer flexibility you have in choosing your skills is what keeps things interesting.
As you use transformations and satisfy goals such as "kill x using this skill y number of times", you'll gain experience for that form that feeds into its rank. Ranking up gets you new skills that can be used on any form you have, which naturally leads to some wonderful combinations. Sick of having to turn around to use the Horse's kick attack? Give it the Ranger's arrow attacks and you won't have to bother! Want the minion-heavy Magician to get even more minions than just his rabbits and tigers? Give him the Zombie's ability to infect people and you'll be running with a small army of zombies in no time! Even with just three skills, the amount of options you have really adds so much room to express yourself and find creative solutions to the game's many quests.
Instead of grinding experience or brute forcing things with a single build, you're meant to shift around constantly and try new things. If you ever struggle with a quest, you probably have a skill that'll secretly turn it into a cinch! Those aforementioned challenges serve as a wonderfully elegant way of teaching players about potential combinations, too, which is very helpful for those not accustomed to the particular logic that "Job System" games run on. To give an example, one of the slug's challenges asks you to poison enemies using your basic tear attack. By dedicating one of your four passive skills slots to the Ranger's poison accumulation ability in order to solve this "puzzle", you'll end up learning that poison works extremely well on rapid fire attacks in the process. It's really a stroke of absolute genius how well this system works in both educating the player and providing them a canvas with which to express themselves however they please!
Completing quests and form challenges also earns you experience for your general rank that serves as a base power level to be applied to any form as well as Stars, which are required to unlock the game's main dungeons. These requirements may feel a bit arbitrary at first, but they encourage you to engage with the game in all sorts of ways without forcing you to do dungeons that you may not want to do. Depending on how you play, you can knock out sidequests to get stars, you can just buy some using money, you can try out different forms and complete challenges, or you can discover optional demi-dungeons and complete those for stars. You wouldn't think the dungeons would be the lowlight of the game, but they kinda are, unfortunately. Each one features an incredibly inspired design (like entering through the mouth of a corrupted whale or a weird creature) and modifiers that limit or tweak every combatant's abilities/stats, but they never feature any interesting gimmicks or design twists within the dungeons themselves, ultimately resulting in dull corridors full of enemies you've already fought a bunch of times before. Boss fights are incredibly underwhelming across the board as well, usually consisting of a bigger version of an enemy you've fought combined with infinitely respawning allies. Main story dungeons have all the same issues alongside a restriction that prevents you from gaining experience inside of them at all, which feels like a somewhat bizarre choice. The idea is for you to "choose a build and rely on it for the challenge at hand", but considering how reliant the game is on that constant feedback loop of completing tasks and unlocking new tools to keep your attention, stripping that away just exposes the game's magic tricks in an unflattering way.
Nobody Saves the World is an interesting one to talk about because it feels like the kind of game where words are guaranteed to undersell it a bit. Unlocking forms and experimenting with them is an absolute joy, but it's also a fundamentally simple game to actually play, perhaps to a fault. With only a few buttons needed to control it and a dearth of interesting foes or dungeon threats to navigate around, its core gameplay loop can feel like something you'd mindlessly grind through in a free to play gacha mobile game or something, and it's honestly hard to deny that or defend it against skeptics. But if you're open-minded, this is the kind of game that you should really try for yourself and see if you have the kind of mindset that it needs to really thrive. Even if you lose interest in the gameplay, I feel like this one is a great case study in how to make interlocking systems successfully. It's truly commendable how DrinkBox made everything come together in a way that encourages any and every option you have, which is absolutely ideal for any kind of job system game. Definitely something to take note of if you're looking to develop a game like this! If you enjoy optimizing character builds, enjoy Gauntlet-esque mob clearing, using a variety of goofy looking characters, or just appreciate a constant drip feed of dopamine, you'll be impressed by how much this game can sink its claws into you and capture your heart.
The story provides a sufficiently interesting mystery to explore, has charming characters with humor that generally lands and visuals that do an excellent job of depicting genuinely disgusting things as a way of portraying a world covered in a calamity that seeks to warp it into something unhabitable. Ultimately, though, the crux of this game, what makes it truly stand out, lies with its transformation system and how everything you do feeds into it and other aspects of the game simultaneously. Your character is capable of using multiple transformations that allow him to take specific forms for the matter at hand. To give a few examples, you can become a knight and fight at close range, you can try becoming a mermaid to travel across water and find different approaches, or you can just turn into a slug and shoot tears from a distance while your sliminess slows your foes down. You can even become an egg and roll around if that's your thing! Combat on its own isn't particularly deep, with a basic attack and three skills being all you get per form, but the sheer flexibility you have in choosing your skills is what keeps things interesting.
