～Daydream～ is an Adult 2D Platformer with a story that has dark themes where you play Yuki who life warn turned upside down in the most unfortunate way after the passing of her beloved mother.
As with some adult rated games that comes with an Adult Content patch that you would have to download, in terms for ～Daydream～ it is absolutely necessary as most, if not all the story bits is “hidden” behind it. After playing ～Daydream～ for a bit without the DLC installed, nothing made sense in terms of its story. What you’re given is the starting intro and then that’s it.
Missing Piece
Only after installing the DLC did more story beats were given during my play. Apart from the story, what is different from the vanilla game, with the DLC you would have a huge ass Yuki sprawled across almost 20% of your screen. I understand the “fan service”, however at times Yuki was blocking the area you need to progress. Thankfully you can turn her overlay off with the F1.
I See You’re A Downer As Well
Story-wise without much spoilers tells us of the events that proceeded after Yuki’s mother’s death. Which see her befall with a series of unfortunate events to a highest degree, think of dark themes in terms of sexual encounters. So through those events Yuki begins to crack (who wouldn’t) and she finds herself in a mental state of fighting demons that represent those who did her wrong. In all the story is absolutely depressing because of how it goes but it is decently written with little to no translation errors. You’ll unlock more story beats by finding “Memory” rooms which helped Yuki remember notable encounters, good or bad.
A Bridge Too Far
The gameplay for ～Daydream～ is plays like any other platformer to a certain extext. It can get very difficult with certain jumps where you think you can make but is just a centimeter too short. If you’re good at platformers the frustration won’t be as much, that’s not saying it is bug free. There’s a number of bugs and oversight in ～Daydream～which will make it difficult for the average player. But the game gets easier the more abilities you unlock after praying at the Angel-esque statue.
Seeing Double
Initially I had trouble identifying which is the forefront and which is the background and which areas can I walk on. As the lighter areas which seemed like the background was in fact the area you’re on and the darker areas are areas you can’t. After a while my brain adjusted to that rule and got over it, but it took a while.
Godsend
As with platformers hit boxes play a huge part and at times may seem bigger than the sprite, character’s size which varies at times. But thankfully as a casual player, the game has invincibility mode when you hit F2 and this is an optional mode which you can ignore. But with this, the save amount is still limited to the amount of Blue Butterflies you have, which increases when you collect them in the environment.
Final Thoughts
～Daydream～is very much a decent platformer if that’s what you’re looking for with some decent artstyle, interesting enemies & boss design but with it’s hitboxes making it sort of a downer. If you can overlook a number of bugs then by all means. If you’re looking at the adult H side then you’ll be happy to know that the scenes are very well made and voice acted. Getting defeated by different enemies the first time will give you a new H-scene, which you can rewatch in the galleries section with a total of 13 of them. Just expect the story to be depressing and filled with adult content just so it can make sense when you play it.
