“Infinity Nikki,” a popular fashion open-world adventure game, is facing a wave of severe backlash following its new 1.5 update. The game was published by Infold Games and developed by Papergames, who announced that the game would also launch on Steam for PC along with the new update.

The update, released on April 29, added new features like a dye system and multiplayer options. However, this also came with a wave of bugs, login problems, and visual glitches. The developers apologized to players and compensated them with in-game currency. This apology didn’t stop players from getting frustrated, especially with the other changes in the game.

Before the update, players were hopeful, especially since the developer livestream revealed exciting new features like a new landscape called the “Sea of Stars” and new customization options such as a dye system. However, the update introduced two new 5-star banners, each featuring eleven pieces to collect. This was a jump from previous banners, which usually had eight to ten pieces. To get just one 5-star piece, it takes a maximum of 20 pulls, so this change means players now have to do a maximum of 220 pulls just to collect one full outfit. And to get the final evolution of the outfit, players would need to pull the entire set again, which would be about 440 pulls.

Moreover, the hyped dye system, which allows players to change the colors of their outfits, has most of its best color palettes locked behind a new premium currency. This currency can only be earned in limited amounts each month, and players would have to save for a long time just to unlock a full set of colors for one 5-star outfit. Even worse, some of the most popular colors, like white and black, are only available after a set amount of evolutions are unlocked, which tends to cost more pulls. Many players feel frustrated that the exciting customization option is also tied to the game’s gacha mechanics.

TikTok user @.tartagl1as says, “I just wish they did another filler update before 1.5 because it clearly wasn’t ready for release.”

“Why did they think shoving all of these new updates all in one would be a good idea?”

Additionally, one of the biggest complaints from players is how the new update introduced changes to the game’s story and characters, and many fans say that the new direction feels confusing and out of place.

Originally, the game started with a cutscene featuring the main character, Nikki, who starts her dress-up journey after finding a red dress, called the “Threads of Reunion,” in her mother’s attic. After putting on the “Threads of Reunion,” she gets transported into another world called Miraland and encounters an imprisoned woman named Ena the Curator. She gives Nikki the “Heart of Infinity” menu, which is designed as a skill tree that allows the player to unlock abilities and outfits. Afterwards, the player gets introduced to the stylist guild after exploring some of the game’s mechanics a little more and meeting a character named Dada.

Now, a starting player will never experience any of that. The game no longer starts with Nikki in her mother’s attic, and the “Threads of Reunion” doesn’t even get mentioned at all. She instead gets mysteriously spawned in the “Sea of Stars” multiplayer landscape. In the new opening, it is described that Nikki has already destroyed the world and is now going back in time to save it. Ena the Curator still exists in the universe, however, her role in the story is greatly reduced, and she does not show up in chains like previously.

With the ongoing criticisms, many players are voicing their frustration by review-bombing the game on platforms like Steam and Google Play to send the developers a message that these changes upset long-time fans. However, fans have alleged that the game has muted and censored certain words and phrases from its social media platforms like Discord and Reddit. Such phrases include: “uninstalling,” “George Orwell’s 1984,” and “boycott.” Seeing this, many fans decided to call their boycott a “girlcott” instead.

X user @Xiraeq_ says, “…The latest ‘Infinity Nikki’ update was a mess, they apologized, but it didn’t fix much.”

“They banned the term ‘boycott’ in their social media presence, so now we’re girlcotting the game.”