It's hard for me to give Yume Nikki a review score higher than a 3. If we were to split the 5 star rating in half, then a 2.5 would be a perfectly neutral stance on a video game. Anything higher than that means I'm leaning positive, and anything lower than that means I'm leaning negative.
That's why I'm giving it a 3. I'm leaning positive towards this game, but it's hard for me to even really say that much about it, other than the fact that... Yume Nikki isn't really something you play. It's something that you experience, and that sort of thing just isn't for everyone. It's not really for me, honestly.
Regardless, Yume Nikki is an incredibly interesting game where you explore a series of levels that the main character, Madotsuki, is experiencing while she sleeps. There are objectives in the form of "effects" that the player will find, which give Madotsuki new abilities and sometimes change how she interacts with the dream world at large. Finding all of these effects, scattered across the various levels, is both the point of the game, and also not the point at all. It's much more a personal, explorative, and contemplative experience than it is something that's supposed to mean one specific thing or relate back to the main character in a specific way. There is a loose set of ideas that tie Yume Nikki together if you care to go looking for them, but for the most part, it is an exercise in giving the player a sense of being lost in an unfamiliar world that doesn't make sense.
This feeling is, sometimes, enjoyable and lighthearted. And sometimes, it's very scary and oppressive. Depending on what dream world you explore, you can have radically different experiences, but most of the levels are just seemingly designed to lead you around endlessly and trap you in it's particular ambiance.
Although I can recognize that these things are worthwhile, and something that I think a lot of people will enjoy experiencing, I just can't say that this game is for me. It just doesn't scratch my brain in the same way that other games do. But, again, that doesn't make it any less worth experiencing. You should just know what you're getting into ahead of time, which is a contemplative and explorative experience set in a world that seems like it's built on dream logic. And, that's because it is.
If that's your jam, give this game a try!
That's why I'm giving it a 3. I'm leaning positive towards this game, but it's hard for me to even really say that much about it, other than the fact that... Yume Nikki isn't really something you play. It's something that you experience, and that sort of thing just isn't for everyone. It's not really for me, honestly.
Regardless, Yume Nikki is an incredibly interesting game where you explore a series of levels that the main character, Madotsuki, is experiencing while she sleeps. There are objectives in the form of "effects" that the player will find, which give Madotsuki new abilities and sometimes change how she interacts with the dream world at large. Finding all of these effects, scattered across the various levels, is both the point of the game, and also not the point at all. It's much more a personal, explorative, and contemplative experience than it is something that's supposed to mean one specific thing or relate back to the main character in a specific way. There is a loose set of ideas that tie Yume Nikki together if you care to go looking for them, but for the most part, it is an exercise in giving the player a sense of being lost in an unfamiliar world that doesn't make sense.
This feeling is, sometimes, enjoyable and lighthearted. And sometimes, it's very scary and oppressive. Depending on what dream world you explore, you can have radically different experiences, but most of the levels are just seemingly designed to lead you around endlessly and trap you in it's particular ambiance.
Although I can recognize that these things are worthwhile, and something that I think a lot of people will enjoy experiencing, I just can't say that this game is for me. It just doesn't scratch my brain in the same way that other games do. But, again, that doesn't make it any less worth experiencing. You should just know what you're getting into ahead of time, which is a contemplative and explorative experience set in a world that seems like it's built on dream logic. And, that's because it is.
If that's your jam, give this game a try!