You might've heard of the cult classic PS1 game LSD: Dream Emulator, but did you know there also exists a fan-made remake for PC? Since emulating the original dream emulator can ironically be a bit of a pain, LSD: Revamped offers a nice and easy alternative, along with some quality of life features and additional dreams.

For those unfamilliar, LSD:DE is an experimental game/art project made in 1998 by artist Osamu Sato. There are no objectives; you simply exist and explore surreal low-poly environments, based on ten years of dream diary entries written by game designer Hiroko Nishikawa. Every dream is unique, as music, textures, and objects change based on internal variables no-one really understands to this day.

Yet another surreal walking simulator,, but I promise this one is exceptionally good! Hypnagogia: Boundless Dreams is the second installment of sodaraptor's Hypnagogia series (the sequel demo just came out this month!), and, like many games inspired by LSD: Dream Emulator, centers around the exploration of dreamlike environments. Though, what sets it apart from other LSD-likes is its narrative focus: each dream world has its own self-contained little story, in addition to the overarching storyline. It also has more "gameplay", i.e. platforming and puzzle elements. Of course I should also mention the insanely cool low-poly artstyle of this game; especially the water graphics are so fucking tasty. The ost is also really great, and there are many neat secrets and references :)
tldr: go play game it good 👍

If you're into yume nikki fangames at all, i cannot recommend quilt enough. Quilt is a new, collaborative project by rataratata, catcatcat6 (both are collective unconscious devs), luok (2kki dev), and nunu (yume tsushin creator). Considering the past works of these devs, it is no surprise that the pixel art of quilt is absolutely gorgeous. Furthermore, the dream worlds are all very unique, some of which include impressive mechanics like a 3D hedge maze and rotating moon world. Speaking of mechanics, quilt is pretty different from most "classic" ynfgs. First of all you can only carry 2 effects at a time, and secondly there is no nexus; any time you fall asleep you just get teleported to a random world (kinda similar to lsd dream emulator). Even though it is still in development, this beautiful, incredibly underrated game already has so much to offer, and i sincerely hope more people will check it out :)

The New Flesh is an atmospheric exploration game based on the music by alternative / psychedelic rock band Red Vox (you may know them from their vocalist and guitarist, vinny vinesauce). It's kinda like a collection of interactive music videos, which you can explore via beautiful surrealistic locations. Apart from the music the game itself is also just really good, definitely check it out if you like weird walking sims with many secrets and collectibles. Plus the game is free to play :^)

Red Vox is probably my favorite band of all time (or at least my favorite non-metal band), so it goes without saying that this game means a lot to me. If anything i highly recommend checking out their music - it's fucking phenomenal.

Now, i know this game it's that obscure, but it is one of my all-time favorites so i can't not recommend it. For those who're unfamilliar, votv is a game where you collect signals from outer space in an isolated lab in Switzerland. The more days you spend researching, the weirder things get; ranging from something leaving grafitti on your base, to the fucking sun disappearing.

The thing that makes votv so excellent imo is that it is really, really good at building suspense. Most of the time you're just chilling on your own collecting signals and going about your day, but then every once in a while you catch glimpse of some alien horror beyond our human comprehension. Suddenly you know you're not alone, there is Something out there watching you, but you can't even begin to understand what it is - and worst of all, no-one else believes you. Basically it feels like those low quality alien/cryptid sighting videos, expect now you're the one experiencing them and slowly going insane.

Also it has cute aliens :3

This month's game is Clockwork Dreams, a game originally made for LSDJAM 2020, and reworked for LSDJAM 2024. It's a walking simulator where you explore 30+ of the developer's personal dreams, inspired by Yume Nikki and LSD: Dream Emulator. Now, i'm a bit biased because i really love dream exploration games, but imo this game is genuinely really fun and well made! The environments are all very pretty & interesting, and each time you come back to a world it is never quite the same, since they change with multiple modifiers. The only critiques i have is that sometimes it's hard to tell which objects link you, and the orbs are a bit too difficult to find. Still, Clockwork Dreams is a very unique and detailed game that i highly recommend checking out!