Infinity Nikki review - finally, a worthy Genshin Impact killer

Genshin Impact comparisons are getting boring, aren't they? Oh look, here's a free-to-play open-world game that you can play on your phone, better break out the old waifu jokes and gacha complaints. Well, you might only have to indulge my own Genshin comparisons this one final time, because after spending over 40 hours in the batty, fashion-obsessed world of Miraland, I think Infinity Nikki might just replace Genshin as the new standard that future open-world gacha games are compared to. The main reason I suspect we'll all be changing the target of our eye-rolling is because, while developer Infold Games has clearly nabbed a fair few ideas from Genshin Impact's (now signature) open-world design, it's the first of these post-Genshin-style games to hit the sweet spot between emulation and innovation. Quite the achievement for a series with roots in the mobile dress-up genre.

Infinity Nikki is actually the fifth installment in the Nikki series, with previous games only available on mobile. Don't worry about missing out on too much context, though, as this latest entry seems to be a brand-new take on the fairytale-esque world of Miraland, along with alternate versions of pink-haired protagonist Nikki, and her adorable BBQ-loving cat, Momo. With Infinity Nikki, the series' focus on dress-up menus and visual novel-like storytelling has shifted to an open-world for Nikki to jump, float, and cycle her way across. There's still a huge focus on fashion, with thousands of outfit pieces available at launch, gacha Banners to pull on for slightly fancier outfits, and bonkers worldbuilding where style is worshipped in tandem with ancient gods. Only now, your main reason for dressing up Nikki is to simply look cute while exploring.

Initially, my first few hours in Miraland weren't particularly remarkable. There are the usual chests that reward in-game currency; resources such as flowers, bugs, and fish to collect for outfit crafting; puzzles and minigames; side quests; and hundreds of Korok Seed-like collectibles called Whimstars to discover and challenge. However, as I made my way through the six mini-regions available at launch, I started to notice all the extra touches that have been added for seemingly no other reason than to make your journey as upbeat and memorable as possible. For example, there are hot air balloon rides that are perfect for soaking in the fairytale sights; bubble blowers to annoy NPCs with; magical hopscotch that changes Nikki's clothes with every skip; and a 'Whimcycle' bike used to pedal across rolling hills and hop to impossible heights with.

These activities also double up as perfect picture-taking opportunities, and while using Photo Mode is another optional feature, boy is it the Photo Mode to rival all other Photo Modes. There are plenty of poses, lighting and filter unlockables to work towards, as well as entire features and reward systems available for collecting pictures of Nikki at notable Miraland landmarks. So, yes, Infinity Nikki may have the usual open-world hallmarks, but they're so much more welcoming than usual here thanks to just how joyful everything feels while you're doing it, even when you have no real goal in mind. Miraland is no checklist simulator - it's a world that's made for truly playing in.

Sure, there are some moments where Infinity Nikki isn't all shiny, happy vibes, but even then it's still endearingly silly. This is a land filled with cheesy villain monologues, disputes settled by who's the best dressed, and a peculiar, slightly uncomfortable, religious rivalry between the fairy-like Faewish sprites and a group of anthropomorphic floating clothes, the Pieceys. Oh, and there's a character called Ol' Fannypacky, a good indicator of just how brilliantly absurd the writing is - which, of course, extends to the main story.

Nikki and Momo start their magical Miraland journey when they get unceremoniously whisked there from their own world, Wizard of Oz-style. Only instead of fancy red shoes, Nikki touches a swanky red dress while searching her dusty attic. The pair soon meet a goddess, who tasks Nikki with finding all of the 'Miracle Outfits' so she can save the world… somehow. That part isn't too clear, but the game's wider plot quickly gives way to fresh mysteries as Nikki explores Miraland more broadly. It starts in Florawish, a quaint town with an old fashioned dress sense where some of its residents have been slipping into comas. Nikki is essentially promoted to Chief Coma Investigator, and as her investigation continues, we're introduced to more of Miraland's themed towns and locations - many of which usually introduce a new traversal method, too.

The story might be a bit ridiculous, but its daft charm doesn't overstay its welcome. Chapters are brief and sidequests are blissfully short. The 'Random Quest' types are even shorter still, often only lasting between 30 seconds and two minutes. So instead of feeling like unnecessary bloat, these extras are often quick distractions, giving you gentle nudges towards interesting characters and factions, or revealing a little more about Infinity Nikki's surprisingly deep lore. Quite the deviation from the Genshin formula, where everything feels like it's far longer than it needs to be. It's a smart example of Infinity Nikki choosing what not to take from Genshin Impact, and the same can be said of its decision to almost nix combat completely.

