I have mixed feelings about NIDANA. I can recommend this game only if you can endure the following caveats:
- The progression is strictly linear. Contrary to what I expected, there is no exploration in this game and it is not encouraged. You traverse abstract rooms, reach an objective, then get teleported to the next room. If you come from the Yume Nikki background then this game is the complete opposite of that. Replayability value is impacted as a result, so I personally don't find myself playing this game more than once.
- There are puzzle elements in this game. They are not common and I wouldn't call them difficult, but you will encounter them. Occasionally you have to interact with the environment to activate switches, flip tiles or do something similar. If you can navigate the environment that this game has to offer then you should be fine.
- The performance is surprisingly inconsistent. Although my rig is not outstanding by modern standards, I can run Death Stranding on my end (for the lack of a better metric) without even a hint of performance drops. NIDANA, despite being made up of basic primitives, surprisingly manages to drop to as low as 30-40 frames per second in some rooms, while others were perfectly fine. This likely has to do with the visual effects this game tries to pull, and if the programming behind them isn't efficient then this can result in frame drops. Turning down the game's resolution helped reduce the lag.
- The aesthetic is the selling point of this game, predominantly featuring black and white primitives (mainly cubes and rectangles), extensive use of moire patterns and mirror effects to create a sense of infinity. Not to mention the mysterious female character being prominently featured, who plays an important role in the game's equally mysterious narrative. It's a minimalistic style that I like a lot, but there comes a point where it sacrifices substance in favour of minimalism. In other words, once you see the first couple of rooms, you get the full picture. The game will try to present you with creative visuals to keep you engaged (and equally disoriented), but there comes a point where it starts to get exhausting and repetitive.
- Map design varies in quality and complexity. Some rooms felt massive, mesmerizing and clever in their design, while some felt a bit too simple? Sometimes you literally just get a big rectangular room with like one or two things inside. This might just be the result of the game's aesthetic choice, but the design and pacing of some maps did feel like something you'd typically associate with an indie dev project.
- While this is definitely not a game for people prone to seizures and epilepsy, I must also caution regular players, as the effects can get more overbearing than you might expect. While I can stomach complex and glitchy visuals on the screen (e.g., lilith mapset for Doom; Strawberry Cubes game, just to name a few), there is something about the visuals in this game that left me feeling dizzy, if not nauseated, after about an hour into the playthrough. This wasn't a deal breaker for me, but just wanted to point it out.
- The music is interesting. Personally I like it a lot. It leans on a kind of darker ambient with subtle elements of distortion and noise. It really wanted to drive home the sense of a vast and overwhelming space, reinforcing a sense of uncertainty, almost trying to be intimidating, as you progress through the levels and take in the abstract visuals. I think it's quite effective.
In conclusion, I think this is an interesting game. While it wasn't exactly what I expected, it was a unique experience overall. If you are okay with the points mentioned above then perhaps you might like it.
