Blue Reflection Quartet is a collection of four games ripe with tropes in the larger Japanese entertainment media ecosystem. We have magical girls, mysterious worlds that exist alongside our own, and world-saving consequences running parallel to slice-of-life narratives. There isn’t necessarily an element in any of these titles that revolutionizes the visual novel or RPG genres it draws from, but there are moments to enjoy here. Let’s dive into a Nintendo Switch 2 review of Blue Reflection Quartet.

Blue Reflection is essentially a slice-of-life game that released almost ten years ago. You play as Hinako, a girl who can no longer perform ballet due to an injury. She uncovers the Common, a world where people’s emotions can turn into threats to the real world. In a Sailor Moon-style transformation, Hinako and her classmates become Reflectors, tasked with battling monsters in the Common. In this world, she can not only move freely without injury, but she can also earn one wish if she defeats the evil that lurks within.

As the ideal starting point, you immediately see the pattern to what’s to come in these games. There’s a lot of dialogue and scenes you watch play out, very much akin to a visual novel. Then, in the Common, you’re in a third-person action game where combat plays out in turn-based encounters. Combat allows you to level up and even bond with fellow Reflectors for more powerful attacks. Likewise, by speaking with classmates who are fellow Reflectors or helping others in the real world, you can also further your skills.

For the most part, the narrative of Blue Reflection and its gameplay are fairly average throughout. Some helpful features like a fast-forward function help push through the trudge of the game’s more monotonous combat, but overall, I didn’t find myself eager to see where the story went. That got further complicated in the next game, Blue Reflection Ray, which was originally an anime that has now been translated to a game. With new characters and a ton of references to anime events and characters I do not know, this was a pretty unfriendly experience for a newcomer.

Blue Reflection Sun returns to where the original Blue Reflection left off, but as a reworked mobile-game-turned-console experience, there is a loss of depth and quality in the overall experience. After getting around to Blue Reflection: Second Light, it’s clear that Sun is very much just a mobile game that got reworked with Second Light assets and its in-game engine. It’s a better time than Ray, but all three games pale in comparison to Blue Reflection: Second Light.

Blue Reflection: Second Light introduces another protagonist and a similar real-world-alternative-world split of narrative and combat. You get more interactions with the main character’s friends in this game, appealing to the Persona social elements I enjoy about those games. The problem, again, ends up being the lack of pull from the narrative to warrant playing through pretty standard turn-based combat. I think for the most part, unless you’re an aficionado for magical girl tropes or you just really enjoy games from developer Gust, Second Light is the only one worth your time, and that title can be purchased separately.

Blue Reflection Quartet isn’t a collection of bad games. They’re just not all that special. Any game in Gust’s Atelier series is likely going to be more fun for you than these games, but Blue Reflection: Second Light, being the most recent release, does give me hope they can work toward something more substantial if this series is to continue.

A Nintendo Switch 2 review copy of Blue Reflection Quartet was provided by Koei Tecmo for this review.

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Blue Reflection Quartet

49.99

6

Score

6.0/10

Pros

• Four games in one package
• A good blend of visual novel and RPG elements for people who like that hybrid

Cons

• The turn-based combat is not deep nor all that fun
• The narrative, meant to be a focal point, fails to hit emotionally in many cases
• Other than Second Light, these titles feel very forgettable