Synopsis
Blank dream is a 2015 puzzle-horror game by Kanawo made in RPG maker VX ace.
Mishiro Usui, wishing she had never existed commits suicide only to wake up in an unknown place with all her memories gone, she goes around looking for mirrors that let her peer into who she was.
Links
- link to VG person's English translation, featuring a walkthrough and translation notes
- The game's page on Kanawo's website
- Kanawo's Twitter
Gallery
Thoughts
If you've played the Witch's House this will definitely feel familiar, very similar gameplay loop of: die trying to solve a puzzle, solve puzzle, get killed by an element of said puzzle that was previously harmless, rinse and repeat. Describing it like that makes it seem like a bad thing, which it isn't, the Witch's House is a cult classic and I think this game at the least matches up to it. It does try to be scarier with all the jumpscares and chase sequences, whilst in the former jumpscares are rarely accompanied by a loud sound and usually just involve an object moving on its own or falling over, death also came more suddenly, while in Blank Dream you'll get multiple dialog boxes warning you of your upcoming bad decision.
The overworld character sprites look pretty silly, they definitely clash with the default RPG maker assets, in this aspect the Witch's House did a much better job of seamlessly weaving in custom sprite work with what was already there, the character portraits on the other hand look absolutely wonderful, I really like Kanawo's simple and expressive art style, be it kind of generic.
I like that you unlock two realms at once when completing a previous one, gives you options if you get stuck on a puzzle, although, aside from the ones needed to reach the other characters' mirrors, most are pretty intuitive. The realm of spirits is probably my favorite, having the gimmick of the chasers randomly appearing makes it more distinct, the whole 7 mysteries thing as well.
Of course, there is multiple endings: neutral, finding all Yuzu mirrors, finding all Ryotaro mirrors, finding every mirror (the true ending) and the minor bad end in the blood realm mirror.
Note that if you enter the large door after a character's third mirror the game will lock you out of the true ending, having to get to the mirror and NOT enter the door but instead going to the other character's third mirror so you can then go back to the original one is a really awkward way of doing it.
The game has been adapted into a light novel, of which I know nothing about but if you care it's out there.