As you use transformations and satisfy goals such as "kill x using this skill y number of times", you'll gain experience for that form that feeds into its rank. Ranking up gets you new skills that can be used on any form you have, which naturally leads to some wonderful combinations. Sick of having to turn around to use the Horse's kick attack? Give it the Ranger's arrow attacks and you won't have to bother! Want the minion-heavy Magician to get even more minions than just his rabbits and tigers? Give him the Zombie's ability to infect people and you'll be running with a small army of zombies in no time! Even with just three skills, the amount of options you have really adds so much room to express yourself and find creative solutions to the game's many quests.
Instead of grinding experience or brute forcing things with a single build, you're meant to shift around constantly and try new things. If you ever struggle with a quest, you probably have a skill that'll secretly turn it into a cinch! Those aforementioned challenges serve as a wonderfully elegant way of teaching players about potential combinations, too, which is very helpful for those not accustomed to the particular logic that "Job System" games run on. To give an example, one of the slug's challenges asks you to poison enemies using your basic tear attack. By dedicating one of your four passive skills slots to the Ranger's poison accumulation ability in order to solve this "puzzle", you'll end up learning that poison works extremely well on rapid fire attacks in the process. It's really a stroke of absolute genius how well this system works in both educating the player and providing them a canvas with which to express themselves however they please!
Completing quests and form challenges also earns you experience for your general rank that serves as a base power level to be applied to any form as well as Stars, which are required to unlock the game's main dungeons. These requirements may feel a bit arbitrary at first, but they encourage you to engage with the game in all sorts of ways without forcing you to do dungeons that you may not want to do. Depending on how you play, you can knock out sidequests to get stars, you can just buy some using money, you can try out different forms and complete challenges, or you can discover optional demi-dungeons and complete those for stars. You wouldn't think the dungeons would be the lowlight of the game, but they kinda are, unfortunately. Each one features an incredibly inspired design (like entering through the mouth of a corrupted whale or a weird creature) and modifiers that limit or tweak every combatant's abilities/stats, but they never feature any interesting gimmicks or design twists within the dungeons themselves, ultimately resulting in dull corridors full of enemies you've already fought a bunch of times before. Boss fights are incredibly underwhelming across the board as well, usually consisting of a bigger version of an enemy you've fought combined with infinitely respawning allies. Main story dungeons have all the same issues alongside a restriction that prevents you from gaining experience inside of them at all, which feels like a somewhat bizarre choice. The idea is for you to "choose a build and rely on it for the challenge at hand", but considering how reliant the game is on that constant feedback loop of completing tasks and unlocking new tools to keep your attention, stripping that away just exposes the game's magic tricks in an unflattering way.
Nobody Saves the World is an interesting one to talk about because it feels like the kind of game where words are guaranteed to undersell it a bit. Unlocking forms and experimenting with them is an absolute joy, but it's also a fundamentally simple game to actually play, perhaps to a fault. With only a few buttons needed to control it and a dearth of interesting foes or dungeon threats to navigate around, its core gameplay loop can feel like something you'd mindlessly grind through in a free to play gacha mobile game or something, and it's honestly hard to deny that or defend it against skeptics. But if you're open-minded, this is the kind of game that you should really try for yourself and see if you have the kind of mindset that it needs to really thrive. Even if you lose interest in the gameplay, I feel like this one is a great case study in how to make interlocking systems successfully. It's truly commendable how DrinkBox made everything come together in a way that encourages any and every option you have, which is absolutely ideal for any kind of job system game. Definitely something to take note of if you're looking to develop a game like this! If you enjoy optimizing character builds, enjoy Gauntlet-esque mob clearing, using a variety of goofy looking characters, or just appreciate a constant drip feed of dopamine, you'll be impressed by how much this game can sink its claws into you and capture your heart.
When I think of the Steamdeck, a game like Nobody Saves the World should always come to mind. This is an absolute gem of a 15hr dungeon crawler/action RPG that doesn't take itself serious, both in its story and its gameplay.
It's great that we have complex ARPG titles like Path of Exile, but it's also heart warming that we have easy to understand systems like the ones found in NStW. No armor, no items, no weapons. Just skills and talents. EXP? Get it through questing and using your skills and talents in certain ways! Such a simple idea, but the execution is perfection.
I'd put this on a must play list for fans of the genre, or anyone looking for their next pickup and go game on the device of their choice.
