[h1]Still only light skin tones![/h1]
I do in fact recommend the game as it has a good gameplay loop and progress, and let's be honest: we need more dress up games!
But I write this thumb down review as a PSA more than anything, hoping this will have more visibility and that the devs will take that in consideration in the future.
[quote]It's a carbon-copy port of the Nintendo Switch version, [b]so still [i]no[/i] medium/dark skin tones options![/b][/quote]
OK it's a Japanese game, OK it's a niche game, but [b]it's 2025 and not having inclusive skin tones in these types of game is just not acceptable anymore[/b]. Having the game localised for the West, in French even, is already good and highly appreciated since majority of Japanese dress-up games are exclusive to Japan, only in Japanese, but making it more inclusive by adding more than 9 light skin tones would have been the bare minimum to be recognized by a boarder audience, an audience feeling more accepted and represented as well… Especially in a game all about customising your character. Come on, there's like 40 eyes styles options but only white skins… It has been a major complain ever since the initial launch last year, but they've never updated the game. I naively expected they would at least add that in the PC launch, but nope.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3565155991
If you already got the game on Nintendo Switch and still play that console, again, [b]it's a straight up port.[/b] No additional content, no QoL, no graphic settings options at all, etc. [b]If you wish for inclusive body types as well, note that there's only one[/b] based on Japanese standards (so very skinny).
I'll still play the game since I've already played it and enjoyed it (but not finished it) despite what I've said above, and my Switch is gathering dust. I doubt the game will ever get any updates to address this, as I said, it's a port with no difference, and they haven't marketed the Steam launch much, but let's hope future games like this will have the bare minimum of inclusivity.
[hr][/hr]
[h1]As for the game itself[/h1]
The gameplay loop is: doing one modelling job, having a day off, doing one modelling job, having a day off, and so on. You're not actually moving around a map in third-person view like in the Savvy series; you select buildings on a map, a bit of point-and-clicky but 100% controller supported. [b]The goal is to be the best Nicola model by reaching the S rank of followers[/b] within 3 in-game years (a month is 8 days, so 4 working days, 4 days off). You gain money and followers each time you do modelling jobs.
During days off, you can either socialise with NPCs (there'll be a short dialogue) or improve your skills (it's just going into a building then you gain one point in charm, social, etc.; those points help to get better jobs depending of the skill, so better money, better followers gain).
The content is quite rich, but [b]it's more on the kawaii side of things[/b], so keep that in mind. I've been able to make rock/grunge looks, still the majority of the clothing pieces and accessories are still quite girly. I personally don't mind. You either use the studio clothing selection or yours during modelling jobs; it depends on the jobs, so it's crucial to keep money in case a job requires certain types of clothing and tags/keywords (feminine, elegant, girly…). The keyword system is great.
The whole interface is overly pinky kawaii and everything is adorable à la Japanese, but it might be too much for some people. NPCs conversations are pretty basic and only upbeat. There's no bullying or stuff like that if I remember correctly, it's quite "wholesome", everyone is nice and friendly.
Except for the core game goal, there's no pressure, you can take all the time you need to dress up and all.
[h2]✅ Pros[/h2]
[list]
[*]Nice and easy gameplay loop.
[*]Everything is cute and adorable.
[*]Very large selection of clothing and accessories (especially cute and girly ones).
[*]Lots of creative freedom to layout the styles you just created (like a magazine cover), nothing is locked.
[*]Unexpected but highly appreciated French localization (a good one in addition to that).
[*]Runs perfectly on Steam Deck, but not 16:10 resolution possible at all.
[/list]
[h2]❌ Cons[/h2]
[list]
[*]Only 9 light skin tones.
[*]No body types.
[*]Everything is unnecessarily overly explained (it really took ONE hour to be able to finally manually save and quit the game).
[*]No graphics options at all. Stuck with black bars on Steam Deck, can't imagine on gamer PCs.
[*]More of a neutral opinion since I don't care about relationships in video games: superficial dialogues.
[/list]
[hr][/hr]
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
Model Debut Nicola #3 is a nice introduction to dress up games with more than just dressing up in loop with no goal. The goal isn't deep of course, but the gameplay is engaging enough to not get bored as fast as in Fashion Dreamer for example. It's a shame that the company behind the game didn't improve anything since the initial 2024 launch, but I hope more games like this, with more inclusivity options, will come to PC/Steam/MacOS as there's really, really not much of them in the West unfortunately.
🎮 [b]Steam Deck performance[/b]: 9/10. Working great so far but no graphic options at all, so impossible to get the game to fill the screen.
🎨 [b]Art style[/b]: 8/10. Aside from the skin tones issue, if you like overly cute Japanese stuff, you're in for a treat.
🎵 [b]Sound design[/b]: 6/10. The music is OK, but the sound design of the UI can be quite irritating, fortunately you can turn that down.
👾 [b]Gameplay[/b]: 7/10. It’s what you'd expect. Repetitive game loop of course. Bland NPCs.
🏷️ [b]Worth full price? [/b]4/10 – It's way too expensive for what it is, even at 20% off, especially when it's just a copy/paste of the Switch version.
