Massive AAA releases tend to define any given year for the video game industry, with titles like Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 currently set in 2022's line-up. However, indie games have become just as likely to catch attention en masse. Phasmophobia and Among Us broke through the noise in 2020, for example, and 2021 saw widespread discussion of games like Loop Hero and Unpacking. One of the first break-out indie hits this year appears to be Nobody Saves the World.
Drinkbox Studios; a Canadian developer whose previous works include Guacamelee! 1 and 2, Severed, and Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack; released Nobody Saves the World on January 18 for PC and Xbox consoles. It was the studio's most successful Steam launch, according to a January 19 tweet by Drinkbox, and it also released day-one on Xbox Game Pass. However, the game's co-op elements are only available online, which is a shame for anyone looking to play locally with friends and family.
Nobody Saves the World Encourages Cooperative Chaos
Nobody Saves the World is a top-down action-RPG starring Nobody, a "pale androgynous humanoid" with amnesia and a wand allowing them to transform. Nobody can take on 17 additional forms over the course of the adventure, which is set in a cartoonish world dripping with tongue-in-cheek humor and unabashed references to the games industry at large. Each form offers its own set of attacks, including a signature move, and passive abilities. Players are also able to mix-and-match abilities if they so choose, leading to a game with tons of variation and quick decision-making.
Even more important is the game's co-op elements. Nobody Saves the World was announced in March 2021, and its two person online co-op functionality was later detailed that August. Not only can players jump between single and multiplayer experiences at will in any given playthrough, but doing so offers extra benefits. Individual Nobodies can mix-and-match their abilities, but those abilities can be further synergized between co-op partners. It's a huge selling point for the Diablo-like dungeon crawler, especially with it coming out on Xbox Game Pass and featuring cross-play on Microsoft devices.
Couch Co-Op Could Still Happen for Nobody Saves the World
With the game encouraging co-op experiences, it seems like a missed opportunity to not expand Nobody Saves the World's reach with local play - even if online options are good and increasingly necessary thanks to the impact of COVID-19. That said, it isn't the only game out there facing this conundrum of late. Major 2021 releases like Halo Infinite and Back 4 Blood were perfect for couch co-op but did not launch with the option.
It's always possible Drinkbox Studios did not envision its game including couch co-op because of its accessibility on platforms like Game Pass, or it may have had to prioritize online functionality in light of the ongoing pandemic. However, blockbuster successes like It Takes Two have shown the value in developing a multiplayer experience that's accessible at a local and online level, including ways of inviting friends who don't own the game. There's good reasons why It Takes Two won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2021.
Given its successful launch, Nobody Saves the World should have a long life ahead of it. There's room for Drinkbox to release DLC content with new dungeons to explore and forms to embody, and the developer could put out couch co-op down the line too. If Nintendo is willing to add online multiplayer to a game like Super Mario Party years after it comes out, nothing seems too farfetched.
Nobody Save the World is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.