Nobody Saves the World review (PS5)

We’ve had to wait since 2018 for a new game from Canadian developers Drinkbox Studios, but after an earlier launch on PC and Xbox their latest game Nobody Saves The World is finally available on PlayStation as well. We checked it out on a PlayStation 5.

It’s interesting to realize that Drinkbox has only been around for about a decade, but during that time they’ve never failed to deliver. From their excellent Tales of Space titles to Severed and the cult classic Guacamelee! games, all their games have been well-received so anticipation was high for Nobody Saves the World.

The titular Nobody is the protagonist of this colorful top-down dungeon crawler, in which you set out to save a magician named Nostramagus. You’re no stranger to magic yourself either though, as you have a magic wand that lets you change forms, each one giving you different abilities to help you fight a dark presence that’s gradually taking over the land.

We’ve seen plenty of top-down dungeon crawlers before, but this wouldn’t be a Drinkbox title if things didn’t quickly take an original turn. Nobody Saves the World looks like a fairly standard game at first, but once you start playing around with the different body form things quickly becomes interesting. For example, your first form is a rat, which lets you poison enemies and steal their health. Transforming into a snail offers a very different experience, emphasizing defense capabilities like a slime trail that slows enemies down. This isn’t just a journey within the animal kingdom though, as more traditional RPG-like forms like a knight and dragon also appear, and you can even transform into a robot for a touch of sci-fi.

Over time, you can even take abilities from one form and use them with another, which (with over a dozen forms to choose from) makes for a large number of interesting variations and play styles. You’ll realize this is more than a gimmick when enemies start becoming immune to certain attacks as well, so experimenting is definitely a way to keep pushing forward as well.

Underneath that incredibly fun mechanic, Nobody Saves the World is a fairly standard dungeon crawler – the kind where dungeons are filled with dozens or even hundreds of enemies, and the kind that can get repetitive after a while. The shapeshifting mechanics, combined with a lovely colorful art style and interesting and entertaining characters, keep this to a minimum though.

The launch of the PlayStation (and Switch) versions also marks the introduction of local co-op to the game, which is a great way to play. The previously released versions had online co-op already and are getting local play through an update as well, but if you have the opportunity to play this together with a friend then that creates a whole new dynamic as well – one where you select skillsets that aren’t just unique but also complement each other.

It’s nice to see another Drinkbox game, and it’s nice to see them tackle yet another genre. What’s especially nice, however, it’s that it’s another excellent title for their library, and the additional of local co-op play was well worth the wait.

Score: 8.4/10