Nobody Saves The World: How Progression Works

Nobody Saves the World is the latest from Drinkbox Studios, the developer behind the Guacamelee games. This is the studio’s first action-RPG, though, making it more in line with a series like The Legend of Zelda. But progression isn’t quite as straightforward as some others in the genre, instead relying on a system that combines classes (called Forms) and sidequests to advance the story. Here’s how progression works in Nobody Saves the World.

Advancing the story in NSTW usually involves venturing into and clearing specific dungeons, but the game is actually chock full of optional “demi-dungeons.” You can tell which ones are story-locked because they’ll require a certain number of stars for entry. There are hundreds of stars to collect in the game, and later dungeons will require you to put up some big numbers. Those stars are consumed once you enter a dungeon, so if you have two dungeons that each require 40 stars–as you will in the mid-game–you’ll need to collect 80 stars total to enter both dungeons and advance the story.

So, how do you get stars? NSTW rewards you with stars frequently, for completing all sorts of tasks. They can be as simple as talking to a specific NPC to completing a sidequest to finishing a demi-dungeon. Some sidequests with multiple steps will even give out multiple stars as you complete each step along the chain. If you’re looking to maximize your stars to get into the next dungeon, there are a few surefire ways to gain them quickly:

Upgrade your Forms

Nobody Saves the World revolves largely around Forms, the ability to shapeshift between more than a dozen characters like Ranger and Knight, along with more oddball selections like Mouse or Turtle. Upgrading your Forms requires you to complete tasks, usually combat-related, like defeating enemies with certain abilities. Once you unlock the capability of mixing and matching abilities between Forms, you’ll also get some quests that require you to borrow certain abilities from other classes and use them in combat.

Each time you complete one of these objectives, you’ll get a star. Better yet, you’ll also upgrade your Form, which then goes toward unlocking other Forms on the upgrade tree. If you look at the upgrade tree, you’ll see letter grades (F-A, and S) listed on the paths between Forms. That means you need to achieve that grade with a Form to unlock the next one on the chain. If a Form has multiple paths with letter grades leading to it, that means you need to reach that grade with multiple Forms.

As a result, the bulk of your star-earning potential in NSTW will be through upgrading Forms, unlocking new ones, and then upgrading those. When you’re hard-up for some stars and just need a few more to enter that next mission-crucial dungeon, pick a Form you’ve barely used. Chances are you have some quests to finish that just require using its most basic abilities. You can re-enter completed dungeons or enter a demi-dungeon to find areas with lots of enemies to feed your combat quests.

Keep in mind that most story dungeons are Form locked and will not allow you to progress your Form quests. This is to encourage you to simply use your most powerful Forms without grinding for experience.

Complete Guild quest chains

There are three Guilds in the game, each representing a fantasy archetype: knights, wizards, and thieves. These guilds give out several quests at once, and completing their quest chains will give you both stars for the individual parts and for advancing through the guild ranks itself. If you complete an entire step of the guild quest chain, you’ll get a new set of quests with even more objectives to clear. Sometimes these quests will involve special challenge rooms, while others will just take some clever thinking of how to combine your form abilities to solve a puzzle.

You can buy stars, I guess

If you absolutely need just one more star and you’re an extremely impatient person, you can actually purchase stars from a roaming vendor you’ll see all over the map. While this is technically a viable option, it’s pretty unnecessary considering how many stars are just freely available elsewhere. And you’ll be wasting money you could be spending on more important things like special abilities or stat boosts. That said, it is indisputably the fastest way to get stars, if you absolutely, positively have to get into that next dungeon quickly. Keep in mind that the stock of purchasable stars is limited, though the vendor will open more stock as you progress through the story.

One more thing

Another element to keep in mind is the existence of Infinite Quests, available for purchase from the vendor. You should absolutely buy these as soon as possible, but theydo not grant stars. These only grant general experience (not Form experience) for leveling up. You should get them because they’ll basically run passively in the background while you play through the game normally, so it’s just free XP. But they won’t give you stars, so don’t expect it.

For more on Nobody Saves The World, check out our best forms and ability combos, as well as some beginner’s tips to get you started.