BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light

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"Blue Reflection: Second Light" is a role-playing game where players navigate a mysterious academy and build relationships with fellow students to uncover the truth about their surroundings. The Digital Deluxe Edition includes additional costumes, facilities, and fragments to enhance gameplay. Players can explore and battle in various environments while managing resources and developing the school. The game is a sequel to "Blue Reflection" and features new and returning characters.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

93%

Audience ScoreBased on 262 reviews

story64 positive mentions

grinding15 negative mentions

The game features a beautiful art style and engaging character designs, enhancing the overall experience.
The story is emotionally rich, with well-developed characters and meaningful interactions that resonate with players.
The combat system has been improved, offering a more dynamic and strategic experience compared to the first game.

The game suffers from pacing issues, with some sections feeling unnecessarily padded and repetitive.
Boss battles are often underwhelming and lack the excitement and challenge found in the first game.
The stealth missions can be frustrating and detract from the overall enjoyment of the gameplay.

story
258 mentions
25 % positive mentions
70 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The story of "Blue Reflection: Second Light" is generally well-received, with many praising its emotional depth and character development, particularly as it explores themes of memory and personal growth. However, some players find the pacing uneven, with a slow start and a rushed conclusion, while others criticize the inclusion of tedious crafting and stealth missions that detract from the narrative experience. Overall, the game offers a compelling blend of slice-of-life moments and a larger overarching plot, making it an engaging experience for fans of the genre.
- “The story is engaging right from the start and the ending is satisfying.”
- “The story, the combat system, the 3D character modeling, skill effects, etc., are better, but not as near as what I would call a 'good' game.”
- “A beautiful story about youth, with hardships and struggle, friendships and happiness.”
- “The story drags for way too long.”
- “By the end of the game, it felt like a slog and I didn't even end up watching the ending because the story felt tedious and boring.”
- “The story feels a bit rushed and the way some lore is handled feels haphazard, but overall the ideas were interesting and enough entertaining moments occur to hold me through to the end.”
music
109 mentions
46 % positive mentions
50 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its emotional depth and atmospheric qualities, while others feel it falls short compared to the original game's soundtrack. While some tracks are described as beautiful and fitting for the game's ethereal setting, others find the music repetitive and less memorable, particularly during boss battles. Overall, the soundtrack is considered solid but not as impactful as its predecessor, with a blend of uplifting and chill tunes that enhance the gameplay experience.
- “The soundtrack is incredible, their highlight being peaceful ambient tracks well tied together by strong leitmotifs.”
- “The music is a blessing to the ear.”
- “The music nicely underlines this with a lot of nice and calm music with some electronic aspects to otherwise often piano music.”
- “This soundtrack was quite lackluster and doesn't come close to the incredible OST put together by composer Hayato Asano for the first game.”
- “Compared to the first Blue Reflection, I'd say the music as a whole is considerably weaker; it's a much longer game, yet doesn't really vary its tracks much, which only highlights how unexciting some of them are.”
- “While they nailed the location's music tracks, the boss battles and the music that goes with them are just completely underwhelming.”
gameplay
96 mentions
27 % positive mentions
67 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The gameplay in this title has seen significant improvements over its predecessor, featuring a mix of engaging combat mechanics and character interactions that enhance the overall experience. While the turn-based combat incorporates interesting elements like time management and character swapping, many players find the difficulty too easy, leading to a sense of repetitiveness. Overall, the game offers a charming blend of narrative and mechanics, appealing particularly to fans of the magical girl genre and JRPGs, though some mechanics may feel underutilized or confusing.
- “Get this game on sale, of course. I got it for 60 percent off, so about 32 dollars for everything including the four DLC packs, which, for 42 hours of fun gameplay, a great story (after a slow start), and beautiful music—yeah, this one is great for people who enjoy magical girl media or simply JRPGs in general.”
- “The developers have really learned from the missteps of the original Blue Reflection and have made many improvements to the gameplay to make this title more fun and approachable.”
- “The gameplay is great, and the characters I love, and the story so far is great.”
- “The pacing is weird, the gameplay is effortlessly easy and makes one wonder why they would add half the mechanics they did when you can roll through the game without breaking a sweat, and I didn't even realize 'ether flows' were a mechanic until I looked through the Steam achievements.”
