The first trailer has released for an upcoming open world dress-up RPG, Infinity Nikki, which is being helmed by none other than Zelda alumni, Kentaro Tominaga (thanks, Kotaku).
A former designer on Breath of the Wild before directing the game's successful Expansion Pass, Tominaga will not be bringing the upcoming title to Switch it seems (it is currently confirmed for PC, PS4, PS5 and mobile), though the impression of BOTW's aesthetics can be felt all over this one.
The game looks to combine open world platforming with puzzle solving as you explore an open world filled with mystery and magic - ring any bells? Of course, this does not appear to be a one-to-one copy of the former game, as Infinity Nikki also utilises a unique dress-up mechanic which sees the hero take on different abilities based on her magically-generating outfits.
For a little official description, check out the following from developer Papergames:
Here, you will join Nikki and Momo in a vast fantasy world, exploring freely and savoring varied playstyles. The power resting in gorgeous outfits will find you a path forward and offer infinite fun along the journey!
Looking at the above trailer, these abilities include magical powers, flight and even the ability to shrink down to the size of a tiny hooded cat - or it is supposed to be some kind of mouse? It's difficult to tell, but either way it's cute! If you ever wondered what Disney's take on a Zelda-like would be, this might just be your answer.
Much like our reaction to the first Breath of the Wild trailer, we are once again struck by just how gorgeous this game looks! From the grass blowing in the breeze to the clear water of the fishing (because there always has to be some fishing), Infinity Nikki certainly looks like one to watch.
While the game is not currently slated for a Switch release, the trailer has got us itching to dive back into the Hyrule that Tominaga helped to create all over again.
What do you make of this Infinity Nikki first look? Let us know in the comments!
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 98
Getting a bit tired of seeing games rip off Breath of the Wild's literal opening cinematic and then just not bother coming to Switch, it feels disrespectful for some reason?
@Otoemetry make a game with a larger scope with more spectacular visuals for stronger platforms. Or make a lesser game to compensate for a switch launch.
The game could get a port down the road, but kind of a strange take. Developers can put games where they want them.
It’s obvious these games took A LOT of inspiration but not every open world game is a ripoff of BotW……
@Gamergirl94 so botw invented open worlds now? Next people will be telling me he invented grassy plains, Like I understand its taking a lot if inspiration, but let’s not act like botw invented open worlds games.
I actually enjoy the look of it the world looks like it’s fun to explore and the combat looks vary entertaining! It seems to do the clothing concept that balan blunderworld tried to do, only much, much better. I get a dress up game and a rpg platformer? Sign me up!
I will definitely be keeping and eye on it and, waiting for reviews.
This game looks graphically stunning.
@Gamergirl94 - Welcome to Flavahtown! Where we all do the same thing the current time tells us is popular!
BotW, MOBA, Battle Royale, Pokémon, Darl Souls. We will do it all! As long as the sales show there is a market on someone else's game!
that's a bad looking jump, other than that it seems interesting
People seem to think BoTW created the open world design 🙃
@Otoemetry Nah the switch's current hardware is the one being disrespectful to this kind of open world, this is different art than Xenoblade, akin to Tales of Arise.
@Chunkboi79 I agree, I’m glad they didn’t bog the graphics down just for the switches sake.
@Miu did you watch the trailer? There's literally a moment where the character runs up to the edge of a cliff exactly like in BotW's opening moments.
Lost me completely when I saw the characters, I'm clearly not the target. Too bad because the world looks incredible.
Really like the art style on that game.
I have no idea what it actually is though. The gameplay makes it look more like a platformer than an open world game.
It doesn't look Zelda gameplay-wise from that trailer.
I will be interested to see more.
I agree with others that not coming to switch isn't all that surprising.
@Otoemetry Yes I watched it, and if you watch it you should realize it would be impossible to port it to Switch without performance issues (I'm talking about that level of world design).
Ok, calm down, everyone. Breath of the Wild doesn't own a copyright on grass and blue skies. This does look generic as if it was designed by AI, though.
I really have no idea what I just watched. The game looked like a neat platformer, then suddenly there was fishing, butterfly chasing and a parade of ducks. Then back to platforming. Seriously, wtf.
It looks really good, but also very boring.
If a Japanese developer would give a take on an orignal Alice in Wonderland like story. I like the vibe it gives, but it's uncertain if there is any meaningful combat in the game. On the other hand, this might not be the point of it all. Looks gorgeous.
