Kikiyama
Yume Nikki

What can be said about a video game that begins by illustrating to the player the scheme for sleeping and then waking up?

Surreal. Really, in every sense of the word, there is no other term that can more appropriately account for the essence of "Yume Nikki" ("dream diary" in Japanese). Programmed by the elusive Kikiyama through RPG Maker 2003 and currently available in version 0.10 (considered definitive), it is more of a chimera than a game.

Our character will be Madotsuki, a young girl who for unknown reasons has become a hikikomori, a sort of recluse in her own home. The beginning of Yume Nikki, at first glance, will not appear too bizarre: we will be alone in our little room, with a bed, a desk where we can save, and a console with some useless game, and if we want, we can also look out over the large balcony. So, you might ask, what do we do? Simple: we go to sleep. And the madness will begin.

We will appear by the balcony, but with a different sky and music that seems to condense the essence of unsettling dreams, and the door that Madotsuki previously refused to open will now lead us to the so-called "Nexus," a vast pentagonal room connected to twelve worlds. And then? Then nothing. What makes this game so fascinating and intriguing is the almost total absence of a logical thread: our only, albeit vague, goal is to collect the 24 "effects" scattered around, but nothing more is told to us. There is no order in which to explore the different places, and there is never an explanation of what is happening. We will find ourselves wandering through vast places, each with their own peculiarities, but usually characterized by a melancholic and/or oppressive atmosphere, which slowly accumulates in the player's veins and sometimes reaches peaks that can even be frightening. 

All this makes "Yume Nikki" close to being a "non-game." For instance, if, in agreement with Wittgenstein, you consider that a basic feature of a game is the win/lose alternative, well, here losing is impossible. Essentially, there are no enemies: the only possible exception is the "Toriningen" ("bird people"), slender women with a kind of beak who, if "crazy", will chase you to trap you in a closed area; however, with certain effects, they can be rendered entirely harmless (think of the traffic light, which can immobilize all the creatures in the game). By pausing the game, your "life" bar will also be displayed, but it's just a joke, a trick to make "Yume Nikki" resemble a true action RPG. Even though collecting all 24 effects without consulting an online guide is practically impossible, in theory, one should only do this: explore, inspect the absurd places we will visit in every nook and cranny, and discover the dozens of hidden warps: be amazed.

Since nothing in the game is explained, countless theories and interpretations by fans have proliferated, more or less plausible and accredited: apart from the philosophical discussions that could be had on this "hermeneutic need", often it is precisely these theories that give "Yume Nikki" its sinister aura, or rather, amplify it, as they are almost all deeply negative. However, practically none of them entirely account for the game: and then you just have to play, interact, maybe encounter cult events like the one with Uboa, and deposit all the effects in the Nexus in the form of eggs, to wake up and witness the incredible, stunning finale.

Sometimes it has been questioned whether Kikiyama is the genius or, rather, the fans of his creation, who with their theories have essentially "built" the game. I don't really care: I just wanted to point out one of the strangest gaming experiences I've ever had (freeware, by the way), and also quite disturbing. And if you don't agree, try playing it at night with the lights off...