Infinity Nikki is quite unlike other open world RPGs in the market currently, opting to focus on its ‘cozy’ vibe and puzzle solving elements instead of delving too deep into combat, which can at times admittedly, be underwhelming.
Despite some minor setbacks, it’s a solid entry that even newcomers (such as myself) should feel at ease jumping into.
A beautiful game world
Perhaps the most striking feature of Infinity Nikki is in its visual design. The characters and game world are very lifelike, reactive and simply look amazing. This is partly due to the game utilizing Unreal Engine 5 which works very well in its favor.
Voice acting is also superb, and I found myself enjoying the English dub. It feels straight out of a Pixar movie, especially in its many cutscenes.
The chirpy, light-hearted nature also helps further complement this further.
Gameplay, combat and progression
Infinity Nikki focuses heavily on exploration and puzzle solving. It’s clear that the game does not care much about combat, and that’s perfectly fine – given that most of the ‘combat’ isn’t particularly anything to write home about.
Combat mostly consisted of hitting enemies with purifying orbs that would down them in one hit, while I scuttled around trying to avoid projectiles. Either way, its definitely a weak point and not something the game focuses on.
There’s a lot to do in the open world, from side quests to exploring and discovering copious amounts of Bling and hidden Whimstars among other items.
Which now brings us to our next point – the progression. Everything is themed around Nikki’s outfits, which bestow unique abilities. Each dress fulfills a specific purpose – with one built for jumping higher to gain access to difficult spots, and another being used for fishing and the like.
Dressing up is the core gameplay here, and it is possible to stylize and customize Nikki to your heart’s content.
There’s a lot to uncover here, and the game is surprisingly complex with regards to these systems. One of the earlier ‘dungeons’ had some extensive platforming which I found to be quite enjoyable and moderately challenging.
Gacha
Infinity Nikki is a free to play title, and as such features gacha elements. You can grind a set amount of currency which can in turn be used to summon for 4-star and 5-star dresses – with the 5-star options being more desirable of the lot.
There are also monthly and battle pass systems, which is fairly standard for these types of games. In terms of world progression and gacha, Nikki borrows a lot from Genshin Impact and players familiar with the latter will be at ease here.
Despite these similarities, it things differently enough to not make itself into a complete ‘clone’.
Free to play players should have a pleasant time in Miraland, given the copious amount of resources the game throws at you just from exploring its world.
The game requires extensive patching in its current state
In its current state, Infinity Nikki is quite a buggy game. From random performance drops to gameplay problems, Nikki has its fair share of bugs. I had to reinstall thrice to get the game working, and encountered a rather curious bug at the beginning where the target NPCs would refuse to interact with me unless I restarted the game.
These bugs are expected of a pre-release build, but I would hope that Infold Games manages to fix these issues ahead of the global launch – lest they sour the experience.
Infinity Nikki runs pretty well on moderately specced PC hardware. I was able to get it running at over 60 frames per second (70-80 FPS in the open world, 90+ FPS in closed spaces) using a Thinkpad P53 with a Quadro RTX 3000 GPU at 1080p, Medium settings.
There is an anemic selection of configurable options in its PC settings menu though, but we do get DLSS support with uncapped frame rates so that’s a plus.
Interestingly, the game in its current state also supports Linux based operating systems with some tweaking, which could make it a perfect Steam Deck game.
Mobile performance and optimization remains to be seen though.
Conclusion
My biggest concern with Infinity Nikki is that it is perhaps a bit too niche. This isn’t a game for hardcore players (either for combat or exploration), opting to fill in the void with cutesy, fun stuff instead.
Normally, I wouldn’t complain but certain aspects of it seem to be targeted toward a particular demographic of players – which I am not a part of. I do respect the sheer effort and polish placed into the game though, and I am positive it will be hit among those well versed with Nikki games – perhaps not so much with the more ‘mainstream’ crowd.
Not every game has to be a bombastic AAA blockbuster though. Sticking to core strengths and delivering on them is exactly what Infinity Nikki sets out to do, and while admittedly underwhelming at times, it is still a very enjoyable title.
Reviewed on: PC
Code Provided By: PressEngine
