A Yume Nikki Review

I just played yume nikki yesterday, and well, I can understand why it has brought a unique aesthetic into the spotlight, more than a decade before it surged in popularity, and became known as "liminal spaces"! It's a game I've been wanting to play for quite a while, but haven't gotten to it (could say that for a bajillion others), until now.

Yume Nikki is essentially a pixel art indie title, made using rpgmaker. However, it doesn't follow a hero's journey format with a fantasy setting that people think "rpg" means. It instead focuses on a girl named "Madotsuki", and her dreams. There are 12 main worlds that can be accessed directly: forest world, block world, puddle world, dark world, snow world, mural world, graffiti world, eyeball world, candle world, shield-folk world, neon world, and number world. Each world has atleast one subworld to it, and some subworlds can be interlinked with each other, or have a certain npc that leads them to "hell". There are also a total of 24 effects that you can find, which can serve purposes like moving faster, or playing sounds.

This game is known for its surrealist visuals, with transitions inbetween places not seeming real. You could go from a path of checkered tiles, to hell, and then from hell, to a boardwalk. These worlds also mostly lack people, and vibrance, and instead, a lot of the characters you see are monsters, who pretty much do their own thing. Some of these places can be comforting, but others are a LOT more disturbing.

Disturbing, to the point where you question Madotsuki's backstory. In the game, we don't really know a lot about Madotsuki, but these dreams have to come somewhere, right? Where do these disturbing worlds come from!?!?!? Well, uhh, fans have theorized. For now, I will spotlight some characters I thought were interesting.

Toriningen: A staple character in Yume Nikki. They have 2 states: Normal, and Lunatic (where they attempt to softlock you in the dream world). A common theory I see about them is that they represent the people that Madotsuki sees in the real world. This gets further proven, when they appear to be hosting a party in the wilderness that Madotsuki can't access, implying that she isn't invited. 

Uboa: A character that is found when turning the lights off at Poniko's (a blonde girl residing in a deep area) house. It replaces Poniko, and when you interact with it, it softlocks you in another area. The sprite itself has inspired a lot of characters in other indie titles.

O-Man: A character found in the mall, that is heard singing. A flute is found near him, that you can pick up. I've heard very sweet interpretations of this guy, saying that he is representative of Madotsuki's therapist, and that he's provided a purpose and outlet for her, in the form of playing a flute.

I mentioned that there are 24 effects earlier. Once you get all of them, you can lay them as eggs in the main area where you access the dream worlds. Once that's done, you can finally get "the ending" of the game.


This isn't my favorite game of all time. It can be a boring walking simulator at times, and you may need to look up a guide on how to do it. However, I think it's meant to be much more than just a tropey rpg game that it might've been destined for. It looks at dreams in a much more introspective way, and even though it's not explicitly told, those dreams are heavily influenced by Madotsuki's life. The soundtrack, despite it being very simple and looped heavily, is incredibly captivating, and has been used heavily throughout the internet. Some musicians have also been inspired from Yume Nikki's soundtrack! I especially like the soundtrack for the flute room (with O-Man), since it further enhances the feeling of comfort and happiness in that specific room, compared to the rest of the game, and it's just a touching melody. Again, there's not much gameplay, but I don't think it's meant to have such thing. Please, play it for yourself, and experience a pioneering masterpiece.