@Otoemetry Yeah. Also should be released for Wii U, the original BOTW platform.
If AI art was a game, I think this is it
Cool, looks good. Any other games not releasing on Switch we should know about?
Ah, I love these games so much! I started playing Love Nikki several years ago just wanting a cute dress up game, and it soon ended up as something way darker/more mature than I expected, so that was a real treat! I also appreciate that the developers seem to listen to the feedback of the players (at least when I was playing more actively). A pay-to-win event came to the US server, and the community rallied to boycott the next one that was scheduled to come through some weeks later, because only the chart leader had a chance to get every part of the outfit. …The US server didn’t end up getting any more of those types of events after that, lol.
Looks beautiful and the musical score was very nice. But... what is the point of an open-world dress-up game? (Genuinely asking, not being sarcastic)
this is like barbie navitopia
@Chunkboi79 - I dunno dude, they'll have it on mobile, suggests they will have some graphic fidelity flexibility built in. A port is by no means out of the question.
Is it running on Unreal 5? Looks stunning.
People are arguing about the BotW influence, and I'm wondering why NL is reporting on a game that isn't confirmed for Switch.
Yep, looks beautiful. The jumping looks a tad floaty (on purpose I'm sure, but still). ANyway, wake me up if this ever comes to Switch.
Breath of the wilds like the last thing I thought of when I saw this
I guess it looks kinda nice? awful trailer, though.
NL: “New Game From Breath of the Wild Devs…”
Me: Oh? Go on!
NL: “…Stunning mix of Disney, Anime & Zelda…”
Me: OOH?! GO OOOONNNNN!!!!
NL: “An open-world dress-up adventure”
Me: Oh for crying out loud…
@Judal27 I am also surprised by that take.
It's a former BotW developer, sure, but the game doesn't look comparable at all.
first thought when I saw the trailer: this cant be on the switch?!? wtf? confused... googled the title... its not coming to the switch. LOL!
I'm glad I am not the only one that finds this unattractive. It's pretty in the most artificial and manufactured ways. Like a lot modern games. The endless gritty browns of the prior era were traded for fields of saccharine plastic.
All this hype for what looks to be a weird but beautiful game (and anime chic), and it's not coming to Switch? I think BOTW's Tominaga's legacy goes before him - but, it's not so much worth putting much hype on it for the before-mentioned reason.
You know the open world sub genre is waaaay overused when you put the words “open world dressup RPG” together
Sigh ….stop trying to turn everything into an open world
I Really wish the writers here would stop trying to compare every indie game to something first party or mainstream.
Some people act like BOTW created open world formula which isn’t true lol
Anyway this looks interesting.
@Thumbsofsteel …and also
NL: “Not on Switch”
Me: Could have said so in the beginning >
@PosterBoy lol I didn’t even catch that! I guess you can tell where I stopped reading
Just wondering, this is unrelated to the other games on mobile with Nikki in their title, right? The Word Nikki is just a word that means something like dress up or fashion or something, right? The ads for Shining Nikki have put me off the game and anything related to it…
Also, if the game is coming to Mobile, then they already have a version cut down enough to work on Switch.
@Otoemetry Zelda didn't invent open vistas and there's nothing disrespectful about not bringing a certain game to a certain platform. It's down to technical reasons most likely, or simply time/money.
@Chunkboi79 Also a strange take that you ignore the mobile version. Given that, asking for this on Switch isn't unreasonable at all. No need for the high horse crap.
Considering how many magical girls refer to their transformations as "dress up" or some such, I'm surprised it's so rare for that being part of a single girl's powerset.
Obviously, this trailer isn't representative of final gameplay, but as it is now, it looks more focused on being pretty than being fun. No surprise it's skipping a Switch release with how much they'd have to cut back.
So it's basically an open world game with magical girls like Sailor Moon/Pretty Cure. Besides being open world this reminds me nothing of Zelda. It looks pretty though.
Love Nikki is my favorite mobile game and has to be the best dress-up rpg ever made; I've been addicted to it for years.
I hope this new game in the series is ported to Switch just because mobile platformers have awful controls. The original game is all about fashion battles, so I'm curious how they will interpret this beyond 'clothes give you powers'.
@StardusterEX I was shocked in Love Nikki when a character died. Never thought I would cry in a dress-up game.
@ChessboardMan All the nikki games have the same general plot and same main characters (Momo and Nikki). I never got into shining nikki, but many of the ads for love nikki at least were absolutely famous for having literally nothing to do with the game; it's been a bizarre meme for years. The ads look truly atrocious if you've never played the game (if you have played they are just bizarre).
