Nobody Saves the World Review
Played on Xbox One (base)
Developed by Drinkbox Studios
Released 18th January 2022
Some of the best games that I've played are often the ones where I spontaneously decide: "I'm gonna 100% this game". From Ori and the Will of the Wisps to The Witcher 3, these 100% games that I end up doing, collectively stay in my memory longer than any important task I have upcoming. Drinkbox's 2022 release is no different. I, unfortunately, missed out on the hype train of Drinkbox's other titles of Guacamelee, but if this magnificent game is anything like them, then I sure have a lot of catching up to do.
Story
The story is pretty cool. You begin the game as a nobody, unaware of your surroundings and reason for being there. After some exploring and interacting with the residents of the world, you end up wielding a wand that lets you shapeshift and on the quest to rescue the missing grand wizard. Yep, you're an amnesiac RPG hero, how original. Fortunately, the game doesn't focus too heavily on the story, making the stereotypical wizards-and-magic story of powerful evil less obvious and blemishes the game less as a whole. However, when it does lean into its narrative, it's often ridiculously loveable due to how eccentric the characters and world are presented. Additionally, it features a predictable, yet stylish twist involving the amnesia which I very much liked.
Gameplay
The gameplay is fantastic. At its best, it's a chaotic, bullet-hell, in-depth RPG, and at its worst, it's a fun, grindy RPG that doesn't heavily lean on monotony. This game is played from a top-down perspective in which the player can take on multiple forms that consist of different abilities and interact with the world in different ways. For example, you can be a Rat whose initial abilities deal poison and allow you to fit through tight gaps that lead to valuable secrets. Or you can be a Magician whose initial abilities let you summon fuzzy allies and have the fastest mana recovery in the game. Notice how I said "initial". That's because the more forms you unlock, the more of their abilities and passives you'll be able to mix and match. Use the Bodybuilder's Flex ability as the Robot or the Horse's Gallop with the Slug, any ability can mix with any of the 15 forms. While you can limit yourself to one powerful build, it won't work for every dungeon, this is because of how the dungeons work.
Every dungeon is randomly and procedurally generated and has a modifier at hand. The fact that the dungeons are randomly generated means it's great in retaining replayability, even when grinding to level up your form, and the fact that the modifier is present, it'll often kick you out of your comfort zone of using the same build over and over again, encouraging a switch in loadouts and playstyles. For example, these modifiers range from making all enemies heal the same amount as you, preventing you from relying on life-steal abilities or maybe everything, including you, is one shot, suggesting wide AOE (Area of Effect) attacks.
The way you upgrade and progress with each form's abilities is by ranking them up from D to S. This is done by completing quests that are tailored to those forms, often requiring you to do a specific attack successfully, multiple times. This quest format advances into making you fuse multiple abilities together. Do you need to deal Light damage with the Zombie? You'll have to equip an ability that does this. In fact, these quests act more as testing grounds for different playstyles with different forms, as they show to the player what is a great mix for this specific form. However, due to this, the beginning of the game is very slow because of how limited you are to forms and abilities, and how progression is locked behind forced builds. This can act more as a bummer than a showcase of creative playstyles on various occasions.
Finally, the wards. Wards are protective shields around enemies that only get removed once they've been damaged by the specific damage type. For example, if someone has a Dark ward, you can only disable it with Dark damage. The wards are an amazing way of adding depth to the already highly customizable, build-swapping gameplay. However, it's also quite obvious that the wards exist to compensate for the lacklustre variety of enemies. Every enemy is fantastically designed and unique from one another, yet, except for maybe two, each enemy type feels identical to fight in the swarms of enemies. None make enough of a distinctive presence to warrant memorability or a diversified strategy.
Bossfights
The bossfights are quite disappointing after seeing the level of creativity embedded in the regular gameplay. Every, but the final, boss was lame. They were nothing but bigger, less interesting, basic enemies, with a reused soundtrack and recycled arena. The only thing that made every boss different from one another was the modifiers active in their respective dungeon. The final boss did switch it up a bit by having an awesome, menacing design but it didn't make up for the empty-feeling fight, which proved to be more of a void if you've spent time levelling everything up.
Characters
The characters were a mixed bag for me. None of the characters managed to grasp onto memorability or humour well. Despite this, their unique, cartoonish and energetic designs and appearances did cause some fun interactions.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere is brilliant. For the whole 20 hours, I spent on this game, I was not once bored by the art direction or grown tired of the music. That's because both are superb. The soundtrack is absolutely banging. Jim Guthrie, the composer of these phenomenal tracks, truly knows how to make a gem out of music, fusing multiple tracks that radiate a cute creepiness, amped-up vibes or music that sends me back to when I was younger and binged Gravity Falls. Every piece is so different from one another, but all are individually catchy and great.
Not only is it audibly rich, but it's also visually engaging. The bold, cartoonish designs of everything pop out in compliment to the wide colour usage. The only nitpick I have with what seems to be a splendid presentation of art and design, is that the screen can get messy when the onslaught of enemies and status effects hide your miniature character.
Story - 8/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Bossfights - 4/10
Characters - 6/10
Atmosphere - 9.5/10
Great
Nobody holds a strong foundation with its RPG gimmicks and its aesthetic works wonders, however, it gets dragged down by the elements of the game that don't reach the same level of quality; such as the bossfights.
