Yume Nikki

Indie· Psychological Horror· Free to Play· Surreal

Released Jan 2018

This is a game in which you traverse the extremely dark world inside a dream.

94% positive · 11K reviews

Done

All announced content has been released

High confidence

Done

All announced content has been released

High confidence

Where to get it

Free on Steam

Steam Free

Evaluation

Yume Nikki is the original classic freeware RPG by kikiyama, re-released on Steam on January 9, 2018 as a free-to-play title. The news activity around this release primarily concerns a related but separate product — YUMENIKKI -DREAM DIARY- — a reimagined companion game developed by Active Gaming Media and published by PLAYISM. The announcements (January–February 2018) and the major Ver. 2.0 update (May 24, 2018) all pertain to that separate title, not to the base Yume Nikki game being assessed here. For Yume Nikki itself, the post-launch activity consists of a handful of small bug fix patches in January–April 2018, addressing sound errors and translation text. The last developer communication of any kind directed at this game was a bug fix on April 4, 2018. There are no unreleased DLC listings, no roadmap or future content announcements, and no season pass or ongoing content structure. The one tagged development-status post (June 12, 2019) is simply a community manager farewell notice with no bearing on the game's content plans. The original Yume Nikki was created as a standalone, self-contained experience — a freeware exploration game with no intended post-launch content cycle. Its Steam release preserves that character. There is no evidence that any further updates or content are planned, and the bug-fix period following its Steam launch concluded by April 2018. The game shipped as a complete product, and the completion date reflects its Steam release date.

Evidence

Final patch for Yume Nikki, fixing some sound errors. Last developer communication directed at this game.

news post · Apr 4, 2018 source development ending

medium

Game description presents Yume Nikki as a self-contained exploration experience with no mention of ongoing content, updates, or live service elements.

store metadata · Jan 9, 2018 source ambiguous

medium

Media

Details

Developer

kikiyama

Publisher

PLAYISM

Achievements

—

Platform

Windows

Controller

partial support

Steam Deck

Playable

Players

Single-player

Indie Psychological Horror Free to Play Surreal Pixel Graphics Exploration Walking Simulator Horror Atmospheric Psychological Female Protagonist Dark 2D Adventure Experimental

About this game

An RPG Maker tour de force, and a divisively controversial work for fans.

You are free to explore the various dream worlds at your own pace.
If you check certain characters or items in the game you will collect an “Effect”. These “Effects” can be used to change the main character’s appearance.

Some of these “Effects” have special actions or animations which you can activate by pressing 1 or 3 on the number pad.

Yume Nikki is a very unique title that has become one of the most well-known indie games to come out of Japan.

It is unlike any other RPG, especially in the fact that there really is no action or dialogue to speak of. This gives the game a very dark and foreboding atmosphere. Can you make it to the secret ending?

There are no particular goals nor story of which to speak. You simply walk around.
Checking certain characters inside the dream will increase the number of "Effects".
Using "Effects" will cause the main character's appearance to change.
(During this time, you can use the 1 or 3 keys to implement special movements and effects.)
Using the same "Effect" a second time will cause the character to revert to their original form.
"Effects" can only be discarded inside rooms with many doors.

FAQ

Q. There is a glitch or aspect ratio issue in the game.
A. Please switch to Window mode by pressing F4 or Alt + Enter.

Q. Why does the Japanese version crash?
A. The Japanese language coding in this game runs only on Japanese system locales. If you want to play the game in Japanese and it crashes, please change your system locale to Japanese.