Nidana

About Nidana

Nidana is a single player simulation game with a horror theme. It was developed by lvl374 and was released on July 27, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

She continues to dream. A first-person dream simulator where you explore a corner of a dream.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip Games Like Nidana

Looking for games like Nidana? Here are top simulation recommendations with a horror focus, selected from player-similarity data — start with NaissanceE, Kairo or Scanner Sombre.

80%2.8kreviews

NaissanceE

2014

Platformer

75%2kreviews

Kairo

2013

Simulation

76%3.9kreviews

Scanner Sombre

2017

Casual Shooter

90%666reviews

The Music Machine

2015

Simulation

70%105reviews

Path to Mnemosyne

2018

Simulation

67%202reviews

Fugue in Void

2018

Casual Simulation

54%918reviews

MIND: Path to Thalamus

2014

Shooter

74%968reviews

Genesis Noir

2021

Platformer

96%184reviews

BLACKSHARD

2025

Platformer

78%2.3kreviews

RiME

2017

Open World Platformer

More games like Nidana

Skip User Reviews

Reviews

87%Audience ScoreBased on 82 reviews

graphics10 positive mentions

gameplay4 negative mentions

Stunning and unique visual art style offering a mesmerizing surreal and dreamlike atmosphere.
Engaging ambient and minimalist sound design that complements the abstract experience.
Short and well-paced walking simulator with light puzzles, ideal for fans of interactive art and experimental exploration.

Lack of traditional gameplay depth and minimal interactivity may feel repetitive or boring to some players.
Poor optimization, low anti-aliasing, and harsh visual effects can cause eye strain or discomfort, especially for sensitive players.
Minimal narrative and abstract storytelling may be confusing or unengaging for those seeking a clear plot or character development.

