Finally, an open-world recreation that measures up – actually. On the one hand, Infinity Nikki is the console-ready follow-up to the Miracle Nikki and Shining Nikki sequence of dress-up video games on cellular from Chinese language recreation writer Infold. On the opposite, it takes some affect from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with ex-Nintendo BOTW director Kentaro Tominaga as its govt producer.
And as I found from three hours taking part in a packed new demo on PC, Infinity Nikki blends the perfect of those two disparate worlds – and tucks a ton of surprises below its sparkly belt.
As she digs by means of her attic in quest of an outfit for the ball, titular heroine Nikki is thrown headlong into journey when she finds an enchanted crimson and purple glittering costume in a wardrobe. Dancing with the costume, it instantly pulls her and her speaking cat-like pet/BFF Momo right into a fantastical, mysterious realm. There, within the bowels of a crumbling fort, Nikki meets a cursed goddess named Ena the Curator, who grants Nikki with the Coronary heart of Infinity and all its powers, sending her to Miraland and tasking her with reviving all of the Miracle Outfits to avoid wasting the world from evil. It’s like The Wizard of Oz meets Ultimate Fantasy meets Paris Trend Week, with a wholesome sprinkling of Gravity Rush and The Neverending Story for good measure.
Identical to in BOTW, Infinity Nikki has a powerful sense of scale and different areas that encourage exploration. The rolling countryside and mountain backdrop of the opening Memorial Mountains location is Hyrule as interpreted by Studio Ghibli, whereas the village of Florawish is idyllic and alive, drenched in vibrant flowers, and bustling with NPCs who give Nikki fascinating lore updates or aspect missions. The village’s attractive European structure is dotted with collectibles equivalent to Blings (forex) and Whimstars (skill-tree factors) that reward curious explorers, and Momo is all the time available to assist out – briefly viewing the world by means of his eyes means that you can discover and monitor close by Whimstars. Chests hidden right here and there might comprise a prize, however they often spit out enemies you need to defeat earlier than you will get the loot.
Dungeons provide extra superior platforming motion and fantastical boss creatures, whereas glowing pink cubes open up Zelda-style shrines, with environmental puzzles and different challenges that grant particular rewards when crushed.
True to the roots of the sequence, the style theme permeates Infinity Nikki from shoulder to hem. Along with her lengthy pink twin tails and her cute female fashion, Nikki is fabulously dressed from the off, and gamers can unlock an enormous number of outfits. A talent tree means that you can spend Whimstars on outfit blueprints, whereas others may be obtained from NPCs and aspect quests, or by profitable them from a gacha machine.
After you have the blueprints for an outfit, you’ll be able to craft it, as long as you could have the corresponding supplies.
A few of these outfits give Nikki new skills, equivalent to a floating soar to cross huge gaps, a glider (much like Hyperlink’s), a long-range assault to “purify” enemies, or an angling swimsuit to go fishing; every of those may be geared up by way of a range wheel or through the use of keyboard shortcuts. Others are purely beauty and may be blended and matched to your coronary heart’s want. While you equip a costume and use its skills, Nikki immediately adjustments outfits, after which adjustments again whenever you’re executed, so you’ll be able to spend more often than not within the ensemble of your alternative.
The wealthy graphics present the element in every merchandise of clothes, proper right down to the kind of materials, from delicately patterned translucent silk to chunky wool. Every outfit comes with its personal set of animations, too – for instance, when Nikki adjustments into the Floating Outfit, bubbles observe her as she glides gracefully throughout the display screen, including to the vibe properly.
Enemies, too, are generally made out of scraps of spare material, whereas all the crafting supplies Nikki collects are used for making garments, from vegetation within the form of buttons to bugs within the form of socks. One outfit lets Nikki brush and trim animals for his or her fur, enabling stealth motion in order that she will be able to sneak up and catch them unaware; as you trim creatures primarily based on cats, canines and sheep, they roll round in ecstasy, which is completely lovable.
