Nobody Nowhere Review

Every once in a while, you trip over a game that totally skipped your radar and it turns out to be exactly what you were looking for. Call it luck, call it kismet, call it whatever you like – but that’s what happened for me with Nobody Nowhere.

Odds are you’ve never heard of this game before either. Coming from solo developer Tag:hadal, Nobody Nowhere is a “side-scrolling, story-driven text adventure game” according to its Steam page, sitting somewhere in that space between visual novel and point-and-click. It released on February 17th, 2025 for PC.

As is the case with all narrative-centric games, it’s important not to delve into spoilers so what I’ll say about the premise is this: set primarily in the year 2079, Nobody Nowhere follows the story of a newly awakened Replicant who finds himself in a laboratory that’s about to be hit by a deadly situation.

In this world, Replicants are essentially manufactured humans, designed with the intention of being able to transfer human consciousness and thereby cheat the constraints of mortality.

In some ways, the game is really NieR-coded (I mean, a major topic of the plot is a *Replicant* program, so there’s really no denying the connection there). But even beyond the story elements, there are certain motifs and even nods in the sound design that feel like direct callbacks to Yoko Taro’s iconic series.

For example, there are these recurring flowers – albeit yellow and not white in this case – that play a prominent role in the story. And then there’s the text effect that plays when the HSRC Auto AI System is speaking which sounds like something straight out of NieR Automata.

But even potential NieR inspirations aside, Nobody Nowhere’s premise was intriguing enough to pull me in, especially when I heard that the game could be completed in about 3 hours. I woke up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning, and over 100 hours deep into a JRPG playthrough, I was feeling the need for a break. A quick, bingeable indie narrative adventure is exactly what the doctor ordered – so I said screw it, let’s play.

And while I had the credits rolling by breakfast time, I’ve been sitting with this game all day – extremely eager to sit down and figure out how on earth to write this review and get as many people in my little corner of the internet to put eyes on this gem as possible.

Again, I won’t get into spoilers but what I will say about Nobody Nowhere’s narrative is that the pacing is incredibly well done. Each bit hits, breathes, inhales, and then it’s on to the next. There’s little meandering but it never feels like you’re so “on rails” that you can’t poke around the environments in the moments between action and big revelations. While it does lead to some characters being a tad underexplored, overall it makes for a really tight, satisfying narrative experience.

Something else that immediately jumps out at you when firing up this game is the aesthetics. The pixel art is clear, vibrant, and expressive. The sprites do the basic idle animation of bobbing up and down, but it’s effective at instilling that bit of motion in the fiction and I found it really charming. Then there’s the color work and use of lighting that I found myself pausing at to soak in every few scenes or so.

Another major feature of the art style comes in the form of the character portraits. Now, while there isn’t a huge range of expressions or portraits per character, what is there is clean, crisp, and well-drawn. I found most of them really effective at conveying the characters’ personalities and intonations.

And before I move on from the aesthetics portion of this review, I would be utterly remiss not to mention the music. The score snuck up on me a bit with how strong it was for a game with such a short runtime. It perfectly fit the game’s mood and atmosphere, punctuating key moments and even culminating in an end credits theme that I would easily throw on a playlist to listen to on repeat.

Now, let’s talk gameplay. For the most part, Nobody Nowhere is what you’d expect for a side-scrolling narrative game. You explore 2D environments, moving from screen to screen with a couple of things to interact with in each area. Some of these just add flavor text while others progress the narrative. I recommend poking around and interacting with things a couple of times to see what you can get up to.

One thing to note is that there is no voice acting, but you do have access to a text log that lets you pull up the most recent dialogue history. There’s also a limited glossary in the game’s menu to help you keep track of the various acronyms and key terms. For the most part, the game’s English translation is well done, but I did notice a typo or two or some potentially odd localization moments. Nothing game breaking by any means.

One differentiating factor that breaks up the narrative beats are various mini-game segments. Some of these are stronger than others, but for the most part I found them really well implemented. My favorite were these almost hacking-style mini-games (again, reminding me of NieR and 9S’s gameplay segments, but minus the bullet hell madness in this case) and I would have even welcomed a few more of them.

That said, not every game-ified element worked as well with some reliance on QTEs and even a touch of forced stealth in one or two segments. These aren’t necessarily the most fun or rewarding gameplay bits, but they do admittedly add to the tension of those climactic moments when they do hit.

But that all does lead me to the topic of accessibility: while in many ways, narrative adventures or point-and-clicks can be naturally very accessible games, there are a few areas where Nobody Nowhere could improve.

On the positive side, features like that text log do help – especially in the absence of voice acting. Without voice acting, text-heavy games can be difficult for blind/low vision players as well as those with various cognitive disabilities (ranging from dyslexia to memory issues). Even environmental factors like distractions (for example, kids) pulling your attention away during cut scenes can make a good text log invaluable.

The text log captures almost everything, but there are a few moments of ambient dialogue (characters talking in the background that the player isn’t actively clicking through to advance) that it omits, and I’m not sure why these aren’t included as well. Luckily, the font and text size are pretty good for readability and mostly good on the high contrast side of things as well.

But circling back to the mini-games and QTEs, some of these might pose an accessibility issue as well – that’s just the nature of QTEs unless there’s a setting to have them auto-complete or increase the timing window. Since these moments are so few in number given Nobody Nowhere’s short runtime, it’s not a huge deal and I’m really getting into some nitpicks here. They don’t overstay their welcome, but hopefully it’s something this and other new developers can consider in their future titles.

And while we’re on the topic of nitpicks, one final thing I’ll say is that Nobody Nowhere isn’t exactly the strongest title for a game. It lacks a bit of that memorable identity or punch to penetrate the gaming discourse and leave a lasting impression. I also imagine it doesn’t rank super well for SEO but that’s my inner marketer creeping out.

I could make a really cheap joke about how “nobody nowhere” is talking about this game – except that it’s not quite true. I’m only here today, having played, enjoyed, and felt inspired to write about this indie gem because an outlet that I follow daily (shoutout to Noisy Pixel) covered it in a recent article, mentioning its “very positive” Steam reception.

And that’s exactly why I want to write this review – in case it reaches even just one or two people who’ll want to check out this game.

Despite my few criticisms, I think this is a really cool, special new game that deserves any amount of spotlight I can shine on it. The story was engaging and even caught me off guard a couple times. The environments were a visual delight to move through, and the music kept me company on a cozy Saturday morning, well spent on gaming.

I’m not trying to overhype it, but I’m really glad I took a chance on Nobody Nowhere. Is it a game for everyone? No. But if you’re a fan of or even just open to trying a visual novel/point-and-click style adventure that you can knock out in a sitting or two, this is one to take a look at, especially if anything I’ve described about the thematic elements is speaking to you.

Plus, when the price of admission is $10 (USD) and 3 hours of your time, there’s more reward than risk in play here. It could be just the right fit for when you have a weekend with some downtime or you just need a break from the big, blockbuster hits that seem to be dropping from each of the major publishers every other week.

So if you made it this far, let us know: are you interested in Nobody Nowhere? Will you be trying it out, or have a friend you think might want to take a look? Check out the game’s Steam page, and if you like what you see, maybe spread the word about one of 2025’s most under-the-radar indie gems.