Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 23 included announcements for video game fans across the genre spectrum, as well as new trailers for anticipated titles like Sonic Frontiers and Dead Island 2. However, that was just the beginning of a week-long conference in Cologne, Germany with more to enjoy. Yesterday featured IGN's Awesome Indies showcase, with one notable announcement being Nobody Saves the World's $4.99 "Frozen Hearth" expansion.
Nobody Saves the World was one of this year's early breakout indie successes, a January release from Guacamelee developer Drinkbox Studios. It became the studio's most successful launch on Steam, as well as a day-one Xbox Game Pass title; all of which benefited its online co-op by providing a wealth of players. The benefits of DLC content are clear following this success, and Frozen Hearth will offer fans a whole new level of challenge. Luckily, it will also bring fans two additional transformation forms with which to tackle that challenge: the Killer Bee and Mechanic.
Nobody Saves the World and Frozen Hearth
Shapeshifting was the hallmark of Nobody Saves the World, a top-down ARPG in which the main character can use 17 additional forms with their own attacks, signature moves, and passive abilities to solve puzzles and combat enemies. Drinkbox created an irreverent, cartoonish take on a typical fantasy setting, and the transformations reflected this via a mix of traditional Dungeons and Dragons-esque classes such as Rogues and Archers alongside modern-day Bodybuilders and Magicians. Various animals and mythical creatures like Zombies and Mermaids also fill out the roster.
The Frozen Hearth expansion takes players to a new underground region where a tournament called the Tampering sets up "a series of puzzles and challenges that will push players’ transformation skills and creativity." Some of these challenges will be combat-oriented, but the Gamescom trailer also shows off minigame activities like hitting every note coming down four pathways. A mini golf course is also prominently advertised, but fans will undoubtedly be most interested in trying the two new transformations.
Breaking Down Killer Bee and Mechanic From Frozen Hearth's Trailer
In a comment to IGN, lead designer Ian Campbell said, "When we shipped the original game, there were so many ideas we had to leave on the cutting room floor, and this DLC gave us a chance to bring some of them to life." However, exact details about what the Killer Bee and Mechanic forms are capable of aren't available as of this writing, so their abilities need to be gleaned from trailer footage.
Based on that, the Killer Bee is a more versatile form able to fly over any surface - including bodies of water. This form has a main attack with its extendable stinger, but can also place a hexagonal area-of-effect (AoE) field in which all trapped opponents will take constant damage from a swarm of bees. The Mechanic similarly has access to an AoE attack that sets a damaging electrical shield. Nobody Saves the World's Mechanic also takes cues from popular renditions of the archetype in games like Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch, placing turrets that do damage as players run around whacking opponents with a wrench.
Fans of Nobody Saves the World will be pleased to know that its co-op carries over to Frozen Hearth, as the Gamescom trailer shows a Killer Bee and Mechanic taking on generic enemies and arena bosses together. For just $5, it should be worth seeing what these new transformations are capable of when the expansion launches next month. This may just be the first of multiple DLC expansions, according to the description on IGN's official DLC trailer video on YouTube, and it will be interesting to see what else Drinkbox has in mind.
Nobody Saves the World is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The Frozen Hearth DLC launches September 13 for all platforms.