The world of Miraland is populated by fashion-conscious characters, each female and male. Early within the demo, Nikki meets Dada and her youthful sister Bebe, who invite her to hitch them within the Florawish Stylists’ Guild. The guild home is bedecked with lovely décor, each member impeccably dressed. In the meantime, Giovanni, a neighborhood crafter of wishing objects, is softly good-looking, like he stepped immediately from an otome courting recreation.
As soon as registered with the guild, Nikki – now a full-fledged Stylist – receives a Pear-Pal pill, which is basically her Sheikah Slate, from which you’ll enter your nickname, verify Nikki’s Stylist stage, alter her wardrobe, verify an merchandise compendium and extra. Right here you may as well monitor most important quests, aspect quests and particular person crafting components, a really useful QOL characteristic, whereas the map is marked with helpful icons. All in all, it’s a set of instantly approachable instruments that make the sport accessible to just about anybody.
Equally, the sport gives varied choices to assist exploration, equivalent to a bicycle rental store and, if you’ll find it, an enormous chook that you may trip because it flies a predetermined loop across the map.
That stated, Infinity Nikki’s dungeons do provide a good diploma of problem. An early dungeon I performed noticed Nikki traversing the Dream Warehouse, a magical constructing with 1000’s of discarded paper cranes dotted all over, every representing a want solid by the hopeful villagers of Florawish. The warehouse has now been overrun by monsters, which Nikki should purify. The origami papercraft motif continues as you start platforming throughout large paper cranes, which seesaw as Nikki clambers aboard their wings, making timing essential. Nikki can even sprint, which doubles as a dodge, and carry out a Floor Pound sort assault to defeat enemies or smash breakable objects.
Purifying enemies that stand in your path, reaching tough distant platforms for non-obligatory collectibles – it’s not the hardest platforming problem on the planet, however it’s sufficient to maintain you in your toes. Utilizing a mouse and keyboard, I fell down many an abyss, so I used to be blissful to listen to that the ultimate recreation will help controllers. The stage ends with Nikki driving on an enormous paper crane that soars ever greater over a surprising skyscape to the soundtrack of a tune with lyrics about reaching new heights – a dizzying reward to your efforts to date.
I performed an offline demo, however the recreation will finally embody on-line options. The particulars of the net gameplay are nonetheless tbc, however the builders defined it will likely be a solo-focused recreation the place everybody performs as Nikki, however with neighborhood points (consistent with Loss of life Stranding, maybe). I performed on PC, however cellular and console variations are additionally within the works. A launch date continues to be tbc.
There may be an harmless appeal to Infinity Nikki. The protagonist is endlessly cheerful, continuously bigging up the characters round her with “you bought this!” pep speak. When her feline buddy Momo pulls out a digicam to introduce picture mode, Nikki tells him, “You seem like knowledgeable photographer!”, whereas one dialogue tree I noticed gave the choice to easily “Say one thing good” – a refreshing present of positivity and enthusiasm that’s infectious.
By the way, the picture mode is great – completely tailor-made to such a fashion-focused recreation, and filled with options equivalent to poses, filters, depth of area management and a toggle swap to have Nikki face the digicam. Picture mode alone may occupy you for hours, as you could have Nikki swap between outfits towards a picturesque backdrop of luscious hills and glowing streams, and pose for the digicam with a bouquet of flowers, lounging on a bench, or making a coronary heart form along with her fingers.
Miraland’s areas are full of surprise, its environment endlessly participating, dotted with minigames and soundtracked by light piano music. The recreation is dripping in detailed style, wealthy animations and watercolour idea artwork, whereas its mechanics are surprisingly deep and fascinating. When utilizing quick journey, Nikki strikes a traditional pose, her hand and face in the direction of the sky, as she dissolves into the ether to reappear elsewhere – and little particulars like this present how a lot care has gone into improvement.
I used to be additionally shocked to seek out myself drawn into the story, wherein an historic battle between gods and demons has given rise to a centuries-old society of stylists. It’s definitely distinctive!
I’ve to say, I by no means knew dressing up could possibly be a lot enjoyable. My time with Infinity Nikki left me wanting to strive on the completed recreation when it will definitely arrives.