When I first saw the trailer for Yume Nikki -Dream Diary-, I had no idea what the game was about. I was intrigued by it though. Had a feeling like a Limbo-style game where you just experience an adventure by solving whatever obstacles there are in your way and progressing. After some digging up, I found the game is based on the RPG Maker game titled Yume Nikki. It seems that game was quite the cult favorite amongst many, and with it being available for free on Steam, I decided to check out a brief part of it in preparation for this game. So my review will mostly be through the eyes of someone who doesn’t have that much of an attachment to the original Yume Nikki.

Yume Nikki -Dream Diary- is a game based on the universe created in the original Yume Nikki. Even the original developer of the game was brought in to help supervise this new title. From what I’ve played of the original, this new iteration is a completely different type of game. My understanding of the original is that it was an open exploration game where you explore various environments in search of items. These worlds were vastly different from one another with each having their own unique atmosphere. Didn’t play that much of it though, so I’m not fully sure if there was more to the game than that. After playing bits of the original, and then jumping to this new game. It’s easy to tell that the direction of this new game is very different from what the original one was. Featuring a more linear style rather than a wide open one. So something to just keep in mind if you’re someone who is very attached to what the original game was.

THE GOOD: What you do get with Yume Nikki -Dream Diary- is a puzzle adventure style of game that certainly feels along the lines of a Limbo or even Little Nightmares. There are a few worlds for you explore, each with their own style of environments and challenges to face. Each one feeling quite different from the last, and with their own ending. Wouldn’t call the game a complete scare, but the worlds you get put in do give off those feelings of being unsettling and mysterious. Not all of them are even scary at all, but I enjoyed going into each world and just seeing what it has to offer in comparison to the others.

It’s a simple and easy game to get into as well. You start off with only being able to move and jump, but will slowly gain more abilities as you progress further into the game. The puzzles are mostly simple as well. They will require some trial and error to get past, and there are a couple that will get you thinking. Even some that can’t be solved at all until you have a specific item or ability on hand. I wouldn’t say the game is a real challenge though. There are also more than one way to approach things, as certain abilities you gain can make some obstacles easier to overcome. It helps battle that ease of play though with the unsettling atmosphere it puts you in, so it’s not something you can just entirely experience in a relaxed state. That’s actually something I enjoyed too, since it made me focus more on the adventure rather than having to overcome something that was too difficult. Since the world of Yume Nikki is something I find truly unique, but very interesting.

Even though I played the original game for a brief time, I was still able to catch some of the references that -Dream Diary- had to it. Starting with how the game is played. Just like the original, you’re a girl who’s always in her room and you explore the dream world by going to sleep on your bed. While the worlds aren’t exactly the same, the characters you meet up with are definitely referenced from the original game. So it was neat to see something familiar in this new 3D look after seeing how it was in a pixel style. I will admit I was kind of bummed that I didn’t have that strong of a relationship with the original, so I could’ve enjoy the other references a bit more that I was unfamiliar with. So I can only assume that fans of the original will find some enjoyment seeing familiar characters in a new light.

While it doesn’t feature the open world style of the original, I feel that -Dream Diary- still invokes that sense of mystery that the original had where everything you experience is open to your own interpretation. Especially since this game is presented to you with no lead up or dialogue at all. As soon as you start up a new game, you’re just in it. I really liked that too. Since I view this game as a world that’s meant to be explored and it does a good job at letting you do that, even if most of the experience is linear. You will certainly go into this wondering what’s going on and after completing it, you’ll still be left wondering. Though you will have at least enough of an understanding to make up your own interpretation of what you just experienced. It’s a game that will leave you thinking, which I always find neat from games of this style. It just makes me even more interested in this world.

THE BAD: That strong interest led to my main disappointment with the game. This game is quite short. Not too surprising, since games of this nature tend to be. However, I was surprised at how short this game really is. Took me around four hours to reach the end of the game. With another hour being dedicated to finding all the collectibles. I then decided to beat the game as fast as I could now that I knew all the solutions, and that took me only 90 minutes to complete. And that was even with finding all the collectibles in the game. So it took me 90 minutes to 100% this game in one playthrough. Granted, that was after knowing everything. It is still very short though, even for a first time playthrough. So that can be disappointing since I really enjoyed the worlds and characters found in this game. It’s weird, but very interesting to experience.

The one other unfortunate thing with this game is that it can be a buggy mess. Always unfortunate to see, especially since I encountered one glitch when I was trying to interact with something and the player character was just locked in that state of picking something up, which forced me to restart the game in order to continue beyond that point. I also did lose my initial save after one of the game’s updates. There were also some odd glitches like falling through the ground or an enemy suddenly not attacking you and just completely ignoring you. I’d say the game is much better in performance this time around at the time of this writing, so the developers were quick to fix some things. So hopefully the experience will be less buggy for any new players.

Also, a minor thing to mention is that the game fails at introducing the player to all of its mechanics. One of which is the ability to actually leave dreams. It’s not something you have to do often, unless looking for collectibles and you just want to leave a world mid-way without having to fully complete it again. Though, there is actually one dead end you can face if you enter its world without the right ability. So if you didn’t check out the game’s control scheme beforehand or never played the original Yume Nikki, you would have no idea at all that you can just leave a world anytime you wanted.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Seeing the reception this game is getting from fans of the original, I can say I’m not surprised that many are on the negative side of things. I can’t share that same reaction since I don’t have that attachment to the original. I will say though that I feel like much of the hate is because this game shares the Yume Nikki name, and that did bring in it’s own set of expectations. So when it was found out that the game was drastically different from what the original was, that lead to the negative response. I feel like that may also be a problem with the messaging the game gave out. Many felt like this would be a remake, but it was more of a re-imagining. This is a completely new thing, but features the characters of Yume Nikki. That is my interpretation of what this game is. The message shared as you start up a new game even gives off that feeling. So I do feel some of the hate is a bit misguided, and I just want to recommend to all new players to at least experience the game for what it is, without dwelling too much into what the original game was.

That’s not to say the game doesn’t deserve to be criticized. It can be buggy at times and the experience is very linear. It’s also fairly easy and short. Price of the game is also a bit much at $19.99. Even with all that though, I found Yume Nikki -Dream Diary- to be a decent and enjoyable experience. The more I explored of the world, the more I wanted to see and find out about what it had to offer. It’s a world that sucked me in and left me thinking after fully completing it. Given how short and easy the game is, it’s hard to recommend at the current $19.99 price tag. If you can find the game at a lower price though and are in the mood to experience a quick and very unique adventure, I’d say Yume Nikki -Dream Diary- is a worthwhile experience.