It's great that we have complex ARPG titles like Path of Exile, but it's also heart warming that we have easy to understand systems like the ones found in NStW. No armor, no items, no weapons. Just skills and talents. EXP? Get it through questing and using your skills and talents in certain ways! Such a simple idea, but the execution is perfection.
I'd put this on a must play list for fans of the genre, or anyone looking for their next pickup and go game on the device of their choice.
I had a blast playing this coop. The gameplay loop is really addictive, the whole thing of leveling up each form and unlocking new spells and perks is insanely fun. Trying different builds with each form and building some insanely broken stuff was the highlight for me.
A simple button-mashy top down affair elevated by the achievement desigh, which urges you to explore the world and well as your powerset so that you can make the numbers go up and wreak havoc with random builds from different classes that create hellish synchronicity. Everything else, from art, writing and music are pretty good and I don't really have complaints. Not my favourite Drinkbox affair but a solid time regardless.
Nobody Saves the World is a brilliantly crafted dungeon crawler with tons of content with customization at its very core. The gameplay alone was pretty average, definitely enjoyable, but not incredible. What I truly loved was just watching the masterclass of game design unfold in front of me. Every detail is planned and perfected and designed to always give you something to do beyond just "kill the monsters" over and over. Played couch co-op.
Gamplay ★★★★
The base gameplay is not much different than any other dungeon crawler. Traverse the overworld, get quests from NPCs, find dungeons, beat them, level up, etc.
The unique aspect of NSTW is that your character has the ability to transform into 18 different creatures and classes, each with its own unique moves. You start with just one form with one move but continuously unlock more forms and more moves for those forms as you progress. The great part about this is that you can equip any active or passive abilities from any form you've unlocked to your currently active form. You can be a horse that shoots arrows and throws bombs. Or be a robot that summons rabbits and turns enemies into zombies. The number of available combinations is huge and you can tell that many of the abilities across classes were designed with the intention of synergizing well with other classes' abilities.
The next brilliant design choice is that each class levels up individually by completing class quests. These start out simple like "use your basic attack to poison enemies" and get more and more complex like "use X Class' ability to stun enemies". In doing so, the game takes what should be a hugely overwhelming number of options and choices and creates an easily discernable structure that teaches you how to envision your own combinations by guiding you through them. You also have to have previous forms at a certain level to unlock additional forms so this process serves as a way to keep you from sticking with one class for the entirety of the game and making sure that you experience the full breadth of what NSTW has to offer and making sure that you get all sorts of great abilities to equip with your favorite class.
Story ★★★
There is not a ton to be said about the story. It is fairly straightforward. World-threatening calamity, an amnesia-ridden protagonist. That being said the twist was fairly unexpected and is one of the better explanations for amnesia that I've seen in games that feature it.
Characters ★★★
NSTW is a humourous game written with an absurdist mindset. Therefore nearly every character you meet is ridiculous is some way and often at least a little bit stupid. Unfortunately, this concept is a bit contrived at this point, but NSTW manages to pull it off well without being derivative. There are also a number of moments featuring effective physical comedy as well. This is a very straight-faced way to describe humor, I realize, but that's because none of it was particularly side-splittingly funny. It was all fun, but no more than that. This is not a complaint, I appreciated what it had to offer and that it didn't try too hard to make a bunch of jokes. It let the funny moments just be funny in and of themselves.
Art ★★★★
The art style is reminiscent of a comic strip or cartoon and it uses this style to great effect. Many of the forms are very exaggerated and goofy, and the absurdity of the world fits perfectly with its visual depiction.
Music ★★
I don't actually remember hardly anything about the music. I am pretty confident that there was music because a lack of music always sticks out to me like a sore thumb, but for the life of me, I cannot remember even a short theme from this game. I guess that means it was mostly fine? You can find out for yourself on this one.
To wrap up, Nobody Saves the World is a very fun dungeon crawler that deserves your attention not only for the joy of playing it but also for the appreciation of its design. Try it for yourself and I bet you'll like it too.
Gamplay ★★★★
The base gameplay is not much different than any other dungeon crawler. Traverse the overworld, get quests from NPCs, find dungeons, beat them, level up, etc.
The unique aspect of NSTW is that your character has the ability to transform into 18 different creatures and classes, each with its own unique moves. You start with just one form with one move but continuously unlock more forms and more moves for those forms as you progress. The great part about this is that you can equip any active or passive abilities from any form you've unlocked to your currently active form. You can be a horse that shoots arrows and throws bombs. Or be a robot that summons rabbits and turns enemies into zombies. The number of available combinations is huge and you can tell that many of the abilities across classes were designed with the intention of synergizing well with other classes' abilities.
