First of all, I have to explain myself to our male audience. Guys, I honestly didn’t know what I was doing when I downloaded and started playing Infinity Nikki by Infold Games. I thought it would all be limited to the excitement of changing swimsuits and short skirts in order to use the abilities of the cute heroine, but I ended up being a virtual ‘Barbie’, constantly having to get new stockings, shoes and blouses. But the worst thing is that, at times, I actually enjoyed it. Let me explain why.
The most adorable and fluffy game in the world
As you’ve already realized, I wasn’t familiar with the Nikki line of mobile games before. Meanwhile, the series started back in 2012 and laid the foundations of fashionable RPGs, where costumes allow you to use different abilities and standard characteristics like strength, and agility is replaced with elegance, freshness, sexiness, and coolness.
Up until now, these have been exclusively mobile games that have enjoyed popularity and even had a reputation as a phenomenon, but on a localized scale. But with Infinity Nikki, the authors decided to enter already the AAA gacha market in the style of Genshin Impact. And that’s why they added a big and very beautiful world to stockings and fancy fights – that’s one of the reasons why you might like Infinity Nikki. But if you’re a boy, it certainly won’t happen immediately – after stages of denial, anger, and acceptance.
From the start, the game is torpedoed with so much cuteness and pink cuteness that it becomes uncomfortable. Especially if you’ve recently played Dragon Age: The Veilguard and you’ve already had an overdose of all those cute and meaningless phrases along the lines of ‘It’s going to be okay, we love you, we support you, and we understand that only love and support will make you feel good. Sorry if anything is wrong!’.
The ultimate cute, doll-like girl Nikki is travelling with her talking kitty Momo. One day, thanks to a marvellous outfit found in the attic, they find themselves in the magical land of Miraland, where everyone is obsessed with fashion, creativity and inspiration, and stylists are considered to be the main magicians. And even conflicts are often resolved through fashion duels.
But what conflicts are there, it seems? Everything around you is drowning in pink and purple, and if it’s not drowning, it’s pastoral forests, fields and rivers, and villages with French bakeries and cafes where, it seems, everyone is drinking lattes and snacking on croissants. There are squirrels, kittens and puppies jumping under your feet to be petted, washed and brushed for resources, and the locals will always ask you to get a picture of something from the right angle or get three identical kittens in a photo – that’s almost all they care about.
As well as kittens and puppies, there are bizarre creatures in this world – some flying puppies, no less flying strange creatures with big eyes, magical seals that will toss you up with their tails to take you to new places. And then there’s the local Luntik, who writes poems and songs. And we catch birds for him, dress them up, and fix their wings.
In general, people here are often crying – for example, because they have not had time to prepare for a creative festival or a fashion fight, or because they have remembered something or someone distant and beautiful. And the aforementioned Luntik, when we first meet him, cries and laments that he’s lost his inspiration. When we help him, he sings us a beautiful, tearful song. So when, at the end of one of the quests, we are faced with the difficult moral choice of crying together or just comforting him, we want to cry ourselves: God, where have I come to?
Not everything is rosy…
However, the phase of denial and anger passes rather quickly. The lore and storyline of Infinity Nikki reveals much more depth and other colours, including dark ones. There are many stories and records, both funny and sad, from which we learn how this wonderful world of harmony, beauty and inspiration was created, how the gods once left it, leaving behind a special magical energy – whimsy, with which you can create magical costumes. It also allows you to make wishes come true.
The main plot revolves around the gods’ ability to grant wishes. Without going into detail, the gist is that some people who write down their wishes and leave them in special bottles suddenly fall into a coma and stupor. Our Nikki, a newly minted talented stylist (actually a kind of fashion magician), tries to deal with it, to find out what or who is behind it. Along the way, she meets both friends and foes – yes, there are some not-so-good characters in this glamorous world. Though even the villains often turn out to be funny or just plain obsessive idiots.
Nikki has many tasks to complete and travels around the open world, sometimes to remote corners where magical creatures live. It is the structure of this world and the process of exploring it that will make the game appealing to those who do not like the prospect of creating and trying on clothes.
Barbie in the open world
There’s nothing surprising about that when you think about it – the world structure and content are almost the same as in Genshin Impact, albeit with corrections for its own peculiarities and the uniqueness of the setting. The main similarity is that the picturesque expanses are filled with all sorts of mini-games and challenges, caves and points of interest where you can pass ‘dailies’ and replenish your resource bank.
Thumbs up. There are altars that send you to selected challenges: one, for example, offers to fight different variations of the boss, and another – for a while – to jump on vines and collect something. There are portals that lead to separate puzzle locations. There are separate attractions where we take part in races or flights, catching bushes falling from above, running through gates for time, trying not to get caught in a laser beam… And lots of other things.