You never kill anything in Infinity Nikki. Instead, you 'purify' it with one of Nikki's special Ability Outfits. You also have the option of jumping and slamming into the ground if you want to take out multiple foes at once, but for the most part, that's basically all there is to combat in Infinity Nikki. Very occasionally, a boss will pop up, but they're really very scarce. Fighting in general is rarely something you need to engage in, and speaking as someone who is beyond fed up farming for gear in similar types of games, the simplicity of combat is very welcome indeed.

Indeed, it's telling that combat/purification is just one facet of your various Ability Outfits, as these outfits also double up as your main exploration tools. Sometimes you automatically swap to an outfit to perform a specific action, such as when you fire an orb from Nikki's purification outfit, or when double-jumping to get Nikki to float a short distance. Most of the time, though, you bring up an ability wheel and pick what you need to do from there: fishing, catching bugs, fixing electrical equipment - there's even an outfit dedicated to just playing the violin.

It's all very light, breezy and simple - or it would be if my review build of Infinity Nikki (which was running on pre-release servers ahead of its final launch later this week) wasn't so buggy. It's something that's become unfortunately all too familiar with open-world gacha games recently, though I will say that most of the time, the bugs I spotted were largely inconsequential, and often more funny than anything else: animals walking on air and clipping into cliffsides, and an entire cutscene focused on Nikki and her conversation buddy's midriffs instead of their faces.

But there were also much greater technical issues I encountered, too, including an inconsistent stutter while playing on PC, random hard crashes if I talked to specific characters, and a dreaded quest progression problem that stopped me from seeing the end of the story for days. To the developer's credit, Infold Games did fix this progression problem soon after it was flagged during our review period, along with all of the hard crashes I initially found - though it remains to be seen whether the launch version of the game will be free from similar bugs, glitches, and crashes.

These technical issues are one of the only things getting in the way of fully enjoying my jaunts about Miraland, though we do also have Infinity Nikki's other, seemingly inescapable issue to deal with as well here: the gacha of it all. As Infinity Nikki is a dress-up game at heart, the Banners you spend your in-game currency on don't feature new characters. Instead, they offer exclusive outfits. While there are lots of ways to get outfits and clothing pieces for free just by exploring and completing quests, Banner outfits can't be earned through any other method - you have to spend in-game currency on them. This currency can be accrued slowly by completing tasks in the game for free, or you can buy premium packs and convert them into what you need to pull on Banners. These exclusive costumes do tend to look more desirable than the free ones, but not by much - or at least not that I feel like I need to spend ridiculous sums of money to get them.

Infinity Nikki has the usual gacha 'pity' system, where you're guaranteed a four-star outfit piece every 10 pulls, and a five-star outfit piece every 20 pulls. You're also guaranteed to get a different 5-Star piece within 20 pulls, meaning you only start to get duplicates once you've completed a set. This works out as the old standard of getting what you want from a limited Banner within 180 pulls. However the old standard of ludicrous premium currency prices is also in place, as it costs around £345/$435 to buy what you need to make up 180 pulls. An absurd amount of money to spend on a digital outfit.

Thankfully, apart from the appeal of dressing Nikki up in a nice new outfit, there's almost no reason to pull on Banners. Each outfit piece does come with stats for things like 'Cute', 'Sweet', and 'Fresh', with higher stat numbers helping you win fashion battles, but these are primarily side activities with no real incentive to engage with outside of small faction-based stories. You also don't need Banner outfits to guarantee a win during them. At least, I never did at any point while playing. There are also plenty of free outfit pieces that can secure that sweet victory in flawlessly co-ordinated, or hilariously mismatched, clothing instead.

Of course, even though Infinity Nikki's gacha system is more or less redundant in terms of gameplay benefits, if the inclusion of one full stop is a dealbreaker for you, then Infinity Nikki won't do anything different to change your mind here. Personally, I think this is a shame, as the rest of the game feels like a breath of fresh air for the genre. The changes in length, combat and progression all feel utterly invigorating compared to other Genshin-likes, and it's why Infinity Nikki feels like it could (and should) be on the same trajectory to shake up the gacha scene just like Genshin Impact did in 2020.

If nothing else, it sure is nice see miHoYo have some proper competition for once, and I know I'll still be returning to Miraland whenever I'm in need of a mood boost, whether that be in the form of humming along to catchy tunes while Whimcycling my way towards hot air balloons, or laughing at the melodrama in future story updates. I hope Infinity Nikki manages to find an audience, because if it becomes the Genshin Impact-killer I know it has the potential to be, well… I'm excited to see what kind of game could possibly rise to become the Infinity Nikki-killer in another four years or so.

A copy of Infinity Nikki was provided for review by developer Infold Games.