A massive improvement over the original. Would I recommend playing the original before jumping into the sequel? I would say yes simply because of returning characters and it gives you more insight into the universe of Blue Reflection despite all of it's faults.

Second Light improves on everything the first did including a better port, Gust seem to be getting better at porting to PC while other KT properties are either hit or miss (Warriors Orochi 4 had a good port while Fatal Frame V and Ninja Gaiden collection had rather lazy ports).

As for the new additions there is a faster more in depth combat system similar to what Atelier Ryza has. There is more playable characters (BR1 was limited to 3). They also added the two leads from the anime as playable characters, which I haven't finished. The level design has been vastly improved while also giving you more ways to trek across each area. Seriously, the level design in the first wasn't great. There is also live banter while exploring dungeons which give the characters more personality and makes the game more lively. Ao has the ability to date other girls which the first game kinda let you do. Another improvement and one I'm glad about is the overhaul of the progression systems. In BR1, Hinako and the girls didn't level up in a traditional manner instead they gain skill points from interacting with other characters in the game meaning the only thing combat rewarded you with was items. In the second game they scrapped that and added in a traditional leveling system through combat but also retained some of the original elements. Instead of gaining a single stat point from interacting with characters you get TP points that also level up the relationship you have with each character. The points you get from here can go into one of four trees. These can give a character a slight stat increase or an ability.

Mel Kishida's art is as beautiful as it has ever been with high quality character portraits and designs, seriously his character design's in Blue Reflection and the Atelier Arland games are really good. The music still has that laid back feeling it had in the original. The story is also improved from the first because there is a mystery of the girls finding out about their pasts and about the world they currently inhabit.

All in all Blue Reflection Second Light improves upon what the original did and it's really like Mel and the guys at Gust really listened to the criticism's the first game got and decided to create an overall better package than their previous outing.


The game is peak "cute girls doing cute things". As for my favorite girls it looks like a tie between Ao, Kokoro and of course Hinako, the protagonist from the original who returns in this game.

Sakuna is a mix between a side scrolling beat em up and rice farming sim. The better your crops are the higher Sakuna's stats increase. The combat can get pretty hectic and challenging especially at night when monsters are much higher leveled than they are during the day.

One of my favorite elements of Sakuna's arsenal is her Celestial Scarf that allows her latch herself onto walls, can be used as a dodge by allowing her to throw herself over her enemies, yank enemies towards or away from her, debuffing enemies and my favorite is a grab that spins an enemy around in a circle and then slamming them into the ground. She can craft an assortment of different weapons and garments that give special abilities. She can also equip many different combat skills. As for farming you have a ton of mechanics in place that you can do yourself or you can force others to do it. I would recommend doing it yourself as your harvest will come out better and you get abilities that help you speed up all the processes. I would recommend spending time utilizing the fertilizer as it can give you huge benefits.

The story itself tells the story of a spoiled harvest goddess named Sakuna who is banished from the Lofty Realm after accidentally causing the tributes to be destroyed and allowing humans in. After that she and the humans are forced to live on an island that is infested with demons. Her objective from then on is to finish her quest of investigating the island and to harvest. The story is very wholesome and the cool part is that you get to hear more lore and world building during dinner as well as find out more about the cast.

For performance, this game runs at a consistent 60 fps and I have yet to have any technical issue. I would recommend playing with a controller as it feels better. The sound is great as well as it is very atmospheric and the soundtrack is Japanese folk. The voice acting on both Japanese and English is pretty good as well. I like Sakuna's voice in both dub's.

All in all I would recommend this game as it is really fun, charming and is one of the best hidden gems of 2020.