Recent reviews by The Civ

As of Update 2.0, I can wholeheartedly recommend this game.
At release the game had been lacking, and was quite obviously rushed to a release date.
But the team that made it still had seemed genuinely passionate about the game, and seemed to really be fans of the original, and we finally have this update to prove that.
The game is now polished to a very enjoyable and fun degree, giving the player an almost flawless experience beginning to end, and the world feels so much richer now, and more importantly, so much more like Yume Nikki.
I fully recommend this game to anyone who enjoyed the original, and even to the odd chance that a new fan may find something about thisg ame more appealing looking, I can now recommend it to you as well.
I'm glad this game is a part of the series legacy now, seeing as to how much they're committed to improving and adding to it.

[Long Review Below]
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Now to go into detail. [With some minor spoilers]
Update 2.0 adds so much more to the game, iconic locations, visuals, and more.
You can now find a new door which leads to the sewer area from the original game, while housing some interesting secrets of its own, links to several worlds throughout the game.
Along with this you now have the Block World, Snow World, and an entirely new area in the Wilderness to explore.

Almost every area added to the game in this update is free roam, top down view, and it feels very very much like the original Yume Nikki in terms of exploration and freedom. There are new effects as well, one of which is from the original game, and a brand new one, which is possibly the coolest in the entire game. While I won't spoil what it is, I will say that it's sort of this game's equivalent of the Stoplight Effect and Knife mixed together into one, and you can have a lot of fun seeing what effects you get from it in different areas. Overall, every new addition to the game is nearly a solid 10/10, with my only gripe being that the Block World has some mildly frustrating platforming segments, but the game is generally lenient about respawn points, so it's not that big of an issue.

Oh, and Uboa's event was fixed up. It was fixed up very, very well. I will dodge spoiling anything about this but it's something that should make a lot of fans happy.

As for what was there before the update, they've put a lot of effort into fixing up some of the early-game areas and making them more enjoyable, and they've done a very good job of it. The streets area is far less frustrating, eyeballs, and the guarding creatures have been fixed, and overall every obstacle is much easier to contend with, making it more enjoyable overall. Other areas like the mall have had gaps tightened to alleviate the stress of platforming, and generally every area from before has been polished to a far more enjoyable degree, and now you can safely say that most mistakes you make will be player fault, rather than an issue with the game, which is very important in making an experience that's fun for players.

This doesn't fix some earlier areas entirely, areas like the mall are still a little mundane and a bit of a slog, especially in the perspective of a Yume Nikki game, on a 2nd playthrough they feel a bit out of place, but the important part is that they provide a much better experience in general now.

Along with this, the general polish of the game just feels better now. Some minor visual effects have been updated, as well as a lot more minor SFX have been added that add a surprising amount of life to the game.

Something I rarely see touched on in reviews, is how genuinely amazing this game's soundtrack is. Even before the update, I saw most people agreeing that the game's music is fantastic, and it really is. It builds upon the echoing atmospheres and long droning ambient tracks and occasional short loops of music from the original, and builds relaxed beats, serene humming tracks, eerie ambience, and more.

Overall, I'd give this current version of the game an 8/10.
There's still room to add more, and some of the early-game areas are a bit of a slog, but there are so many enjoyable, rich, and genuinely fun areas in the game now, and with it at a much better level of polish, I can proudly recommend this game to any fan of the original.