Infinity Nikki Review

To say I was intrigued when I first saw Infinity Nikki would be an understatement; while I've never been one to care for fashion, the trailers were speaking to me in all the right ways: adventure and pretty things. I also recognised the franchise, which I had downloaded and tried a few times on mobile but never played enough to form a proper opinion. All of this amounted to Infinity Nikki becoming one of my most anticipated titles, as the more I got to see it, the more intrigued I became.

Papergames and Infold Games — the developer of the franchise — held nothing back while making the transition from mobile to PC. Whilst they had already dabbled in 3D with some of their previous releases, such as Shining Nikki, nothing seems to have come close to the nigh AAA feel that Infinity Nikki tackled. While I was certainly excited and had considerably high hopes and expectations, this also made me have some reservations, as it takes more than pretty graphics and an open world to make a game compelling. This is even more (unfortunately) true for those of us who are used to higher quality or more action; although I wasn't going to be comparing it to God of War or Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, there's no denying that dull gameplay can kill fun.

Infinity Nikki opens up rather quickly; while it doesn't display its colours immediately, you can already see some of the aspects that make the game so charming. For starters, it's not just that the graphics are incredible — Miraland is one of the most stunning worlds I've ever had the pleasure of exploring. I've already spent countless hours wandering around and gawking at the different areas, trying to find the right angle to take a picture to capture that jaw-dropping in-game beauty. This is all highlighted by the phenomenally in-depth camera mode, which really allows for creativity to come to life — whether you want a vibrant picture in a field of flowers or one that tries to capture a darker moment, you can get hooked for hours.

A less immediately evident feature is that despite the game having gacha features, it doesn't feel as punishing as others, and believe me, I'd know. I have played way too many in my lifetime — from Genshin Impact to the Cookie Run franchise and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. There are many reasons for this: there are several ways to get clothes with non-premium currency, I never noticed a quality difference between the free and non-free items, and — the biggest one — the gacha isn't gating any actual gameplay. You can still use the same abilities, explore the same places, and use the same attacks that every other player can: you just look different.

As I said earlier, I haven't ever been a natural fan of fashion; I've always enjoyed decorating a lot more. However, the clothing items that Infinity Nikki offers are so beautiful and vast in variety that I ended up utterly obsessed with making new outfits.

Of course, there's a lot more to the game than just walking around, looking pretty, and taking pictures — these are just some of the features that I didn't expect would be such a big highlight. Truth be told, what really had my attention about the game was the platforming collect-a-thon gameplay, and it did not disappoint me in the slightest. Although the platforming isn't the most complex or challenging, it still shines as one of the gameplay mechanics I enjoyed the most! Running off into the vastness of Miraland to find the many (many, many) Whimstars keeps Infinity Nikki from stagnating at just being a high-quality dress-up game.

One of my favourite features of the game is the Pear-Pal — an in-game app that works as a hub for all the menus but, most importantly, is the perfect way to stop that horrid analysis paralysis issue that happens in open-world games. Here, players will find dopamine galore in the form of tons of varied achievements to complete! It feels like no matter what you do, you're always working towards one of the milestones and getting rewards for just having fun. One of the highlights for me was having to go out and look for the mini-games scattered throughout Miraland; it makes taking your time with every area and finishing everything up even more rewarding.

Players will find themselves exploring more of Miraland as they unlock the different Ability Outfits. These special clothes let us do all sorts of different activities — such as catching bugs, grooming animals, and fishing — and will always offer an easy way for Papergames to bring in new and fresh features to keep players engaged. I thoroughly enjoyed all the current Ability Outfits, as they kept me busy while I wandered around looking for the next Whimstar!

I'll be honest — my expectations for the narrative were low, so I didn't boot it up with any particular hope outside of, "I hope it's not terrible". Thankfully, I've actually quite enjoyed it! In Infinity Nikki, we play in a world where outfits can be magical, and people can become Stylists to put them to good use. Our protagonist finds out she's one of them when she's wandering around an old attic and gets teleported to another world by a dress, and a chained goddess sends her to Miraland to find all of the Miracle Outfits. These will help her fight back the (surprisingly adorable) creatures that are wreaking havoc.

This is how we end up in the first area, called Florawish, where we learn about The Wishing One. This deity used to collect the wishes of the people and make them come true, and the tradition of writing their hopes in papers has continued since then. Problematically, however, people are falling into comas, and it seems to be connected to their wishes... so, now, it's up to Nikki and Momo (her adorable cat-esque companion) to find out what is causing it to happen and how to stop it.

I've thoroughly enjoyed what I've seen because I appreciate the change from the usual "gods are evil and hate us all" narrative, and it seems like Miraland and its people have a much more cemented lore than I originally assumed. Florawish and Stoneville have their own cultures and landscapes, and within them, there are a myriad of charming characters to meet!

Another pleasant surprise I discovered was that Infinity Nikki offers a lot more action than I initially anticipated, and they come in the form of dungeons and bosses. Spread across the world are a few dimensions that play a lot like the Shrines in Breath of the Wild — you go in, complete a quick puzzle, and get your Whimstar. It's evident that Papergames took inspiration from titles they love to make their game unique, and they've done a fantastic job at amalgamating the different features into something memorable and fun.

I was very chuffed to see that there are also bosses you can fight; some of them happen just by following the story and quests, and others you can fight at any time by using your Vital Energy. This resource replenishes over time, and you can use it to do a few things: exchange for other resources, complete challenges (such as platforming) for rewards, and more. Although the combat isn't very in-depth or difficult, I still found it fun enough, and it still adds another layer to the game by adding some action on top of all the cute and parkouring.

Infinity Nikki offers a myriad of things to do, and I can confidently say that anyone who gives it a chance will find something to love. Whether you enjoy collecting things, exploring, taking pictures, or just wanna make some cute outfits, there's something for everyone here (except maybe, obviously, soulslike lovers). Papergames’ evident love for their franchise shines through, and it quickly became one of my favourite games to boot up when I need to relax.