OK, I'm finally droping the green thumb for this one. Even if I don't think most people will appreciate it as I do, and I do not want to promote games that are left unfinished and badly optimized, I love Yume Nikki and it's a good thing we were proposed a "remake" so that the license can go on in some way. But I must warn anyone still reading that I longly hesitated if I should recommend the game or not.
First of all : if you haven't played the original Yume Nikki, and do not plan to play it, this game is not for you. You'll just get lost playing a meh game that seems awkward and not well designed, and that feeling would be totally normal. This game is purely purposed for a specific fanbase and you won't enjoy the game if you don't know anything about it. Consider playing the original 2004 Yume Nikki game (it's free on Steam and can easily be found anywhere else !), and at least enjoying the atmosphere before looking for trying this game.
For the original Yume Nikky players, Dream Diary has some good things to offer, but they're not presented the way we can appreciate it. The game looks like a beta of something bigger (and in my memories the devs didn't achieve the last update so it might be unfinished for real), the content is small, the navigation isn't as labyrinthic as it was before, and controls are clumsy. In terms of pure gameplay I tend to see it as a mid if not bad platformer, which tastes okay because in terms of plot it's Yume Nikki and as a fan I liked the atmosphere. While playing the game I satisfied my curiosity, and I really had some fun with it, but once I get the 100% it's likely that I will almost enver touch it again because of the maneuverability. I would rate it 6/10 (and most of the points I give are just because Yume Nikki, you might want to rate it 4).
If you buy and play the game without any expectation as I did, you might enjoy it but there's no guarantee over this. Finally don't buy the game if there's no discount on it, the game is obviously not worth 20 bucks (even for dev support).
This game had received mixed reviews since its release, and people tend to ever love it or hate it. I guess in that case writing a complete review is mandatory since a lot of people won't be sure about buying the game or not. If you're not afraid about reading a little bit more, just continue below.
Pros :
- Yume Nikki is back, Kikiyama its original creator has been supervising the Dream Diary project so there will be a lot of references to the former game. This game is purely fan service based on nostalgia, have this in mind.
- The platform format kinda works even with Yume Nikki. You still have most locations to explore without their platforming aspects ruining everything. But it's not every location, some from the original game are scrapped, some of them are new, some others are back but the platforming is meh. Furthermore we might have wished for another gamestyle, like a good old RPG.
- 3D environments are okay. For a 2018 game it's not stunning, but will still be better than any recent Pokemon Game. For example the Pink Sea was beautiful. On the other hand we have wide environments with only a few portion that can be explored, and 2D sections with a 3D background are just frustrating unless you're playing Kirby. Also that means your computer will load a lot of pixels and the game will slow down in some areas, just for some unnecessary and inaccessible backgrounds.
- Overall difficulty is fine. You might have some tricky puzzles to solve, but even a player unfamiliar with platform and fast-paced manipulations is able to get past them.
- More arcade games and some of them are fun (but mentioning this I feel like I haven't enjoyed the other aspects of the game enough to talk about them...).
Cons :
- Controls are clanky, maneuverability is awful and sometimes commands are unresponsive. It's likely you'll die during chase sequences, because Madotsuki won't jump far enough or the umbrella won't open or any crap like this. Developers clearly have stomped their butt onto their keyboard to code the game. I know this was a small-sized project, with only 3 dev mentioned in the credits and probably short deadline before releasing the game, but to the player view, it's at some point greatly unpleasant and your experience might be spoiled.
- Level design is too much linear, there are few connections between the different worlds. You might get a little lost but it'll never equal the dream maze from YN. Plus, some puzzles are a pain in the butt to achieve (most of them because of the controls described above), and missing any collectible at the middle or the end of a level means you'll have to replay all the area from the nexus door.
- Very few effects (only the ones that are useful to solve puzzles) compared to the original one. There's almost no cosmetics for Madotsuki. Instead you collect items that allow you to solve puzzles and can be used only once. It's okay in a way but it's not an improvement at all.
- To my point of view, the horror aspect of the game is a miss. It's frightening, at most. I think this is because the overall ambience of the game isn't there, even if we can "die" and some elements are actually scary, most of them are just general fears and not "Yume Nikki" style, it's sometimes disappointing. Even if it was raw pixels, the Face Carpet Plaza and the Guillotine World in the OG YN were far more ominous (and unfortunately these areas are not in Dream Diary).
- SPOILER ALERT : The endings too were disappointing. The normal one could have been great in a sense, but the idea was miserably executed. The chase sequence is awful because of the poor level design, been left enraging because of glitches and controls during an "emotional" ending moment is the worst thing that can happen for immersion. The ending also differs from the original one, which was heavy and full of sense, and had a real message to deliver. Here, we don't know what to think, we're running away from our fears, then leaving our flat as if everything was solved this way. From my point of view of a player that has beaten and loves OMORI, this is pure nonsense. Finally the secret ending is obtainable after an ultimate puzzle which is everything but intuitive, then we fall asleep, then... credits ! Fan service that was poorly executed, that's a real pity.
