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With the boom of gacha and Genshinlike games, Infinity Nikki may seem like just another one of the bunch. Delivered in a pink wrapper full of glitter, though. However, our young Nikki has been in the business longer with four other drees-up games. Despite the overflow of similar titles, Nikki jumps from her runways into the open world at an ideal time to take a familiar structure and turn it into a game for a specific audience.
Nikki is the game that allows you to explore the more feminine and detail-oriented side, where everyone can live their own fairy tale. In short, one of the most repeated statements is that Infinity Nikki makes the dreams of those fans of Barbie movies come true. I am talking mainly about movies like The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses. This is a beautiful game in every aspect, but its aesthetic does not mean it lacks in other factors, such as combat or a deep story.
The Power is in the Suit
For a brief moment, the opening scene seems like Nikki and Momo could live in a world like ours, with the exception of talking animals, but we’ll just follow the narrative pact. Here, Nikki is looking for a dress for her prom, and they both go to look for it at her old house. Yet, one of them turns out to be a miraculous dress that transports them to a world full of magic. So far, it may sound like a cliché story, but everything takes an unexpected turn.
Nikki continues through the unknown world and opens a gate where a waifu has been trapped for a couple of hundred years, Ena. With more explanation, this lady mentions to Nikki that she must gather the Miracle Outfits to save the world from who knows what. Before succumbing to the enemies’ attack, Ena implants the “Heart of Infinity” in Nikki; quite similar to Kafka using the Stelllaron in The Trailblazer. From here, Nikki wakes up somewhere else without her magic dress, and then she has to continue her journey to discover Miraland.
Miraland is a world of fantasy mixed with living in the countryside. The kicker is that magic does not belong to the magicians but to the stylists and that miracles do not come from a wand but from making an outfit. Stilysts are the only ones who can create clothing for a specific situation, such as gliding, catching bugs, or even repairing electricity. However, this place full of charm is overshadowed by a lurking entity that will fool anyone with a wish and deceive them with the promise to help them put them into a coma.
Project Runway
The central aspect of Infinity Nikki is the outfits, which are more than just cute clothes you can show off. Some provide gameplay abilities. As you progress, you will unlock outfits for Farming, Animal Grooming, Bug Catching, and Fishing. By unlocking them, you can do these activities to create even prettier clothes. It’s all a fashion-centric loop. Also, there are a few others that you’ll use for specific missions.
All these outfits come from your Stylist powers and from the “Heart of Infinity.” This feature is a Talent Tree in which you will unlock upgrades for your clothes and “Sketches,” blueprints of a specific outfit. Once you have the recipe, you can craft the ensembles, but only after first collecting materials you find along the way.
Besides the Ability Outfits, other clothing pieces do not offer any special effects. But in Miraland, one way to show how good a Stylist you are is by facing a Style Challenge, a mechanic from the previous installments. In this challenge, you will face an NPC to see who the ultimate fashionista is; here, you don’t depend on the power of the outfit but on their stats. All the clothes have stats like Cool, Sweet, or Elegant, and for each challenge, you must make an ensemble with a specific stat.
Explore Miraland
The catwalks and outfits are among the most critical aspects of Infinity Nikki. However, the exploration of the open world plays a huge role, too. It is obvious that this game takes a very similar structure to Genshin Impact, such as discovering the different cities and biomes, as well as Waypoints. Also, with the latest Infold Game trailer, the endgame will lead players through seven different “nations.” So, one could assume the Genshin formula is strong with this one.
Still, Nikki explores these points from another perspective. For example, to get materials from animals, it is common to hunt them, but Nikki can peacefully interact with them, like brushing them gently. Also, I want to highlight the fishing mechanic, one of the features I enjoy the least in the games. With Nikki, fishing is very dynamic, as you must first wait for the fish to bite, then direct your rod to the opposite side to the one the fish is swimming until it gets tired and you can pick up the hook, and so on until you catch your prey.
Another strong point in Miraland is its mini-games. Although there are puzzles, such as the challenges you can find in open-world gachas, our Stilyst can find several extra activities, such as the mini-game of the paper crane flight, a few traversal puzzles, and others for Momo. Instead of waiting for limited-time events that add these activities, it is nice to see them present at all times to give even more life to the world.
