Sandro's Beautiful Play Order for Goddess Victory: Nikke

Goddess of Victory: Nikke is one of my favorite games of all time. It's also a mammoth work of writing, and it can be daunting trying to figure out which events and side stories to play or when. I keep telling my friends I'll write them my Play Order game for the sprawling game narrative that is Nikke, so here we are 4 hours later...

GETTING STARTED...

Right off the bat you'll be faced with a choice of Server and VO. If you want to be my friend or join my union make sure you play on the NA server. For VO I'd strongly recommend the EN dub, for a gaccha dub, this is (in my opinion) one of the best (even if there's some clear direction and translation hiccups on occasion, particularly in the early game). The whole main story (and many critical side stories) is voiced and you're going to be hearing our girls shout their lines a LOT, so for me the EN was worth it. If you'd like the original experience the KR dub is where it's at. Also please play this game with the volume on, the soundtrack is one of the best in video games and is used masterfully to reinforce story beats.

Now kick back and wait for that download! You'll notice there's a lovely little animation that's lowkey full of spoilers if you pay attention enough, so watch that at your own risk. Here's the old opening animation. While we're at it, here's what the (IMO better) title screen used to be. This screen and song will be relevant much much later.

Some big notes once you get into the game: Save your gems to the best of your ability (this is how you'll buy the events you want to be watching... or you can watch them on YouTube, up to you). This game loves to tempt you to waste your currency in the early game, so feel free to look up some good starter guides. The other big note is that if you don't like the gallery shooter elements you'll have to bite your lip until you unlock Story Mode and can play the game like a VN (you'll also want to build up a half-way descent team to consistently clear normal/hard mode of story events - Hard mode is always worth clearing in Events as it will unlock one final cutscene). This takes about a week or two of daily grind and building a solid team of 5-Star units. Remember you can always watch event stories online if you need to.

Speaking of story...

WHAT IS THIS PLAY ORDER?

Nikke now has a lovely Storyline feature where you can easily access the rough "chronological" History Order of events or play them through in Release Order. While I think both these methods are valid, they're not at all what I'd recommend. Personally I'm biased because I played the game back at release, dropped it due to QoL, then came back for the Second Anniversary, Old Tales, which promptly changed my life. This combined with a somewhat more spread-out personal experience with the game made me craft this "Beautiful" Order where you'll be jumping between past and present timelines, slowly unraveling the truth. This is also important because events like Star Anis technically deal with the past but really shouldn't be played until much later in the main story. Other events appear in this order far before they were released, but help build a fuller picture of the characters and reveals you're about to experience.

The two most important events that can technically be played at any time (and each act as excellent hooks into Nikke's lore and characters) are Over Zone and Old Tales. If you ever find yourself losing steam (especially in the early game where the writing is a bit rough) and want to jump to something juicy, they're your best bet!

Another key thing to note is that Character Stories, Advises, Diaries and Outpost Events are completely omitted from this list. Partially because none of them are vitally important (except maybe Rapi's Diary), a lot of it relies on gaccha luck and RNG, and most importantly because these are best experienced at your own pace and with the characters you're most interested in. Do your best to avoid any Pilgrim or alt-version characters' Advises and especially their Diaries until you've seen them in the story. Something that is more worth paying attention to are the eventual "rehabilitation missions" you'll eventually unlock (Real Kindness have some v good arcs, however this'll require you to engage with the daily grind to get through) and even more importantly the "Overworld Investigations." These are both available on YouTube and neither are voiced, so check them out if you want better context for those 4 characters.

Lastly, given how expansive this story is, not every plot line is mentioned here. We love Cafe Sweetie and the Bunny Girls in this house, and I've made more memories at M.M.R. Vocational School than I can count (seriously 2x2L is a masterpiece). None of it is vital though, and the essence of the characters established can be picked up through advises, diaries and context clues. This is the Nikke plot at its core (with a couple of small extras).

SANDRO'S BEAUTIFUL PLAY ORDER

This is broken up between the "Campaign" (Main Story), Side Stories (accessible via the Command Center), and previous live events that are now tucked away within "Recollections" (more on how to unlock these as we go). Not all events are absolutely plot critical, and the optional ones will be listed as such.

>MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 4

>>> Take some time to get to know the characters and world. If you're actually playing the game try to do some of the side quests on Blabla, especially any from Raptillion. 

>>> Once you're ready to go full in, dive into the latest story event and skip what is probably a very spoilery cut-scene (don't worry you can watch these back if you catch up). You'll want to dive into the shop and look for "Memory Films" - These unlock previous events in Recollection. Buy as many of these as you can, there's 15 vital Events in this list, and far more besides that.

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 7

> RECOLLECTION : OVER ZONE [meet goddess squad]

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 14

--- MEGA OPTIONAL --- GOOD TIME FOR A BREAK ~ GO PLAY MIRACLE SNOW (CHRISTMAS EVENT) ~ CATCH UP WITH RAPTILLION ~ GRIND SOME LOST SECTORS ---

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 18

> SIDE STORY : SECOND AFFECTION

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 21

> RECOLLECTION : RED ASH [i live for my crusade. i die for my crusade.]

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 26

--- TAKE A BREAK AND GRIND THOSE DAILIES ---

> RECOLLECTION NEW YEAR'S SPECIAL : NEW YEAR, NEW SWORD [a blade is forged]

> RECOLLECTION : LAST KINGDOM [long live the king]

> RECOLLECTION : DIRTY BACK YARD [the criminal underworld]

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER  30

Take a breather.

> RECOLLECTION : OLD TALES [who's the fairest of them all?]

> RECOLLECTION : BOOM'S DAY [what really powers the ark?]

> RECOLLECTION : ARCANE ARCHIVES [a peak behind the forbidden library]

>> OPTIONAL RECOLLECTION : WISDOM SPRING [hints at the commander's backstory]

>> OPTIONAL RECOLLECTION : D. ARK HERO [knowledge comes at a price]

>>> ULTRA OPTIONAL CHRISTMAS SPECIAL : ICE DRAGON SAGA [the conclusion of the Boom's Day + D. Ark Hero story]

> SIDE STORY : WORDLESS

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 34

> RECOLLECTION : FOOTSTEPS, WALK, RUN [a legacy passed]

--- CHECK POINT - Hey have we done Nihilister's investigation yet? If not try to get that done before you hit Chapter 39 or watch it on YouTube ---

> OPTIONAL RECOLLECTION : ABSOLUTE [guess who this is about]

>> SUPER OPTIONAL RECOLLECTION : MEMORIES STELLAR [the stellar blade collab - has a really sweet story and is a good introduction to the flow of the cross-over stories and d-waves]

> SIDE STORY : MUDFISH

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 36

> RECOLLECTION : UNBREAKABLE SPHERE

> RECOLLECTION : BOOM THE GHOST [istg the beach arc is really important]

> MAIN STORY TIL JUST BEFORE THE CHAPTER 39 BOSS >>DO NOT FIGHT THE BOSS YET<<

> SIDE STORY : EDEN'S SPEAR

> OK GO BACK TO THE MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 40 [[Either kill the boss or back out of the fight if you want to save the post-boss story segment (which takes roughly an hour) until after we revisit Eden]]

> RECOLLECTION : GODDESS FALL

Close the game. Go for a walk. Take a breather.

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 42

> RECOLLECTION : ARK GUARDIAN

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 44

> RECOLLECTION : ENTER HEAVEN

> SIDE STORY : PRETTY STAR

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHPATER 46

> RECOLLECTION : STAR ANIS

> OPTIONAL RECOLLECTION : ARK RANGER [[sigh, yes the power rangers one is kind of important]]

> RECOLLECTION : PROJECT MATIS

> MAIN STORY TIL THE END OF CHAPTER 48

And just like that you're caught up for the 4th anniversary! This guide is only relevant up into the start of October 2026 and doesn't even include everything (the maid, summer and bunny arcs all have their own character and world building, there's a whole side arc with K and D dealing with the upper crust of the central government, there's just a LOT in this game) but this should hopefully guide you through the main beats well enough to enjoy most of what any new story has to offer!