Having taken part in the closed beta test for NIKKE: Goddess of Victory and after playing the game for a while, here are my impressions. Since this is based on the game’s closed beta test, there will be changes once it officially launches, so do bear that in mind.

Presentation – Unparalleled Physics

NIKKE takes place in a post-apocalyptic world which seems right at home in Arknights and Punishing Gray Raven. The game puts players in the shoes of a Commander who wakes up to find the world invaded by machines called Raptures and the only ones who can stop them are the player’s army of waifus, Nikkes.

While there’s nothing too great about the story, it is the art of the game that sells. Hands down, no other game has implemented Live2D as great as NIKKE did. The character designs are already top tier in my books, but their animations are better than any other gacha game that I’ve played. Just have a look at the video below:

From skill cut-ins to reloading animations, playing NIKKE just puts a smile on my face due to how the characters move and act. You can really feel the love and care developer SHIFT UP placed into crafting the characters. The way they shoot or hide behind cover oozes personality.

When exploring the map, characters move around in chibi form. While they’re not ugly or anything, the Live2D characters simply far outshine the chibi 3D character models.

Gameplay – Time Crisis the Gacha Game

If you ever played arcade shooting games like House of the Dead and Time Crisis, NIKKE feels closest to that. You can play it entirely with one hand. You aim by moving your finger on the screen, while letting go causes your character to hide behind cover. Best of all, you can free your hand and let the game take control by activating the Auto function, letting you focus on the “important” parts of the game.

Each Nikke has their own skill and weapon types. From shotguns to rocket launchers, different weapon types are better equipped for dealing with various threats. For example, weapons with a high rate of fire like machine guns are useful at shooting down enemy projectiles. As you can bring a squad of 5 Nikkes with you on missions, there is a fair bit of customisation and experimentation involved. However, most of the time, you’ll just be switching between the 5 different characters instead of them having any real synergy between them.

Overall, the gameplay isn’t too hard. NIKKE: Goddess of Victory is the kind of game where you try to clear as much of the story as soon as possible in order to increase the daily rewards you get. Thankfully, it doesn’t demand too much of your time (this might change once PvP is out) and seems to be a solid side game where you can just log in for 10 or so minutes to clear the daily quests.

Gacha – Generous (but Also Demanding)

With an SSR rate of 4%, NIKKE is definitely on the more generous side of gacha games. One thing that I like about its gacha is that you will receive a character 100% of the time, unlike in some other gacha game which throws in items and equipment besides characters.

The rates are as such:

• SSR: 4%
• SR: 43%
• R: 53%

Note there is no pity system, which is a shame, but feels more forgivable thanks to the high rates. There is a Mileage system, which gives tonnes of EXP for every 20 pulls, which is definitely a welcome boost.

While you’ll probably be swimming with more SSRs than a lot of other gacha games, note that towards the late game, duplicates are more or less required. SRs have a level cap of 160, so you’ll definitely need SSRs and duplicates of them in order to get the SSRs level beyond 160.

Closing Thoughts

That’s all for my first impressions of NIKKE: Goddess of Victory. With amazing art and animations as well as unique gameplay (when was the last time you heard of gacha shooting games?), I’m willing to bet that NIKKE will make a splash in the gacha community, assuming there are no big controversies, that is.

As it stands, NIKKE will be a great side game. Sure, the gacha isn’t the best in the world, but it isn’t the worst either. You’ll be able to enjoy majority of the game using your unduplicated SSRs and SRs, so why not give it a shot when it releases?

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