The next brilliant design choice is that each class levels up individually by completing class quests. These start out simple like "use your basic attack to poison enemies" and get more and more complex like "use X Class' ability to stun enemies". In doing so, the game takes what should be a hugely overwhelming number of options and choices and creates an easily discernable structure that teaches you how to envision your own combinations by guiding you through them. You also have to have previous forms at a certain level to unlock additional forms so this process serves as a way to keep you from sticking with one class for the entirety of the game and making sure that you experience the full breadth of what NSTW has to offer and making sure that you get all sorts of great abilities to equip with your favorite class.
Story ★★★
There is not a ton to be said about the story. It is fairly straightforward. World-threatening calamity, an amnesia-ridden protagonist. That being said the twist was fairly unexpected and is one of the better explanations for amnesia that I've seen in games that feature it.
Characters ★★★
NSTW is a humourous game written with an absurdist mindset. Therefore nearly every character you meet is ridiculous is some way and often at least a little bit stupid. Unfortunately, this concept is a bit contrived at this point, but NSTW manages to pull it off well without being derivative. There are also a number of moments featuring effective physical comedy as well. This is a very straight-faced way to describe humor, I realize, but that's because none of it was particularly side-splittingly funny. It was all fun, but no more than that. This is not a complaint, I appreciated what it had to offer and that it didn't try too hard to make a bunch of jokes. It let the funny moments just be funny in and of themselves.
Art ★★★★
The art style is reminiscent of a comic strip or cartoon and it uses this style to great effect. Many of the forms are very exaggerated and goofy, and the absurdity of the world fits perfectly with its visual depiction.
Music ★★
I don't actually remember hardly anything about the music. I am pretty confident that there was music because a lack of music always sticks out to me like a sore thumb, but for the life of me, I cannot remember even a short theme from this game. I guess that means it was mostly fine? You can find out for yourself on this one.
To wrap up, Nobody Saves the World is a very fun dungeon crawler that deserves your attention not only for the joy of playing it but also for the appreciation of its design. Try it for yourself and I bet you'll like it too.
Um jogo divertido, com artes, piadinhas e referências fantásticas, mas que rapidamente se torna bem repetitivo.
Em Nobody Saves the World você incorpora um personagem que pode se transformar em diversas criaturas diferentes. O gráfico do jogo é desenhando em um estilo cartunizado muito bonito e todos os personagens, assim como os diálogos, tem caráter bem-humorado e exagerado, combinante com a temática do jogo - todo esse humor descontraído e animado faz valer a interação com cada coisinha pelo mundo.
Várias transformações podem ser desbloqueadas ao longo da gameplay, e cada uma possui características diferentes que ajudam o jogador tanto em batalha quando na parte de exploração do mapa, que é bem grande e diversificado. Cada transformação, também, possui uma pequena build própria (ataques e habilidade passiva) que são desbloqueados ao evolui-las - isso é feito completando missões específicas delas - e podem ser usadas em conjunto a outras transformações para criar os mais diversos combos em batalha, o que é muito divertido.
No entanto o jogo rapidamente se torna repetitivo por se resumir, em absolutamente tudo, a batalhas simples, com um ou outro diferencial que te puxa a ter cuidado com certos inimigos ou mudar de ataque/transformação. Chega um momento que você apenas se automatiza a andar matando tudo pela frente, que é o básico do jogo para completar missões e dungeons - e, acredite, missões e dungeons é o que esse jogo mais tem. Cada dungeon possui regras para variar a dinâmica das batalhas, o que ajuda a quebrar um pouco a repetição, porém apenas em parte.
Nobody Saves the World, ainda assim, continua sendo uma boa pedida para os apreciadores de um bom e velho Hack 'n' Slash, mas para os que gostam de uma maior dinâmica/complexidade de gameplay, o jogo pode se tornar enjoativo bem rápido.
Em Nobody Saves the World você incorpora um personagem que pode se transformar em diversas criaturas diferentes. O gráfico do jogo é desenhando em um estilo cartunizado muito bonito e todos os personagens, assim como os diálogos, tem caráter bem-humorado e exagerado, combinante com a temática do jogo - todo esse humor descontraído e animado faz valer a interação com cada coisinha pelo mundo.
