Nobody Saves The World – Playstation Impressions

Editor’s Note: These impressions are for the Playstation version of Nobody Saves the World only. If you would like to read our full review of the Xbox version you can head here: 

Nobody Saves The World - Playstation Impressions

There has been a nice fluctuation in the prevalence of dungeon crawler style games hitting my PlayStation 5 lately. A few months back I picked up Devolver’s Death’s Door and managed to play a few times before I started a new job. Being able to throw myself into Nobody Saves The World over the last few days has been a fun ride and I have loved the opportunity to explore the game at my own pace. My time spent with Nobody Saves The World has been enjoyable so far and I can’t wait to make it through some more challenging dungeons as the game progresses. Eventually, I will be able to dive into the co-operative play and see how that is integrated into the dungeon crawler. 

Nobody Saves The World is an action role-playing dungeon crawler video game developed and published by DrinkBox Studios, the creators of Guacamelee. Originally released on Xbox gaming systems and PC, the timed exclusive has made its way to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. In the game, the player controls a character by the name of ‘Nobody’, traversing through levels, transforming physical forms, and chewing through waves of enemies in the hopes of saving the world. 

First thing, Nobody Saves The World is a visually pleasing game to play through, the colours are vibrant and the graphics run smoothly and effortlessly. Playing on PlayStation 5 and on a HDR monitor definitely contributed to the aesthetically striking graphics. Not only are the visuals appealing, the soundtrack is lots of fun as well. Although, some of it did remind me of 5am in Chinese Laundry on a Sunday morning with its dull and pulsing beats. There is no lack in diversity of sounds, each enemy has their own tones and noises, whilst each dungeon has its own soundtrack that matches the theme of the basement. 

When first starting out, I was faced with the challenge of having unskilled and unequipped characters that I was transforming between. In the first dungeon, I was discouraged by the waves of enemies that I couldn’t get through. However, I realised that all I needed was a change in strategy, once I had that figured out, the dungeons became enjoyable and less frustrating. The encouraging element of each dungeon is that the skill level of the character is matched by the enemy’s difficulty. As someone who enjoys playing most games at the easiest level possible, I love when I am able to get through a level without feeling deflated or incapable. Going into each dungeon was fun and the waves of enemies were entertaining to plough through whilst changing forms. The main frustration that I encountered with the dungeons is having to start from the beginning each time I died. I know that this is pretty common in dungeon crawler style games, but it was such a buzzkill when I was almost finished a dungeon, dying, and then having to go through the entire thing all over again. 

The combat is incredibly rewarding, depending on the form that you are playing in, you will have up to 3 different signature moves that you can use against a variety of enemies. As enemies are killed, they leave behind food for health and coins and gems for the financial rewards system. At the time of writing this, I had uncovered 6 forms that I could play as this meant that I could strategically play as different forms to make my way through the different dungeons. The fantastic thing is that you can upgrade different forms through the skill tree system that is built into the game. The best thing is that it is incredibly easy to understand, as someone who struggles to understand skill upgrades and skill trees, I was able to navigate this aspect pretty well. This is usually an aspect that turns me off from playing games with intricate skill trees and upgrade systems. 

The game maintains a level of humour throughout, whether it’s pointless conversations with a horse or ridiculously named quests. Nobody Saves The World doesn’t take itself seriously and proves to be quite an entertaining game that I found hard to put down once I was right into it. There are moments where the levels feel repetitive because of the nature of the combat and navigating through dungeons that look similar. However, the payoff is a lot of fun and a stupid amount of rewards when it comes to slaying enemies and breaking furniture. Nobody Saves The World is a lot of fun and has given me a much-needed introduction to the world of dungeon crawlers.