As a side note, it’s also exciting to see that they include the game’s “mascot” in the world and not just appear out of nowhere like Paimon or leave him abandoned until an event like Pom-Pom. Nikki will always have her great friend by her side in this strange world, who is also very useful for tracking the Whimstars.
An Enhanced Gacha
We cannot forget that Infinity Nikki is also a gacha game, but as Nikki is the only protagonist, this aspect works differently. Instead of collecting waifus and husbandos, the game focuses on dress-up features, so you must get new clothes and accessories. The currency is similar to HoYoverse, with Diamonds instead of Primogems, Purple Crystals for Fates in the standard banner, and Pink Crystals for pulls in the limited banner. Each banner has featured a new 4 and 5-star outfit, and every so often, they change.
I don’t particularly appreciate that there are “temporary” Pink Crystals. No game should have a currency that expires after a while, and that’s a big no-no in my book. Yet, I believe the gacha system is one of the best as I have guaranteed a 4-star piece for every 10 pulls, and for every 20 pulls, you secure a 5-star piece. Along with the fact that it is swift and easy to get Diamonds, it makes Infinity Nikki quite the generous gacha experience.
The most essential thing about the gacha is that the outfits don’t suffer from power creep or that the gameplay changes with each outfit. Of course, getting new clothes and alternate colors is nice, even more so if it is an Ability Outfit. However, for Infinity Nikki, rushing the game or using your money to get the latest outfit is unnecessary unless you really love it. This is why I feel that playing in Miraland is more enjoyable, as I don’t stress over getting more pulls.
I’m a Nikki Girl in a Nikki World
The first thing that came to my mind when I started my game was that Nikki looks beautiful, but the world reminded me of the stunning graphics of some Soulslike games—at least the brighter castles and not the poison-filled swamps.
Sadly, I found some problems with the camera angle from the start, which was sometimes erratic. Fortunately, the developers have worked tirelessly to improve it, so I no longer experience this glitch. There are also a couple of optimization issues that have caused my computer to overheat when using the best graphics, and if you’re playing on mobile, it’s best to play on the lowest settings for now. However, again, the team behind the game has released an update almost daily to improve this point.
One thing I can’t get over is the moment I was able to use the outfits. It was like experiencing a transformation from a magical girl like Sailor Moon or Barbie to The Sugar Plum Princess. And Miraland is like living in any of the Barbie movies, a world full of magic in every detail, no matter how “normal” it seems, whatever you are doing, from purifying enemies, catching a bee, and the gorgeous Styles Challenges.
Also, every Stilyst can make their own movie scenes with the Photo Mode. I appreciate that Infinity Nikki didn’t just make this feature for the sake of having it without real involvement. Instead, you can use it to collect photos of specific places, like retrieving Zelda’s memories. You can even buy upgrades to the camera. Among the enhancements are filters, light modes, and more poses for Nikki. I have seen more than one piece of art with this Photo Mode, which has motivated me to pay more attention to this mechanic that I don’t usually use in other games.
A Cozy Place for Everyone
As a fan of the HoYoverse games and having rated Zenless Zone Zero relatively high among the great wave of Genshinlike games, Infinity Nikki offers something completely different. Even having very similar aspects, Nikki is a very niche game, and I’m not just talking about it being only for girls, for example. Just because you enjoy a game like this doesn’t mean that you are against or don’t enjoy games with exaggerated jiggle physics, or vice versa. Infold Games made a cozy dress-up game in an open world to enjoy without pressure from daily missions, FOMO, or complicated combat.
In Infinity Nikki, I feel I can exploit my creativity more, and above all, it feels like a way to heal my inner child. Miraland is a world where I feel safer and can explore my delicate and feminine side without being mocked. Also, in this world, I can groom a pony or kick butt in an entirely pink outfit with very sparkly glitter. Not a lot of games allow you to do that nowadays, so that’s a win for everyone.
Infinity Nikki (PC Reviewed)
Infinity Nikki may have the recipe of a Genshilike game, but it offers something big, beautiful, and worthwhile enough to be an entirely different game, and that's why Nikki is here to stay, like her prequels.
Pros
- Stunning graphics
- Outstanding FOMO-free gacha system
- Its gameplay offers something genuinely different from other Genshinlike games
Cons
- Temporal Crystals
- It still has a lot of optimization issues
