One Many Nobody review

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I really wish I had a clone. Having another version of myself who can do the dishes and take the dog out when I’m feeling lazy would really improve my life, especially because it would give me more time to play video games. I guess cloning yourself wouldn’t really be that idyllic though, at least that’s what One Many Nobody has taught me.

Upon waking up trapped in a lab, our hero is set on escaping his life as a lab rat. After finding a message from a mysterious character known only as Mr Nobody, you discover that the only way to get out is to take down the facility from the inside. Thus begins a puzzle platforming adventure with a twist.

That twist is cloning. By finding a cloning pod you can spawn another you at the pod it’s connected to. By switching between clones you should then be able to find your way to the exit and continue on your quest. It doesn’t matter which of you reaches the goal, so expect to leave many versions of yourself behind for the greater good (no matter how harrowing that sounds).

Stages of One Many Nobody often revolve around getting your clones to press buttons so you can progress through the exit, but it doesn’t take long for pushable boxes, guards with instant death guns and deadly lasers to appear on the scene. Figuring out how best to protect a single clone to get them to the exit is tricky, but is rewarding when it all comes together.

Although solving the puzzle of each level is difficult, because they generally fit on a single screen they feel much more approachable. Knowing everything you need to beat a stage is visible from the get go means you’re free to experiment and can actively see what happens as you do. Opening one door might trigger a laser to kill a clone that you weren’t expecting, but with quick restarts and no way of missing what happens it never feels frustrating.

One thing you have to keep in mind while trying to beat a level in One Many Nobody is the clone limit. You can only ever have a set number of clones in a stage at once, and often that means sacrificing a few of yourself to progress. It’s a little grim marching the cute little pixel character into a laser or some spikes, and this blatant disregard for life is a pretty big part of the narrative.

As well as worrying about total clones, you’ll also have to worry about types of clones. In later levels you’ll have clones that work differently than normal, like clones that will move at the same time as each other. When controlling two clones at once it’s important to look ahead for hazards that could trip up either clone, and find ways to line up their paths so they both survive and get to the switches that need pressing.

My favourite type of clones though are the ones that explode after a brief period of time. These guys really make you pick up the pace, and can be used to blow up enemies or breakable walls too. I’m not really sure what the practical function of this type of cloning is, but they sure do make for a good puzzle.

There isn’t a huge amount more to say about One Many Nobody. It’s an entertaining puzzle platformer, but there isn’t a whole lot to it. If you enjoy solving problems while jumping across platforms you’ll probably have a good time, but it’s hard to feel too thrilled as you push another box or stand on another switch.

One Many Nobody is a fine puzzle platform game, but not a hugely revolutionary one. Solving puzzles with clones is entertaining enough, but it never really goes beyond that. If you’re a big fan of the genre you’ll have a good time cloning yourself again and again, but don’t expect your socks to be knocked off.