Goddess of Victory: NIKKE Review – Humans Don’t Deserve Nikkes

Alright, I admit it. I plead the fifth. The first thing that made me want to play Nikke was the extremely cultured style of gameplay, which if you don’t know, consists of female superhumans shooting at enemies in a way that’s very…cheeky you could say. As someone who considers themself aggressively bisexual, I’m drawn in by boobs and butts sometimes. Sue me for being simple-minded. I play and try a lot of gacha games, but little did I know, Nikke had layers far beyond the scope of big dumpies and guns.

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The Story Of Nikke

I will admit, I went into playing this not expecting too much besides your run-of-the-mill shooter with cute girls. It’s nothing personal, it’s that a lot of other games like it exist, so what would make this one different? What could it possibly have that others didn’t that would make me get attached to it? No spoilers of course, but let’s just say we’re thrown into the action pretty quickly.

The backstory here is that in order to fight a threat known as the Raptures, humanity began to experiment on its own kind, creating superhumans with artificial bodies called Nikkes. These mass-produced soldiers exist purely to serve humanity and protect them from the danger that lurks outside their homes.

Counter Squad Up – AKA The Best Family

The player steps into the role of a new Commander in the military with their own squad of misfits known as the Counters. We’ve got the pyromaniac “spy” Neon, the wisecracking Anis, and the mysterious Rapi. While Anis and Neon mainly have the role of comic relief, Rapi is one of those characters that’s stern on the outside, but you know she’s hiding a lot of things from you. She’s the quietest yet the deepest member of the group. I’m not discrediting the other girls though, everyone in Nikke has fantastic lore.

Not Gonna Lie, I Couldn’t Choose A Favorite

Sometimes in a gacha game where there are a lot of different characters, it can be difficult to have them all fleshed out. Yet, Shift Up somehow pulls this off perfectly, as I have yet to find a single one here that’s boring. Each one has a different personality, different aspirations, likes and dislikes. The Nikkes are human in every single way but their biology. Sadly, some of the humans in the game don’t feel this way. In fact, many just outright hate them for not being “human”.

There’s An Important Message Here

Man’s raw instinct above all else is to survive, to press on no matter the circumstances. And that means being malevolent towards anything that is different from us that might be a threat. Our species tends to think that if someone doesn’t fall into their own perception of the ordinary, then they don’t deserve rights. Or the right to exist as ordinary at all in some cases. Somehow, in a story where the gameplay is bare thighs in my face killing monsters, that issue is presented perfectly. It’s one that’s as cultured as said thighs.

The contemplation of Nikkes and their humanity came to mind during a side story where the player character takes Rapi shopping. They go to a store where the employee acts aggressively towards her, saying that they won’t sell anything to a Nikke and that other shops in the area are doing the same. It’s a scene that feels a little too close to the real world. We see the ridiculous mindset of a simpleton who lives in their own bubble of ignorance, knowing that while she’s merely an NPC, other versions of her exist everywhere. You might even know some personally. That shopkeeper is far from being the evilest person in the game though.

All My Homies Hate Syuen

When it came to villains, it wasn’t the Raptures that made me mad. No, my blood boiled when I met Syuen, the horrible evil CEO of Missles Industry who has the compassion of a Nile crocodile eating a baby deer. She has no redeeming qualities, no hidden nice side, she’s just a purely evil power-hungry gremlin who feeds off the misery of others and has no use for anyone who isn’t absurdly powerful. She’s also one of the biggest “Nikke are just slaves” people there are. Don’t worry though, you’ll be satisfied with her fate. Syuen isn’t the root of villainy here though, she’s merely the bacteria that lives on the tick.

Who Is The Real Evil Here?

Nikke is very ambiguous in the best way possible by making you question everything in a similar way that the Nier series does. Is it the Raptures who are really evil? Is it the government? Is it the humans for forcing Nikkes to exist prior to the game story and then treating them as outcasts? Did the humans do something that created the Raptures? Are we participating in these practices by being part of the company? These were the questions that went through my head as I played through the story and still do whenever I log in for my dailies. When the answer doesn’t go in one direction, that’s a sure sign you’re in for a wild ride of a tale.

How The Pilgrims Lore Changed Things For Me

I realized this plot ambiguity when I learned the story of the Pilgrim Nikkes. The Pilgrims are a select group of very powerful Nikkes who you can consider to be the “first generation”. They are the original that man created to defend them when the Raptures appeared years before the game’s story. There were other lower-level mass-produced Nikkes, but nothing as strong as the originals.

At that time the Pilgrims, or the Goddess squad, were holding off the Raptures while humans were building their fortress, the Ark. It was a bloodbath that led to most of the lower-level Nikkes dying. Once the Ark was finished, the Pilgrims wanted to go into the Ark with everyone else, but the government refused them entrance, leaving them to wander the surface in permanent exile. Now doesn’t that sound awfully familiar? Humans do not deserve Nikkes and that’s a fact.

Nikke Is Not Going Anywhere For A While

Honestly, I’m not sure if Nikke is going to be the Orwellian tale of a totalitarian society or something else entirely, but I’m sure excited to see what the staff at Shift Up have planned for the future of the game. I’m ready to go on a long journey with the Counter squad for years to come. And if you haven’t tried Nikke, what are you waiting for? And buy Neon and Anis soda while you’re at it. That’s not a request.