- “However, the gameplay is way too easy after the first few chapters, with no way to adjust the difficulty any higher during the first playthrough.”
- “The excessive amount of dating that you can't skip if you care about the 'game experience' can drain the gameplay.”
graphics
61 mentions
41 % positive mentions
54 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the colorful and aesthetically pleasing visuals, particularly in character designs and level environments. However, some players note a decline in animation quality and occasional graphical glitches compared to the previous title. Overall, while the graphics are generally considered good and improved from the first game, there are still areas for enhancement, particularly in enemy designs and lighting.
- “The graphics and the translation are a huge improvement over the first game.”
- “Aesthetically, this game is just amazing.”
- “Graphically beautiful, I'm happy Gust improved their programming techniques for their games.”
- “The overall animation quality seems to be lower than the first title, as well as some other issues with the graphics that feel like downgrades.”
- “Graphics are serviceable, and although the character models are very pretty, the enemy designs, lighting, and textures are a bit dull.”
- “There are some slight graphics bugs here and there.”
emotional
34 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its heartwarming soundtrack and sincere character interactions, creating a deeply engaging experience for players. While some characters may lack development, the overall narrative is filled with touching moments that resonate strongly, especially for fans of the series. The game effectively explores themes of emotional trauma and mental illness, making it a wholesome and impactful journey that can evoke strong feelings, including tears.
- “All in all, a very heartwarming, emotional, and pleasant ride.”
- “The game shines in the interactions between the girls, which are heartfelt and sincere.”
- “I think they were able to create a very heart-touching story with very deep meaning and emotion.”
character development
19 mentions
47 % positive mentions
37 % neutral mentions
16 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is praised for its depth and emotional resonance, primarily conveyed through well-written dialogues and engaging slice-of-life moments that allow players to bond with the characters. The narrative effectively intertwines personal growth with the overarching plot, enhancing player investment in the characters' journeys. Additionally, the character designs are noted for their beauty and creativity, further enriching the overall experience.
- “Still, this shouldn't be a criterion that overshadows what I really did find valuable in the narrative — dialogues are rather well-written, at least enough for me to empathize with the girls and the whole dire situation they're in, being trapped all by themselves in a deserted school in the middle of an endless sea, having lost their memories and striving for survival, which in turn will lead the way to somewhat unexpected character developments and, without delving into spoilers, an overarching plot that's actually quite daunting.”
- “Blue Reflection: Second Light is not a mere dungeon crawler; it heavily uses slice of life moments to drive character development.”
- “Most of the character development is done via dates, which you need to do a number of with each girl to boost up their talent level and give you points that you will need to boost your party.”
- “Character development is done very well, so as the story goes on, you grow to love every one of the characters, making it easy to fully immerse yourself in the setting.”
- “It's basically the game's means of character development, but you get to experience it more personally.”
grinding
16 mentions
6 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
94 % negative mentions
The reviews highlight a significant issue with grinding in the game, describing it as tedious and overwhelming, particularly due to excessive backtracking and repetitive combat that feels like a chore. Players express frustration with the need to farm materials and the slow pace of battles, which detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game. While some appreciate the game's charm and slice-of-life elements, many feel that the grinding mechanics hinder the experience, making it feel like a slog by the end.
- “By the end of the game, it felt like a slog and I didn't even end up watching the ending because the story felt tedious and boring.”
- “The combat really suffers from an issue where every fight you start off weak and become stronger while building up your combo/transforming, making a lot of trash mob fights feel more tedious than they should be.”
- “My biggest gripe is that this game could really use a speed modifier for combat to speed up the pace of grinding battles.”
optimization
14 mentions
21 % positive mentions
43 % neutral mentions
36 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with players noting that while it runs smoothly overall, there are significant performance issues, particularly on PC without a controller. Many users experienced stuttering and frame rate drops, making the game borderline unplayable at times, although some reported that these issues were alleviated when using a controller. Despite being polished and free of major bugs, the optimization leaves much to be desired, leading to recommendations to wait for a sale before purchasing.
