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Ever play Yume Nikki? You should! It's free, it's fascinating, and it's got a lot to explore. Yume Nikki (meaning "Dream Diary") could probably be called one of the earlier instances of a "walking simulator," and it's arguably one of the better examples of how to do it right. In the game, you explore a vast and surreal dream world, poking at things and trying to find 24 "Effects" which give your character new abilities (though most are strictly cosmetic). There's no dialogue, no health system and no combat. There are enemy creatures in the dream world, and you get a weapon at one point, but these two mechanics never actually overlap. Instead, the game is all about getting lost in the game's strange atmosphere, covered in largely-inscrutable symbolism. 99% of the content in the game is completely useless nonsense, but you'll want to see it all just for how strange and surprising it is.    Released in 2004 to little fanfare, Yume Nikki gradually gained steam as more and more people discovered it, making the rounds on indie game sites in the late 2000s and receiving quite a bit of praise and a dedicated fanbase. However, after a few years the game faded back into the mists of obscurity. The developer (to my knowledge) never made anything else, and in fact the game was perpetually left as "Version 0.10," apparently quite unfinished despite being perfectly playable and completable. Today, Yume Nikki is rarely remembered among the pantheon of great indie titles. But some people didn't forget. Some people wanted more dreams. So, they made more.  Welcome to the impossibly deep rabbit hole of Yume Nikki Fangames! Yes, for the last going-on-a-decade, a whole array of fangames have been made for Yume Nikki. Now, when I say "fangames," I'm not just talking about weird, buggy, half-playable fanfiction like you usually see called that (though there is some). Essentially, a bunch of people treated Yume Nikki like a genre, and created their own unique titles using the basic structure (and a few cheeky homages), coming up with their own surreal walking-sim games. Some of these games rule, and I'm sick of just gibbering about them on Twitter. I need to share some of these with you guys, because I am dead serious when I say that several of these fangames surpass the original Yume Nikki. Below are some of my favorites and the ones you should absolutely check out first. This rabbit hole goes deep, so I hope you don't have weekend plans. .flow  A good place to start out and a good example of how great and polished these games can be. The game is structured very similarly to Yume Nikki, but the imagery is...rather more intense. Like with the best of these games, .flow hints at the protagonists issues using the imagery she encounters in her dream world. In this case, the constant images of blood and decay, along with recurring hospital-like locations, suggest that our protagonist is not at all well physically (and probably not doing so hot emotionally). How far will she decay? Well, unlike Yume Nikki, .flow has a substantial endgame sequence once you collect all the effects. You'll want to see this one through to the end to find out. Me  And now my personal favorite. While the graphics are a little MS Paint-y compared to other fangames, this game is dense with interactivity and secrets that will keep you exploring for a long time. Notably, unlike most of these games, Me has quite a bit of dialogue and NPCs who will speak to you in the dream world. I commend the game for handling this perfectly, making the dialogue just as crazy and entertaining as the rest of the dream world. As for the story, it's quite obtuse, but has a lot of interesting bits to decode. At the very least, it seems to suggest our heroine is not a very nice person. You'll forget about the graphics pretty quickly. Yume 2kki  I'd be remiss if I didn't mention probably the most popular Yume Nikki fangame, Yume 2kki, a sort of "fan-sequel" and one of the most heavily worked-on fangames available. Unlike the above, this is actually a collaborative project, and this has its pros and cons. On the plus side, this game is massive, detailed and bursting with creativity on every screen. However, being a collaboration, it also lacks focus. There isn't really a story being told here, and our heroine is much more of a cypher. Buuuuut, don't let me put you off too much. There's a lot to love here and if you like polish, boy howdy is the one polished like a diamond. Yume Nikki 3D  It's Yume Nikki...in 3D! Actually, despite the name and the fact that (in a surprisingly rare move for these games) it uses the protagonist of Yume Nikki rather than an original character, this isn't really a remake so much as a re-imagining. Most of the actual locations (as you can see in the image) are original and only a few areas and effects reference Yume Nikki directly. The atmosphere in this game is quite well-done and the sound/music in particular is top-notch. The game is very short and unfinished to the point where several doors in the Nexus are still "under construction," but as a bite-size adventure it's a refreshing change of perspective on a classic formula. I seriously encourage everyone to start diving into these. There are plenty more interesting fangames on the wiki (and I'll probably add more to this OP over time) but the above should be more than enough to get you started. If you didn't know this indie subgenre existed, you've been missing out! The Vosgian Beast posted:A friend of mine made an infographic about just this subject. Now, get some sleep. Rocketlex fucked around with this message at 01:56 on Jul 5, 2015 |
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Jul 2, 2015 07:23
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I've really wanted to see a decent LP of .flow. It doesn't seem to work properly on my computer and the only videos I can find on it are obnoxious or incomplete. It never got much attention, it looks like. Any secret die-hard .flow fans here? 
