Recent reviews by Shiden

It's good.

It's fine I guess.

I'm just here for the shanties.

This is a tough one. There are a lot of things I like, but an equal number of things I dislike. In all honesty, this game was difficult to get into and I almost dropped it after a few frustrating hours.

Right off the bat I need to mention It's biggest flaw is how difficult it can be to navigate. I understand it is a budget game, but it really highlights this fact when the backgrounds lack variety and use the same few assets-- makes it VERY easy to get turned around, especially since there is a map that is less-than-helpful in telling you your position. This I think will be a HUGE turnoff for players and I can completely see why. For a game with a primary mechanic of exploration, it's important that you provide a good backdrop to give players a memorable visual setting to experience. Shadowrain tries, but ultimately the repetition makes it hard to get a grasp on your surroundings and drags you a bit out of the immersion when it starts to feel like you're going in circles.

This aside, the story and setting of the game is great. It's a chilling futuristic sci-fi tale of isolation and artificial intelligence. The primary mechanic in the game is a run-and-hide style enemy that lurks in the dark with you, it gives me some real Alien: Isolation vibes in that regard-- a minor complaint here is that I wish the creature itself tied a bit more into the themes and story that are otherwise present, it's an effective threat but ultimately feels a little disconnected from the bulk of what makes this game great- your Artificial Intelligence helper, Yui. The whole AI helper bit isn't wholly original of an idea, but well utilized here to give you a curious relationship with Yui and enough of a pull to keep me interested.

I simply wish that it was easier to stay immersed in the games interesting story, ironically the most invested I got was during the secret ending, where there are no aspects of the games established mechanics up to that point present.

Can't say much else about the game without spoilers. This won't be for everyone, it is admittedly difficult to get over some of the glaring issues, but if you can overlook this and make it past the flaws, there's a really solid foundation and interesting enough story here. Very frustrating as I think with a bit more focus, more variety, tighter mechanics-- Shadowrain would have been a really big hit. Ultimately hard to hold this against it as again, it is a budget game.

Interesting game, some unique world-building teases but it never stops long enough to go into detail. The vague atmosphere coupled with smooth sound production gives it a very dream-like Lynchian feel. If more of an explanation into the setting was provided, it'd take away from the mystery so it works as a "less is more" kind of experience. A little under one-hour-to-beat is a fitting time for what this is.

I will say those looking for a "horror" game might be disappointed-- if you're looking for more of a traditional scary experience, this game provides more of a general uneasy feeling as opposed to quick scares. Not a detriment at all, just know what you're getting into.

I like Blaspemous, eh's a cool guy and I like his hat.

There are two ways to approach Dream Diary-- as a stand alone title, and as a sequel/re-image of the original indie classic YumeNikki. Fails at both.

At it's best, Dream Diary is a shallow linear horror game packed with dollar store Halloween scares, eyeballs? Shadow monsters? spooky lighthouse? Mannequins? Really? Progression through this haunted house ride is done through a set of linear paths blocked by simple puzzles, most of which are tedious and exist simply to pad out the length of the game. Not all of them are necessarily bad, but all fall short of clever. Slogging through this game feels like a chore as a result, enough that it kills any atmosphere it would otherwise have.

At it's worst, and where it really falls apart for me, is where it wants to pretend to have any relation to the original indie game. It is my understanding that Kikiyama, the original creator, gave this new team permission to make a direct sequel, but in my opinion I think the new team were either in over their head, not in full creative control, or simply did not understand what YumeNIkki was.

I'll get out of the way right away that YumeNikki is not a horror game, it's a surrealist adventure game imitating a disjointed dream. The oddness and vague dream-ish nature of YumeNikki is what hooked people, though there's not actually a whole lot to do in the game itself, from a standard game mechanic standpoint. No enemies, nothing to fight, no cutscenes or dialogue - Even so, crazy imagery without explanation let players run wild with their imagination, and was definitely an experience for people back in the early days before the mass appeal of indie games in the age of Steam. YumeNikki was a one of a kind odd game from japan that you heard about from your friend showing you a clip of Uboa on youtube. It was an experience.

Dream Diary, on the other hand, only got attention by simply being associated with the original. Outside of the name and characters, there's not much YumeNikki to be found here. The open disjointed world of the original is gone, replaced with linear levels, Lame puzzles, boring designs, excess fan service. All sense of mystery from the original is gone- it's biggest detriment- While YumeNikki introduced you to wacky places and bizarre "creatures", it left it up to the player to give them any sort of meaning as they existed in their own bubble as a passing part of the background atmosphere. Enter Dream Diary, the camera slowly zooms on a girl crying, while a monster strokes a pole behind her. Subtle.

I'm not here to ♥♥♥♥ on Dream Diary. Just kidding. I am. But I'm not going to ♥♥♥♥ on people who liked it. Dream Diary is completely playable, it's definitely more a "game" in the traditional sense than the original, I simply don't know who I'd recommend this to personally. Play a better game, there are plenty if you just want horror, or If you're a fan of YumeNikki, there are countless fan games online made in the same style, some arguably better than the original.

Dream Diary is a nightmare.

I wish I was dead.

It's all fun and games until you hit that sliding block puzzle.

Bouncy