Infinity Nikki (v1.0)

I get the sense that this game doesn't quite know what it wants to be. It's a 3D platformer, a collectation, an open world, a dress up game, a picture game and a gacha game with some puzzle and action elements on top. It's a lot and in that sense, it succeeds well. There is a lot to do in this game, but I worry how they will manage to keep every aspect up to snuff as updates progress.

This game is quite beautiful, but there is no short amount of jankyness to be found without even trying too hard. Exploring the world is fun and collecting the whimstars is a treat but I've gotten stuck in a couple of walls and ledges. Thanks to the power of UE5 and upscalers (sarcasm), there have been plenty of graphical bugs and performance issues throughout as well. None of this stuff is a big deal but definitely a downer to what I expected.

The combat is the most nothing thing I've ever seen. There is basically no challenge, and due to this game aiming to be "cozy", I don't see that ever changing. Which does beg the question of why it exists in the first place...

The platforming and puzzles do seem like a lot of care and attention was put into it. There is a strong Super Mario Odyssey vibe given considering there's basically equivalents to Moons and Purple Coins in scattered in every area. The more tightly designed platforming sections have also been creative and interesting, but I do wonder how they will scale the difficulty as the game updates. Again, this is meant to be a "cozy" game, and leaving the platforming easy forever will likely become boring, so that's something that will have to be tackled later.

The cutscenes are not very expressive (maybe this improves, I only played until the start of Chapter 2) and quite honestly I can't say the story is all that interesting yet. Many of the side quests are absolutely nothing as well.

The picture system is super in-depth and I wasn't expecting it. I can easily see someone pouring a bunch of time into it. The dress up stuff is probably fine if you're into it. As a boy playing this game I can't say it's exactly my cup of tea (I was mainly here for the platforming), but as the Nikki series is mainly known for that from what I know, it's probably good. And hey, I made an outfit or 2, it was interesting. It is however the gacha monitised aspect and...

I don't like gacha games at a conceptual level. I very much wish this was a normal release because a lot of the setbacks here feel like they were made to accommodate the mobile/gacha mechanics this type of game are known for. That being said, this is probably the most satisfied I've felt after trying out a gacha game (6/10 is the bar yes), so I am interested to see how it evolves, even if I do worry a little about its future.

Review taken from my Backloggd page.