Kite Pride Worldwide fucked around with this message at 07:31 on Jul 2, 2015 |
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Jul 2, 2015 07:28
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this game trippy, nigga lol
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Jul 2, 2015 07:30
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There is a 3D version of Yume Nikki out there somewhere, too. Great way to retread a classic.
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Jul 2, 2015 14:45
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I thought Miserere was good... ...except for the ending. It went downhill very, very fast as you neared the end. Truth be told, I disliked Yume Nikki. It was too... unfocused, for me. Maybe too large is the word I'm thinking of? Maybe I'll like .flow. Tallgeese fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Jul 2, 2015 |
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Jul 2, 2015 14:53
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I just finished Lisa: The First and was left feeling profoundly uncomfortable.
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Jul 2, 2015 20:29
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Alabaster White posted:I've really wanted to see a decent LP of .flow. It doesn't seem to work properly on my computer and the only videos I can find on it are obnoxious or incomplete. It never got much attention, it looks like. Any secret die-hard .flow fans here? If and when I get a computer that isn't a horrible mess I'd love to start streaming these games, and .flow would be one of my first choices. (If only because a complete and up-to-date wiki exists for it, so I could actually finish it at a reasonable pace.) Feast of Burden posted:There is a 3D version of Yume Nikki out there somewhere, too. Great way to retread a classic. Ah yes, Yume Nikki 3D. I might add that one to the OP when I get back from work. It's certainly an interesting one.
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Jul 2, 2015 21:25
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The part in Yume Nikki with the big face was cool because that's exactly what sleep paralysis is like. I never cared to play any fan sequel because I'm guessing none of them actually get the original game and try to "fill in the gaps" or whatever, like try and develop the story and "what's really going on" or something stupid like that. Some of them also look really corny.
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Jul 3, 2015 01:18
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Shibawanko posted:I never cared to play any fan sequel because I'm guessing none of them actually get the original game and try to "fill in the gaps" or whatever, like try and develop the story and "what's really going on" or something stupid like that. Surprisingly, no. That's kinda why I made this thread, and also why I've been a little cagey with the word "fangame." A lot of the good ones faithfully build on the original while focussing on original characters dealing with unique issues. They're not really fanfiction like you would expect. I'd recommend trying some out of you liked Yume Nikki. The ones in the OP are all solid places to start.
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Jul 3, 2015 02:34
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Yume Nikki 3D added to the OP! It's a short-but-sweet one that nails its atmosphere amazingly well. The main issue with it is how unfinished it is. Don't expect much of an ending. There is one, but...it's basically just a screen that says "You Win!" Clearly a placeholder.
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Jul 4, 2015 08:14
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Rocketlex posted:Surprisingly, no. That's kinda why I made this thread, and also why I've been a little cagey with the word "fangame." A lot of the good ones faithfully build on the original while focussing on original characters dealing with unique issues. They're not really fanfiction like you would expect. That is good to hear, because I remember seeing Off fangames that were considered good and they pretty much didn't at all get the point behind the original and were the most fanfictiony things.
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Jul 4, 2015 08:25
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http://www.memoriesoffear.com/games_toiletinwonderland/index.html
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Jul 4, 2015 11:17
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A friend of mine made an infographic about just this subject.
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Jul 4, 2015 16:59
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Interested in Fleshchild, but I can't find any Youtube vids that don't have scarecam or someone reading out all the dialogue. Can anyone recommend a playthrough?
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Jul 4, 2015 23:30
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Rocketlex posted:Surprisingly, no. That's kinda why I made this thread, and also why I've been a little cagey with the word "fangame." A lot of the good ones faithfully build on the original while focussing on original characters dealing with unique issues. I dunno, I guess what I liked about the first game is that it's purely a bunch of nonsensical, but really accurate dream images and Madotsuki had no personality. It gets much less interesting once the character starts having "issues" and you get a story and clear interpretations and whatnot.
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Jul 5, 2015 01:40
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Well, not that many of these really have that. There's recurring motifs that build up an idea or give you some hint to what's going on, but you can say the same thing about Yume Nikki. And there's a lot you can infer about Madotsuki.