- “Not quite optimized but definitely not unplayable.”
- “It's important to point out that there's a massive performance problem - and there used to be a bug where the game would stutter without a gamepad connected but it seems they have fixed it - but I still find it very much playable even at 40~50 fps when it dips on certain scenarios for no apparent reason.”
- “The biggest concern is that the game definitely prefers if you play with a controller; there are performance optimization issues with the PC version of the game without one.”
- “It's impossible to keep this game locked at 60fps even at the lowest settings and resolution due to poor optimization.”
- “This could easily be a yes to recommend, but the constant stuttering makes it borderline unplayable.”
atmosphere
13 mentions
54 % positive mentions
23 % neutral mentions
23 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its stunning visuals and evocative soundtracks, creating a beautiful and ethereal setting that enhances the overall experience. Reviewers highlight the unique blend of cozy, nostalgic, and occasionally melancholic tones, which effectively capture the essence of carefree summer days and resonate with players. Overall, the game's atmosphere is considered a standout feature, elevating its narrative and character interactions.
- “Well yes, this game might not be a technical prowess, but it certainly can deliver some gorgeous sceneries nonetheless (special mention to Kirara's heartscape), as well as enjoyable soundtracks that fit well the ethereal atmosphere of the setting.”
- “The surreal atmosphere and environments are what define Blue Reflection; its world is simply beautiful.”
- “The setting of the 'endless summer' is both beautiful and nostalgic, evoking memories of youth and happiness, and it really has an extremely cozy atmosphere which will have you smiling throughout.”
- “The game feels a lot like Nier: Automata, not only because of some of the later maps, but the general atmosphere of being in an isolated world too.”
humor
9 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted by a variety of funny buildings and whimsical elements, such as a comiket market and a giant teddy bear, which add a light-hearted touch to the gameplay. Players appreciate the blend of comedic moments with serious storytelling, featuring humorous interactions among characters and amusing situations, particularly with the protagonist Ao. Overall, the game successfully enhances its predecessor's humor through engaging dialogue and entertaining scenarios.
- “As you progress through the storyline, you’ll unlock more types of buildings, some of which get pretty funny, such as a comiket market (indie comic stand), a giant teddy bear to hug, and even beds you can sleep on and watch the stars.”
- “It has a great mix of content, from funny optional content to a serious overarching storyline.”
- “The slow story development of the previous title has also been improved through more concise cut scenes, humorous interactions, and interesting characters.”
stability
3 mentions
100 % positive mentions
-67 % neutral mentions
67 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is polished and stable, with no crashes or major bugs reported. However, some users have noted occasional graphic glitches and performance issues, despite improvements over the previous installment.
- “The game looks great and runs smoothly compared to the first installment.”
- “I haven't experienced any crashes or major bugs, which is a huge improvement.”
- “The stability of the game allows for a seamless gaming experience without interruptions.”
- “Some weird graphic glitches (I don't mean the normal stuff in the heartscape).”
- “The game itself is very polished, doesn't crash and I did not encounter any bugs or glitches, but the performance is not good.”
replayability
3 mentions
67 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
33 % negative mentions
The game offers some replayability through additional playable characters, enhancing the experience beyond the limited options of its predecessor. However, many users feel that certain elements are merely filler, detracting from the overall value of replaying the game, especially for those interested in completing all achievements.
- “It offers an extra layer of replayability to the game.”
- “There are more playable characters (BR1 was limited to 3).”
- “Frankly, there are many things in the game that feel like they are just there to extend your playtime without offering any tangible replay value, so I wouldn't recommend this game if you care about getting all achievements.”
monetization
3 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has drawn criticism for its focus on DLC that appears to objectify characters and cater to a generic audience, rather than its established fanbase of yuri enthusiasts. Reviewers feel that the developers may either be exploiting this niche for profit or are out of touch with their audience, particularly with the release of what is perceived as a cash grab DLC.
- “At this point, it is unclear whether or not they understand that this niche little franchise of theirs has an audience of mostly yuri fans. It's clear that if they do, they are willing to throw all of us away for a generic cash grab game featuring a generic hetero male self-insert. If they are unaware, then they are just incompetent.”
- “The hidden island DLC is a cash grab.”
- “I also hesitate to point people to the Steam page because the store here has a bunch of advertising for DLC that, for lack of a better term, ogles and objectifies the characters.”