Várias transformações podem ser desbloqueadas ao longo da gameplay, e cada uma possui características diferentes que ajudam o jogador tanto em batalha quando na parte de exploração do mapa, que é bem grande e diversificado. Cada transformação, também, possui uma pequena build própria (ataques e habilidade passiva) que são desbloqueados ao evolui-las - isso é feito completando missões específicas delas - e podem ser usadas em conjunto a outras transformações para criar os mais diversos combos em batalha, o que é muito divertido.
No entanto o jogo rapidamente se torna repetitivo por se resumir, em absolutamente tudo, a batalhas simples, com um ou outro diferencial que te puxa a ter cuidado com certos inimigos ou mudar de ataque/transformação. Chega um momento que você apenas se automatiza a andar matando tudo pela frente, que é o básico do jogo para completar missões e dungeons - e, acredite, missões e dungeons é o que esse jogo mais tem. Cada dungeon possui regras para variar a dinâmica das batalhas, o que ajuda a quebrar um pouco a repetição, porém apenas em parte.
Nobody Saves the World, ainda assim, continua sendo uma boa pedida para os apreciadores de um bom e velho Hack 'n' Slash, mas para os que gostam de uma maior dinâmica/complexidade de gameplay, o jogo pode se tornar enjoativo bem rápido.
Firstly I want to say that ive seen a lot of reviews calling this a Zelda-like game. Its really not. Aside from a couple of context situations, most of this game is really more like a Diablo-dungeon crawler, albiet exchanging the neverending loot drop system for one where you mix and match abilities across various different in-game forms.
For the most part it works quite well, blasting through dungeons is mostly fun and the overall art and gameplay can get pretty addictive. The best parts of the game is when you can get really creative with the combinations and cause even the most unassuming of forms to turn into a whirlwind of destruction.
However good lord the game does like to get in the way of that through its unlock mechanics. In order to unlock more forms and level up forms (to gain more skills), you need to do various task lists for each form. These mostly boil down to beating enemies in particular fashion, using specific attacks or breaking enemy defences. This is all great in theory but in reality it just leads to grinding with select characters to get to where you really want.
Once you've really broken through that grind, there's a lot to love here but that grind is notable and it does force you to play characters/use abilities you may not like for good chunks of time. Its not something that ruins the game thanks to just how frantic and silly the game can be (and it can get very silly through its missions, oddball characters and weird mechanics) but it does stop the game from really being more than it could be.
For the most part it works quite well, blasting through dungeons is mostly fun and the overall art and gameplay can get pretty addictive. The best parts of the game is when you can get really creative with the combinations and cause even the most unassuming of forms to turn into a whirlwind of destruction.
However good lord the game does like to get in the way of that through its unlock mechanics. In order to unlock more forms and level up forms (to gain more skills), you need to do various task lists for each form. These mostly boil down to beating enemies in particular fashion, using specific attacks or breaking enemy defences. This is all great in theory but in reality it just leads to grinding with select characters to get to where you really want.
Once you've really broken through that grind, there's a lot to love here but that grind is notable and it does force you to play characters/use abilities you may not like for good chunks of time. Its not something that ruins the game thanks to just how frantic and silly the game can be (and it can get very silly through its missions, oddball characters and weird mechanics) but it does stop the game from really being more than it could be.
A fun dungeon crawler with a shapeshifting gimmick. Core of the game is to mix and match forms to make builds that would best suit the dungeon you're tackling. Lots of potential to be one of the greats however it falls short by starting to feel repetitive around the halfway mark due to the fact that dungeons are combat focused only. Would have greatly benefited by adding puzzles or something to spruce up the dungeons from just being room after room of combat.
It's so great to see Drinkbox spread their wings again and do something new. I laughed a ton playing this in co-op with a friend of mine. Gorgeous art style too. It's got a pretty unique cartooney look to it that I really dig.
The ARPG stuff is good but it could be better. I especially disliked how the main story dungeons would lock me out of completing Form quests. It felt like an unnecessary restriction that made those feel unsatisfying to complete. Otherwise, the game is a fairly easy mash fest of an ARPG. It's still fun to complete the map, do quests and level up but it's definitely quite basic. The game definitely carried by vibes but that's okay.
Highly recommend as a co-op experience as that may help alleviate some annoyances.
The ARPG stuff is good but it could be better. I especially disliked how the main story dungeons would lock me out of completing Form quests. It felt like an unnecessary restriction that made those feel unsatisfying to complete. Otherwise, the game is a fairly easy mash fest of an ARPG. It's still fun to complete the map, do quests and level up but it's definitely quite basic. The game definitely carried by vibes but that's okay.
Highly recommend as a co-op experience as that may help alleviate some annoyances.
