“Yume Nikki,” is a Japanese indie title, created by the video game developer, Kikiyama and released on June 26, 2004. The game receives praise for its surrealist nature, with many popular games such as “Undertale” and “Doki Doki Literature Club” having drawn inspiration from it. The main protagonist of the game is a girl named Madotsuki who constantly falls asleep in her own room and as the player, you explore the surreal world of Madotsuki’s dreams as she sleeps.
The game wouldn’t be the experience it is without its soundtrack. The game’s music ranges from happy, fast paced chimes, to retro styled arcade music and even chilling, ominous and slow series of notes. The game’s music is so effective, it even gets used outside of the game in social media without people even realizing where the songs originate.
The gameplay itself is where the true charm of this title shines however. The core gameplay loop begins in a hubworld with 12 doors arranged in a circle. The player, as Madotsuki, can enter through any of these doors and explore a myriad of dreamscapes. There are a large variety of other secret worlds that can be discovered as well.
“Yume Nikki,” lacks any semblance of a narrative, with only small environmental hints and clues as to who Madotsuki could be as a character. The game itself lacks a sense of progression as well, with only eggs that give the players small aesthetic changes and abilities being the only progression mechanic in the game. The game’s ending is abrupt as well, as when all eggs are collected, Madotsuki wakes up and jumps off her balcony, presumably to her death.
The game is very open ended, with very little information apparent for you to cling to, so the player is forced to gather their own meaning from the game and that’s where the beauty of the game comes from. The game is surrealist, simplistic and ambient, which is why it works so well without any apparent narrative with its simplistic game design.
