"YumeNikki: Dream Diary" Review

Dreams are our mind's way of digesting all the sights, sounds and emotions that we experience during waking hours.

The process provides ample material for exploration in gaming, but the premise has been largely untapped. "YumeNikki: Dream Diary"

A slumbering little girl sorts through her hang-ups, stressors, longings and fears, and your task is to adapt to the disparate circumstances, navigate your way through logic-defying circumstances and work to resolve lingering problems by making sure the dreams unfold in satisfying ways.

Reminiscent of the 1996 Sega Saturn classic "Nights into Dreams," the game skips among diverse settings, each one based on the little girl's subconscious visions.

Developer Active Gaming Media excels in orchestrating varied visual and gameplay styles, synthesizing them all into a seamless narrative. The work is a reimagining of the original "YumeNikki," a PC horror game released in 2004. The dev team doesn't settle for a simple retracing of footsteps with augmented visuals, instead opting to reinvent the concept while still staying true to the psychological horror concept.

A triumphant fit on the Switch, "YumeNikki: Dream Diary" gives you plenty of fascinating material to explore. A dark series of dreams come to life, the haunting and often dark series of manifestations make for often enthralling gameplay

Publisher provided review code.