Welcome to my Fashion Dreamer review. We were not given a review code for this title.
Fashion Dreamer is a simple, aesthetic dress-up game exclusive to the Nintendo Switch. It’s meant to be played online with other users in real time. Design apparel, style outfits, match trends, and post your looks on a faux social media portal to incur impressions and increase your popularity as the ultimate fashionista.
This review may contain minor spoilers for gameplay and story beats, though I always try not to reveal any major plot twists or surprises.
First Impressions
There is no doubt that Fashion Dreamer is aesthetically pleasing and speaks to those of us who used to adore “dress-up” Flash games back in the early days of the internet.
I wondered if Fashion Dreamer would be like Style Savvy in any way, a game where you own a fashion boutique, design outfits, and even create ads for your shop. Within under an hour of playtime, I realized that: no, it is not. Fashion Dreamer is much more basic with less direction and variety overall.
It was hard to get into Fashion Dreamer initially. A lot of the dialogue is shallow and poorly localized. But I did have fun styling outfits for my avatar and all of the Muses. There is a solid game premise here, it was just a matter of whether or not it could evolve to be continually interesting past the 3-5 hour mark.
Characters & Story
Fashion Dreamer doesn’t have a story, per se. Your goal is to become an influencer and constantly increase your follower count and likes by choosing trendy outfits and posting popular photos. This will increase your rank, open new areas, and grant access to new outfits and colors. “Designing” clothes (changing colors of items per the palettes you have unlocked) will also level up your character.
The “characters” are a series of NPCs (called Muses) that look like someone created them using a randomizer. They don’t have personalities or much interesting to say, just a singular characteristic assigned to each one of them: frugal, sleep-deprived, mysterious, spicy, sweet-talker—you get the idea. These signifiers don’t play a role in their requests, so it’s mostly decorative. They are closer to mannequins than characters.
The other “characters” you will encounter are other players (Nintendo Online subscription not required). Real-life players will be able to interact with your Muse, styled items, and Eve Log. You can level up faster this way but it relies on active users being present past the day one hype of the game.
Gameplay Loop
Fashion Dreamer opens by letting you create a character, designing basic elements like face shape, hair style, and makeup. It’s not the most advanced character creation system but being able to change your appearance at will in the game means it’s probably better to keep this step simple. You then enter the digital world of Cocoons and Muses. Cocoons are social hubs styled in different ways where you can meet NPCs, play games, and watch trends. Muses are other characters and NPCs, with whom you can interact to obtain new patterns and items and build your reputation as an influencer.
Your primary objective is to create outfits by collecting pieces, patterns, and palettes and styling them according to current trends and NPC requests. Performing certain actions will unlock Creative Keys, E-Points, and Bingo Tickets. Creative Keys are needed to access new clothing articles and E-Points can be spent to customize them and add them to your inventory. Bingo Tickets let you play two different bingo-style minigames, which earn you additional E-Points when you fill a row.
By interacting with Muses around the map, you will be prompted to create Lookits. Lookits are…well, just outfits. I don’t know why they were given a silly name. Creating a Lookit for a Muse involves considering their request (they may ask for a particular item, style, or color) as well as incorporating current trends. You can find up-to-date trends in the Pop-Up Area, where you can check the fashion forecast board. Successfully styling a Muse will net you a rating (out of 3) and gift you with E-Points, Bingo Tickets, and maybe even a new color palette (used for item customization).
The overarching digital world you exist in is called Eve. Eve houses different Cocoons with different looks and feels, but the Muses contained in each are the same. Eve Log is a faux social media site where your Lookits will be posted automatically. You can also take pictures with Muses using a camera feature or enter the Photo Egg for a more “photo booth-style” approach.
By saving these photos, they will automatically be posted to the Eve Log and added to your Nintendo Switch screenshots. I wish there was some way to turn this off. Some of the photos were helpful for this review or my social media profiles (IRL), but most of them didn’t deserve the hard drive space. It was just a means to progress the game and earn rewards.
Interacting with Muses and posting photos will increase your follower count in the Eve Log. More followers will increase your Influencer Rank. The highest rank is Platinum and reaching this milestone is the one and only goal of the game. Your own personal goals might include unlocking rare clothing items and/or completing the collection of every apparel article available.
For a design and style game, Fashion Dreamer is surprisingly conservative. Clothing is organized into Type A and Type B, which correspond to male and female body types. Much of the clothing is locked to one or the other. Additionally, the “male flagged” clothing is super disappointing compared to the female variety. Therefore, styling a male Muse always felt kind of lame.
Sometimes the Muse requests were so simple it got ridiculous. Some of the popular requests were “socks” or “accessory.” The requests get very repetitive, very quickly. I was surprised that there wasn’t a larger database of options, seeing as that is the crux of the game. There are only so many times I will be content styling “long skirt” or “sneakers with blue tones.” Sometimes the request would match what the Muse was already wearing, which shows just how little thought is put into the game mechanics.
Furthermore, there is one mechanic where Muses will ask to copy the outfit you are currently wearing as their Lookit request. However, this request isn’t locked to same-gender avatars, meaning you will often get the ask from NPCs that…can’t wear your outfit. What occurs is a brief scene where they talk as if they have copied your style but nothing visually changes. It’s…confusing, at best.
I played the game enough to get to Gold Influencer status and then it started to feel insufferable doing the same few tasks again and again and again. I can see someone getting a solid 5-10 hours of entertainment here before getting bored.
Fashion Dreamer would have been a great mobile game, or even free-to-play with microtransactions for “rare” fashion items. But as it stands, you will not get the bang for your buck if you pay full price (USD 49.99).
Technical Issues
Fashion Dreamer is pretty flawless regarding technical issues. I didn’t encounter any lag, glitches, or crashes. There seem to be some issues with localization accuracy, but that was it. Here’s what I noticed:
- Some of the text seems to be translated oddly
Summary
Here is the TLDR for my Fashion Dreamer review for those short on time:
Pros
- Cute, cozy aesthetic
- Fun to style and design avatars
Cons
- Not a lot to do
- Gets repetitive quickly
- No story or notable characters
- Require Nintendo Online subscription for the best features
Conclusion
Fashion Dreamer would be a great mobile game, browser game, or free-to-play title. But the shallowness of the story/direction and the repetitiveness of the tasks makes for a dull experience overall. The game looks great, particularly if you like pastels and neons, but it’s all style over substance. The most intricate part of the game is designing custom clothing articles but even that feels half-baked. For reference, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has a deeper customization system, and clothing/style is a tiny part of that game.
I would not recommend buying Fashion Dreamer until it is steeply discounted. There is enough content for a $5-10 mobile game but not a full-priced console title. This is a cozy game you can probably skip altogether but if you do buy it, wait for a mega sale.
Who Fashion Dreamer is for…
- Players who like “dress-up” style games
- Folks drawn to the cute aesthetic
- People who like timed/exclusive events
Who Fashion Dreamer is not for…
- Players who need direction and variety
- Folks who don’t play online
- People who want more than just color changing when it comes to custom designs
Stay cozy, gamers!