We’re worried about Infinity Nikki’s latest gacha changes, and you should be too

Infinity Nikki Steam reviews are mixed following the release yesterday, as CN stylists have been rushing to ‘warn new players’ about some worrying monetization practices that have appeared to intensify in the most recent update.

Infinity Nikki Version 1.5 dropped yesterday alongside the game’s long-awaited Steam launch, and, while I was personally very impressed with what I saw as a returning player, I totally understand the reservations upon hearing other stylists’ concerns.

The main issue currently revolves around changes to Infinity Nikki’s gacha system. In the past, five-star outfits have consisted of nine to ten pieces, with a guarantee to get one five-star piece every 20 pulls. This means that, at max pity, you need to pull a total of 180 to 200 times (which costs between 21.6k – 24k diamonds) to get a full featured five-star outfit. This has already led to many players requesting a pity cap that ensures you get all five-star outfits in full by 180 pulls, stating that “we’ve been tolerating 200” rather than embracing it.

However, the current Infinity Nikki banners feature two five-star outfits, each consisting of 11 pieces, including socks that you can’t actually see underneath the dresses. This means that instead of 180 to 200 pulls to get one of these outfits in full, you need to pull a total of 220 times at max pity (a cost of 26.4k diamonds).

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, you may wonder why one extra piece is causing such a big hubbub – sure, it costs more pulls, but you can still get the other ten pieces within the same number of pulls, right? Well, here’s the catch – both of these are ability outfits. As the name suggests, in Infinity Nikki, ability outfits allow you to use special abilities. The issue is that in order to unlock an ability, you need to own the full outfit.

Admittedly, the core ability outfits that you need to progress through the game are all free, requiring you to unlock them in the Heart of Infinity using whimstars, then craft them using items you collect around the map. Beyond that, most of the abilities tied to limited resonance (gacha) outfits so far have either been alternative versions of existing abilities – such as Dance Till Dawn’s unique take on floral gliding or Wings of Wishes and Blooming Dreams’ versions of the floating ability – or whimsicality abilities, which are primarily aesthetic.

The one exception to this has been the four-star Adventure Ride outfit, which allows you to summon a motorcycle at will rather than having to run to a whimcycle rental spot and spend bling. So far, the only other way to get a summonable bike was to purchase the limited-time Unbound Pass: Fireworks item during the New Bloom Festival event earlier this year. While relatively inexpensive, that item itself was quite off-putting to me, and part of the reason why I took a break from Infinity Nikki, even as someone who has happily spent money in the game before.

In response to the backlash following the update, Infold released a lengthy statement that addresses the number of pieces in these two five-star outfits, with pretty odd assertions that the reason for them having 11 pieces was to do with the new co-op mode and special co-op interactions, and “to enrich styling combinations”. However, the statement does go on to say, “Moving forward, we guarantee that the number of pieces in five-star outfits will not exceed 11, and major changes will be communicated in advance through official channels.”

Regardless of the promise that pieces won’t exceed 11, the increase to 11 in itself isn’t exactly ideal, and the ‘special interactions’ reason feels wafer-thin. Most free-to-play and low-spending players have already accepted that we won’t be able to get every outfit we want (even dolphins and whales will struggle to get every limited outfit).

But the concept that some abilities, including ones that address quality-of-life issues like the summonable whimcycle, may be locked behind either premium items or limited-time banners that require up to 220 pulls is quite concerning, especially when you look at how much it would cost to buy the required amount of stellarites for that many pulls. Hint, we’re looking at $199.98 with the first-time top-up bonus, or $399.96 excluding any bonuses.

Of course, you can get a certain amount of diamonds and pulls in-game without spending a dime, but the amount you can get per patch also took a hit in this new update. Outside of participating in the Infinity Nikki events that occur each patch and claiming the occasional Infinity Nikki code, the Mira Crown is one of the most reliable ways to get free diamonds, rewarding you for dressing in outfits that fit with certain themes and achieve specific scores. This has already led to some of its own controversies, as some cycles have required limited outfits or a ridiculous amount of investment in order to get top marks in the later rounds.

Previously, the Mira Crown consistently refreshed every 14 days. However, in the new Infinity Nikki update, the Mira Crown’s cycle increased to 21-days, and the rules tooltip that previously stated that “The Mira Crown Pinnacle Contest and the special effects reset and refresh every 14 days” now says “refresh at regular intervals”.

This naturally raised some concern, as the increased cycle time and vagueness of “regular intervals” left the door open to further gaps between refreshes in the future. Thankfully, Infold also responded to this, stating, “We have taken note of the community’s discussions regarding the contest’s duration. In response, we are planning to end the current contest at 03:59 on May 16 (server time), with the next contest starting immediately at 04:00 on May 16 (server time). Starting from the next cycle, the Mira Crown Contest will be held twice a month, starting on the 1st and 16th of each month (server time).” I guess that’s one less thing to stress about, at least.

To add insult to injury, the new update has seen a lot of crashes, bugs, and log-in problems across all platforms, with many players unable to even get into the game. Personally, I’ve not had any issues, but it got bad enough that Infold has had to release several hotfixes since. The aforementioned statement also addresses a lot of these problems, including listing issues that have so far been fixed, as well as upcoming fixes and optimizations.

Unfortunately, while it does touch on some of the glaring issues, the statement doesn’t fully address all the problems that have bubbled over in the face of the new Bubble Season update. There’s no mention of the pity issue on the banners, it all but confirms that these aren’t the last 11-piece outfits we’ll see (which, understandably, hasn’t gone down well), and it shrugs off the complaints that the genuinely exciting Infinity Nikki dyeing feature is bogged down by confusing and tedious systems that require you to spend a lot of materials to unlock palettes for every single item of clothing.

Infold wraps up the statement with a promise that “every piece of feedback from you is a driving force for us”, begging players to “please give us one more chance.” Following this, all players also received an apology letter via the in-game mail system, along with ten revelation crystals, ten resonite crystals, and 1.2k diamonds.

Infinity Nikki is a genuinely brilliant cozy game. From its story and events to its beautiful open world, I haven’t played anything like it, and it’ll always hold a special place in my heart. However, like many gacha games, there’s always the risk that it could get too greedy and go down a dark, esseling-filled path of its own. Luckily, Infold has been pretty responsive to player feedback in the past, so I’m hoping that the Infinity Nikki team really has taken these issues to heart. Nikki and Miraland’s future hangs in the balance, after all.