A blue archive review from a new sensei

this review was originally written while i was a new blue archive player. i stopped playing afterwards.

blue archive is, first and foremost, a live service gacha game, with usual live service gacha game symptoms, which isn’t everyone’s thing. and I don’t mean the usual gambling and microtransactions complains, I mean how the game is designed in a broader sense. it’s the kind of game where it feels like everything is built on top of the gacha, as opposed to on top of some novel game mechanic. for example, you grind for materials to level up characters, you don’t know what skills are best without consulting a wiki, etc. my personal favorite gacha-ish mechanic is the room you get to decorate with furniture and invite students, which unfortunately involves my least favorite mechanic (crafting). i’m not complaining, but i would have been happier if they didn’t take the safest possible route.

to review a gacha game, you must judge it by gacha game standards - the characters. while this is an area is incredibly fierce competition with plenty of games casually creating iconic characters, there is an aspect where blue archive shines like no other game i’ve seen - that all characters are equally lovable, to the point where it’s hard to have a favourite. every single character is consistently strong, no exceptions. In contrast, Genshin is infamous for playing favourites with the archon characters, niche characters rarely get new content. the first time i opened up Project Sekai i can immediately tell Nightcord and WxS is their money printer. to this day, i still don’t have a fave in blue archive because i love each and every student.

the story and themes are notable here, when i usually wouldn’t talk about the plot of gacha games. not that the plot is groundbreaking, but i think people who hasn’t played the game would be surprised that the core focus of blue archive is youth liberation. it’s ultimately about agency of minors and your responsibilities as an adult. the world doesn’t treat them as people who can make their own decisions and impact on the world. then, when worst comes to worst, you are reminded that they’re just a bunch of kids. their naive ambitions aren’t tied down to reality exactly because they aren’t equipped to face it. they are helpless against adults trying to exploit them, and there are limits to your abilities too. regardless, the true responsibilities lies within you. if you don’t help them, no one will.

the game is set in this strange heaven like world inhabited by immortal female angel students, all except for sensei, of course. conflicts between students are, for the lack of a better term, video-game-ish - every fight is temporary because no one dies. this peace that everyone take for granted is what makes the villains of the story, who are all adults, feel completely alien. the heaven they have feel almost fragile and childlike, in the face of a species that actually has the ability to kill those immortal angels if you give them a reason to. in terms of vibes, the adults basically don’t even feel like they’re from blue archive, if that makes sense.

i will now address the elephant in the room - your students really, really, really want to fuck you. i really thought it’s a hentai thing but the game lowkey has the exact same vibes. practically, it’s a harem gacha game targeted towards young men, while trying to make the relationship wholesome and not overly creepy. thematically, sensei occupies an exclusive caretaker role to a group of youthful pent-up teenage girls. he provides not just mentorship, but fulfils their emotional and physical needs as well. to the students, it’s an expression of their needs and their way of bonding with a person they cherish. personally, it’s hot as fuck. you’re either cool with this or not, it’s just personal preference.

verdict: great but safe gacha gameplay, unusually consistently strong character designs, thematically has something to say, problematic teacher-student relationships can be a turn off or selling point. i give it an i-want-to-impregnate-Serina / 10.

• see also: neko’s review