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Yume Nikki: Dream Diary is a 3D reimagining of Yume Nikki, a 2004 adventure game made with RPG Maker 2003, where you have to collect ‘effects’, although do’t imagine it’s as simple as that sounds, since even when I collected items, I didn’t always realise I was doing so.
You have to traverse through some weird lands, one in particular featuring human eyes running out to meet me (sometimes, too many!), robot sentry guards keeping tabs on me, and giant hands trying to grab me! Was it the copious amounts of red wine I was drinking which caused this? That somehow made it all seem like it made more sense.
It’s not just a simple walk along to get from A to B, since it features more than one type of game style. Sometimes, you’re running along and jumping up onto ledges like in ’90s game Another World, while in others, you’re walking around in every direction within a traditional 3D world, and in another, it’s a mostly top-down run-around scene. Tried to describe them like that doesn’t really do them justice, either.
I’m sure when I add that you can pick up ‘Hamsa’ to give you the power to find extra items and paths, you’ll be none the wiser, but that’s like having an extra power at your fingertips which comes in handy from time to time, although a lot of these items are just additional concept art which will be unlocked and thus, appear in your diary, next time you’re at home.
Yume Nikki: Dream Diary absolutely batshit mental, but I do love the look of it. Seeing some gameplay videos, as much as it bends my mind, I’ve still got plenty to get stuck into and I’m looking forward to doing so. It is annoying that I can’t seem to find a way to save my game, or even know that it has autosaved. I know it IS doing that sometimes, since I’ll play for a while, then try and make sure I finish a scene if I have to break away from it, in the hope it saves it then. When I come back to it, I see my ‘effects’ score has increased, so I must be doing something right.
As an extra, there’s a videogame within this game, which you can play on the Super Famicom in your bedroom, Super NASU, based on NASU in the original game.
For years I’ve been playing games which are mostly within my comfort zone, such as Sniper Elite 4 and Hitman – stealth/shooting-type fare, and bypassing anything a bit out of the ordinary and with any more complex puzzle-solving than a Tomb Raider game, so enter the recent The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and, now, Yume Nikki to make that change.
Like me before I requested this for review, if you’re still unsure whether to go ahead with it, check out the trailer and gameplay footage. You’ll know from that whether you’ll want to partake, but even if you only have a slight inkling for it, then do take the plunge.
Score: 7/10
Yume Nikki: Dream Diary is out now on PC/Steam.
As I type, it’s available for £15.49, but if you want to check out the 2004 original Yume Nikki, then that is free on Steam.
And if you buy it any time up to and including March 31st, you’ll receive three free wallpapers for Yume Nikki: Dream Diary.
Yume Nikki: Dream Diary – Release Trailer – AGM PLAYISM
Important info:
- Publisher: AGM PLAYISM
- Developer: KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Active Gaming Media Inc.
- Players: single player
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.