Take the ball scene from Disney's Beauty and the Beast, replace the crying bowls with an army of chibi cats, give Belle low-profile Doctor Manhattan-level matter-transforming powers, and maybe… beginning To mirror the experience of Infinity Nikki, an open-world dress-up adventure game from Singapore-based Infold and former Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild developer Kentaro Tominaga.
The fifth installment of the so-far mobile-focused Nikki series, which was trailered this week at Gamescom 2024, looks set to take things by storm with over 12 million pre-registrations so far (most of which are due to the possibility of unlocking in-game bonuses in bulk). It's also free-to-play, and I have the usual unanswered questions about currencies and gacha, but I'm willing to take it for a minute as I haven't spent nearly my entire life thinking about the tactical implications of prom dresses. Here's the trailer.
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Here are some of the events gleaned from a recent preview on Ian Games: Princess or near-princess heroine Nikki is rummaging through her wardrobe for an outfit when she finds a magical dress. The dress immediately abducts her and pulls her through a portal to the sparkling Narnified Hyrule that is Miraland. Here, she meets Ena, a cursed goddess who tasks her with saving the world from evil using the power of the lost Miracle Suits.
Along the way, he'll pick up a bunch of other new skins that grant him various powers and abilities, like the ability to fish, move stealthily, master electronics, catch bugs, shrink yourself so you can walk around with your pet, and more. Moogle cat's head. Final Fantasy X-2's costume-based vernacular has been applied to the open world. Do not despair at the lack of combat-like elements, for combat is nothing more than horror wrapped in taffeta, and the hem is mightier than the sword.
There is combat, also known as monster purification, but it’s lightly played. Enemies have names like Bouldy, and are sometimes literally made of materials for fancy dresses. The lands seem to be inhabited mostly by tailors and stylists, rather than the usual thoughtful blacksmiths and arms dealers. Zeldarian touches abound: you get a Pear-Pal tablet that’s used mainly for photoshoots, similar to Breath Of The Wild’s Sheikah Slate, and one of the dresses lets you glide. There’s also a dungeon of sorts with platforming sequences: one consists of a Dream Warehouse filled with paper cranes, which represent wishes. Complete that, and you can board one and fly. Other things you can ride: magic trains, bicycles, minecarts in wine cellars, and a bloody big bird that follows a fixed course around the map.
Am I quite fascinated? I fully expect the heretofore unspecified monetization elements to be as wild as the visuals are sugary — it feels like it’s aimed at magpie kids with unregulated access to their parents’ bank cards. But I do like the idea of an open world explicitly built around glad-ragging, because playing dress-up is secretly the best part of many games — including games that explicitly frown on such pointless distractions because Look, I’m A Serious Art Form or Dress-Up Is For Girls. Let me put it this way: Dark Souls has a fashion scene. Anyway, you can read more about Nikki and what she’s up to on the Epic Game Store.
For all the latest news and previews from Gamescom 2024, visit our Gamescom 2024 hub.