Open-world gacha recreation, Infinity Nikki, is the fifth entry within the Nikki sequence. The franchise, developed by Papergames / Infold Video games, was beforehand obtainable on cell units solely. In reality, the sequence had utterly flown below my radar till late September after I obtained the possibility to play the Infinity Nikki demo on the Tokyo Game Show.
Overview information
Platform reviewed: PC
Accessible on: PC, PlayStation 5, iOS, Android
Launch date: December 5, 2024
What intrigued me again then was the notion that this free-to-play recreation would permit me to progress at a leisurely tempo and have a stress-free time, with out worrying an excessive amount of about leveling characters and equipment simply to tackle powerful bosses. This idea is nearly antithetical to what I’ve skilled in titles like Genshin Affect, Zenless Zone Zero, Wuthering Waves, and others, the place “pulling for meta characters” and “min-maxing stats” are tantamount to bettering your probabilities at finishing late-game content material.
Fortuitously, Infinity Nikki managed to exceed my expectations, because of its attractive visuals and exploration beats, a few of which jogged my memory of different profitable titles. Nevertheless, it does endure from a couple of pitfalls, most notably these associated to the sequence’ use of cell game-focused concepts.
Welcome to Miraland
Infinity Nikki’s marketing campaign begins because the titular character, alongside along with her cat companion Momo, are despatched to a magical realm referred to as Miraland. This results in an isekai-style romp that takes them to just about half a dozen explorable areas in the hunt for the fabled Miracle Outfits.
These zones of Miraland embody town of Florawish, the place I realized extra concerning the setting, in addition to the inexperienced fields of Breezy Meadows. Later, I marveled on the sights of the Deserted District, a area consisting of a number of towering islands which might be solely reachable by gliding throughout tornado-filled seas.
Likewise, there’s the Wishing Woods, a forest that’s dotted with a number of twisting pathways, tall treetops, and thorny vines. Areas even have their very own uniquely themed dungeons, resembling an influence plant within the sewers and a runaway prepare with scarecrow-esque ghosts.
Infinity Nikki’s themes and cartoony designs are typically brilliant, vibrant, and vivid, as if the entire expertise is supposed to be a festivity. Even the theme tune carried out by Jessie J, ‘Collectively Until Infinity,’ which performs every time I launch the sport, is so upbeat that I can’t assist however faucet my toes to the tune. However what makes the world really come to life is the usage of varied environmental options to assist in traversing these aforementioned areas.
For example, there are big birds and paper cranes that provide you with a superb vantage level of your environment. Do you need to attain a distant island? You are able to do that by passing by floating rings which might be suspended in mid-air. Must get to the highest of a mountain? There could be a seal that would toss you over yonder. And, sure, there’s additionally a motorbike that you may journey throughout hills and fields.
Nevertheless, the principle draw back is that comical and foolish themes additionally trigger Infinity Nikki’s narrative arc to falter. Though some story beats have a extra severe tone – resembling Florawish villagers falling right into a coma or hopeful needs being stolen – some concepts simply weren’t compelling and a number of other supporting characters have been plainly unremarkable.
Runway modeling and runaway spending
The Nikki sequence is thought for its dress-up mechanics and Infinity Nikki is not any exception, provided that there are a number of outfits that grant distinctive skills. Early on, I obtained attires that allowed Nikki to glide in mid-air, pet animals, catch bugs, fish in rivers, and even repair electrical panels. Later within the recreation, I really made a gown that induced Nikki to shrink so I may management Momo as an alternative.
These means clothes, in addition to many others that I discovered throughout my travels, can be utilized in Styling Contests and the Mira Crown. In these actions, I used to be graded primarily based on Nikki’s clothes rating or whim, denoted by attributes like ‘Candy’, ‘Cool’, ‘Elegant’, and bonus factors from beauty frills. All of those make for a really participating gameplay loop that entails discovering new outfits after which upgrading them to extend their stats, so you possibly can defeat faction leaders and seize extra rewards.
The above ideas are complemented by a helpful wardrobe menu the place I blended and matched clothes components, hairstyles, and make-up. From dazzling ball robes, fluffy jackets, shimmering tiaras, and high-heeled stilettos, to colourful blushes, peculiar equipment, floating neon results, and various designs, there are a thousand methods to showcase your sense of style. Furthermore, the sport has a tremendous Photograph Mode characteristic that has quite a few poses and results, all to shine a highlight in your fashion as you progress.
Nevertheless, essentially the most obvious subject right here is definitely tied to the gacha system itself. Whereas money purchases are disabled within the Infinity Nikki construct that I performed, I used to be nonetheless in a position to take a look at the in-game retailer and banner. Essentially the most telling fixture is that full outfit units from gacha banners encompass 9 or extra components, making it extraordinarily unlikely to get a full set inside your first few ‘pulls’ (i.e. gacha makes an attempt). In my case, I spent diamonds, a regular in-game foreign money, on 100 pulls, and I nonetheless wasn’t in a position to get a whole 5-star set.
