Infinity Nikki is the third installment in the Nikki English Franchise, with a couple of other games releasing prior to the first mobile game released in the west in 2017. Love Nikki was the first to be released and was a breath of fresh air to both the mobile gaming and the dress up industry; which had spent way too much time being dormant for those who enjoyed it in their youth. Love Nikki managed to bring a sense of fashion and action game together, in a way that was both entertaining and cute! The second installment, “Shining Nikki,” brought Nikki into the 3D and paved the way for what Infinity Nikki is now.
Before we get into the new game, first we have to introduce ourselves to the 2 main characters that have followed through all the games, Nikki and her cat companion “Momo.” Nikki usually finds herself in a new world where fashion and battling take center stage. She is looking to find her place in this new world and why she was brought there. Momo is a sassy addition to the cast, keeping Nikki humble in her choices and making sure she always has someone in her corner. (apart from during real fights of course!).
Infinity Nikki leaves us in a similar situation for Nikki, a look through her Mother’s wardrobe leaves her in a strange new world, one where she must become a stylist and help fight the evil in the land. She has special powers over the other characters and is able to create and design rare outfits known as miracle outfits, and other outfits that have special powers such as floating, purification, and the more usual RPG things like fishing and insect catching!
Out of all 3 of the Nikki games, this is the first addition to have a world that you can actually roam which is a really nice touch. It also allows you to feel more a part of this area yourself, rather than the usual checkpoints on a map for the previous games. The storytelling is something that Nikki is known for, weird and unusual happenings are not something new and Infinity Nikki does not disappoint in this regard.
The addition of the new crafting and battle systems also make it easy for a newcomer to understand what Nikki needs to do! In regular RPGs or other gacha games such as Genshin, you need to collect materials for quests and to also make things, and Nikki is the same. Crafting is not new to the franchise, but physically catching the fish yourself and battling monsters for other resources is very new, and very welcome.
One thing that I am grateful for is that each game feels so different than the other, so it feels like less of a sequel, and more of a genre expansion with new things to learn and do in each game.
However, I think we need to talk about the elephant in the room and that it is Infinity Nikki being a free to play game; meaning that there are items and clothing sets locked behind payments. I will say that the base game without any additional payments allows you to complete the main story with ease, and the additional are for those looking to add to their abilities, bulk out their wardrobe, and have more chances at the gachas.
During the recent update the larger gachas with rarer items have stayed around for almost a month, so there is plenty of time to collect diamonds to be able to use. However, if you want to complete an outfit or get the outfit twice for a recolor, it is more possible with payments, or saving up and using all your diamonds on one gacha only rather than pulling a couple of items from each one.
One thing that Nikki games have proven is that you can play free to play if you are willing to miss out on some items for others, and I think that’s up to how people choose to enjoy the game.
One IRL purchase that I think is worth it is the Gem Card, which comes to £4.99 a month. You gain 90 diamonds a day for 30 days which is enough for 20 pulls of a banner, close enough to gaining most items in a 3 or 4 star banner. You also gain diamonds each day from daily quests and finding them in the world. Events can also give you diamonds or shards, which can be used in banners rather than diamonds.
Overall, I think that Infinity Nikki is a positive addition to the Nikki collection, and for someone who likes games like Genshin and is looking for something like it, this might be your perfect match. If you have played other Nikki games on mobile, being able to move Nikki around on console or PC is just like magic. If you have been enjoying Infinity Nikki and want to check out the other games, they are still going strong with Love Nikki being almost 8 at the time of this writing!
Until next time!
FullyCustom