This was a fun game with a fun concept that I would have never played if not for game pass, so shout out to game pass. Once you unlock every form, the game kind of shifts from focusing on completing quests for each form to optimizing your builds to take on specific situations, some of which are quite challenging. This is definitely more of a Diablo-style action RPG than a Zeldalike, but I understand the comparisons to Zelda based on how you explore the world. My interest waned hard by the end of the game but ultimately it was a fun game with a good personality.
An interesting but repetitive dungeon crawler designed around a central concept of mixing and matching a bunch of passive and active abilities from a variety of forms. Its like deckbuilding but in a hack and slash environment.
The main loop here is grinding. But rewards are plentiful and goals are always achieveable quickly. This makes for a fun 12 hours easily broken to 30 minute sessions.
The main problem that keeps it from being higher is how repetitive it is. Some abilities and characters just arent fun to use or effective, new forms have to be repeatedly thrown into dungeons while weak to grind early level quests, which is always boring. Not helping things is how basically every dungeon is the same thing with a different skin. 3 floors of random rooms with like 2 types of traps but mostly just empty. Theres like 50 to do, and it never changes up.
Nobody Saves the World is a good game to play for 20 minutes before work or on a commute. But buckling down for a multi hour session will burn you out quick on repetition and tedious busywork. Its not bad or impressive.
Final note: this is mostly irrelevant because dialogue is uncommon and text only, but god this game is unfunny. Not one joke made me smile, theyre like anti-jokes. Like, its clearly going for a goofy tone but theres just not any bite to anything. It made me think of a future where any edgy comedy (not 4Chan edgy, stand-up style) is frowned upon, and all you can do is make confusing non sequitors to avoid any controversy. Im sorry Drinkbox, please dont attack me for critcising your writing with the Totally Hilarious Overly Specifically Named Weapon of Unknown Origin! (Did that make you laugh?)
The main loop here is grinding. But rewards are plentiful and goals are always achieveable quickly. This makes for a fun 12 hours easily broken to 30 minute sessions.
The main problem that keeps it from being higher is how repetitive it is. Some abilities and characters just arent fun to use or effective, new forms have to be repeatedly thrown into dungeons while weak to grind early level quests, which is always boring. Not helping things is how basically every dungeon is the same thing with a different skin. 3 floors of random rooms with like 2 types of traps but mostly just empty. Theres like 50 to do, and it never changes up.
Nobody Saves the World is a good game to play for 20 minutes before work or on a commute. But buckling down for a multi hour session will burn you out quick on repetition and tedious busywork. Its not bad or impressive.
Final note: this is mostly irrelevant because dialogue is uncommon and text only, but god this game is unfunny. Not one joke made me smile, theyre like anti-jokes. Like, its clearly going for a goofy tone but theres just not any bite to anything. It made me think of a future where any edgy comedy (not 4Chan edgy, stand-up style) is frowned upon, and all you can do is make confusing non sequitors to avoid any controversy. Im sorry Drinkbox, please dont attack me for critcising your writing with the Totally Hilarious Overly Specifically Named Weapon of Unknown Origin! (Did that make you laugh?)
Esse jogo me surpreendeu de várias formas. Ele foi facilmente um dos jogos que mais me prenderam em muito tempo. Eu fiz praticamente todas as missões disponíveis. Por elas serem engraçadas ou por eu gostar muito do sistema de combate. Que é básico mas permite muita variação nas formas e combinações. Foi uma ótima jornada, 27 horas que me divertiram muito. O estilo artístico dele é absolutamente lindo, vou passar muito tempo olhando. É isto, que ótima experiência.
Não estava muito animado com o jogo, até comecei no intuito só de passar o tempo, mas a premissa dele me pegou muito.
Você ter várias formas para usar, desbloquear e cada uma delas ter sua própria missão para subir de vivel me viciou bastante, era muito interessante sempre jogar com cada forma dependendo da área e dos inimigos. No quesito gameplay ele peca um pouco, é bem travado e pouco dinâmico o combate que ele proporciona, não chega a ser injogável, mas poderia ser mais trabalhado para o estilo. Pelo forma que joguei ele beirou ao "repetitivo", todo esse sistema de missões realmente carregou minha trajetória pelo game.
Sua arte é linda, trilha sonora interessante e level design muito bem feito. Comecei só para passar o tempo e acabei com quase 20 horas de jogo, valeu muito a pena.
