Yume Nikki, Free, Creepy, and Japanese.

Version one/>300 words:

Yume Nikki is a free indy game made by Japanese developer Kikiyama. It's also one of the most unnerving games I've ever played. I call it a game for want of a better word. It's not exactly a game per se. There are no enemies, and the characters you can interact with do not speak. There are lizardmen that will spew numbers at you, but that's about as far as you can get with conversation.

Believe it, or not, that horrorterror cannot hurt you

and doesn't care to do anything but make you

really uncomfortable.

The art is similar in style to Earthbound, and is probably going to make any gamer nostalgia all over the place. The gameplay is difficult to describe. You play through a girl's dreams and collect items. It doesn't sound all that scary, but her dreams are some of the most unsettling things ever. If I had dreams like these, I would give up on sleeping. Once you collect the items, you drop them in the nexus (a circle of doors that lead to the aforementioned dreams). That's it. Cut scene, end of game.

The Nexus

If you play it to experience it, though, exploring everywhere, and not looking up guides, you will find one of the most genuinely disturbing experiences in any game I've played. There are multiple random events that if you're lucky enough to have them occur without you trying for them, will probably make you jump, like the Uboa, a disembodied head that has a low chance to appear in place of another character sprite. If you get to close to it, you are sent to an endless stretch of monochrome land with some creature vomiting blood in the background.

The ghost in that image gives you an item that removes your face, and lets you spin your head on your shoulders. The shadow in the water moves for no reason other than to make you uncomfortable. This isn't normal in any game. In anything for that matter. I love it.

You cannot hope to beat Yume Nikki at creating

creepy atmosphere. It is simply the best there is.

In the end I'd have to say if you're looking at it as a video game, it fails. There is no story development, other than what you infer, no threat of losing, other that getting transported to an inescapable room, and if you're playing it just to beat it, it's not worth your time, as it is fairly simple to beat. If your playing it as a psychological horror experience, it's one of the most effective things I've ever come across, and easily the best horror indy game I've ever seen.

You can get it on Windows here. Sadly, if you want it on Mac, you have to want it bad enough to download a game converter (which is what I had to do), as there is no version for mac.

Version two/150 words:

Yume Nikki is a free indy game made by Japanese developer Kikiyama. I call it a game for want of a better word. There are no real enemies. The gameplay is difficult to describe. You play through a girl's dreams and collect items. Once you collect the items, you drop them in the Nexus. Cut scene, end of game.

The Nexus

If you play it to experience it, exploring everywhere, you will find one of the most genuinely disturbing experiences in any media I've seen.

In the end, if you're looking at it as a video game, it fails. There is no story development, no threat of losing, other that getting transported to an inescapable room. Playing it as a psychological horror experience, it's one of the most effective things I've ever come across, and easily the best horror indy game I've ever seen.

You can get it on Windows here.

Version three/50 words:

Looking at Yume Nikki as a video game, it fails. No story development, no threat of losing, other than getting trapped in a room. As a psychological horror experience, it's one of the best things I've ever found, and easily the best horror indy game I've ever seen.

Twitterfied/150 characters:

Yume Nikki is a psychological horror experience, not a game. It's one of the best things I've ever found and the best horror indy game I've ever seen.