Just like in Haruhi Chan, Yuki has a love for games. But this doesn't mean she doesn't have less love for literature than the original Yuki does. If one pays attention, you'll notice a huge majority of what she plays are either Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game or Visual Novels (which is technically literature in its own right), both of which are usually brimming with story and lore, not unlike good literature in standard text-on-paper.
Apart from having a normal range of human emotions, this Yuki isn't really much different from the original, let alone the version from Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. She's still has genius-level intellect (even if she can't explain properly) is tougher than she looks, loves literature (albeit in a different format usually), and starts off with a practically non-existent sense of self-worth until she meets Kyon.
Why was this version of Haruhi easily able to realize that Kyon is John Smith? In this version she met him when he was the same age as her, as opposed to canon where he is obviously three years older.
Because any normal, logical human being would assume that someone will age three years in three years' time. Original Haruhi was looking for "John Smith", the high school student at North High in 2007, not someone three years younger than she's expecting to show up in her own homeroom class. And yes, Koizumi confirms that Haruhi is, at base, a logical person who wishes for the fantastic, despite her skepticism.
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya was Volume 4 of the Light Novels. The arc where Yuki changes to a different persona, and thus disappears is also Volume 4 of the manga!
Emblematic of difference between Haruhi and Nagato-chan, Haruhi proudly sprays "Merry X-mas!" in forward letters at the Christmas party in the main timeline, not caring what people think. In this universe, Yuki sprays "!sam-X yrreM" for the benefit of people outside looking in at the club.
