A world worth saving?
Something is missing fromNobody Saves The World, a new action RPG fromGuacameleedevs DrinkBox Studios.
And what a lovely world it is, despite the rampaging mutant issue.
You’ve got little towns and thick jungles and arid deserts all rendered in this gorgeous, cartoony aesthetic.
The game has a playful charm about it, with bizarre characters that spit funny quips.
The way he switches between frantic to conniving is magnificent.
“You look strong, can you help me defeat some monsters?”.
Aid almost any NPC and they’ll hit you with a snappy thanks… and that’s your lot.
Sure, you earn some EXP, but this recompense feels hollow without meaningful stories.
The game commits so hard to its referential humour that it’s often overly dismissive.
The joke is that you’re playing an RPG, but the punchline grows weaker as you progress.
Is this a world you want to save?
Well, I guess so.
One thing the game gets mostly right is its transformations.
To unlock more, you’ll need to complete quests specific to certain forms.
As a rat, you may have a quest that’s like, “Poison 20 enemies”.
Do so, and you’ll earn both EXP and FP.
FP, or “Form Points”, will up your rat’s grade.
That’s not all!
Your forms belong to an interconnected web of other forms, some of which are locked behind grade requirements.
The powerful monk, for example, requires you hit grade A with both the Horse and the Magician.
My favourite build is a mix-up between Magician and Zombie.
My army of the living creates an army of the dead which rules.
As dungeons get harder, enemies are protected by “Wards”, a.k.a.
barriers you better shatter by matching their damage throw in.
It seems an odd design decision.
Perhaps it comes down to the dungeons and the combat, which just aren’t particularly exciting.
The joy of combat in Nobody Saves The World stems from impact.
The rat nibbles enemies.
The Zombie mauls and infects.
The Ranger slings arrows.
There’s a deep pleasure in hitting mutants in different, satisfying ways.
But because dungeons rarely demand more than one form, repetition sets in.
Only kill requirements or keys to find.
The repetition sets in even further.
Combat eventually suffers the same fate.
Granted, some dungeons have special challenges.
Wards refresh, or enemies deal x9999 damage.
Occasionally, some have traps!
Everything is better with friends, after all, and some laughter and chatter would complement the dungeon-crawling nicely.
Thing is, dungeons only exist to further EXP and FP.
Aside from numbers and forms, there isn’t anything else to chase.
You clear dungeons to watch grades and bars rise.
Crack open chests at the end of a dungeon and you’ll get some tokens.
What do they do?
I suppose this gives the game a clear focus, but it’s one that gradually wears you down.
This a game built for churning through, and that’s the problem.
Nobody isn’t so much as saving the world, but clearing it, instead.
