Infinity Nikki: The First Hands-On Preview
At last, an open-world game that measures up – literally. On the one hand, Infinity Nikki is the console-ready follow-up to the Miracle Nikki and Shining Nikki series of dress-up games on mobile from Chinese game publisher Infold. On the other, it takes some influence from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with ex-Nintendo BOTW director Kentaro Tominaga as its executive producer.
And as I discovered from three hours playing a packed new demo on PC, Infinity Nikki blends the best of these two disparate worlds – and tucks a ton of surprises under its sparkly belt.
As she digs through her attic in search of an outfit for the ball, titular heroine Nikki is thrown headlong into adventure when she finds an enchanted red and purple glittering dress in a wardrobe. Dancing with the dress, it suddenly pulls her and her talking cat-like pet/BFF Momo into a fantastical, mysterious realm. There, in the bowels of a crumbling castle, Nikki meets a cursed goddess named Ena the Curator, who grants Nikki with the Heart of Infinity and all its powers, sending her to Miraland and tasking her with reviving all the Miracle Outfits to save the world from evil. It’s like The Wizard of Oz meets Final Fantasy meets Paris Fashion Week, with a healthy sprinkling of Gravity Rush and The Neverending Story for good measure.
Just like in BOTW, Infinity Nikki has an impressive sense of scale and varied locations that encourage exploration. The rolling countryside and mountain backdrop of the opening Memorial Mountains location is Hyrule as interpreted by Studio Ghibli, while the village of Florawish is idyllic and alive, drenched in colourful flowers, and bustling with NPCs who give Nikki interesting lore updates or side missions. The village’s gorgeous European architecture is dotted with collectibles such as Blings (currency) and Whimstars (skill-tree points) that reward curious explorers, and Momo is always on hand to help out – temporarily viewing the world through his eyes allows you to find and track nearby Whimstars. Chests hidden here and there may contain a prize, but they sometimes spit out enemies you must defeat before you can get the loot.
Dungeons offer more advanced platforming action and fantastical boss creatures, while glowing pink cubes open up Zelda-style shrines, with environmental puzzles and other challenges that grant special rewards when beaten.
True to the roots of the series, the fashion theme permeates Infinity Nikki from shoulder to hem. With her long pink twin tails and her cute feminine style, Nikki is fabulously dressed from the off, and players can unlock a huge variety of outfits. A skill tree allows you to spend Whimstars on outfit blueprints, while others can be received from NPCs and side quests, or by winning them from a gacha machine.
Once you have the blueprints for an outfit, you can craft it, so long as you have the corresponding materials.
Some of these outfits give Nikki new abilities, such as a floating jump to cross wide gaps, a glider (similar to Link’s), a long-range attack to “purify” enemies, or an angling suit to go fishing; each of these can be equipped via a selection wheel or by using keyboard shortcuts. Others are purely cosmetic and can be mixed and matched to your heart’s desire. When you equip a dress and use its abilities, Nikki instantly changes outfits, and then changes back when you’re done, so you can spend most of the time in the ensemble of your choice.
The rich graphics show the detail in each item of clothing, right down to the type of material, from delicately patterned translucent silk to chunky wool. Each outfit comes with its own set of animations, too – for example, when Nikki changes into the Floating Outfit, bubbles follow her as she glides gracefully across the screen, adding to the vibe nicely.
Enemies, too, are sometimes made from scraps of spare fabric, while all of the crafting materials Nikki collects are used for making clothes, from plants in the shape of buttons to insects in the shape of socks. One outfit lets Nikki brush and trim animals for their fur, enabling stealth movement so that she can sneak up and catch them unaware; as you trim creatures based on cats, dogs and sheep, they roll around in ecstasy, which is utterly adorable.
The world of Miraland is populated by fashion-conscious characters, both male and female. Early in the demo, Nikki meets Dada and her younger sister Bebe, who invite her to join them in the Florawish Stylists’ Guild. The guild house is bedecked with beautiful décor, every member impeccably dressed. Meanwhile, Giovanni, a local crafter of wishing items, is softly handsome, like he stepped directly from an otome dating game.
Once registered with the guild, Nikki – now a full-fledged Stylist – receives a Pear-Pal tablet, which is essentially her Sheikah Slate, from which you can enter your nickname, check Nikki’s Stylist level, adjust her wardrobe, check an item compendium and more. Here you can also track main quests, side quests and individual crafting ingredients, a very helpful QOL feature, while the map is marked with useful icons. All in all, it’s a set of immediately approachable tools that make the game accessible to pretty much anyone.
Similarly, the game offers various options to aid exploration, such as a bicycle rental shop and, if you can find it, a giant bird that you can ride as it flies a predetermined loop around the map.
That said, Infinity Nikki’s dungeons do offer a fair degree of challenge. An early dungeon I played saw Nikki traversing the Dream Warehouse, a magical building with thousands of discarded paper cranes dotted all over the place, each representing a wish cast by the hopeful villagers of Florawish. The warehouse has now been overrun by monsters, which Nikki must purify. The origami papercraft motif continues as you begin platforming across giant paper cranes, which seesaw as Nikki clambers aboard their wings, making timing important. Nikki can also dash, which doubles as a dodge, and perform a Ground Pound type attack to defeat enemies or smash breakable objects.
Purifying enemies that stand in your path, reaching tricky distant platforms for optional collectibles – it’s not the toughest platforming challenge in the world, but it’s enough to keep you on your toes. Using a mouse and keyboard, I fell down many an abyss, so I was happy to hear that the final game will support controllers. The stage ends with Nikki riding on a massive paper crane that soars ever higher over a stunning skyscape to the soundtrack of a song with lyrics about reaching new heights – a dizzying reward for your efforts so far.
I played an offline demo, but the game will eventually include online features. The details of the online gameplay are still tbc, but the developers explained it will be a solo-focused game where everyone plays as Nikki, but with community aspects (in line with Death Stranding, perhaps). I played on PC, but mobile and console versions are also in the works. A release date is still tbc.
There is an innocent charm to Infinity Nikki. The protagonist is endlessly cheerful, constantly bigging up the characters around her with “you got this!” pep talk. When her feline friend Momo pulls out a camera to introduce photo mode, Nikki tells him, “You look like a professional photographer!”, while one dialogue tree I saw gave the option to simply “Say something nice” – a refreshing show of positivity and enthusiasm that is infectious.
Incidentally, the photo mode is excellent – perfectly tailored to such a fashion-focused game, and packed with features such as poses, filters, depth of field control and a toggle switch to have Nikki face the camera. Photo mode alone could occupy you for hours, as you have Nikki switch between outfits against a picturesque backdrop of luscious hills and sparkling streams, and pose for the camera with a bouquet of flowers, lounging on a bench, or making a heart shape with her hands.
Miraland’s locations are filled with wonder, its atmosphere endlessly engaging, dotted with minigames and soundtracked by gentle piano music. The game is dripping in detailed fashion, rich animations and watercolour concept art, while its mechanics are surprisingly deep and interesting. When using fast travel, Nikki strikes a classic pose, her hand and face towards the sky, as she dissolves into the ether to reappear elsewhere – and little details like this show how much care has gone into development.
I was also surprised to find myself drawn into the story, in which an ancient battle between gods and demons has given rise to a centuries-old society of stylists. It’s certainly unique!
I have to say, I never knew dressing up could be so much fun. My time with Infinity Nikki left me eager to try on the finished game when it eventually arrives.
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