Open-world games have been due for a change for a while now. That’s not to say there aren’t notable outliers, but the loop of discovering a new hub and battling monsters across an open expanse while climbing tower after tower is now ingrained in everything from Final Fantasy to The Legend of Zelda. So it’s a welcome sight to see a game that treats its world entirely differently — and an even better surprise that that’s happening in a game all about fashion.
Infinity Nikki is the latest in a series of previously mobile-only dress-up games, which you absolutely don’t need to know anything about to enjoy the newest entry. The game takes place in Miraland, a joyful, colorful world where heroine Nikki and her talking feline sidekick Momo are whisked away after a baffling intro. Nikki is tasked by a goddess who looks like a Dark Souls boss to find the Miracle Outfits and save the world from encroaching darkness. Somehow, she’ll do this with the power of fashion.
It’s an oddly sinister way to start a game about wearing cute clothes, and the clash of tones never quite goes away. Nikki’s main goal in the early game is tracking down a mysterious figure who’s promising to grant people’s wishes only to put them into comas. There are whispers of a conflict beyond the land’s borders that’s driven refugees to seek shelter in the more idyllic environs where the game begins. And all the while, rival guilds of stylists battle it out by posing in their best outfits and people of all ages joyfully go about their lives musing on the power of dreams. Far from wrecking the mood, Infinity Nikki’s strange see-sawing between gloom and whimsy makes it all the more fascinating to sink time into.
And boy did I find myself wanting to spend time in Miraland. Infinity Nikki doesn’t have the best-designed open world out there — though it does get considerably more interesting once you leave the starting area — but exploring it is a blast. It helps that everything from the natural world to Nikki’s clothing looks breath-taking, but its style is met by substance. Take a few steps in any direction and you’ll find collectibles galore waiting for you. Whether you’re in one of Miraland’s charming towns or roaming the countryside, floating Blings and Whimstars (two of the many currencies you’ll be collecting) point the way toward simple but fun platforming challenges that will have you leaping between lilypads or bouncing on trampolines carried by spirits to reach the top of soaring spires.
All the while, you’ll find bugs to collect and animals to groom to collect their fur — if you have the right outfit for it. Style is power in Miraland, literally. Certain Ability Outfits, as they’re called, grant Nikki new skills, from fishing, violin-playing, and even fixing powerlines to gliding through the air and “purifying” enemies.
Normal outfits have their uses, too. Dotted around Miraland are stylists ready to put their fashion to the test in scored duels. Each of these Styling Challenges has a theme, and your goal is to build the outfit that fits it best, according to attributes tied to each piece of clothing. It’s a little simplistic, and the numerically based nature of these challenges means you’ll often win with an outfit that looks like it’s designed to humiliate you, but the pomp and circumstance around these showdowns still makes them enjoyable.
Outside of its quests and fashion battles, it’s an accumulation of smaller touches that really makes Infinity Nikki shine. The world is full of wonder, with bike races, hopscotch courses that magically change Nikki’s clothes, and handbag-shaped fish around every corner. Its dialogue can veer into indecipherable at times, due to some shaky localization, but it’s nonetheless filled with jokes and silly asides that make it a far funnier game than I expected. Nikki is an unusual heroine who never so much as raises her voice, but who fights relentlessly to protect the people around her all the same. Playing Infinity Nikki just feels nice. Even at its most serious moments, the fun it has with its fashion-forward premise makes it a much-needed antidote to the heaviness that suffuses much of the gaming landscape.
What feels a lot less nice about Infinity Nikki is its monetization model. Infinity Nikki is a gacha game, meaning its developer really wants players to frequently hand over small amounts of cash for the chance to win random rewards. In this case, you’re gambling or paying outright for outfits, rather than the characters usually up for grabs in gachas. Developer Infold Games assures us that all of the game’s paid items are purely cosmetic, a fact which doesn’t do much to change how they feel. Sure, you’ll never be required to fork over cash to make your character powerful enough to beat the next challenge, but this is a game about cosmetics above all else. If the only way to get the outfit you want more than any other is to pay for it, it still feels exploitative.
If you think you’ll be tempted to spend too much, you shouldn’t play Infinity Nikki or any other gacha game. It feels like a shame that I have to give that warning, because potentially predatory monetization aside, the rest of the game is a delight. Miraland feels like a playground, and I had an incredible time running through as much of the pre-release version of the game as I could. Players looking for deep itemization or complex combat should look to the countless other open-world RPGs that offer that instead. But for anyone looking for a gentler kind of adventure, one where hopefulness, creativity, and kindness are values that can push back the tide of darkness, I wholeheartedly recommend spending some time in Miraland experiencing the transformative power of dressing up — I know I will be.
