A good photo mode alone isn’t enough to make or break a game, but it can turn a good game into a great one, or make a mediocre game worth slogging through for the sake of screenshots. Infinity Nikki falls squarely in the former camp, as a compelling dress-up game that becomes a fantastic co-op photography adventure when you pull out your camera.
Launched last week, Infinity Nikki is a gacha game that puts fashion front and center. It’s a full-blown open-world RPG, complete with countless minigames, a surprisingly dark (but shakily translated) story, and unique style showdowns to set it apart. You can spend hours scouring the wilderness for crafting materials to make the perfect dress or explore its numerous caves for even rarer finds.
And I’ve been ignoring all of that in the pursuit of a good photo. Early on, you’re granted a camera for Nikki’s feline companion Momo to document your adventures. In a game largely about picking out the perfect outfit, it makes a lot of sense to have a camera to capture the moment. But more than just a way to keep track of your best looks, Infinity Nikki’s camera opens up a sightseeing tour across its setting of Miraland, and offers an original way for players to interact with each other.
Along with her camera, Nikki receives a Photo Expeditions Guide. This handbook includes photos of 40 different locations that you can take a picture of yourself, with the promise of a mysterious reward for finding them all. On its own, this gives players a reason to explore every inch of the game’s world, which is packed with picturesque spots. Knowing that I could fill out my Photo Expeditions Guide by going off the beaten path meant that I spent a lot of time poking around secluded spots, appreciating more of Miraland than I ever would have without it.
Tracking down the locations in the guide also grants you rewards immediately. Each shot gives you three camera parts, which you can use to unlock new filters, lighting options, and poses to use in your photos. Rewarding diligent photographers with a tangible way to get more out of photo mode is a great way to incentivize hunting for hidden photo ops and deepening a part of the game that’s often kept as an optional extra, separate from the rest of a game’s mechanics.
Where Infinity Nikki’s photo mode really shows its genius is in Snapshots. Any time you take a photo with Nikki in it, you can tag it as a Snapshot, and an icon will appear in other players’ games showing where you took the photo. Interacting with the icon will let players see the photo you took, with options to add a Like or add the photographer to their friends list. If you choose to allow it when you share your Snapshot, other players can even project an image of your character in the outfit and pose you used for the photo into their own world. Then, they can pose for an asynchronous group shot, and even leave that creation as a Snapshot for further players to find.
I spent most of last weekend playing Infinity Nikki, not collecting outfits or working through my quest log, but simply taking photos. I haven’t completed a single Styling Challenge since the game officially launched, but I have filled up a good portion of my Photo Expeditions Guide, Liked dozens of other players’ photos, and left my mark in the form of Snapshots across every inch of Miraland I’ve seen so far.
Infinity Nikki is a singleplayer game, but thanks to Snapshots, it feels like I’m surrounded by other players. Seeing a Snapshot in a hard-to-reach location makes me want to figure out how to reach it myself, and players have even taken to using Snapshots to point to puzzle solutions and collectibles hidden out of view. Matching my outfit to the one another player is wearing to make group shots better gives me a reason to try out new clothes, and every excellent photo I see makes me want to track down more modifications for my own camera and spend more time improving my shots.
There’s a lot to like in Infinity Nikki even ignoring photo mode, but I can’t imagine playing without it now. What could have been a simple collectathon dress-up game has turned into a photography simulator, letting me flex a little creative muscle while connecting with other players through a shared love of great selfies.
