The Nikke × Evangelion Collab is Live!

The surprising Nikke × Evangelion Collab launched a few days ago. I’m happy to report it’s their best event yet, but not without some drawbacks. Let’s break it down.

The Good — Characters and Presentation

Asuka, Rei, Mari, and Misato appear as playable characters. Misato is the free SR Unit; the other three will be gacha units. I got insanely lucky and obtained Asuka on my first pull, so I’m already done trying to pull for characters. As of this writing, Asuka is the only unit in the gacha, with the other two coming later. Alongside this, each gacha unit gets at least two alternate costumes. You’ll get one for free upon pulling the respective unit, and those are their school uniforms. Perfect for playing in mixed company, as it hides the booties. Funnily, this is the opposite of the Chainsaw Man and Nier collabs, where the alternate costumes gave more backstory to enjoy. Asuka continues to prove she’s the best girl by getting a whopping four costumes. More on that later.

The collab event is also Nikke’s longest yet, with three chapters coming. What has impressed me most is the complete overhaul they gave the user interface in battle stages. Developers have totally redone it to mirror the aesthetics of the Evangelion universe, and it’s gorgeous in motion. Unfortunately, this only applies to combat within the collab. I’d love a way to toggle it for use in the main game when using the respective collab units. It’s a bit of a waste for so much effort to be for a timed event. As a longtime Evangelion fan, I found the amount of love and attention to detail on display here astounding. Check the gallery below for a closer look at it all.

The Bad — Costume Gacha and Missed Opportunities in Nikke × Eva

As much as I love Nikke (I’ve been a player since beta), some of the newer additions wear on my nerves. Chief among them is the costume gacha. It’s obviously designed to milk a player’s wallet dry. You don’t even get a slight chance at getting the costume until you’ve pulled five times, and the cost increases the more you pull. At worst, you’ll spend around $60 on one costume for a character you may not get. Unfortunately, the gacha mechanic locks Asuka’s iconic Test Plugsuit from Evangelion 2.22 behind it. Ultimately, I like her Premium Pass costume more, but seeing this drags down an otherwise great event.

Another massively missed opportunity is the complete lack of the original English cast. There’s no English dub at all for these characters. I can only speculate, but part of me believes the issue lies in the new, divisive Netflix dub. I’ve got a lot of nostalgia for Tiffany Grant as Asuka, and I know I’m in the minority, but it still would have been nice to hear. They went out of their way to get English actors for the Nier and Re:Zero collabs, which further cements my belief. Those aside, this is an incredible event. Players can earn many free pulls on the premium gacha through login bonuses and the event point shops. Fans of Evangelion should not miss this.