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Yume Nikki is a walking simulator initially released by KIKIYAMA in 2004 where you play as a hikikomori named Madotsuki (窓付き, "windowed") as you explore her dream world collecting various abilities called "effects". The dream world is full of odd events, characters, and scenery, and takes on somewhat of a labyrinthine structure which is easy to get lost in. Much of the games meaning is entirely up to speculation.
During my junior year of high school, Yume Nikki was one of the games which helped me keep it together. The scale and dissonance of the world made walking to a specific area just to listen to the OST there and look at the environment very comfy.
There is a comprehensive wiki covering everything there is to know about Yume Nikki. You should experience the as much of the game as you can unspoiled before looking into it too deeply, but there is no shame in leaning on it if you are struggling to find an effect.
The gameplay of Yume Nikki characterized by massive worlds populated by freaky ass stuff has spawned numerous fangames. Here is a list of a few of those fangames, which I have played and return to.
.flow is a fangame by "lol" initially released in 2009. It is much darker and more violent than Yume Nikki, and is themed heavily around rot and decay. You play as a character named Sabitsuki.
LcdDem is a fangame by someone who is no longer around. The author of LcdDem had also produced a significant amount of electronica and songs using UTAU vocals. They vanished from the internet after requesting to be completely forgotten and all references to and copies of their work to be destroyed. LcdDem is somewhat more relaxed than other fangames. You play as a character named Chie.
If you desire to look for LcdDem, I recommend that you look for the authors music as well. It is excellent.
Yume 2kki is a collossal project, with contributions from over sixty authors. It is in ongoing development, and everything seems to change each time I play it. Because of the scale, it can sometimes feel less cohesive and more incomplete than other fangames, but on the other hand it creates a much broader and immersive experience because of how much more deeply you can become lost in it. I have also found that there are excellent puzzle elements and headtwisting events that other fangames have never come close to.
There exists an up to date map of room connections. Like with the Wikis, I recommend that you avoid it until you have spent some time playing the game. You can peek at it if you want to get a sense of scale of the game, though.
A side note, Yume 2kki has various areas and events gated behind effects moreso than other games. While not the only one, the Chainsaw effect (most games have some effect which lets you kill and cut things, in 2kki it's the chainsaw) is the most important. You honestly might want to look up how to get it and make a beeline for it before playing the rest unspoiled.
Yume 2kki had been even more important to me than the original game due to its breadth and unpredictability. Chilling in the most remote areas you can find is a relaxing experience.
Old, but still active, Yume Nikki themed imageboard. It is extremely far past it's prime, but there is still some good discussion happening here, and is home to various projects like a Yume Nikki doujinshi scanlation project.
I've been thinking about finding a sketchbook and taking notes about Yume 2kki as I play it, particularly sketches and descriptions of interesting things and charting room connections. Since the game is so large and routes change frequently, I think after using and revising these notes for a significant period of time, a really cool historic record would arise. I just need to get one...