Dream Eater

Unreleased

The Dream Eaters (ドリームイーター) are the new enemies in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. There are two types: ones that "eat dreams and plant nightmares", referred to as Nightmares, and ones that "eat nightmares", referred to as Spirits. Nomura has said that, not only are there many types of Dream Eaters (Square Enix revealed that you can recruit over 50 different types of Spirits), but they can help provide Sora and Riku with abilities as well as aid in combat. Additionally, the colors of your party's Dream Eaters can be customized. According to recently released information, the Dream Eaters are the forms the darkness takes in the sleeping worlds as Heartless and Nobodies cannot enter.

Appearance
Dream Eaters, as stated, have two species—Spirits and Nightmares. They all seem to be animal-based, except the Obake Pierrot, similar to some Heartless. Spirits are usually light-colored and have black eyes with various shaped pupils. Nightmares are usually darker in coloration, similar to a Heartless's palette, but their glowing eyes are red and get darker towards the center.

Gameplay
The Dream Eaters in your party will level up; this will be related to Sora's and Riku's own leveling. It is also possible to have multiple Dream Eaters in combat at the same time. The Dream Eaters do not approach anyone and consume dreams in the Realm of Sleep where there are no Heartless.

If Sora/Riku don't use the power of the Dream Eaters, they can't go to the other worlds. The Wonder Meow is Sora's first Spirit, the Bat Bat is Riku's, and the Neko Cat appears to be the first spirit that Neku gets. The player is also able to change the colors of the Dream Eaters. It was also shown in the Jump Festa 2012 trailer, that Beat is able to summon the Kuma Panda, another Dream Eater. The Kuma Panda seems to be Sora's second Dream Eater, while the Goat Horn seems to be Riku's.

Notes and references
Dream Eater Dreameater