Nobody Saves the World

Good game, interesting concept, fun abilities. Areas and dungeon design was cool.

Slightly grindy for levelling up, some dialogue took too long, certain areas were too filled with monsters.

Otherwise a very good game for coop play.

Nobody Saves the World is a very creative and fun action rpg, from the studio behind the Guaccamelee games. Its similar in style to a diablolike, but with a very unique gimmick that you can change between classes (in this game being forms), at will, and after the mid game you can effectively create unique builds by combining abilities between each class. This is the best part of the game, as it allows you to create the build that feels the most fun to play, and fits best the challenges the game offers.

Moment to moment the game is not satisfying as a proper diablolike, as hits dont feel impactful, and there isnt a lot of loot to gather besides money and upgrade points. Unfortunatly this means that the game slows down a bit in its middle section, which requires a bit of grinding to unlock the more advanced forms. These arent required to beat the game, but the later forms really are way more powerful than the starting ones, with better stats and synergies, so you are incentivized to go after them to have a more enjoyable time.

Level design is also interesting featuring a mix between a zelda title like link to the past in its open world design, that offer plenty of side quests and secrets to find, but also roguelite with its take on randomized self contained dungeons. These dungeons are the main source of grinding if it needs to be done, but even with the randomized layouts they dont really add enough to diversify the experience.

The game has a very striking art style for sure, reminding me a lot of the grotesque art style of movies by Sylvain Chomet. But there is an obvious comedic touch that the art style hints at, and its quite effective really. The animations really add a lot of characters to the NPCs (that dont have much depth going for them), and makes the jokes hit harder.

Storywise its quite simple and to the point, but its the execution that makes it so appealing. There are a lot of jokes in the plot, and meta commentaries as well, but it never feels forced as its tonally on point from start to ending of the game. Unfortunatly it takes away from the emotional investment of the story, but the games wants to deliver a good lighthearted fun time from start to finish.

Its not one of the best games ever, but there is enough good ideas and execution to make it a fun lighthearted game. At times it feels like the casual first action rpg, given how easy most of it is, and how straight forward its systems are presented. Its comedic touches and unique build ideas are the best things going for it, and definitly make it worth discovering.

Having played Guacamelee! a few years ago, I had pretty good expectations for the Drinkbox studio latest game and I think it delivered. It's not a Metroidvania and goes more into RPG territory, but it has some similarities with the drawing style and the general humor the game offers.

The premise of the game is that you are "Nobody" but you can change forms, from creatures like a rat or a horse to various human forms like guard and ranger. Each form offers a different selection of abilities, and the more you play with a form the more abilities you get to unlock (and eventually more forms). The game does offer some customization as each form can equip 1 ability from another form and various passive abilities that you have unlocked in the other forms. So depending on the dungeon you are going for, you'll want to take the right form with the right activated abilities and passive abilities.

This does give the game a good pacing, you are constantly unlocking and improving your general kit so you become stronger and stronger and your abilities are also changing in the process. The game plays a little bit like a Diablo with waves of enemies coming in but the comparison ends there as the game is very colorful and humorous. One perhaps flaw I can give it is that all dungeons have a similar layout of having a few floors and then a checkpoint before the boss fight. It would have been interesting to see more originality in there, but the game does play a lot like comfort food as you can just blaze through the stages if you customize your character correctly for what you are facing. It requires a fair amount of grinding to unlock things, but I generally don't mind this process. The difficulty is not particularly hard, aside from a few dungeons that I had to retry a few times but there is not much punishment from dying so you just go on and on until you get.

Overall it's a good game. A little longer than you average indie action game (took me roughly 15 hours) and perhaps at times it overstays its welcome a little, but those aspects are to be expected in most games. Most of all it's pretty fun to play and I would recommend it, it's well worth trying among the loads of games on Game Pass.