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Jul 5, 2015 01:47
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Shibawanko posted:I dunno, I guess what I liked about the first game is that it's purely a bunch of nonsensical, but really accurate dream images and Madotsuki had no personality. It gets much less interesting once the character starts having "issues" and you get a story and clear interpretations and whatnot. Ehh, they're better at it than that. I'd give Me or .flow a try to get a better sense of what I mean. They're abstract in the same way Yume Nikki was, but different enough that it's clear you're in another person's mind. For example, in .flow, the only thing the imagery really makes clear is that the protagonist has some sort of disease, and even then you kinda have to put some disparate pieces together. All the other imagery is suitably abstract and suggests other things that might have happened to her without being too on-the-nose. It never goes full Psychonauts-level symbolism and there's plenty of room to interpret what you're seeing. I agree that the fact that Yume Nikki was something of a rorschach test was one of its best features, and these games continue that tradition. The Vosgian Beast posted:A friend of mine made an infographic about just this subject. This is excellent and I've added it to the OP. I must say, I'm kind of amazed at how few people seem to have played Me. It's a really good one but I never see it on lists like this. Rocketlex fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Jul 5, 2015 |
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Jul 5, 2015 01:49
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One game nobody's mentioned is Anodyne. It has some dialogue, actual gameplay, a male protagonist and biggest of all isn't freeware, so it's not quite in line with the games, but it's got a lot of the other elements down. Surreal, kinda pretty in a way, and also ranges from uncomfortable to down right sinister. [  (the game is not always this blue) http://store.steampowered.com/app/234900/ Also around is OFF.  OFF is also a bit different. It's less of a personal insight and more of a sinister dream world. http://zanaforum.free.fr/index.php?showtopic=7219&st=0 e: Il serait sans doute aider à relier la traduction anglaise https://forum.starmen.net/forum/Fan/Games/OFF-by-Mortis-Ghost/page/3#post1907821 VaginalErection posted:I just finished Lisa: The First and was left feeling profoundly uncomfortable. Lisa "the first" is probably the best example of this... genre? there is. Shibawanko posted:I dunno, I guess what I liked about the first game is that it's purely a bunch of nonsensical, but really accurate dream images and Madotsuki had no personality. It gets much less interesting once the character starts having "issues" and you get a story and clear interpretations and whatnot. Have you tried Lisa "the first" (not the RPG, it's good too but not really the same genre)? It's interesting.
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Jul 20, 2015 09:51
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I liked Yume Nikki a lot but it was not super fun to play so much as it was to watch a good play-through. Of course, youtube 'horror' let's plays being what they are, good ones are hard to come across. Are there any good let's plays of .flow or Me where the person actually lets the game breathe?
Ash Rose fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Jul 28, 2015 |
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Jul 28, 2015 17:07
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Anatharon posted:Anodyne A really cool thing about Anodyne is the developer designed it to be "broken". For instance, there are actual interesting things placed out-of-bounds, and one of the tools you get is designed around breaking the game world.
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Aug 1, 2015 04:14
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Anatharon posted:One game nobody's mentioned is Anodyne. It has some dialogue, actual gameplay, a male protagonist and biggest of all isn't freeware, so it's not quite in line with the games, but it's got a lot of the other elements down. Surreal, kinda pretty in a way, and also ranges from uncomfortable to down right sinister. I was going to bring up Anodyne and it absolutely deserves mentioning in this thread. It was cool to see a game show that yes, you can have a game like this but also put tactile gameplay systems in it as well. I never beat Anodyne. I got to the part near (what I assume is) the end where it says "Hey, you know those cards you thought were optional? Go back and get them all!" and just kinda stopped there. dpbjinc posted:A really cool thing about Anodyne is the developer designed it to be "broken". For instance, there are actual interesting things placed out-of-bounds, and one of the tools you get is designed around breaking the game world. That's amazing, though. I should look into that. I love when developers do that kind of thing.
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Aug 1, 2015 04:22
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I found Anodyne to be an absolute chore to play, which is a shame because I really wanted to like it.
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Aug 1, 2015 04:31
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i like these kinds of games but i havent played me yet. i didnt like yume 2kki that much but i really liked .flow, how does me compare to those 3?