graphics
37 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27% positive mentions, 65% neutral mentions, 8% negative mentions
The game's graphics feature a striking, psychedelic, and minimalist black-and-white art style with abstract, mind-bending visuals reminiscent of liminal spaces and sacred geometry, creating a unique, museum-like spatial art experience. While visually stunning and atmospheric, the environment can feel repetitive and stagnant after initial exploration, with limited graphical polish compared to similar titles. Overall, it's a captivating aesthetic showcase best appreciated by those who enjoy experimental, art-driven games.
- “Nidana is an art project and walking simulator that favors abstract visuals resembling something akin to an LSD trip on top of another LSD trip.”
- “The visuals are a fairly loose liminal black and white art style, with a heavy emphasis on stairways, cubes, and spherical meshed objects aggressively rotated.”
- “Super clean and awe-inducing visuals that are utterly gorgeous.”
- “Coupled with the samey visuals, it can start to stagnate surprisingly quickly as you meander through mostly empty environments with not all that much different to look at after the first two or three areas.”
- “This game offers nothing besides some pretty one-note visuals.”
- “It doesn't really try to tell a story, and the graphics and environment, its only real selling point, are interesting at first, but grow old quickly.”
gameplay
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11% positive mentions, 67% neutral mentions, 22% negative mentions
The gameplay in Nidana is intentionally minimal and focused on atmospheric exploration rather than traditional mechanics or complexity, featuring straightforward puzzles and limited interaction. While its dreamlike immersion and emotional tone appeal to fans of experimental walking sims, the repetitive visuals and lack of gameplay progression may cause fatigue for some players. Overall, it offers a unique but passive experience prioritizing mood over challenge or variety.
- “Nidana is a surreal first-person exploration experience that abandons traditional storytelling and gameplay conventions in favor of atmosphere, visual abstraction, and dreamlike immersion.”
- “This simplicity allows players to focus entirely on atmosphere and interpretation rather than mechanical difficulty.”
- “Players expecting traditional gameplay depth, combat systems, or heavily interactive mechanics may find the experience too passive.”
- “Although the environments remain visually impressive throughout the game, the core gameplay loop changes very little from beginning to end.”
- “The puzzles themselves are generally straightforward and serve more as transitions between dream spaces than complex gameplay systems.”
atmosphere
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41% positive mentions, 53% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions
The atmosphere in Nidana is widely praised for its surreal, dreamlike quality achieved through abstract visuals, minimalist color use, and subtle, eerie audio design. The game creates a meditative, emotionally immersive experience marked by haunting ambiance and psychological tension, though its minimalistic soundtrack and limited gameplay progression may lead to fatigue for some players. Overall, Nidana's atmosphere stands out as its most compelling and unique feature, evoking strong emotional resonance through mood and imagery rather than traditional narrative or gameplay.
- “Nidana is a surreal first-person exploration experience that abandons traditional storytelling and gameplay conventions in favor of atmosphere, visual abstraction, and dreamlike immersion.”
- “Ambient noises, distant echoes, distorted audio textures, and subtle atmospheric music create a constant sense of emotional discomfort without relying on traditional horror mechanics.”
- “Its impossible architecture, oppressive atmosphere, and fragmented dreamscapes create an experience that lingers because of emotion and imagery rather than narrative resolution or gameplay complexity.”
story
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20% positive mentions, 60% neutral mentions, 20% negative mentions
The story in this game is highly abstract and unconventional, relying on atmosphere and visual storytelling rather than traditional narrative or character development. While its surreal, dreamlike experience appeals to some for its artistic ambition, many find it lacking in emotional connection or clear plot, making it feel aimless or hollow. Overall, the game prioritizes exploration and mood over a cohesive story, which may divide audiences.
- “Nidana is a surreal first-person exploration experience that abandons traditional storytelling and gameplay conventions in favor of atmosphere, visual abstraction, and dreamlike immersion.”
- “The lack of explicit narrative forces players to interpret the experience personally, turning exploration itself into the primary form of storytelling.”
- “Despite these flaws, Nidana succeeds because of its artistic ambition and complete commitment to surreal environmental storytelling.”
- “If this game wants you to feel like you're just stuck in this world going around aimlessly conveying a story with every achievement system... I would say it falls flat.”
- “There also isn't really an attempt to tell any sort of story with the main character that you have to endlessly chase until the end of the playthrough - arguably it does resemble a dream where very little makes sense, but it also feels a bit hollow and overall comes across more like a tech-demo disguised as a game.”
- “It doesn't really try to tell a story, and the graphics and environment, its only real selling point, are interesting at first, but grow old quickly.”
music
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33% positive mentions, 42% neutral mentions, 25% negative mentions
The music and sound design create an eerie, atmospheric experience using ambient noises and subtle textures rather than traditional horror music, effectively enhancing emotional discomfort and immersion. However, many find the soundtrack repetitive, one-note, and at times like white noise, lacking variety or clear musicality, which can detract from engagement during longer gameplay sections. Despite this, the ambient audio generally complements the game's unsettling visuals and mood well.
- “Ambient noises, distant echoes, distorted audio textures, and subtle atmospheric music create a constant sense of emotional discomfort without relying on traditional horror mechanics.”
- “Not exactly what I'd call horror, but the excellent and eerie soundtrack and impermanent world definitely gave it a somewhat creepy atmosphere.”
- “The game itself shows that off extremely well, not to mention its ambient soundtrack which fits it perfectly.”
- “Soundtrack is very repetitive, with little gameplay or interactivity impact, and the length is too long, especially considering the excessive walking and frustrating lack of clarity on objectives.”
- “Additionally, the soundtrack itself is very one-note and feels like white noise, contributing little to the atmosphere of the environment.”
- “All this is backed by a nauseatingly mediocre soundtrack that never evolves, punctuated by repetitive synth bleeps with reverb and an abundance of white noise.”
emotional
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The game's emotional impact stems from its oppressive atmosphere and ambiguous design, using ambient sound and stillness to evoke a deep sense of discomfort and destabilization. Rather than traditional horror or narrative, it emphasizes meditative immersion and subconscious emotional response, which some players find profoundly absorbing while others may struggle to connect due to the lack of explicit storytelling.
- “Even simple movement through empty spaces feels emotionally charged due to the oppressive stillness surrounding everything.”
- “Ambient noises, distant echoes, distorted audio textures, and subtle atmospheric music create a constant sense of emotional discomfort without relying on traditional horror mechanics.”
- “For players willing to immerse themselves completely in the atmosphere, this creates a meditative and emotionally absorbing experience.”
optimization
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43% positive mentions, 14% neutral mentions, 43% negative mentions
Optimization for the game is generally criticized as poor, with users noting significant performance issues despite smooth gameplay in some cases (such as running through Proton on Linux). Compared to similar titles, it lacks in rendering quality and technical polish, resulting in a less refined experience.
- “Performance is great, ultrawide support is good though I wish there was an FOV slider.”
- “Also, I'm running it through Proton (9.0.4) on Linux, so there might be more overhead, or maybe there are GPU optimizations and driver improvements that make it a very smooth experience.”
- “Manifold Garden has a lot of similarities in how pronounced the lines and shapes feel with the more flat plane-centric approach to 3D geometry, but that game has a lot more care put into the optimization as well as rendering of the game itself.”
- “The optimization is disastrously bad.”
- “Poor optimization and lack of anti-aliasing.”
- “This game really just misses the high quality performance and tech behind Manifold Garden to elevate the experience further.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The character development is minimal and lacks concrete storytelling, making it difficult for players to form a strong emotional connection with the characters.
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
Grinding in the game is widely viewed as tedious, uninspired, and ultimately underwhelming, detracting from the overall experience.