Developed by Gust Co. Ltd. and published by Koei Tecmo, Blue Reflection: Second Light is the sequel to 2017’s JRPG/high school simulator Blue Light, which serves as the final part of Gust’s “Beautiful Girls Festival" project. Blue Reflection: Second Light looks to build on the first title’s formula of real-time combat, social interaction among squadmates, and even elements of item crafting and base building.
The story of Blue Reflection: Second Light centers around Ao, whose average life is turned upside down when she is transported to a parallel dimension called the Faraway. There, she meets Kokoro, Rena, and Yuki, all of whom are suffering from a mysterious case of amnesia. In order to get back home, the girls have to work together to survive in their new environment, find other castaways, and discover the mystery of how they got there and why. In standard JRPG fashion, the plot is a slow burn at first, but it soon picks up with moments of self-discovery and flashbacks, as the girls work to uncover their lost memories within the "Heartscapes" that embody their past lives.
Players control Ao as she navigates an overworld, completing sidequests and collecting items to help on the adventure. At the group’s school home base, players will often craft new items, cook dinner for everyone, go on 'dates' with teammates to help them unlock additional skills, or even build new commodities by placing them and setting them up throughout the school grounds. There is also a Photo Mode, which allows players to insert, position, and pose characters for fun screenshots.
Blue Reflection: Second Light has players take on a variety of demons as its primary mode of combat. Battles unfold in real-time, with players issuing commands to the girls in a standard JRPG turn-based style. Teams consist of three characters on the battlefield, with one of the other girls serving as a Supporter that can use items or provide buffs and debuffs from the sidelines. Attacks and item consumption use up Ether, which each character recovers at a different speed. This increases with every skill used throughout a battle, meaning that the longer a fight goes on, the shorter the corresponding time between attacks and other special actions. Characters can also “shift Gears,” or assume a higher power level once their Ether recovery rate reaches a certain level. At Gear level 3, they can transform into a Reflector, a stronger form that enables them to access even more powerful attacks.
Occasionally, players will engage in One-on-One Battles, where a single girl faces off against an enemy by unleashing an attack, dodging, or countering an opponent’s moves to build up enough combos to unleash a finishing attack. At the end of a battle, everyone who participates in the fight gains EXP and can level up for better stats. Battles are fun for the most part, but the grind that is all too common in the genre does rear its ugly head. Also, players can’t use healing spells outside of battle, forcing them to resort to items for a post-fight patch-up.
Blue Reflection: Second Light’s dialogue is a mix of fully voiced cutscenes and text-only gameplay conversations. The game features the cel-shaded art style that’s become increasingly common among JRPGs, albeit with a softer, painting-like esthetic. Flashy energy effects and elaborate Magical Girl-style transformations are similarly par for the course. The music is soft and cheerful in most places, punctuating the quiet yet hopeful tone of the story.
Blue Reflection: Second Light might not break any molds when it comes to JRPGs, but it does a solid job blending different gameplay mechanics with an emotional tale of reconnecting to old friends and making peace with the past. Players who enjoyed the social interactions and teen drama of modern Persona games should feel right at home here, as Blue Reflection: Second Light has all the ingredients of a decent anime-style high school adventure.
Blue Reflection: Second Light releases today, November 8, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows. A digital PlayStation code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.