Koei Tecmo has announced BLUE REFLECTION Quartet, set to launch on July 30 for PC (Steam), PS5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. A trailer video was also released alongside the announcement.
Blue Reflection Quartet is a compilation title that brings together all four entries in the Blue Reflection series, with the addition of extra content, new features and quality-of-life improvements.
The original Blue Reflection, an anime-style JRPG, was released in 2017 by Koei Tecmo’s Gust brand (known for developing the Atelier series). The story follows Hinako Shirai, once a promising ballet dancer, whose career was cut short by a leg injury that left her unable to continue. A year after the injury, she begins attending Hoshinomiya Girls High School, where she gains the power to fight as a magical girl (called a “Reflector”) by harnessing fragments of people’s emotions. Gameplay consists of a cycle of turn-based battles against monsters who threaten to destroy the world, and Hinako’s school life. Building relationships with schoolmates influences Hinako’s abilities as a Reflector.
Currently holding a “Very Positive” rating on Steam, this title served as the starting point for the broader Blue Reflection series, which expanded into the 2021 anime Blue Reflection Ray, the (now discontinued) live-service game Blue Reflection Sun, and the 2021 sequel for consoles, Blue Reflection: Second Light.
The upcoming Blue Reflection Quartet will include all four of these titles in updated forms. The original game, for instance, will get high-res textures for characters and environments, faster movement, and an autosave function, making the title a bit more visually polished and comfortable to play.
Things get more interesting with Blue Reflection Ray: the anime’s story will be re-edited into a sort of playable experience, with key characters receiving 3D models. You’ll collect memory fragments scattered around the Other World to gradually unlock and learn more about Ray’s narrative.
As for Blue Reflection Sun, whose servers were active until around May 2024 in Japan, the title has been reconstructed into a more console-game-style experience. It will feature interactions with schoolmates and a battle system inspired by Blue Reflection: Second Light. Additionally, 24 newly written event scenes, depicting interactions between characters not present in the original, have been added, along with prologue and epilogue segments meant to tie together the compilation’s different titles.
Last but not least, Blue Reflection: Second Light will also receive some new features in Quartet. Eight characters from Ray and Sun will be added as playable characters, and they’ll also be accessible in the game’s photo mode. Improvements such as faster movement and combat, along with event skip options, will be added to improve playability.
The compilation will also come with a database feature called “REFERENCE,” which will offer a chronological flowchart of events, character relationship charts (both series-wide and per title), and detailed background information on the characters and world-building. The gallery section features illustrations by the Blue Reflection series’ main artist Mel Kishida. TLDR; Blue Reflection Quartet will offer the four entries in a reworked, more accessible form, combining enhanced editions of the games with reconstructed versions of the anime and live-service title.
BLUE REFLECTION Quartet is scheduled to release on July 30 for PC (Steam), PS5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.
