Part of writing about visual media for a living involves being able to display it effectively, so exploring camera settings in games has become an old craft for me. I won't bore you with the technical aspects of my job, but I often need to hunt down or capture my original screenshots, so I love it when games feature official photo modes.
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Allowing players to take photos in your video game is not 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 fun or see how far you can push it. My home in Tears of the Kingdom was filled with assorted shots I took of Link posing with Sidon as if he were tenderly stroking the face of this unnecessarily attractive fish or cheerfully pointing at him from afar: why else would Nintendo give me the option to hang my artwork? ?
The camera mode is fun, but it's not enough to be considered multiplayer
Right now I'm playing Infinity Nikki, also an open-world adventure game that I started just to do something but am now determined to finish, because where the hell did all this dark lore come from? I thought it was just a good dress up game.
It's not long into the main story when you're given access to photo mode, passing an adorable cat-shaped camera to your adorable cat-shaped companion Momo. He's a feline obsessed with eating barbecue and helping you track down Whimstars that function a bit like the Shine Sprites from the Mario games, and he's also a surprisingly skilled photographer, especially considering he has no fingers.
Infinity Nikki's photo mode offers numerous ways to personalize photos before you even take them. You can choose the pose that Nikki strikes in the photo (if you want her to be in the photo), change the lighting and shadows, change the aperture, and much more. Edits can be as massive or as tiny as you like before you click to capture and record your work in Nikki's photo album, easily saving it to your computer, PlayStation or phone gallery for safekeeping.
Not only is Infinity Nikki's photo mode a fun addition to the main story, but it's also the only multiplayer feature in the game right now. Inserting your Nikki into photos taken in another player's game is the only way to interact with friends.
As the game currently stands, you'll occasionally come across hourglass markers around the overworld to tell you that someone else has taken a photo at that location. When you find one, you can choose to load the camera mode normally, but instead of just Nikki in the shot, there's a second girl dressed and posing based on how the other player took the photo. Choose your Nikki's pose, configure manual settings to change visual effects, and take a photo with your friends in scenic locations around Miraland.
Let me be nice to my friends in real time
It's a cool enough concept, but not strong enough to qualify as the main multiplayer feature in such a large open-world online adventure game. Shortly before launch, online stores like PlayStation Store had the game listed as playable with up to five players online, leaving fans anxious and curious to see how it would be implemented. Perhaps developer Infold has ideas for the future, but at the moment this is unfortunately not good enough.
Sure, canonically there's only one Nikki, so progressing the game's story with two or more players in the same world might be challenging, but I'd at least like to explore with friends who are playing. Why not let us run around Miraland together in our carefully selected outfits, catching bugs and fish together like in Animal Crossing? Why not let us challenge each other directly in fashion battles like some of Roblox's popular game modes? Why not let us do more than pose awkwardly next to the ghost of a girl who looks like us and was here once?
On its own, Infinity Nikki's photo mode is a fun inclusion, but taking cute screenshots of my favorite outfits to send to my friends doesn't replace the ability to play with them in the same world.
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