Many nostalgic Nintendo DS games defined the early 2000s, creating beloved memories and amassing cult followings. But few were quite as influential as Style Savvy, a series of boutique management/styling games that cultivated a niche of fiercely loyal community members dedicated to all things fashion and glam. Even though the first installment of this series was released in 2008, the Style Savvy community remains very much alive. To quote the famous designer Yves Saint Laurent, “Fashions fade, style is eternal” — and nothing defines the dedication to “styling for eternity” quite like the Style Savvy players’ love for these games.
With such a dedicated fanbase as Style Savvy’s, it would be almost impossible to release a new game that lives up to everyone’s expectations. Nintendo experienced this firsthand with its newest fashion game, Fashion Dreamer, which instantly received negative feedback from the Style Savvy community. After playing the game for myself, I noticed that it’s not just losing out to nostalgia that makes Fashion Dreamer a flop, but the fact that the game doesn’t even feel close to being a finished product.
Competing with Style Savvy was inevitable
When the Nintendo Switch was released in 2017, Style Savvy-ers were quick to demand the next installment of their beloved series on the new platform. However, it wasn’t until early 2023 when Nintendo finally teased Fashion Dreamer, a game that had the potential to satisfy the community’s desire to style.
Although Nintendo made sure to make it explicitly clear that Fashion Dreamer was not an installment of the Style Savvy universe, just inspired by it, the community’s hype was only fueled more when it was confirmed that the original developer of Style Savvy, Syn Sophia, was involved in the game’s creation. Combining the fact Fashion Dreamer would be the first Style Savvy-esque game released on the Switch, and that it had been years since the last Style Savvy game, the announcement of Fashion Dreamer had the community buzzing online. In a Reddit post under r/Games, one user confessed, “Honestly, we are so starved for Style Savvy style anything that I am just happy to see that someone remembers this audience.”
Fashion Dreamer’s swift downfall
Unfortunately, the excitement for Fashion Dreamer proved to be short-lived. When the game was finally released on November 2, 2023, disappointment flooded the Style Savvy community as players flocked to social media to complain. One of the biggest complaints from the Style Savvy community was that Fashion Dreamer didn’t allow players to manage their own boutiques. However, other players argued against these comments by pointing out that none of those features were promised by Nintendo, and the community should have managed its expectations better: “Severely disappointed? No. The trailers made it pretty clear what we were getting. A lot of people are going in expecting Style Savvy. Just because it is made by Syn Sophia, doesn’t mean it’s going to be the next Style Savvy. It was never promised,” pointed out one Reddit user.
Not enough content to justify the price
In my opinion, the biggest issue with Fashion Dreamer is that it’s priced at $49.99 but doesn’t have enough gameplay to justify that amount. As it stands today, Fashion Dreamer feels more like a cheap app worth at most $20. The price tag is even less appealing considering the availability of free fashion app games, like Love Nikki, which offer way more content than Fashion Dreamer.
Without the presence of a storyline, Fashion Dreamer feels soulless. Even players who came to the defense of Fashion Dreamer couldn’t help but express some disappointment in the game. Another Reddit user confessed, “I knew that this game was going to be very different from Style Savvy and I was fine with it, but the main issue for me was how simple this game seemed and lacked a lot of things.”
Online Mode makes having players essential
Because Fashion Dreamer explores the world of fashion influencers, it relies heavily on “Online Mode” where players can share their designs, interact with other players, and gain more influence. To Nintendo’s credit, players don’t need to purchase a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to access Fashion Dreamer’s Online Mode, but without enough compelling content, Fashion Dreamer risks losing players and ultimately hurting everyone’s experience.
Is there hope for the future?
There’s no argument that Fashion Dreamer’s initial release was a trainwreck, but is there still hope for the game? According to Nintendo, maybe — but if you ask me, I’m not so sure. Currently, a dedicated Fashion Dreamer website keeps track of the “many more [free] updates” that Nintendo promises to add in the future. However, this website is outdated, with the most recent post teasing an update from last month. Although it’s too early to tell, I fear that Nintendo might be giving up on Fashion Dreamer to focus on other games.
Ultimately, Fashion Dreamer will forever exist as an example of how companies need to listen to their communities, especially when those communities have existed (and kept themselves alive) since 2008. There’s a definite potential here for Fashion Dreamer to redeem itself, but we’ll just have to wait and see if Nintendo is willing to commit to it.
