Infinity Nikki: A Fashion-Forward, Violence-Free Zelda Twist for the Fashion-Conscious Gamer
The Surprising, Stylish World of Infinity Nikki
You know that flavor of internet conversation where one familiar item is identified as another, wholly different item in a way that shouldn’t make sense but weirdly does? Like how a hot dog could be classified as a sandwich, or because it has a filling enclosed by dough, a Pop-Tart is ravioli. Similarly, Infinity Nikki is like Breath of the Wild reborn in fancy clothes.
In this game, you play as Nikki, an ordinary girl who gets whisked away to the fantasy world of Miraland, along with her talking, bipedal, pantsless cat Momo. In Miraland, fashion is magic, and a guild of stylists use it to combat the world’s evils and one another.
At first glance, Infinity Nikki seemed like another gacha game, and I had issues with its clunky, unintuitive, and at times unresponsive control scheme. But, as I delved deeper, I discovered that the game had a surprising amount in common with Breath of the Wild – a game that I love dearly. The exploration, the sense of wonder, and the pure joy of discovery were all there, disguised in a world of fashion and style.
I had the most fun crafting outfits in fashion duels against NPC stylists. Each piece of clothing is assigned points in five categories: sweet, fresh, elegant, sexy, or cool. Whoever has the highest points in the designated categories wins. Since these battles are based on score, you can easily win wearing an ugly mishmash of high-value clothes – kinda like how I won my first battle. The experience was so rewarding that it made me want to try winning future battles with looks that are both high-scoring and high-fashion.
Glamour is the Endgame
To borrow a phrase from Final Fantasy XIV, "Glamour is the endgame." It means that you’re not playing to become powerful or beat the game, you’re playing solely to fund your fashion habit. And, surprisingly, it’s not expensive. You can make a look out of mixing and matching pieces from your ability outfits, earn clothing or the blueprints to make them from quest rewards, or simply buy stuff from in-game vendors with in-game cash.
The game’s monetization systems feel more vestigial than critical. Most gacha games never require players to spend money, but are usually designed such that you can’t help it. Core game activities are arbitrarily limited, and if you want to keep playing, you have to pay up. From what I’ve seen after 15 hours, Nikki doesn’t have that. Dressing up is the core feature, and there’s a cash shop where you can spend money on consumables that give you the chance (known as "pulling" in the gacha community) of winning high-value, tantalizingly pretty clothes. But, there are so many other, cash-free ways to get outfits that are just as pleasing as anything for sale.
In the end, Infinity Nikki subverted my expectations. A gacha game managed to recreate Breath of the Wild in function and spirit while the depth and detail of the fashions spoke directly to my love of individual expression in games. It wasn’t simply an Unreal Engine 5 version of the dress-up games of the early internet but a spiritual, sartorial successor of one of the best games of the last decade.
Get Ready to Join the Fashion Frenzy
Infinity Nikki is now available on Android, iOS, PlayStation, and PC.