It goes with out saying that gamers who’re after all of the merchandise items would possibly really feel compelled to spend extra money. Whereas the ‘pity system’ helps assure a 5-star reward each 20 pulls, I really feel that this might exacerbate the issue additional.
Numerous collectibles and content material for the always curious
One other side that bolsters Infinity Nikki’s quirks and charms is the numerous collectibles and facet content material to find in Miraland. There are collectibles referred to as Whimstars that are used to unlock outfits and perks within the Coronary heart of Infinity, a ability tree with dozens of interconnected nodes.
Acquiring Whimstars tends to be an effortful and fulfilling endeavor. Some require working round to select up fragments or in search of a star-shaped graffiti that’s hidden within the atmosphere, whereas others are embedded in magical creatures that it is best to pet or catch. There are additionally these which might be present in mini-domains with puzzles, akin to shrines in The Legend of Zelda video games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
Other than Whimstars, there are orbs referred to as Dews of Inspiration, that are vastly extra quite a few. These are given to a pleasant dragon named Kilo the Cadenceborn, who then supplies you with additional attires. Moreover, there are facet quests the place you search for the right Photograph Mode places, lacking perfumes, and historic websites, in addition to numerous treasure chests to unlock.
In the identical vein, there are methods to shortly farm for sources, together with Realm Challenges that grant bling foreign money (i.e. gold) and a “Dig Pear Pal” panel the place you passively earn gadgets after sufficient hours have elapsed. All in all, even if you happen to’re not specializing in the principle quest, Infinity Nikki nonetheless supplies many duties that enrich the sense of discovery.
Fight conundrums and timegating troubles
One characteristic of Infinity Nikki that’s certain to be contentious is its fight system, or somewhat the very simplistic and lackluster manner during which it’s offered. In spite of everything, that is meant to be a comfy recreation, proper? Sadly, Nikki’s most important offensive transfer is simply an especially primary projectile assault that travels in a straight line, and most enemies may be defeated in a single hit. Coincidentally, sure foes, together with bosses, have comparatively easy, repetitive, and simply telegraphed assault patterns. Fight is unchallenging to a fault that it’s one thing I tuned out more often than not whereas exploring.
Nonetheless, fight woes don’t maintain a candle to essentially the most egregious of all of Infinity Nikki’s flaws: its cell game-style method to timegating. To make clear, there’s already content material that causes you to make use of up power. However there are additionally parts of the marketing campaign the place you must enhance your Stylist Rank simply to obtain the following most important quest goal. The Stylist Rank requires not simply the general tally of your progress, resembling Whimstars collected, whole variety of outfits acquired, and so forth, but additionally Day by day Needs.
A couple of hours into Infinity Nikki’s marketing campaign, I chanced upon a flying paper crane that gave me a panoramic view of the city of Florawish. This and different magical modes of transport made exploration extra rewarding.
Day by day Needs, because the time period implies, come from the every day duties you full. Right here’s the kicker: these cap at 500 factors every day, however a number of the general necessities are not divisible by 500 (i.e. 1,100, 1,600, 2,100 factors, and so forth). A superb instance was after I encountered a progress-blocking bug as a part of a quest. It took some time for that bug to get fastened and, as soon as I had accomplished the search, I used to be actually desperate to see what was subsequent in retailer. Solely then did I notice that I lacked factors from dailies, so I had no alternative however to attend for the following reset.
Timegating additionally extends to Insights, that are gathering and combat-specific tallies. As you pet animals, catch fish/bugs, take out enemies, and collect sources, you earn Perception factors for upgradable perks. Nevertheless, when you’ve accomplished too many of those actions in a single day, you now not earn the precise factors.
Initially, I assumed that these techniques have been put in place to fight gaming habit. Nevertheless, as the times handed, I started to suppose that these create an adversarial impact the place gamers really feel extra invested since they haven’t any alternative however to log in repeatedly. As such, even when Infinity Nikki does have good concepts that stored me entertained, it nonetheless suffers from the identical pitfalls that characterize pressured time funding in cell and stay service video games.
Do you have to play Infinity Nikki?
Play it if…
Do not play it if…
Accessibility
Infinity Nikki doesn’t have a lot in the best way of accessibility options. At greatest, there are participant view assists that trigger the digital camera to pan mechanically every time your character is transferring, falling by the air, or combating enemies. There’s additionally an Allow Soar Information Line possibility that creates a shining glyph under your character so the place you’d land. Lastly, there’s an choice to respawn Nikki in case she will get caught within the atmosphere.
How I reviewed Infinity Nikki
I performed Infinity Nikki on a TCL P755 TV at 4K decision and principally excessive settings. My gaming PC has an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, Intel Core i9-10900K CPU, and 32GB of RAM. I used a Razer Viper Mini mouse and a locally-made keyboard, in addition to a Logitech F710 wi-fi controller.
My progress as of the time of this writing is round 40 hours throughout six days, and I used to be in a position to attain the principle story chapter that takes place within the Whispering Woods. On days after I encountered progress-blocking bugs and gameplay mechanics, I opted to sort out facet quests and search for collectibles simply to get a superb grasp of open-world exploration options.
First reviewed November/December 2024.
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