That trailer shows so many things but I don’t have the slightest idea what kind of game it is
Kinda disrespectful to have this on mobile but not switch.
It looks pretty good, even though the trailer felt really long and didn't really explain the game much. I doubt it will run on my PC. The graphics look too nice. Sonic Frontiers only just runs on my PC at 720p 30 fps with low settings. Maybe one day I will get a PS4 so I can play all these games I am missing.
Interesting, but it’s nothing Nintendo related, so I don’t really care at this point.
Visually very appealing. It looks cute and relaxed.
the only reason watching this trailer , the girl looks so cute
Got zero interest in BOTW but I'd definitely buy this if it came to Switch (maybe Switch 2?)
I want it!
Day one pre-order PS4 version! 😁
Link doesn’t have dresses anywhere near that frilly (more’s the pity), so no, it’s not BotW.
It looks more like Style Savvy: Skyrim Wonderworld Edition.
Love the look of the world, not a fan of its lifelessness or the cutesy protagonist exploring in short dresses.
Too Japanese for my taste, nevertheless it looks gorgeous
Never heard of this series before but I almost want to go for this one, if it weren't for the fact that the "gameplay footage" looks a little "too clean", like something we would see on a PS6.
Looks abit like genshin with better graphics
It does feel like it would be a waste for an action RPG to skip the hybrid ruler of the Japanese console market after already coming to ARM-based devices with the conspicuous lack of buttons (the trailer's platforming sections alone can make me gulp in context), but it's the devs and publishers' call and mobile is where the series started AFAIU.
Still, if I ever get it anywhere, it'll be on Switch or its successor - the ultimately bothersome experience with Genshin Impact and iPega has left me convinced that mobile gaming really has no control solutions without glaring compromises and that experiences of this caliber expect you to have something kidney-priced for some 256 Gb of internal storage on the platform whose mainstream operating systems generally seem to grow more allergic to memory cards by the year.
NL users: I don’t care about graphics!!
When an actually stunning looking game comes out -
NL users: This looks so artificial! It’s generated by AI!
Ya’ll are blinded from staring at blurry pixels on the switch!
There’s some cool ideas there, and an open world platformer is something I’ve always thought could work well (I haven’t got Sonic Frontiers yet). This does look quite easy though with very long floaty jumps, it’s like someone took Princess Peach from Super Mario USA and made her the main character! 😅
It does remind me a bit of Balan Wonderworld though with costume changes giving different powers. Hopefully it’s not going to be as easy as that game too.
Actually looks quite good visually. I imagine I wouldn't like it as much of BOTW obviously but it's good these people are getting more work considering their talent. Still, not really a story for Nintendo gamers if not coming to the Switch yet. Maybe a story for PushSquare sister site moreso.
It does look stunning but definitely won't look like that on Switch. That's got to be PS5 or PC footage. Also the character movement during the platforming looks horrendous. Almost Balan Wonderworld like.
Nothing about the trailer made it seem like it copies from BOTW or Disney. It's just Generic anime girl the video game. It's honestly cute, I'll give it that. But style is all it has going for it.
"This footage is from a development version and not indicative of gameplay"
Or, put more plainly
"This footage is complete and utter BS. Obviously".
@Paraka idk... Just cause it on mobile doesn't mean that they can scale it lower for Switch.
Looks pretty interesting. I'd be willing to give this a go.
Technically good but the art direction is unimaginative af.
Looks bland and twee, though well realised bland and twee I guess. Nothing really makes it or the main character stand out I feel like I’ve seen her a thousand times before across various media. Also looks really slow and floaty.
Not sure what is even meant by “open world dress up game” either. Tbh the trailer was long and samey so I didn’t watch it all the way but it looked just like the outfit and moves were linked to each other. Which sounds like it’s either annoying, constantly having to swap outfits or they’re basically just part of the animation or just a standard power up thing.
Like is Mario a “dress up game” because sometimes he has to don a Tanuki or Frog suit to get places?
@AverageGamer - Mobile will be available to a wide variety of devices, not just exclusively for Galaxy S35X Supreme and iPhone 300.6.
So... Yes, it would have the flexibility developed for it to accommodate the wider audience potential. Mobile isn't portable PS4s.
This looks amazing!
