After writing my previous review (which is no longer up) I had this game on my mind. It had been a while since I fully finished it, so I replayed it and it was incredible. My first time through it didn't quite click with me, I just saw it as "Yume Nikki but gorey", but replaying it now gave me a whole new perspective, and I wanna go a little more in-depth, so excuse the long review.
My biggest mistake was constantly comparing this to Yume Nikki, instead of viewing it as its own game. Despite the basic gameplay being the same, "explore dreams to find effects", this game is wildly different in its atmosphere and design. If Yume Nikki is about bizarre dreams and trying to piece together what they may mean, .Flow is about nightmares you desperately want to forget. Sabitsuki has a story, a story which is told far more clearly than Madotsuki's. A lot of things are still left unclear, but you can figure out the basics of what's going on just going off the game's content.
The gameplay is also pretty differrent. There's far less voids with weird backgrounds and random foreground elements, the places in .Flow are a lot smaller and more cohesive, which makes navigation easier, and also makes these places way more interesting. Unlike Yume Nikki, where some effects are really out the way, in .Flow I managed to find every effect by simply exploring. Some are pretty hidden, sure, but you will find them eventually. For the record, I forgot the locations of the majority of the effects, but I managed to find them regardless, and I was also able to find them with no guides my first time through.
The atmosphere is horrifying, with the droning music making you feel hollow inside, and the environments being incredibly creepy. I've never liked body horror, since I don't find it particularly scary, and that was my main complaint my first time through, but now I can see just how brilliantly this game uses body horror. from the Kaibutsu's bloody, mangled faces, to an area seemingly made of flesh, the faceless maid, the hospital, and dear god the dying girls event. The entire game made me feel empty, uneasy, and at times genuinely horrified, yet it kept pulling me back.
I'm gonna get into mild spoilers now, nothing major, but if you wanna know nothing about what happens after collecting all the effects, stop reading and play this game, it's a masterpiece I wish I could've appreciated earlier.
Okay, now to discuss the final stretch of the game. I had never felt more dread in a game than I felt when I was playing as Rust. Through the game you'll find a number of areas that Sabitsuki cannot enter normally, but you can finally view them as Rust, and the mere thought of entering them made my skin crawl, despite knowing what was in those rooms. Those things that chase you, whatever the hell they are, made me feel genuine panic for reasons I'm not quite sure of, and the final room of the game? No words, absolutely no words.
TLDR: .Flow is like Yume Nikki crossed with Silent Hill, exploring nightmares to piece together the story of the protagonist, all of which done in a wonderfully horrifying way. An absolute must-play for Yume Nikki fans and horror fans alike. Literal 10/10.
My biggest mistake was constantly comparing this to Yume Nikki, instead of viewing it as its own game. Despite the basic gameplay being the same, "explore dreams to find effects", this game is wildly different in its atmosphere and design. If Yume Nikki is about bizarre dreams and trying to piece together what they may mean, .Flow is about nightmares you desperately want to forget. Sabitsuki has a story, a story which is told far more clearly than Madotsuki's. A lot of things are still left unclear, but you can figure out the basics of what's going on just going off the game's content.
The gameplay is also pretty differrent. There's far less voids with weird backgrounds and random foreground elements, the places in .Flow are a lot smaller and more cohesive, which makes navigation easier, and also makes these places way more interesting. Unlike Yume Nikki, where some effects are really out the way, in .Flow I managed to find every effect by simply exploring. Some are pretty hidden, sure, but you will find them eventually. For the record, I forgot the locations of the majority of the effects, but I managed to find them regardless, and I was also able to find them with no guides my first time through.
The atmosphere is horrifying, with the droning music making you feel hollow inside, and the environments being incredibly creepy. I've never liked body horror, since I don't find it particularly scary, and that was my main complaint my first time through, but now I can see just how brilliantly this game uses body horror. from the Kaibutsu's bloody, mangled faces, to an area seemingly made of flesh, the faceless maid, the hospital, and dear god the dying girls event. The entire game made me feel empty, uneasy, and at times genuinely horrified, yet it kept pulling me back.
I'm gonna get into mild spoilers now, nothing major, but if you wanna know nothing about what happens after collecting all the effects, stop reading and play this game, it's a masterpiece I wish I could've appreciated earlier.
Okay, now to discuss the final stretch of the game. I had never felt more dread in a game than I felt when I was playing as Rust. Through the game you'll find a number of areas that Sabitsuki cannot enter normally, but you can finally view them as Rust, and the mere thought of entering them made my skin crawl, despite knowing what was in those rooms. Those things that chase you, whatever the hell they are, made me feel genuine panic for reasons I'm not quite sure of, and the final room of the game? No words, absolutely no words.
TLDR: .Flow is like Yume Nikki crossed with Silent Hill, exploring nightmares to piece together the story of the protagonist, all of which done in a wonderfully horrifying way. An absolute must-play for Yume Nikki fans and horror fans alike. Literal 10/10.