Blue Reflection: Second Light Review

Blue Reflection: Second Light is an RPG developed by Gust and published by Koei Tecmo, releasing in Japan on 21st October 2021 and then everywhere else on 9th November 2021. Now, this game is the sequel to the original Blue Reflection and the anime Blue Reflection Ray. While they are not necessary to understand the story and the game will cover the broader story elements from the previous game, it makes a few moments that much more special.

You mainly play as Ao Hoshizaki, an ordinary girl who was supposed to spend her summer vacation going to class, when she suddenly finds herself in a school floating in the middle of an endless ocean. However, she isn't alone. Stuck in a similar situation are Kokoro Utsubo, Rena Miyauchi, and Yuki Kinjou — who all have forgotten who they were before finding themselves in this other world.

Armed with rings that grant them magical powers fueled by their emotions (with magical girl transformations to boot), the girls must now explore this mysterious world to regain their memories and find a way back home. However, there is something much bigger going on that will make returning to their world significantly harder.

Be Reborn

As for what I think of the story, it's pretty good. The game is slow-paced and will take time to get going, but it is not to its detriment. You’ll want to take your time and enjoy the ride rather than rush through it to the ending. I like the interactions between the girls, especially the little bits of dialogue outside of cutscenes and dates. Also, all the voiced dialogue is in Japanese so if you're bothered by it, be aware that this game is not for you.

The graphics are nice, from the character models to the world itself. The voiced cutscenes look straight out of an anime movie that I would watch in theatres. Just don't look too closely. The textures aren't in high resolution and you'll notice low poly models frequently. This is while I was playing with the highest graphic settings. However, it doesn't retract from the experience too much. There's also a little too much lens flare from the sun sometimes. It’s nice when you’re looking away, but not when it’s directly in front of the camera view.

Combat is in real-time. It uses a timeline, where each party member generates ether (essentially their ability to act) between skills and will need to reach certain points to activate certain attacks. Now, executing attack skills by themselves aren’t very effective, but executing skills with each character in a combo will deal serious damage. However, you can miss your attack if you time it wrong so keep an eye on the battlefield and check what the enemy is doing.

The most important stat you should focus on is your ether recovery speed. It will let you perform more actions during combat, and it allows Ao to extend the use of combo guard (a unique skill only she can use), which is indispensable against tougher enemies.

The photo mode is really good, allowing for beautiful shots as this.

There are a variety of systems to take into account with each battle. For example, as you use skills, your ether recovery speed rises. Once a party member's recovery speed reaches a certain level, their Gear will shift, making your skills more powerful and save some ether. At Gear 3, the girl's will transform into Reflectors and become even more powerful. This goes all the way up to Gear 5. Note that some skills can only be activated at higher Gear levels.

In short, the combat system is really fun. Being forced to figure out what to do on the fly is exciting and never makes battle boring. However, the dynamic camera is a little annoying at times. Sometimes it'll shift away from the enemy, not allowing me to see the health bar or whether or not I actually killed it.

And don’t worry about reserve party members. They receive just as much EXP as the active party members so if you need to change things up, you don’t have to worry about grinding levels. Just make sure the girls' equipment is up-to-date and they should be ready for whenever you need them. You can even bench the main protagonist without consequence, however I don’t recommend it considering the useful skills she learns.

You also have support party members; who don't directly fight but provide help in other ways. You can call for their support at any time during a battle if you're in a tough spot.

Speaking of party members, you can go out of your way to hang out with them and go on dates. Spending time with them does have a purpose outside of more dialogue. Each member gains Talent Points or TP, which you use to unlock more abilities like stat increases or new moves, whenever you complete their requests or go out with them, along with a unique item based on your responses. As Ao is the main player character, she gains TP by interacting with the other girls. Each girl has different types of talent unlocks based on four personality traits. Some will lean towards more specific aspects based on their character. For example, the studious and cool Rena will have two Knowledge talents.

And yes, you can eventually upgrade your relationship to the lewdest act: hand holding.

As battles go on, your party gets stronger. A rewarding system.

You can also craft items with the materials you collected out in the field while you're in school. Items can have varying effects depending on who is crafting them so do some experimentation and find the perfect combination for any given situation. If you find yourself low on health and items, you can always return to the school at the press of a button.

At school, you can build facilities to make your life easier. Some facilities can boost your stats, while others allow you to buy items you might need. It's a cool feature. I would recommend investing some time into creating some buildings and upgrading them to make your playthrough all that much easier.

Performance wise, the game runs smoothly on my PC. Loading doesn't take more than a few seconds, and I haven't encountered any major glitches that would affect gameplay. If anything, characters following you stutter while you walk but that’s only on dates. You don’t need to wait for a performance patch. 

Ultimately, Blue Reflection: Second Light is good; a slow-paced RPG that won’t make you stress over too many things. The combat is fun, the characters are engaging, and the story is interesting enough to pull you through. Even the problems I had with the game were mostly nitpicks because there really aren't any real issues with the game itself. It’s just down to personal taste really. Take at your own speed, hit the Auto Skip button during voiced cutscenes, and make the most of your time.

Blue Reflection: Second Light is available on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.