There is nothing more scary than a hungry Night Blight...
Night Blights is a light-hearted survival horror game developed by Hot Cross Games and published by Trapdoor Games. Inspired by "survive the night" games such as Five Nights at Freddy's and comedy-horror films such as Gremlins and Critters, Night Blights places players in the shoes—er, footie pajamas—of a young child who must defend his or her sleep family from an invasion of mischievous man-eating nasties called Night Blights. Only by feeding them toys and shutting off all methods of entry can the player resist this home invasion and save his or her family.First released for free on Game Jolt, the game was eventually greenlit on Steam and was released in April of 2016.
Night Blights contains examples of:
- Adorable Abomination: For a species of flesh-eating nightmare creatures, the Night Blights are pretty cute in a weird way.
- Always Chaotic Evil: The Night Blights are all sadistic child-eating monsters who often laugh maniacally at how much trouble they're causing you.
- Anyone Can Die: Played horrifyingly straight.
- Badass Adorable: The unnamed child protagonist can't be more than six years of age or so but nevertheless manages to prevent a home invasion of nightmarish monsters.
- Bland-Name Product: One of the toys is a small furry creature called "Owlby" that more than superficially resembles a Furby.
- Cassandra Truth: It's mentioned in one of the pre-game poems that only children can see the Night Blights; they are completely invisible to adults.
- Cat Scare: Occasionally, Night Blights will jump out at the player, only for it to be revealed that they're mere cardboard cutouts.
- Chest Monster: Occasionally, a Night Blight will appear near the front door sitting under a pile of toys next to a cardboard arrow sign reading "Free Toys". Obviously, if you attempt to grab one, you'll be attacked.
- Creepy Basement: On Thursday, the basement is opened as a new room, complete with an air vent grate through which the Night Blights will attempt to enter.
- Creepy Doll: The player character's teddy bear (which looks suspiciously like a Night Blight) will occasionally move about, sometimes appearing behind the player for a harmless jump scare.
- Death of a Child: Horribly. On Tuesday, one Night Blight will begin attempting to descend into your baby brother's crib through a skylight.
- Downer Ending: The last page of the book which contains the poems about the Blights' attack is intended to have one, with the Blights eating you and moving on to the next house. However, in the retail version, said page is modified in a very childlike tape-and-paper manner after Friday, which leads into the Saturday level and the player's retaliation against the creatures.
- Elite Mooks: On Sunday, players will encounter large muscular Night Blights that take two shots to kill.
- Evil Phone: Occasionally, the phone will ring. Answering it usually plays a recorded message of the Night Blights growling at you.
- Expy: The Night Blights take a lot of inspiration from the Gremlins from the 1994 film.
- Extreme Omnivore: The Night Blights prefer the flesh of humans, but they can also be sated by feeding them your toys.
- Eye Motifs:
- The Night Blights are completely pitch black except for the insides of their eyes and their glowing white eyes.
- The toys can all be seen in dark rooms because of their glowing eyes (or glowing portholes in the case of the rocket toy).
- The Fair Folk: The Night Blights are implied to be a form of this. They are very similar to gremlins and goblins in appearance, they attack and kidnap children, and they are completely invisible to adults.
- Featureless Protagonist: Aside from the likelihood that the player character is male, nothing is really known about any members of the family.
- Gimmick Level: On Sunday, you get to roam the house and shoot all of the Night Blights.
- Horror Hunger: The Night Blights are constantly craving human flesh...or plastic toys.
- Immobile Player Character: Averted. Unlike most "survive the night" games, the player has free roam of the house.
- Jump Scare: How the Night Blights kill you.
- Kid Hero: The protagonist, judging by his height and the decor of his room, is likely only six or so years old.
- Monster Is a Mommy: There is a rare Easter Egg involving the telephone where a Night Blight will call. If the player answers the phone, they will hear a backward message that, when reversed, says "Are my children bothering you? Hahahaha..."
- Nice Day, Deadly Night: The Night Blights are nocturnal creatures and as such only hunt at night.
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: Occasionally, the Night Blights themselves will leave behind crude drawings of themselves on the walls to trick you.
- Shout-Out: Numerous Easter Eggs are hidden throughout the house, including but not limited to:
- A Crystal Dragon Statue on the living room coffee table
- An Aku Aku mask on the wall in the upstairs loft
- Paintings of The A-Team, Jules Winnfield, David Bowie, among others
- A magazine featuring Bubsy on the kitchen table
- Weakened by the Light: On Saturday, you construct a weapon that shoots glowsticks as ammunition and on Sunday, you finally get to kill all of the Night Blights who have been harassing you the entire game.
- Would Hurt a Child: Yep.
