If you have youngsters that want to play Slay the Spire but aren’t quite ready, Nif Nif would be a lovely alternative.
My children love Monster Train. They have no idea how to play it with any real skill, but they enjoy watching it being played. It’s nice for me as I can play the game and entertain them at the same time, but frustrating when they want to play and get upset when things don’t go well. Nif Nif, whilst it lacks the cool visuals that they like, is an excellent choice for a children’s first deck builder. Don’t expect it to offer a remotely experienced gamer any level of challenge though.
You play as a pig, the titular Nif Nif, who is out to clean all the goop off of various cute forest creatures. That’s about as far as any plot goes, which is fine as this feels very much like a game to introduce children to the mechanics of the genre rather than to provide any sort of narrative for them to follow.
Those familiar with Slay the Spire will know exactly how Nif Nif works. You go from node to node, taking on basic enemies or elites using attack and defence cards. When you aren’t doing that, you’ll be visiting shops or dealing with events. Everything here is very non-threatening, with Nif Nif not attacking enemies, but rather cleaning goop off them. Being attacked doesn’t harm your character, instead reducing their cleanliness. It’s quite cute and plays into the kid-friendly approach that it’s going for quite well.
In combat, you’ll play attack and defence cards, as well as the occasional modifier that will allow you to draw more, or increase damage. Foes will show their intentions so you can plan ahead, and when you win you earn money and new cards to add to your deck. Normally, deck management is something to consider, but Nif Nif is so short that you won’t really need to consider it. There’s only one map to work through, and you can finish the game in under fifteen minutes, which would be rather galling if not for the unlocks you get to modify future runs.
As with many games in the deck building genre, success or failure earns you points that unlock new cards that will appear when you next play. This is especially good here as there are so few to play with at the start. Most are slightly higher attack or defence cards, or the occasional draw card. This is fine for younger players, but don’t expect any real thought to card synergy beyond the absolute basics.
You also unlock cosmetic skins and new hats that modify your abilities which is nice. The viking helmet increases attack damage, whilst the top hat gives you more coins to spend at stores, so it’s fun to have these little tweaks to subsequent attempts. I like that there are two characters to play as, even though mechanically there’s nothing different. The Pig and the Cat have their own unlock paths and different events on the map, so there’s some additional variety here which could otherwise be lacking. In fact, there seem to be quite a lot of different events, far more than there are different enemy types, so I’d encourage you to head for those question mark spaces.
The art style is nice and bright, which will catch the attention of younger eyes, especially thanks to the cute animal designs. Animation is somewhat minimal, but that’s ok and is the case with a lot of games in this genre. The cards clearly show what they do once you know the symbols, and there’s quite limited text which is a benefit for the younger player. Sound is fine, if uninspired. For the most part I barely noticed it, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I wouldn’t object to voice acting here as it would certainly support young players who aren’t adept readers yet, but I accept that there likely wasn’t the budget for it in such a small game.
Whilst it isn’t going to make waves, Nif Nif is a nice introduction to a popular genre for gamers just getting into more strategic video games. Anyone with a modicum of experience with deck builders will find no challenge here, but if you have a young family and want to give them a chance to experience what you do without the frustration of easy failure, then this is a good option for you.
Nif Nif is available now on PC.
