Blight Dream is a freeware 3D horror game, set in the same world as Blank Dream but with an unrelated story, also created by Kanawo of Teriyaki Tomato. A girl named Michiru Orihara is suffering from a rare memory disorder caused by a near-fatal car accident. This prevents her from retaining any memories following the accident, leading her to forgetting everything she does in her day the moment she goes to sleep, unless she writes it in her Memory Notebook. Her brother and guardian Yuu refuses to let her even step outside of the house, causing Michiru to become suspicious of those memories she can't recall- especially when she learns that a Serial Killer attacked the hospital where she stayed. Using her Memory Notebook as a base line, Michiru begins to investigate in her home, and finds that not everything is as it seems... and the killer might be coming after her next.
The game was translated from Japanese into English by vgperson and is available for download here
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Blight Dream contains examples of:
- Amnesiac Hero: Michiru. In a rare variation, she suffers from anterograde amnesia (the inability to form new memories) rather than the typical retrograde amnesia (where it’s past memories that are affected). Also, without the hero part.
- Arc Words: "Blight," after Michiru views a painting by that name.
- Awful Truth: Michiru is the serial killer. Yuu has been keeping this from her for a month.
- Ax-Crazy: Michiru becomes this after viewing the painting "Blight."
- Bait-and-Switch: The game sets up the mystery to frame Michiru's brother Yuu as the killer, but slowly reveals that it's actually Michiru, and that Yuu simply helped her by covering up her crimes.
- Big Bad: The Serial Killer who murdered two people at Mashiba Hospital and is now coming after Michiru. Except that Michiru herself is the amnesiac serial killer.
- Bittersweet Ending: Michiru's memories come back, and she discovers that she was the one behind the Mashiba Hospital Serial Murders. She also learns that Yuu was helping her to cover it up, and trying to keep her from killing again by locking her in the home. The two of them agree to turn themselves in, and meet on the rooftop of the hospital one last time to see Mirai Orihara, who Michiru believed that she had killed. The game ends with Michiru deciding not to run away from her actions any more.
- Character Overlap: Mishiro Usui and Seiichi Hinohara from Blank Dream exist as major parts of this game's plot.
- Delinquent Hair: Mirai has it, by her own admission; her blonde hair is actually dyed.
- The Ending Changes Everything: Michiru being the killer puts a completely new perspective on everything the player has seen up to that point.
- Flower Motifs: The pot of daphnes that Michiru has on her balcony are given special attention, though she can't recall why they're important. The flower was featured alongside poisoned berries in Mishiro Usui's painting, "Blight," and means "undying," referring to Mishiro's eternal regret for the events she bore witness to in the Mirror World. In Michiru's case, she interprets the painting to mean that she should, like the daphne,
commit an act so horrible and evil that even she can't forget it, thereby leaving an undying image of regret in her subconscious. - Foreshadowing: The pot of daphnes on Michiru's balcony and the poster for Mishiro Usui's art show call up a strange sensation in Michiru's mind, but she can't place what it is. Michiru, while visiting Mishiro's show, saw her painting "Blight" featuring daphnes, and the inscription on the painting gave her the idea to kill those she met and wanted to remember following the accident.
- The Ghost: Mishiro Usui is frequently mentioned, and her art plays a major role in the events of the game, but she herself never appears.
- Identity Amnesia: Sort of. Michiru knows who she is, but doesn't know that she's the Mashiba Hospital Serial Killer.
- Insistent Terminology: Yuu always says "attacked" instead of "killed" when referring to Mirai Orihara. This is because, as the player later discovers, she's not dead.
- Jump Scare: A few when Yuu surprises Michiru.
- The Killer in Me: The serial killer is actually Michiru, not that she remembers that.
- Lethal Chef: Yuu. According to Michiru, when she doesn't cook, all he ends up eating are instant meals.
- Lighter and Softer: In comparison with Blank Dream, the horror and suspense are outright toned down and mellowed out.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Michiru is this due to her memory disorder. This is deliberately invoked by her brother Yuu in order to keep her from remembering that she was a murderer.
- Memory-Wiping Crew: Yuu becomes this whenever Michiru comes too close to the truth, by virtue of blacking out entries in her Memory Notebook. He also tries to dull the pain of her regret (which kept the memories of her murders in her mind) by having her do a mind-numbingly boring routine every day.
- Minimalist Cast: The only characters with sprites are Michiru, Mirai, and Yuu.
- Must Make Amends: Michiru and Yuu both decide they need to turn themselves in.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Michiru seems to reach this after attempting to kill Mirai, to the point that Yuu takes pity on her and helps cover up the crime.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The game is mostly a first-person exploration game, where the player walks through a dimly-lit house and must avoid their overbearing brother while trying to investigate. The portions where the brother is nowhere to be found are the most frightening, as he could appear anywhere at any moment.
- Privacy by Distraction: Michiru pretends to be cooking, knowing that her brother can't stop her due to his Lethal Chef status, and then sends him to purchase some soy sauce for her so that she can search the house freely.
- The Reveal: Michiru was behind the Mashiba Hospital Serial Murders, having killed her nurse, Takanashi, and another patient, Hinohara. She also attempted to kill Mirai Orihara, but stopped herself in time for her brother, Yuu, to discover what she had done. Yuu's strange actions throughout the game were not to cover up his own misdeeds, as the game leads the player to believe - he was trying to prevent Michiru from killing again. Another reveal comes in the form of Mirai Orihara, who is shown to be alive, having only been stabbed once by Michiru.
- Secret Diary: Michiru begins keeping one after her original Memory Notebook is meddled with, keeping it in the back of the drawer where she incidentally checks every night even if she doesn't remember deciding to use it.
- Schmuck Bait: Early on, attempting to go into Michiru's parents' room leads to the message, "Go in?" If the player selects yes, the following message asks, "Really go in?" If you choose to go in anyway, Yuu catches you and puts you to bed immediately.
- Shared Universe: With Blank Dream, as Mishiro's artwork features heavily in the game, and the painter that Michiru kills is Seiichi Hinohara, Ayato's father and the man who adopted Mishiro in one of the game's endings.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Seiichi Hinohara was one of the few alive characters at the end of Blank Dream. Here, he's killed by Michiru.
- Spooky Painting: Mishiro Usui's painting, "Blight," is this.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. Michiru and Mirai have the same last name (Orihara) and very similar first names, which is what allows them to meet in the first place.
- Surveillance Station Slacker: Yuu can become one, as some days begin with the message "The house seems quiet...", informing the player that he is either out or in the shower and won't be around to stop the player's exploring.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Michiru is the serial killer that's been all over the news.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Mirai and Michiru, respectively.
- Undying Loyalty: Mirai toward Michiru, even after the latter tries to kill her. Funnily enough this is partially borne of her being diagnosed with an illness that will kill her eventually, so she finds more worth in helping Michiru than in doing anything for herself.
- Walking Spoiler: Everything past Michiru discovering the key to her parents' bedroom is this.
