In my travels across the Internet, I came across something called "Yume Nikki".
"Yume Nikki" is a free, home-made game (同人ソフト) that follows a shut-in (引き籠もり) girl, Madotsuki. The game starts in her apartment, where you can go outside on the terrace, turn on her TV, or play a very simple video game on her Famicom. She refuses to go outside.
The real game starts when Madotsuki when goes to sleep. By going to her bed, Madotsuki falls asleep and begins to dream. Her dream is the game, and it really starts in her dream apartment. Only when dreaming will she leave her apartment, which leads to a room of 12 doors. Each door takes you to a different area to explore.
The game is amazing. Although the graphics are 16-bit, they do a great job displaying this bizarre and sometimes disturbing dream world. The sound effects and music add to the uncomfortable feelings, and actually, the melody when Madotsuki writes in her diary is really good.
The game is basic in that you just explore her dream, getting new abilities that let you explore more of the dream. The game is over when she finds all the abilities, and its quite an ending…
Its hard to really describe the game well enough to do it justice, so why not take a look at this preview?