@Would_you_kindly - I wouldn't say making something closer to realistic fidelity automatically counts as "better graphics." There is quite a few stylish games that demand more than what this can only be described as "preset toolkit" graphic demos.
@Chocobo_Shepherd
It really does look fun. I will be watching this one to see if it turns out alright. I'm playing Elden Ring right now - open-world games have been growing on me, and I'm willing to give this one a try if it is actually good.
@daveMcFlave If you've been playing Elden Ring I wouldn't too much suggest playing a lot of other open world games. They all have a lot of the same problems, which for me at least, are lack of verticality despite being open world and sometimes with powers and too much goin on on-screen, Elden ring broke away from that a bit so it feels a lot more refreshing. Spider-man and BoTW are the only other games that broke out of those confines.
@YoshiF2 open worlds are not a genre, they are a game structure. referring to open world (or roguelite, for that matter) as a subgenre is akin to calling linear, PVP, or arcade games "subgenres". genres encompass mechanics, and while structure can inform mechanics from a developer's end, open world is not a genre or subgenre in itself, but a qualifier for any subgenres (much as player perspectives would be).
that in mind, I think that having games which tackle open worlds in different ways is far more what that structure needs now. I'd much rather a dress-up game in the strata (assuming it is well-designed, naturally) than yet another third-person shooter with audio logs. variety being the spice of life, and all that, and open worlds do need spice now with the totalizing Ubification of many AAA offerings.
@Snatcher Such an interesting genre mashup. Very cool to see things like this materialize — gamers play games for all sorts of different reasons. As the industry matures, there is a mix of developers with more varied tastes, and/or just an approach that can meet some types of gamers that have had less attention.
Or it's just one developer that finally got to make that game they've always wanted to make.
@Paraka Sure it not gonna be exclusive to Galaxy S35X Supreme and iPhone 300.6. But when you consider that even 4 year old flagship phone are still stronger than the Switch, and by the time this come out the gap would have widen significantly. Especially on the Apple side with them stuffing their M chips into mobile devices.
@aaronsullivan It really is, you have people saying who asked, and the thing is, if you asked, we wouldn’t have gotten it, no one and really done this before, so let’s wait and see how it turns out.
Looks like Genshin Impact, not BoTW.
I know it's hard for fanboys to understand, but BoTW didn't invent open world games. Shocking, I know.
Momo is not a cat. He is from the clan of Momo's. Everybody knows that. ;p
I, for one, am super stoked about this game and can't wait to hear more about its release date!
@AverageGamer - So your focus is on ONLY the "flagship" phone? Whatever that means fails to point out several affordable phones have been making their rounds due to accessibility and affordability.
None of these are equal in power to a PS4.
Unless you are insinuating the mobile market will actively try and carve out 30% potential market. That's a lot for mobile access games.
@Paraka Most of these high end mobile games aren't targeting the low budget, affordable phone buyer. Just look at something like genshin impact that was a struggle to run on even the best phones at it release.
There a reason we still haven't seen that game come to the Switch.
Why are there people accusing this game of ripping off botw when it is made by the developer of botw??? -_-
Did they even read the article? Or at least the title?
@Otoemetry it's made by botw dev.
Looks pretty cute
@Otoemetry it’s like the Inception trailer music.
This game looks amazing. My daughter will love it.
I can't believe this game is coming this far.. I mean yeah the story definitely got me unexpectedly quite a bit though so I guess it was coming, still I'm blown away at the new look for Nikki and EXCITED to check this out!
@AverageGamer - When it's on mobile, they design the flexibility to be accessed on the wider array of devices.
Using Genshin as an example of struggling on even the high end mobile is genuinely a pretty bad take, since that's evident of optimization struggles. But it HAS graphical options for lower end devices.
Your example proved me right.
The reason we have not seen it on Switch is cause is they're still trying to appease their largest market is an optimized option; Mobile.
That and China has plenty of Red ropes to dance around in.
@EVIL-C modern smart phones are stronger than switch, they have been for a couple years now.
Kind of a strange take for you to act so offended over a video game.
@Chunkboi79 Lol, I don't know where you got that from, but cool it with the BS accusations. I couldn't care less if this game came to Switch or not.
Kind of a strange take to take a harmless comment so far out of context. 😉
@EVIL-C you're the one making a big deal about this. Touch grass.
@Chunkboi79 Who responded to who originally now? Haha, get a life, kid. 😉
@EVIL-C you responded originally?
@Chunkboi79 You're correct, my mistake. I have zero issue admitting that.
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