I grew up with Love Nikki. I remember spending all of my allowance in 2019 on the mobile game Love Nikki Dress Up Queen when the franchise was still relatively obscure. Since then, it’s expanded exponentially in both content and popularity; since the mobile game, a sequel to it was released in 2019 called Shining Nikki, which introduced 3-D model dress up to a previously 2-D franchise. Then, this December 6th, 2024, the game Infinity Nikki released and propelled the franchise even further into an expansive, exciting open world environment.

The reason why Infinity Nikki is attractive to many returning players is because while the characters and clothing items we grew to love over the years remain familiar, its gameplay is novel in a way we haven’t seen from any games prior. The game still follows the adventures of the aspiring fashionista Nikki, and her cat familiar Momo as they challenge people to Style Battles, which are essentially just dress up contests. But unlike any other game, the completely open world model of the game means that the player can explore the world building, characters, and plot with autonomy like never before; the other games were literally a linear path of levels of dialogue and battles to beat, but Infinity Nikki destroys the idea of linear scripting completely. The player is free, and isn’t that the best thing to a have in a dress up game?

Infinity Nikki isn’t just a game for girls who like to play dress up. I highly encourage anyone reading– male or female, fashionista or not– to try out the free game playable on Windows, Playstation, and Mobile, or at the very least, try watching a review of the game. The voice acting, world building, and character designs are so cozy and relaxing that I believe anyone could enjoy indulging in it.