Part of writing about visual media for a living involves being able to showcase it effectively, so exploring the camera settings in games has become old hat to me. I won’t bore you with the technical aspects of my job, but I often need to hunt down or capture my own original screenshots, so I love it when games feature official photo modes.
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Letting players take pictures in your video game isn’t a new concept. It tends to be a gimmicky inclusion at worst and a side quest at best, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time or see how far you can push it. My house in Tears of the Kingdom was full of assorted shots I took of Link posing with Sidon as though he’s tenderly caressing this unnecessarily attractive fish’s face or pointing gleefully at him from afar – why else would Nintendo have given me the ability to hang my art?
The Camera Mode Is Fun, But It’s Not Enough To Count As Multiplayer
Right now, I’m playing Infinity Nikki, also an open-world adventure game that I began playing just for something to do but am now hellbent on finishing, because where the heck did all this dark lore come from? I thought this was just a pretty dress-up game.
It’s not long into the main story when you’re given access to photo mode, passing off an adorable cat-shaped camera to your adorable cat-shaped companion Momo. He’s a feline fixated on eating barbecue and helping you track Whimstars that function somewhat like Shine Sprites from Mario games, and he’s also a surprisingly adept photographer, especially considering he has no fingers.
Infinity Nikki’s photo mode offers a wealth of ways to customize photos before you’ve even snapped your shot. You can choose the pose Nikki pulls off in the photo (if you want her to be in the picture at all), alter the lighting and shadows, fiddle with the aperture, and so much more. Changes can be as massive or miniscule as you’d like before you click to capture and log your work into Nikki’s photo album, effortlessly saving to your computer, PlayStation, or phone’s gallery for safekeeping.
Not only is Infinity Nikki’s photo mode a fun addition to the main story, it’s also the only multiplayer functionality in the game right now. Inserting your Nikki into photos taken in another player’s game is the sole way to interact with friends.
As the game stands, you’ll occasionally stumble upon hourglass-shaped markers around the overworld to indicate to you that someone else has taken a photo in that location. When you find one, you can choose to load the camera mode as normal, but instead of just your Nikki in the shot, there’s a second girl dressed and posed according to how the other player took their picture. Choose your Nikki’s pose, set the manual settings to change the visual effects, and snap a photo with your friends in scenic locations around Miraland.
Let Me Be Pretty With My Friends In Real Time
It’s an interesting enough concept, but not strong enough to qualify as the main multiplayer function in an online open-world adventure game this sprawling. Just before launch, online storefronts like PlayStation Store had the game listed as playable with up to five players online, leaving fans eager and curious to see how this would be implemented. Maybe developer Infold has ideas for further down the line, but at the moment, this sadly isn’t good enough.
Granted, there’s canonically only one Nikki, so progressing the game’s story with two or more players in the same world might be challenging, but I’d love to at least explore with friends that are playing. Why not let us run around Miraland together in our hand-picked outfits, catching bugs and fish together like Animal Crossing? Why not let us challenge one another directly to fashion battles like some of the popular game modes in Roblox? Why not let us do more than just awkwardly pose next to the ghost of a girl who looks like us and stood here once?
On its own merits, Infinity Nikki’s photo mode is an enjoyable inclusion, but taking cute screenshots of my favorite outfits to send to my friends isn’t a substitute for being able to play with them in the same world.
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