Você ter várias formas para usar, desbloquear e cada uma delas ter sua própria missão para subir de vivel me viciou bastante, era muito interessante sempre jogar com cada forma dependendo da área e dos inimigos. No quesito gameplay ele peca um pouco, é bem travado e pouco dinâmico o combate que ele proporciona, não chega a ser injogável, mas poderia ser mais trabalhado para o estilo. Pelo forma que joguei ele beirou ao "repetitivo", todo esse sistema de missões realmente carregou minha trajetória pelo game.
Sua arte é linda, trilha sonora interessante e level design muito bem feito. Comecei só para passar o tempo e acabei com quase 20 horas de jogo, valeu muito a pena.
Love the amount of customization in this game, the ability to move powers to other forms adds a level of creativity that makes you feel like you are in complete control of how well you are going to do. Once you find your build you are pretty set but I do like that it does want you to go outside your comfort zone and try out new builds. It has a fun look and maybe a story that is easy to skip but let's be honest the gameplay on this one is so strong that it's a great time.
Did everything but NG+. This game starts out really strong. But it’s about 10 hours longer than it needs to be. Really drags at the end and gets repetitive and grindy. The music was amazing though. Still looking forward to whatever drinkbox makes next.
One of the most underrated games in recent memory. What appears at first to be a rather generic dungeon crawler completely opens up with the unique mix-and-match ability system.
The variety of classes available are creative and offer a number of challenges across the game's running time, and while some are better than others, the option (And at times demands of the quests) to use abilities on other classes means you'll find incentive to use them all.
There's a definite peak to NSTW, unfortunately, it's about 10 hours into a 20-hour game, and by that point, you have seen what NSTW has to offer. The lack of a compelling plot means beating the game is purely for the sake of being a completionist, as the final dungeons don't offer that much more.
It's a shame the points above drag the game down - especially as the writing in Guacamelee is highly enjoyable, which could have helped to keep me feeling actively engaged with NSTW's progression. However, I would say overall I enjoyed my time.
There's a definite peak to NSTW, unfortunately, it's about 10 hours into a 20-hour game, and by that point, you have seen what NSTW has to offer. The lack of a compelling plot means beating the game is purely for the sake of being a completionist, as the final dungeons don't offer that much more.
It's a shame the points above drag the game down - especially as the writing in Guacamelee is highly enjoyable, which could have helped to keep me feeling actively engaged with NSTW's progression. However, I would say overall I enjoyed my time.
This was a fun twist on dungeon crawling - I appreciated how it prevented you from falling into just using your favorite combinations of skills and characters by tying character progression to completing different quests, each of which required using the different characters and abilities in differing combinations.
I will say that it felt maybe a bit long by the end, and there was a bit of grinding that I needed to do in order to finish the game off. But overall, really enjoyable.
I will say that it felt maybe a bit long by the end, and there was a bit of grinding that I needed to do in order to finish the game off. But overall, really enjoyable.
Em nobody saves the world, jogamos com um metamorfo capaz de assumir diferentes formas ao longo do jogo que são desbloqueadas ao longo do jogo. É um jogo com personagens divertidos num estilo cartunesco que lhe concede muita personalidade. O multiplayer local funciona bem com ambos jogadores compartilhando melhorias e missões, podendo até mesmo personalizar habilidades futuramente, misturando habilidades e passivas entre as diferentes formas.
I had so much playing this and unlocking different forms and upgrading them. The dungeons are fun and require you to go in with different strategies.
The dialogue is funny and cute at many different parts in the game. The story is interesting and keeps you invested to see how things turn out.
The gameplay is really fun with so many different and unique ways to play. The art is amazing. Boss fights are fun and challenging to keep you thinking of different ways to approach them. This game is an early favorite for Indie Game of the Year for me
The dialogue is funny and cute at many different parts in the game. The story is interesting and keeps you invested to see how things turn out.
The gameplay is really fun with so many different and unique ways to play. The art is amazing. Boss fights are fun and challenging to keep you thinking of different ways to approach them. This game is an early favorite for Indie Game of the Year for me
Primeiro jogo da Drinkbox Studios que não gostei. A estética é legal, mas, para um jogo cujo principal objetivo é cumprir missões para encher barrinhas, a jogabilidade é bem medíocre. Mesmo com a ideia bacana de poder misturar habilidades de classes diferentes, em nenhum momento o combate do jogo foi satisfatório.
I really liked the long-form player progression system. The way the quests tie seamlessly with the player abilities encouraged me to try new things constantly. I got more out of the story and environment then I was expecting. Overall would definitely recommend as it's the sum of its many good parts.
