{"id":64879,"date":"2026-04-09T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=64879"},"modified":"2026-04-08T18:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:21:21","slug":"blue-reflection-quartet-is-a-weird-game-for-weird-gamers-whose-development-was-kicked-off-with-a-team-wide-fetish-meeting-according-to-mel-kishida-a-culmination-o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/blue-reflection-quartet-is-a-weird-game-for-weird-gamers-whose-development-was-kicked-off-with-a-team-wide-fetish-meeting-according-to-mel-kishida-a-culmination-o\/","title":{"rendered":"BLUE REFLECTION Quartet is a \u201cweird game for weird gamers\u201d whose development was kicked off with a \u201cteam-wide fetish meeting,\u201d according to Mel Kishida. A culmination of what Gust wanted to create the most"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two weeks ago, Koei Tecmo and Gust announced <\/a>BLUE REFLECTION Quartet<\/strong>,\u00a0a special compilation title of the BLUE REFLECTION series, set to launch on\u00a0July 30\u00a0for PC (Steam),\u00a0PS5, Nintendo Switch\u00a0and\u00a0Nintendo Switch 2.\u00a0Tying together refreshed versions of all four entries in the Blue Reflection series (including a fully gamified version of the anime), Quartet will have a bunch of extra content, additional features, and quality-of-life improvements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To commemorate the big announcement and celebrate the franchise\u2019s 9th anniversary, AUTOMATON interviewed illustrator Mel Kishida, who told us more about the background of the title\u2019s rather unconventional approach to development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI still think Blue Reflection is a strange game [\u2026] If you play it thinking it\u2019s just a normal RPG, I\u2019m pretty sure you\u2019re going to be like Huh, what even is this?<\/em> And partly due to the fact that it has taken on many different shapes, like a console game, anime and a live-service game, I think sometimes it\u2019s difficult for the franchise to convey what it\u2019s actually trying to do,\u201d Kishida comments. In this sense, Blue Reflection Quartet is meant to assemble all of these stories told through various media forms into a more \u201ccohesive\u201d package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Blue<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

However, as Kishida suggests, the multimedia storytelling isn\u2019t the only thing that makes Blue Reflection stand out as an odd work in Gust\u2019s catalogue. \u201cFirst of all, we didn\u2019t develop the title in an orthodox way (laughs) [\u2026] When we tried laying out all the possibilities [in terms of development], we ended up with a strange approach from the start, so yeah, the result also ended up being unusual,\u201d Kishida explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally, the Blue Reflection project was envisioned as a \u201cproper RPG,\u201d but when Gust, Kishida and other development staff started compiling all of the elements they wanted to include in the game (a school setting, a story featuring only high school students, magical form), the production quickly turned into a pursuit of \u201csomething they wanted to create the most\u201d within the scope of their capabilities.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for how strange the development process actually was, Kishida explains that the first thing the development team for Blue Reflection did when starting on the game\u2019s production was a thorough \u201cfetish meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first thing we did was a fetish meeting<\/em> where everybody discussed their fetishes (laughs). If we\u2019re going to make something, there\u2019d be no point in half-assing it, so we tried to push things to the absolute limit. There are many different types of fetishes, which is why we started by getting everyone on the same page. And we were serious about it. It\u2019s a weird game, so I think people who want to play weird games will appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a game that really falls into the niche of what developers at Gust truly wanted to make, Blue Reflection is, in spirit, \u201can indie game,\u201d despite hailing from a major developer, Kishida suggests. \u201cI think we were able to create a title that is conceptually an indie game even though it was released by a major video game company. I don\u2019t think anything similar will come out in the future, and I believe we managed to make something truly unique, something both us and the players would call a once in a lifetime<\/em> game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BLUE REFLECTION Quartet<\/a> is scheduled to release on July 30 for PC (Steam), PS5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AUTOMATON recently interviewed Blue Reflection artist Mel Kishida, who told us more about how the game was developed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-64879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nBLUE REFLECTION Quartet is a \u201cweird game for weird gamers\u201d whose development was kicked off with a \u201cteam-wide fetish meeting,\u201d according to Mel Kishida. 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