There are special – usually story-related – caves where we can do some interesting platforming or take a ride on a wagon with enemies to shoot along the way. You can also find a table with a mini-game just by walking around the locations – there are local versions of table football and even thimbles.
Most of the minigames, however, involve finding special stars, which replace skill points. They are more or less cleverly hidden around the world, and in many cases, you have to fly on clouds, pet special kittens or other animals, jump on rooftops, search for pictures, cover holes in the ground with boxes, and so on. There are also coins and chests scattered around.
What this magical glamour world doesn’t have is a proper combat system. You have to fight from time to time, but it usually boils down to firing blobs of energy at enemies. The exception is boss fights, where you not only have to shoot at the enemy but also dodge the giant boulders they hurl in area and line attacks.
Judgement of fashion
It’s understandable that the fights were like this. After all, Infinity Nikki’s target audience is not just girls but girls and people who have never played with dolls. That’s why a lot of conflict situations are solved with the help of fancy fights.
We set a theme for a suit or a dress – for example, sexiness, freshness, elegance. And we have to put together an image that scores more points in that style. You can use a ready-made suit/dress and then add a few details, pendants, earrings and that’s it. You can also create your own image from a variety of wardrobe items (and choose a hairstyle).
Both whole costumes and their individual parts can be pumped up to increase their sexiness, freshness, elegance, and coolness. However, all clothes and costumes are initially of the same style – think of it as a replacement for the elemental profile of the outfit from Genshin Impact. Stars are used to unlock skills that increase one or more of your stats during combat.
Stars also unlock special Story Suits, which act as a sort of substitute for skills – more specifically, we need to make them to be able to wash and comb kittens, attack enemies, catch bugs or fish (all of which are also crafting materials), fix electrical boxes, fly on flowers or even play the violin. And when using this skill, Nikki changes her appearance on the fly.
Complete costumes can only be created by first obtaining the appropriate blueprints. There is also a costly system of evolving clothing for rare resources. This doesn’t give you any bonuses, but it does change the color and other details in the image – so there’s plenty of room for the designer’s imagination.
All of this, including blueprints and individual wardrobe details, can be bought, knocked out in twists, chests, or received as a reward – there is no shortage of quests, including side quests and random quests, dailies, achievements, and, in a gacha game by definition, numerous variations of combat passes.
And yet, given that we’re usually only given blueprints and then have to assemble costumes from a bunch of wardrobe pieces that can’t easily be created, you’ll have to work very hard to collect all the available images, especially the valuable ones. Yes, it’s an expensive gacha – girls who don’t yet earn their own money but know where to find mum and dad’s card and how to pay by phone are better off staying away from Infinity Nikki.
Not just for girls?
And yet, those willing to play and invest in the local casino are over the moon. Before the game’s release, there were some 30 million pre-registrations, and soon after, the authors reported some 20 million downloads. This is despite the fact that there is no one to show off your clothes to – there is no co-op in the game, and all multiplayer elements are reduced to the ability to take photos somewhere and post them. Then you can take a picture in that location, like it and leave a message. Sometimes, other players will give you hints about where the next star is, for example.
Moreover, the game is quite capable of attracting more or less grown-up boys. The atmosphere and even some of the mechanics reminded me most of the Atelier series, especially my favorite, Atelier, Ryza. Just swap the fancy design for alchemy – there, we also farm resources for the sake of crafting and upgrading in a cozy world populated by cute girls in fabulous outfits. In the same way, we gradually gain skills and tools for farming.
I once caught the cat’s disapproving gaze as she watched me passionately pick out stockings for my doll before another fancy duel. After all, these duels often have to be won as part of a storyline or side quest. What’s more, each region has several factions of stylists, and if you want to complete the story and collect the coolest dress, you’ll need to defeat the leaders of all the factions (although you’ll have to defeat your closest associates first) to become the king of the local catwalk.
But it’s not all about the excitement with Infinity Nikki. This is not your typical boys’ anime where the entire female wardrobe is reduced to swimsuits, short skirts, and porn star outfits – this is a celebration of design. There are so many different wardrobe details in the game that your imagination will run wild.
Infinity Nikki is hardly a real competitor to Genshin Impact and others. Yes, the game may make a lot of money, but it will hardly achieve the same fame and popularity – Infinity Nikki has a narrow theme and the gameplay lacks challenge. But it’s still a great and fresh game for the gacha genre – very friendly, relaxing, and with its own atmosphere. And for once, it may even be able to appeal to the more stern of men – because sometimes they want to relax, look at girls in fancy dresses, and drown in fluffy kittens.
