On the evening of April 18, Paper Games held a special livestream officially revealing the first real gameplay footage of Infinity Nikki — its open-world dress-up adventure game — along with beta signups kicking off immediately, with the PC test launching April 24. The game had already secured its China publishing license (版号) back in February, so Paper Games was clearly ready to go all-in.
The livestream showcased Infinity Nikki's core gameplay loop: picking flowers and catching bugs in the 'Wishville' town hub, petting small animals, fighting 'Miasma' monsters, cycling through the wilderness, riding giant birds, solving puzzles to collect 'Whimstars' that unlock new outfits, and a high-freedom photography mode that finally takes Nikki out of the studio and into a real open world.
But the moment the footage dropped, the comment section went nuclear. The first thing getting roasted was the bird-riding — one player bluntly pointed out that 'the bird riding is kinda hard to watch, the character and the bird aren't even the same art style.' Nikki is a polished anime-style model, but the giant bird looks like it wandered in from a completely different game. That said, some veterans pushed back: 'Players don't care about that — as long as it looks cool. You forgot about Skyrim already?'
The even bigger controversy was Infinity Nikki carrying on the series' tradition of no character creator. One commenter stated plainly: 'Honest opinion — a dress-up game without character creation has already lost.' From a casual player's perspective, a dress-up game where you can actually design your own character is inherently more appealing. This comment instantly triggered a full-blown war in the replies.
The pro-Nikki side had a clear counter-argument: 'Nikki has been through so many games at this point — that face IS the brand. How is that a loss?' Some compared it to Link in Zelda — you can't customize Link's face either, because the character IS the IP. 'Not using an existing IP would be insane,' they argued. Others added: 'The whole selling point of this IP IS Nikki herself.'
But the pro-customization camp wasn't backing down either. A self-described mid-spender on Shining Nikki chimed in: 'Good thing this is NGA — say this on any other platform and the "Nikki moms" would mob you instantly.' Someone even hit the nail on the head: 'It feels like the Nikki fanbase doesn't want character creation and doesn't welcome self-insert players either. Paper Games is narrowing their own path — making it clear the player is just a camera floating behind the character feels like being treated as a walking ATM.' In other words: you pay money, then get told you're not supposed to identify with the character — basically paying to be a spectator, eerily similar to idol fandom culture.
Beyond the character creation debate, several other hot takes deserve attention. Someone asked about the payment model — buy-to-play? — and got immediately shut down with: 'No way. Paper Games has bet everything on this — they killed Bai Mian Qian Xiang (百面千相, another major title) before they'd touch this one.' That's a massive gamble on Paper Games' part. Others complained about the signature soft-glow filter: 'It's an open world now — can we ditch that blurry bloom filter already?' Still, some players were more measured: 'The scenery actually looks pretty nice. I can see some players really enjoying this,' and added it to their 'locust list' (slang for the backlog of games to try).
Overall, Infinity Nikki's debut on NGA was deeply polarized: optimists see the open-world-plus-dress-up niche as genuinely novel, with appealing scenery and exploration; skeptics meanwhile attack from every angle — no character creation, art style inconsistencies, the soft-glow filter, outfit designs. Paper Games has essentially gone all-in on this title. Whether the gamble pays off will likely depend on what players actually think once the beta goes live on April 24.
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