Blank Dream

“Blank Dream” is a freeware horror-exploration game by japanese-creator Kanawo (a.k.a. Teriyaki Tomato) made in RPG Maker VX Ace. It was first released on May 5th, 2015, but continued updating until version 1.05 on July 28th of the same year. This can be found on Kanawo’s official blog releasing Blank Dream (http://teritoma.blog.fc2.com/blog-date-200005.html). At the same time, an English translation was made by vgperson (https://vgperson.com/games/) who has also translated other classic titles such as “Ib,” “The Witch's House,” “Mad Father,” and “The Crooked Man.”

Blank Dream was the first game released by Kanawo, but, after some more digging, found that he has a surprisingly lengthy gameography. He has more releases featured on his blog, others on his official website (https://www.teritoma.com), and appears to have now made a steady career off of the ongoing “Noel the Mortal Fate” Series, producing an as-of-yet 12 games, merchandise, and even a manga adaptation (https://www.gamemaga.jp/noel/play/, https://myanimelist.net/manga/105395/Higyaku_no_Noel). Other notable releases from this creator that were not mentioned in either his blog or official website would be “Blight Dream” and “Maid in the Dark.” The former is a sequel to Blank Dream (https://vgperson.com/games/blightdream.htm), and the latter has a let’s play by one of my favorite streamers: starrybunnyboy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tinMJIBWwUU), which, personally, wish she could have more attention. Anyway, I’m getting off track, (sorry haha), let’s focus back on the game.

Blank Dream is the story of Mishiro Usui, a 16-year-old girl who’s committed suicide, and now roams the world that exists between life and the afterlife. She starts out with no memories, and your goal is to explore this place, finding her memories trapped inside mirrors that are spread throughout. Now, when I say explore, I don’t mean it in the Yume Nikki sense, but you start in an atrium with 6 different puzzle-rooms, heavily guided by the use of keys that you may find in each room. This hand-holding in the beginning made the game flow intuitively and helped me complete it in a little less than 2 hours.

During that time, what captivated me instantly was the music and atmosphere. While yes, the music's royalty free, and everything's, more or less, made out of default assets, somehow the game was able to produce this general, unnerving sense all-throughout like I was being chased. I was so sensitive to all the sights and sounds, even the jumpscares got me! In total, it surmised to a feeling that really went well for an RPG maker horror game.

However, where it most shines is not in its presentation, but thematic message. Blank Dream has an explicit, anti-suicide message with good reasoning to support it. The game claims that suicide is bad because it rejects the love you have for others or vice versa, and rejects the efforts that those who care about you have exerted to your well-being. While I’m sure there are some extreme examples where this reasoning can be tested (What if nobody loves you? lol), it’s a message I can support.

All in all, for an indie developer’s first game, it was very well-produced, with a good presentation, and an even better message against suicide. It's a game I'd recommend to anyone who's under mental duress, and really, isn’t it just nice to find a horror game that's so proactive?