We’ve all seen quirky indie titles that look to recapture the nostalgic feel of older games with how they’re presented. Lots of these games can feel copy and pasted, with many of the same beats and visual presentation across a myriad of different companies. Very few of these titles are innovative and shine in other aspects aside from being an “indie RPG”. Nobody Saves the World takes this concept and runs with it, being not only an incredibly innovative title but funny as well, with cool gameplay concepts and a way to ease the monotony of grinding in a way few other RPGs have done. Where many have tried and failed, Nobody Saves the World outperforms in droves, and still has content in the pocket for replayability.
The general concept of Nobody Saves the World is that, you guessed it, you’re a nobody. You begin the game as a blank slate character with no memory inside a tiny shack, no money or skills to your name. Your only ability is a wimpy slap that can break nearby objects. Shortly after, you learn about the disappearance of a master wizard from his apprentice, and how monsters are on the rise in the nearby kingdom. After getting told off by the apprentice, you’re sent into the catacombs to fend for yourself, armed only with a wand you found under a coffee maker. This is the key to your newfound abilities, as the wand lets you change into other entities. This can range from animals like Rats and Horses to people like Knights and Magicians. Each transformation has its own benefits and weaknesses for traversal and combat, and some are necessary for proceeding into other areas. This concept of transformation is incredibly novel, as when you’re skilled with how it works there are combos you can do that really feel intuitive, even early on; but more on that later. The game’s story is upbeat and pretty funny, all the characters have a ton of personality that you’d expect from a game like this. While there are some dialogue choices, they’re essentially just “No” and “Heck no”. This plays into the comedy of the game as well, since you’re a nobody with little to no wishes aside from getting your memory back and showing up the people that pushed you down. The whole ability of going from nobody to anybody is a really cool story beat that feeds itself into the gameplay, and honestly where the game shines the most.
When it comes to actual gameplay, Nobody Saves the World is a dungeon crawling action RPG, with changing dungeons and typical difficulty separators like elite enemies and a level system. Nobody Saves the World shines particularly in two places, the transformations and the leveling system. While RPGs can get grindy, Nobody Saves the World combats this by making quests to level the player up constantly coincide with what you’re already doing. For the most part, these are based on the transformation you’re playing and their passive skills, like poisoning X amount of enemies with the Rat. As you complete these quests, you level up both your character and the transformation in order to raise the level grade. As the level grade goes up, you unlock branching paths for other classes. Each of those transformations has a branch as well, and so on. These feed into each other with quests and the like as well, so leveling older classes with their quests doesn’t feel useless, and sometimes can combo with other characters later on in order to benefit their passive skills as well. A great example I used for most of my playthrough was the Ranger and Rat. Playing on keyboard was a bit challenging, (the game recommends you use a controller) but being able to poison combo many enemies at once from a safe distance with the Ranger then consume them for health as the Rat with its active skill. Even though I had unlocked further advanced classes, this combo was comfortable and effective enough to take on hoards of enemies without an issue. Finding combos like this is something I find really enjoyable with games that give you agency over your playstyle, and is incredibly satisfying.
Of my time spent with Nobody Saves the World, I do feel like there is a ton of replayability for challenge modes like using only a single transformation in combat or a run like “base character only”. Re-experiencing an already fun game feels incredibly rewarding, and I feel like Nobody Saves the World has that on lock. Aside from the funny story and lively characters, the presentation in Nobody Saves the World is very good. With a ton to experience and a myriad of different ways to experience it, Nobody Saves the World is a title that will keep RPG fans engaged for a long time.
Score: 9 out of 10
Reviewed on Windows PC