Infinity Nikki review: A delicate sandbox

Infold Games has created an impressive world with much appeal and little substance

Infold Games

Being a “live and let live” type of person, fashion is something I could not care less about, so the premise of Infold Games’ Infinity Nikki didn’t exactly resonate with me on paper – and it still isn’t the reason why I ended up enjoying this game much more than I initially thought.

Neither is the story we embark upon as Nikki, a good-hearted young woman accompanied by her adorable cat companion Momo, who is thrown head-first into a quest to search for legendary Miracle Outfits for reasons that are a bit nebulous at the start of the game and don’t become much more interesting later on. That’s not helped by lackluster localization in places. Though there are some serious moments and themes to be found in this narrative, it’s generally all pretty lighthearted and, well, a little bit silly – we are dealing with a world here in which stylists can come up with outfits that imbue them with special abilities like fishing or bug catching. Style is, apparently, enough to save the world. It’s a fairytale, and one with a very romantic worldview.

But that’s getting closer to the charm of it all. Nikki isn’t challenging or stressful in any way. Its rudimentary combat is as simple as it gets and there are platforming and puzzle elements so light that even a dedicated non-enjoyer of those very genres like myself will happily engage with them. Several types of mini-games can be found as well, all following the same line. 

Infinity Nikki is less of a game in my eyes and more of a giant sandbox to take beautiful pictures in – and that will make or break it for you.

Infold Games

Its open world offers so many picturesque spots and adorable little interactions tailored to make for a good snapshot that seem to invite you to take a break from exploring, enticing you to go into the wardrobe, pick out some thematic clothes, and execute an impromptu photoshoot. You can sit on a beautiful swinging chair below a majestic tree, get an origami bird  to circle around you, or blow soap bubbles into the faces of NPCs, among a myriad of other things. Pair that with all the poses and filters the camera offers and you’ve got yourself a way to kill hours of your time without knowing where it went.

The search for amazing photo locations drives exploration as much as the hunt for Whimstars, which are used to unlock new Ability Outfits and upgrade Nikki’s skills, or corrupted dewdrops, which can be cleansed and gifted to a fluffy, softspoken dragon poet, who needs them to cure his writer’s block – a more relatable character I’ve never met. It’s these little side stories and the associated motivation to strike out and discover Miraland that make Infinity Nikki so enjoyable. 

You can even rent a bicycle to ride through the landscape and make impossibly high jumps with Momo adorably taking his place inside a basket in front – it’s like Elliot and E.T. only a lot cuter.

Infinity Nikki is pretty – it has beautiful visuals, which facilitates that feeling of being a sandbox to take adorable pictures in and invites you to explore more and more of the map. Though this is a PC-focused review, it’d be wrong to emphasize that this is not the same on all platforms: Mobile players are essentially looking at a completely different game, devoid of all the great details that enrich the look and feel of the world on high graphics settings on PC and PS5.

Infold Games

Of course, I have to mention the absolutely stunning outfits in the game – kind of a key thing. The sheer variety and diversity of available styles is nearly overwhelming and it’s pretty much guaranteed that anyone will find some pieces to fall in love with. Most gacha games rise and fall with their character design and for Nikki that crucial factor is its clothes. The amount of possible combinations is mindbending and collecting more and more outfit pieces through all the means available to you is as feverishly engaging as catching Pokémon.

Equally impressive are some of the character animations. While the facial expressions remain a little stiff across the board, the way people move and interact looks really good – there is a lot of pep in Nikki and Momo’s gestures while talking, but in a more realistic manner than Zenless Zone Zero’s intentionally overexaggerated movements. I also find myself taken in by the voice acting, which is very solid overall and somewhat salvages the mostly deadpan faces and hit-or-miss scripts.

Adding to Nikki’s impeccable atmosphere is its whimsical soundtrack, which conveys its relaxed and lighthearted vibes as much as the magical mystery of Miraland.

Though Nikki’s world is absolutely magical, Infold Games has some work to do when it comes to ironing out glitches – it sometimes feels like the developers haven’t unlocked their Bug Catching Outfits quite yet. From funny and relatively harmless occurrences like being able to walk around at the bottom of ponds and seeing birds that sit in the air as if on some invisible platform to more serious concerns like catapults not working because their counterweight was thrown into space, never to return, and getting stuck in cutscenes that aren’t progressing, the bliss of Infinity Nikki turns into unnecessary frustration at times. This is especially true for clipping issues that may ruin carefully planned outfits – one of the rare areas in which the developers have failed to provide the same loving attention to detail they’ve brought to this game everywhere else.

Infold/GLHF

Technical problems aside, the quality-of-life value of the UI is quite high overall – it comes with a search function on the map to locate specific materials, for example, though the clarity of some UI elements could be better. It’d be great if you could create tags to mark specific pieces in the wardrobe for easier filtering, but even a simple “favorite” button would already help.

Obviously, Nikki is a free-to-play title with gacha elements. The good news is that you can play and enjoy this game without grabbing your wallet – the only “competitive” aspect of it are style contests that are completely optional and can, indeed, be won without premium outfits from the gacha or the shop. In fact, there is an in-universe gacha machine that has some pretty busted pieces in its reward pool, making it all the easier to stay away from purchasing anything.

Pulling a full outfit from the game’s banners takes about as many pulls as pulling a character in the HoYoverse games, since the system is nearly identical. You are guaranteed to get pieces of 5-Star outfits every 20 pulls, which makes the mechanic appear a bit more lenient than it actually is – which is great, as it reduces frustration, and a little dangerous, as it may compel users to spend a little extra due to false sense of security. As always when it comes to gacha games, financial responsibility is strongly advised. Infold Games also opted to offer two time-limited banners simultaneously, which is firing up the FOMO and leaves behind a bit of a bitter taste.

Infold Games built a beautiful world I’d not be unhappy to live in. It’s a world in which creativity, passion, and empathy are the highest of virtues and can make a real difference – a message that’s more important than ever. Strolling through the landscapes of Miraland, you can forget about everything, reinvent yourself on the spot if you’d like, and simply space out as you veer from melancholy to wholesome vibes. If such a sandbox, such a retreat, is what you’re looking for, then Infinity Nikki hits the mark dead-on – but it falters the moment you crave a little more substance.

For the moment, that is. Infinity Nikki will evolve over time, as live-service games tend to do, and many of its starting issues are in the realm of being fixable.

Score: 7/10

Version tested: PC