Infinity Nikki is an open world RPG based around being a stylist and dressing your avatar to enter styling competitions. Along the way, you’ll meet new friends who need your help solving mysteries and fighting corruption. First impressions, I expected a tween girl cringefest – so much pink, pretty, cutesy and an initial galaxy sequence that made me want to hurl my PC into the bin. I could not have been more wrong.
The starting sequence is dire. It’s visually very pretty but lacks substance and has an omniscient god narrator that frequently patronises you, calling you ‘my sweet, pink girl’ and such. However, once you get to the starting town, Florawish, things pick up. The plots are surprisingly well crafted from this point which is a surprise when compared to many modern titles which consider story as a means to get players from one boss to the next. I won’t pretend it isn’t a sanitised, child-friendly, ‘enemies are just misunderstood allies’ kinda game. It is. But, it still has depth and drama along with all that heart and spirit which I can get behind.
Throughout, the visuals are stunning. The aesthetic isn’t quite my taste but everything is pretty, even the ‘dark’ places and neglected spots have that cosy game charm. The dress-up mechanics are no different to upgrading gear but you have many, many options to choose from and extra mechanics like the ability to dye every element of an outfit to the exact shade you want. Want to change that black thread to white and shift the whole ensemble to a darker tone? No problem. There are lots of save slots for different outfits and better yet, they’re on hotkeys(!) so you can switch it up on a whim. The developers really knew what they were doing here.
The friend mechanics are a little odd. You have to ‘illuminate’ to see other people in the game and even then, only one at a time. You can hold hands and run around together in your little team but talking to each other is clunky as there’s no good messaging system. It’s the worst of all worlds – no voice option, clunky text option and no protection for children. I’d rather have no multiplayer under the guise of child safety than this weird hybrid. It doesn’t massively affect gameplay but I’d really appreciate a voice chat with up to 4 players in a team if we’re going to have multiplayer.
There are regular events for those who have finished the story and they’re generous in terms of content. So far, every event I’ve played has been unique and not a rehash of a previous one. If anything, there’s too much to keep up with for a casual player. The first anniversary event came with a cacophony of new outfits, almost all of which are available for f2p players, a new land with 5 chapters of new plot and cute mushroom people, a new snail riding feature, multiple new abilities (such as ‘sticky’ which lets you grab onto things such as flying birds to catch a lift), a match 3 game, jigsaw puzzles, picture quests and more. Honestly, the devs have put so much effort in and it’s refreshing to see.
The previous event split the player base into 3 factions and had them compete at a board game. There was a new island created for the purpose and lots of quests to persuade NPCs to join your faction, earning extra points. The event had 5 phases and the first phase had 8 new quests by itself.
That said, the game does have its negatives. All that content comes with its fair share of bugs which are awkward to get around. For a month, I couldn’t exit the game on Steam and had to force quit the entire platform and reload to play the another game. In turn, this means there are a lot of updates. Weekly patches can take a while to load and if you’ve not logged in for a while, expect quite a wait.
Naturally, the other negative is excessive microtransactions. They’re a staple of free games everywhere and to be fair to them, Infinity Nikki is very generous with the amount you can buy for very small sums such as £0.29. Obviously more money means more investment which this game truly deserves but the sheer volume of different options is confusing. Any game with multiple currencies feels like it’s trying to obscure what you actually get for your money. It’s not as bad as some and I’m thankful that it’s only on the store page but I can’t consider it as anything but a scummy tactic.
The variety of this game is one of the things that makes it truly unique. You have all the aesthetic choices of a dress up game, style challenges, demanding boss fights, fun platformer levels, side quests galore, an open world to explore, varied abilities like crafting, fishing and bug catching, a base to decorate and music to collect. So far, my favourite sequence is the ghost train although honourable mention to the dream warehouse where I got to fly on giant paper planes.
All in all, I’ve enjoyed playing Infinity Nikki and will continue beyond the requirements of this review. I’m 166 hours in and still not bored. It’s the kind of game you can dip in and out of without worrying about missing anything while still staying fresh for dedicated players.
| Criteria | Scores | Our Score |
| Artistic Achievement | 1 – 5 | 5 |
| Gameplay | 1 – 5 | 5 |
| Value/Cost | 1 – 5 | 5 |
| Controls | 1 – 5 | 5 |
| Length | 1 – 5 | 5 |
Written By: ivetafox
Favourite Game – Long Live the Queen || Favourite Film – Sweeney Todd || Favourite Book – Wuthering Heights
About: Ivy is a disabled, autistic writer from the UK, passionate about inclusive gaming. When not reviewing, she can be found writing short stories and micro fiction or reading the latest gothic novel.
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