Blue Reflection Quartet
Review
Through a Glass Darkly
by Samuel Corey
reviewed on PC
Blue Reflection Duet
The collection's subtitle implies there will be four games here, but that is only true in the most literal sense. Blue Reflection: Sun is a port of a mobile title that has been drastically altered in terms of pacing and collectibles. As it turns out, removing the grind from a gacha game also removes most of the gameplay and sense of progression, leaving the player with a strangely rushed and hollow experience.
At least you can argue that Sun is a game; the same cannot be said for Blue Reflection: Ray, which is meant to be an adaptation of the anime spin-off series of the same name. The action begins in medias res (presumably right before the anime's climactic battle) with almost no introduction to any of the characters. The story is then back-filled by collecting memories scattered throughout the map, each one giving the player a snippet of plot or a character motivation along with a couple of screenshots from the anime. There is precious little gameplay to speak of.
I have no idea who this is supposed to appeal to. People who haven't watched the anime will be baffled about who these characters are or what they are trying to do. While people who have seen the anime will probably just be bored, as the game amounts to little more than one of those filler episodes old shows used to assemble from disparate clips when they were running low on money.
About the only good thing I can say about Ray is that I like how the two main characters will hold hands when you walk around the environments looking for the next anime screenshot. That is pretty cute.
Censored for Modern Audiences
While the quality of Ray and Sun are dubious at best, the two actual games in the collection are solid JRPGs with a unique atmosphere and visual style. They are a combination of fantasy adventure stories and slice-of-life school romances, with the main characters forging ambiguously romantic friendships with their classmates before transforming into magical girls and fighting monsters in a collective unconscious called The Common. In premise they are similar to the Persona games, but they are distinguished by their homoeroticism and faintly melancholic atmosphere. The games are very much worth playing for anyone interested in JRPGs and shoujo-ai, and with its various quality of life improvements, Quartet should be an easy recommendation. Unfortunately, half of the reason for buying the collection, the original Blue Reflection, has been significantly censored for this release.
I cannot overstate how bizarre this decision is. Not only is fanservice central to the identity of the series (the game was originally conceived when the developers at Gust compiled a catalog of their fetishes), it is also a very tame species of fanservice, equivalent to what you might see on prime-time network television or in a PG-13 movie. For the most part, the scenes being censored are nothing more salacious than images of the girls in their underwear. In the original release of Blue Reflection, there would be scenes where the girls were fully nude, but their bodies are depicted like Barbie dolls lacking defined nipples or genitals. These have been reworked to have the girls in towels to hide their non-existent naughty bits. The game has even censored the textures of the girls' shirts when they get caught in the rain, making them more opaque lest gamers catch a glimpse of their bra-straps.
It also seems doubly absurd when the publisher tells players that these changes had to be made to bring the games in line with modern sensibilities. The original Blue Reflection is not even ten years old, and the sequel is only five! Are modern audiences really scandalized by the raw sensuality of an ESRB teen-rated game from two election cycles ago? Hell, on the same launcher that houses my copy of Quartet, I can buy absolutely heinous ero-guro games like SiNiSistar 2 or Dismantling Workshop of Bio-Girl were I so inclined. Even mainstream releases like Cyberpunk 2077 or Stellar Blade are significantly sexier than even the uncensored Blue Reflection.
Additionally, the Quartet re-release does not include all the DLC costumes for Blue Reflection or Blue Reflection: Second Light. Presumably because modern audiences would be unable to accept anything as scandalous as women wearing bikinis.
A Difficult Recommendation
Ideally, a collection like this should be a one-stop shop for both new players interested in the series, and die hard fans looking for the ultimate Blue Reflection experience. Sadly, this is not the case. For people who already own Blue Reflection and Blue Reflection: Second Light, the Quartet collection adds very little of value. Sun and Ray just are not worth the price of admission on their own.
Worse, even if you don't already have Blue Reflection and Blue Reflection: Second Light, the Quartet collection is not unquestionably the best way to experience those titles. Sure, there are some appreciated quality-of-life improvements here, as well as the convenience of having everything in a single package, but these games have been altered from their original releases, oftentimes in ways that negatively impact them. It's doubly frustrating because these are a duo of unique JRPGs that have largely flown under the radar and should have more acclaim and appreciation. I wish I could tell everyone to go out and buy Quartet, but as it stands, it's a difficult recommendation to make.
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7.0
fun score
Pros
Captures a unique atmosphere for a JRPG, being comfortable but also sombre, Quality of life improvements to the older titles
Cons
Only two out of the four titles are actual games, The original Blue Reflection has been bizarrely censored, DLC costumes for Blue Reflection and Blue Reflection: Second Light are nowhere to be found