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Aug 1, 2015 05:04
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pog boyfriend posted:i like these kinds of games but i havent played me yet. i didnt like yume 2kki that much but i really liked .flow, how does me compare to those 3? Me focuses more heavily on surrealism (if you can believe that) and does a good job suggesting meaning while at the same time keeping you guessing about pretty much everything. It's not as overly horror-focused as some of these games, but it does have a few impressively creepy moments. There's also a lot of dialogue in the game, both from characters you can speak to in the dream world and mysterious emails your character receives while awake. Both are written in borderline-nonsensical ways that perfectly compliment the surrealism of the game. The only real hurdles to get over are the graphics (which aren't quite up to the standards of .flow or 2kki) and the fact that there's no complete wiki for this game. I've actually never fully beaten it, despite loving it to death. Strong recommend from me.
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Aug 1, 2015 05:15
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Are we talking weird surreal RPG maker games? I kinda like middens; it's a really beautiful game, even if it's a little up its own rear end with how pretentious it is, and a tad unfocused. And of course there's LISA, though that's more of a straight earthbound-inspired game, and more depressing than surreal. Also, space funeral. I really, really love space funeral.
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Aug 1, 2015 05:32
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I've always like 2kki the most because it's always felt a lot more positive than most fangames do, especially with how compared to the original downer ending of Nikki none of the endings in 2kki are particularly 'downers', other than one that's less a downer and more just spooky. Does anyone know of any other Nikki-likes that err more on the side of surrealism and less on the side of horror? Like, less like .flow and more like Nikki or 2kki or what have you? I always felt that a lot of fangame makers consider Yume Nikki to be 'horror' genre and end up letting that permeate their game worlds.
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Aug 5, 2015 18:49
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I have a peculiar problem relating to installing the Japanese RPGMaker 2003 RTP (here) and I don't know where else to ask this. When I click on the RTP installer it says "Setup failed to install, can't execute RPC", roughly translated. I tried it out with the 2000 version, same problem. I know Japanese and have played plenty of Japanese games in the past with no problems, but this is the first time I want to play an RPGmaker one. I have Windows 8.1 with system language set to Japanese. I tried, ofcourse, to open it with administrator privileges, compability options, still no dice. I've searched both English and Japanese sites, especially regarding installing the original Japanese version of Yume Nikki, and I couldn't find a single one that had my problem, namely that it can't execute an RPC (Remote Procedure Call). I've installed the English version of Yume Nikki and that one works fine, but it uses the English RTP which I can't use for Japanese games. I prefer to play these games in its original language if possible so if there's another way to accomplish that I'm all for it, but otherwise please help me fix this problem.
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Aug 5, 2015 22:42
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Yume Nikki owns and Space Funeral owns. I did a similar thread a while ago but it didn't get much response, I hope this one does better  the soundtracks are probably the best part, the SF soundtrack samples a lot of early electronic music as well as Les Rallizes Denudes which makes my inner music-hipster all woozy
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Aug 6, 2015 00:16
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This thread inspired me to go back and "beat" Yume Nikki after an aborted attempt a few years ago. Don't think I really saw everything the game has to offer, but still, pretty interesting stuff. Sound design in particular was great. Man though, that ending was a downer. I was expecting to walk up the steps, press A and be transported to another weird dreamscape, but ... no. Pondering which of the fangames to try now.
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Aug 13, 2015 18:22
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Lungs posted:This thread inspired me to go back and "beat" Yume Nikki after an aborted attempt a few years ago. Don't think I really saw everything the game has to offer, but still, pretty interesting stuff. Sound design in particular was great. Yume Nikki ending spoilers: I think the general consensus is that all of it was a dream, even the 'real world' with her room and balcony, and the ending was finally escaping bad memories that were symbolized by everything in the dreams. Not very climactic in presentation, but not suicidal like it appears at first MrBims fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Aug 13, 2015 |
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Aug 13, 2015 19:03
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I'm all for a new version of this if they speed up the loving walk animation. I could not bother to play the original for long because it took forever to get anywhere or do anything.
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Aug 13, 2015 19:12
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I liked the atmosphere in Answered Prayers, it felt a lot calmer than some other fan games. I was enjoying Broken Bottles too but, like Answered Prayers, its unfinished and I don't think the developers are working on them anymore.
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Aug 13, 2015 21:53
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Fran Bow was just released, and while it's not a dream simulator per say, it's still a really loving weird game where you play as a mentally disturbed girl who wanders around and experiences disturbing and dreamlike things. Ghosts and weird stuff are everywhere, and she can also pops pills to travel to an Otherworld to see even weirder things or to accomplish goals. I haven't gotten too far in yet, but every room seems to have an alternate, creepy (or creepier) version. It can also be pretty funny at times too.  
Mercury_Storm fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Aug 30, 2015 |
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Aug 30, 2015 03:13
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