Infinity Nikki review — Only the start of the ball

Reviewing a live service game is always weird, because tons of things about the game could change in a single update. Monetization could get more insidious, whole mechanics could be altered, or the story might fall off hard in updates. For now though, at launch, Infinity Nikki is absolutely delightful. Its open world is fast and beautiful, the unlockable clothes are fun to mix and match, and the monetization doesn’t feel heavy-handed.

Infinity Nikki is quite a bit different from the rest of the Nikki series. While previous titles were 2D dress up games, Infinity is a full open world, platformer, dress up adventure. It’s a big leap, but Infold pulls it off with aplomb. The game starts with Nikki and Momo being transported to Miraland through her wardrobe by a mysterious dress. After getting acquainted with some new powers, she meets a strange woman who forces the Heart of Infinity upon Nikki, which can awaken within it the Miracle Outfits. Now stranded in another world, Nikki and Momo must find and make the Miracle Outfits to return home.

I certainly didn’t expect a detailed and intriguing plot going into Infinity Nikki, but apparently, this is par for the course for the series, with Infinity’s opening hours focused on people falling into comas after making wishes. The storytelling can go long stretches where nothing really happens, but then it’ll draw you back in with a big moment or a gorgeous set piece. For example, after trying (and failing) to find whoever was causing the comas for a while, the game has me explore a beautiful dungeon that started as an old library leading into some ancient ruins. The ruins start crumbling around you as you explore, giving your platforming and the brief combat encounters a nice urgency. Then it all caps off with a gigantic warehouse filled with magical paper cranes, with the largest giving you a lift to your destination.

While these moments and the overall plot kept me invested in the game, I will say the moment-to-moment writing and voice acting are pretty weak. The actors read out dialogue with some very clunky sentence structure and often sound like they have no context for the scene they’re in. Just about every scene in the main story is fully voiced, though I would have preferred reading from time to time if it would improve the overall quality of storytelling.

As you follow the story, the game will slowly introduce you to its various mechanics and open up more of the world. This is also how you acquire new Ability Outfits, clothing that lets Nikki float gently down after a jump, shoot wind to defeat enemies, repair electrical devices, and gather materials from various plants and animals. Many outfits help you gather new materials to craft new outfits, once you have the sketch for it of course. In essence, it’s a crafting system, and there are tons of materials all over the world. If you don’t like gathering tons of items everywhere you go, this might not be the game for you.

Luckily, after gathering everything in sight for a few minutes, I didn’t want for materials for quite a while. I don’t mind gathering materials in games all that much, and while it’s easy enough here there are things that can make it a bit too inconvenient. Namely, the cutscenes that result from grooming animals. If you’ve ever played Okami, it’s a bit like feeding animals in that game. You hold Square to sneak up and groom a critter, it starts a cutscene that’s just a little too long, you hold the button to skip it, and you move on to the next. Here though, the key annoyance is that you have to hold the button to confirm a skip, which takes just long enough to also be annoying. Each of these cutscenes also comes with its own short song, which often isn’t skipped even after skipping the cutscene. It’s a very specific frustration, but it really adds up over time.

A big reason that jingle in particular is so annoying is because the rest of the soundtrack is so good. The main theme on the title screen is a highlight, but I loved all the piano pieces you hear when exploring or walking around towns. It’s all gorgeous, and certainly a soundtrack I would listen to outside of the game… if it was available on anything or in physical form. Still, it perfectly fits the calm and magical mood the game is going for.

As you explore and follow the story, you’ll come across the aforementioned dungeons, but also some minigames, puzzles or platforming challenges, Whimstars, and styling challenges. Minigames include things like jumping through some literal hoops as quickly as possible, though from the title screen video I assume there’s a lot more variety later on in the game. Whimstars are required to open a section of the Heart of Infinity and receive a skets for a new outfit. Some are just lying around the world, while others make you work for them by completing a platforming challenge within a time limit or finding a hidden star icon within a small area. Throughout the world, you can find portals to the puzzle/platforming dimension, where you must complete the stated challenge to be rewarded with a Whimstar. I really loved these and would do them whenever I came across one, as they feel like Shrines in Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, but without any loading screens.

Finally, styling challenges were the previous game’s bread and butter. These ask you to put together an outfit based on a particular theme, like cool or cute, and the game will judge you on it. Reach a certain score threshold, and you win. Each piece of clothing has stats or tags associated with the different styles, so essentially you want to put together an outfit that scores high, not necessarily one that looks good. Apparently, previous games had scores associated with skin tones, but thankfully that’s not the case here so anyone can make Nikki look like them if they want.

Of course, you can dress Nikki however you want outside of challenges, with three outfit loadouts you can change between at the press of a button. You still need to find, purchase, or craft each item to be able to wear it, and this is where the monetization comes in. Just like many other mobile games, Infinity Nikki has a gacha system. You get little crystals to spend on pulls in various categories, and just hope you get something you like. This is mostly fine, as you can get through the main story for the most part without pulls, but for optional styling challenges, you’ll probably need some higher star outfits which are easiest to get from gacha.

So far, I could put up with this system. The game is free to play and mostly single-player, so while I would prefer to pay upfront for a game without this monetization, it’s not egregiously pay-to-win. Where it becomes a bit more insidious is the fact that your crystals for these pulls can expire. If you want to save them for a while because you don’t like the current categories on offer, too bad; spend them or lose them. I find that pretty gross. Obviously, given the world we currently live in, the game needs to make money, but if you purchase some of this currency with real money you should be able to hold on to it for as long as you like. So far I’ve gotten plenty of free pulls from just playing the game and logging in, but I never see this kind of practice in good faith. Eventually, after launch hype dies down, these freebies will dry up, and people will be tempted to spend more and more money so they don’t miss out on outfits. It’s possible the game will prove me wrong on this, and I would welcome that, but experience with these types of monetization systems tells me otherwise.

When I say I would pay full price for an Infinity Nikki without gacha, though, I do mean it. The game is fantastic, and bursting with joy. It’s really nice to have a game that feels so boldly feminine. In a sea of titles that cater to men or just every demographic possible, Nikki stands out tonally, visually, and even mechanically. It’s a ton of fun to play in and explore the vast world of Miraland, and I’m excited to see where the story goes.

As a final note, the game is available on multiple platforms, including PC, PS5, and mobile devices. I tried all three for this review and, while it’s locked at 30 fps, PS5 is definitely the way to go here. On my Pixel 7 Pro, the game looks and runs terribly, and I’ve never liked touch screen only controls anyway. PC can look fantastic, but weirdly it also has some performance issues. Turning on Ray Tracing can tank the frame rate, which is understandable, but even with it off there are frequent frame drops, and after a lengthy play session, the game will start to stutter constantly. On PS5, the game looks good and runs smoothly, even if you’re sacrificing a bit of that fidelity and higher frame rates.

See below for our list of partners and affiliates: