

Are you a fan of Atelier? How about Final Fantasy and Persona? Do you like games with cute girls doing cute things—but with magic involved? If all of the above applies to you, then you’ll most likely enjoy Gust’s latest magical girl game,Blue Reflection.

Released on March 30th,

Blue Reflection: Sword of the Girl Who Dances in Illusions (BLUE REFLECTION 幻に舞う少女の剣)

is a role-playing video game by Gust Co. Ltd. and Koei Tecmo for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4. Being the final game in Gust’s “Beautiful Girl Festival” Project, this game aims to portray the youth by focusing on the interactions between the girls and their own personal growth.



You can also watch the trailer below:

Story





“Even if you don’t have much power and happiness on your own, you can increase it by taking someone’s hand.”

Meet Hinako Shirai, a ballet dancer who once had great expectations of the future. She was about to compete in an overseas ballet competition but was forced to withdraw due to her foot injury—and she ended up not being able to dance ever since.



Having her dreams taken away from her in a flash, Hinako becomes a shell of her former self.



As the main playable character, you’ll witness how depressed Hinako had become due to that foot incident. She had closed her heart and became more reclusive, even though her mind and body still remembered all the lessons she’d taken everyday for the past ten years. She still believes that one day, her foot will heal so that she can dance ballet again.

Even though Hinako became a shell of her former self after being forced to quit ballet, you’ll be able to see her change through her interactions with other people. Meeting girls of different personalities, sharing your own problems with others, spending your everyday lives with your friends—such situations have helped Hinako cope with her own hopeless situation, and that only became possible due to one thing: by becoming a

Reflector







Hinako meets Yuzuki and Raimu, which led to her obtaining the power to become a Reflector.



In the midst of yet another boring day, Hinako meets two mysterious sisters: Yuzuki and Raimu Shijou. By meeting these girls, Hinako gains a mysterious power, which she uses in order to become a magical girl known as a “Reflector.”

What is a Reflector? What is she fighting? Why does she fight? Why was she chosen to have this power?





While Hinako was still in the dark regarding these questions, there is only one reason why she continues to fight: her own selfish desire. As a Reflector, Hinako is able to move freely and thus she believed that through this, her foot will heal. She paid no heed to the overwhelming attacks and anxieties she might experience as a Reflector. For her, nothing can beat her sincere desire to dance ballet once more. She will continue to fight until her dreams come true.

Hinako in her Reflector attire. She continues to wield the sword in order to fulfill her own desires!



Gameplay

The game follows a day-to-day cycle: Hinako goes to school and interacts with other students along the way. At first, you will have a hard time interacting with them but as you help them resolve their problems, your relationship with your peers gradually begins to change. Depending on your answers and as you interact more with them, they will change how they act around you and you will also receive various benefits, such as support in battle. You can also interact with others using an in-game mobile messaging app, which you can use in order to monitor the level of closeness that you have with other characters.





Within Hoshinomiya Girls High School, Hinako will meet a lot of students whom she gets to interact with.





Depending on how you act around your classmates, sometimes it will be necessary for you to go outside so that you can learn more about their problems.

After school, you will be able to move freely within the campus. Depending on where you go, you will meet students who might discuss their problems with you. The causes for these problems not only originate from the real world; it can also originate from the

Other World

and it is your mission as a Reflector to find the fragments of these emotions that are also causing problems in the Other World.





While there might be a lot of items that can be found in the Other World, it can be dangerous since there are lots of monsters lurking in every corner. Each time you come across a monster or any kind of enemy, the battle mode begins.





The player takes turns between Hinako, Yuzuki and Raimu during battle in order to defeat the enemy.

The game uses a turn-based attack system where the player controls Hinako and her friends by several commands such as

Attack

and

Support.

Meeting certain conditions will also enable you to use a special technique, which enables Hinako, Yuzuki, and Raimu to combine their strengths and unleash a powerful attack.



Hinako, Yuzuki and Raimu work together in order to defeat their enemy.

Hinako will be able to hear a person’s true thoughts through the fragment.





By overcoming various adversities in the Other World and by discovering the fragments, you will be able to hear the student’s real thoughts which can help you solve the problem. Once you’ve managed to return to the real world and the student’s troubled aura has disappeared, the mission will be complete and you will receive various items which you can use in other missions or to power up during battle.

By repeatedly solving problems and finding fragments in the Other World, Hinako’s bond with her classmates will grow and her Interaction level will increase even further.





While doing missions and solving problems with your friends at school, powerful enemies called “Pure Breeds” will sometimes appear in the real world in order to wreak havoc upon humanity.

Pure Breeds are one of the strongest foes in the game. The player might die from a single attack of a Pure Breed, so receiving support from your allies is an absolute necessity!



In order to protect the school and their friends, Hinako, Raimu and Yuzuki must defeat the Pure Breeds by becoming a Reflector. Pure Breeds are strong creatures incomparable to the monsters from the Other World and can easily obliterate everything within its reach.





In order to defeat the Pure Breeds, Hinako, Raimu and Yuzuki must use the full extent of their Reflector powers. They must also receive support from other students whom they interact with everyday and use it to their advantage in order to become stronger.

Allies will offer a variety of support. Each character has a different support effect, and you can only choose them to accompany you before the actual battle!



Reception

The game received high ratings on Amazon, and was noted to be “interesting.” Reviews on the game constantly noted its excellent soundtrack and artwork, and for the sheer enjoyment that the players can get from playing it.



Given all the positive commentaries about this game, you probably want to try this yourself and see if it lives up to the hype. But since most of Gust’s games have been localized into English, it is highly likely that Blue Reflection will be localized as well. But hey, you can always play it in Japanese; if you want an in-depth explanation about the game, you can check this out for more info.

Sources:

Gematsu [1] [2] [3] [4]

4gamer.net

Amazon Japan