Hopped into this one to give it a shot for a few minutes in between other games to see what it was like. And then hours flew by in the blink of an eye, I was leveling up and I realized I was hooked line and sinker. Other than like a half hour of Diablo 3 splitscreen co-op play on the Switch, I've never played a Diablo or any other similar action RPG - despite my partner putting several hundred hours into Diablo 2 I would watch her play and go, eh I don't really think it's for me. But Nobody Saves The World made me see the appeal big time, holy shit.
The best part of this was that the "grinding" to level up, was just a ton of playing around with every player form and trying out all of their attacks and mixing their unique powers with other forms' attacks to make these wacky builds. Going into dungeons and wrecking shit, it didn't feel tedious until the very end of ranking every form to the max level, and even then I wasn't bored. I got every guy to S rank and still wanted more.
The world building, stupid little freaks and characters everywhere with their silly lines and quests, so much funny and cute stuff - and then there's some really gross and nasty cartoon-ish horror effects for some enemies, and especially the main villain; that final guy was nuts and I loved the design. I loved the Skyrim-like factions you join, and all of the regions and villages with their own flair and feel - reminded me of Paper Mario a bit.
What a sleek little title, super easy to navigate UI and menus, the addictive pop of leveling up and completing quests, the combat is just horde smashing fun (along with a tiny bit of a planning required for dungeons/enemies having different criteria for completing/defeating).
I got every trophy except the one for completing new game plus, otherwise I'd have the Platinum. I just got other games I wanna play instead, but I can def see myself going back someday and doing another run through the story. I also beat the final boss at level 69 - hell yeah. Great great great little game!
The best part of this was that the "grinding" to level up, was just a ton of playing around with every player form and trying out all of their attacks and mixing their unique powers with other forms' attacks to make these wacky builds. Going into dungeons and wrecking shit, it didn't feel tedious until the very end of ranking every form to the max level, and even then I wasn't bored. I got every guy to S rank and still wanted more.
The world building, stupid little freaks and characters everywhere with their silly lines and quests, so much funny and cute stuff - and then there's some really gross and nasty cartoon-ish horror effects for some enemies, and especially the main villain; that final guy was nuts and I loved the design. I loved the Skyrim-like factions you join, and all of the regions and villages with their own flair and feel - reminded me of Paper Mario a bit.
What a sleek little title, super easy to navigate UI and menus, the addictive pop of leveling up and completing quests, the combat is just horde smashing fun (along with a tiny bit of a planning required for dungeons/enemies having different criteria for completing/defeating).
I got every trophy except the one for completing new game plus, otherwise I'd have the Platinum. I just got other games I wanna play instead, but I can def see myself going back someday and doing another run through the story. I also beat the final boss at level 69 - hell yeah. Great great great little game!
Mermaid sucks ass though
If you're looking for a game to spend a lot of time on, this is definitely an option. The game has its good and bad points that can end up ruining the experience for some.
The fact that the game proposes a kind of improvement for each character, like a rank (and to increase the rank, you have to do specific things with each character), is interesting at first. But I was very disappointed when I realized that I couldn't improve a character to the maximum rank because I had to progress in the story for that (and to improve all the way to the last rank, you have to play a good portion of the game). Besides, doing this with all the characters is very monotonous and repetitive.
The game also kind of "forces" you to increase your main level to finish it, as the last castles are at a very high level and you'll need to spend some time getting stronger.
The NG+ increases the difficulty in a rather unexciting way.
There are no bosses in the game, only enemies that you encounter on the map, albeit giant ones.
The DLC doesn't add anything spectacular, just two characters that you won't use for anything in the game and some extra challenges.
The story is nice, the art style is adorable, the gameplay is repetitive. It's a great game to spend hours playing while listening to a podcast or something similar when you have nothing else to play.
The fact that the game proposes a kind of improvement for each character, like a rank (and to increase the rank, you have to do specific things with each character), is interesting at first. But I was very disappointed when I realized that I couldn't improve a character to the maximum rank because I had to progress in the story for that (and to improve all the way to the last rank, you have to play a good portion of the game). Besides, doing this with all the characters is very monotonous and repetitive.
The game also kind of "forces" you to increase your main level to finish it, as the last castles are at a very high level and you'll need to spend some time getting stronger.
The NG+ increases the difficulty in a rather unexciting way.
There are no bosses in the game, only enemies that you encounter on the map, albeit giant ones.
The DLC doesn't add anything spectacular, just two characters that you won't use for anything in the game and some extra challenges.
The story is nice, the art style is adorable, the gameplay is repetitive. It's a great game to spend hours playing while listening to a podcast or something similar when you have nothing else to play.