Blue Archive is a 2021 real-time strategy role-playing game developed by MX Studio, under the management umbrella of Nexon Games (formerly NAT Games) and IO Division. The player and protagonist is a Sensei who was summoned from outside the academic city-state of Kivotos by the president of the General Student Council, an extrajudicial committee governing the culturally rich regional school districts. Following her sudden disappearance, criminal activity rises around Kivotos and the player is tasked by the remaining members of the council to resolve issues that crop up and help search for the president.[2]
It was first released in February 2021 for Android and iOS devices in Japan by Yostar and self-published worldwide in November of the same year by Nexon, with a global release on Microsoft Windows in July 2025 via Steam, barring Benelux, Vietnam, and Germany and Yostar-managed regions.[3] The game is free-to-play with gacha game mechanics as a means to obtain new characters and improvise strategies via team building.
Two short-length original net anime productions were released between July and November 2022; a full-length anime television series adaptation, announced in 2023, was produced by Yostar Pictures and Candy Box, and was broadcast from April to June 2024.
Gameplay
Blue Archive is a tactical role-playing game[4] that allows the player to form and mobilize units of up to six members (two "Specials" and four "Strikers") with which to participate in various military campaigns.[5]
Students' strengths can be enhanced in various ways, such as by increasing their levels, weapons, armor and skills.[6] More students can be recruited through the gacha system using in-game currency, which may be purchased through in-app purchases.[7]
The units are mobilized on a turn-based hex map and battle initiates when they encounter an enemy or vice versa. In combat, Strikers march along a straight path and occasionally do combat with enemy groups. They also fire automatic attacks and can hide behind objects to decrease their chances of getting hit. Specials do not engage in direct combat but increase the Strikers' stats and support them from the backlines instead.
Story
Setting
Blue Archive takes place in the academic city-state of Kivotos, which was established by the union of thousands of academies. The citizens of Kivotos are composed of three races: Humanoids, which include subraces ranging from the common human to resembling angels, demons, elves, bioroids, and kemonomimi retaining lesser features of various animal races such as ears and tails; intelligent werebeast citizens of various races; and highly advanced robots with human levels of intelligence and individuality. Due to possessing Halos, humanoids are surprisingly strong and durable enough to resist and survive serious injuries like gunshots and explosions, though they can only be killed by destroying their Halo through certain means. As a result of this, every student possesses some kind of firearm and/or ordnance as a means to protect themselves and fight back against other students, with frequent campus shootouts happening quite a lot across Kivotos.
The city is ruled by the General Student Council (GSC), a federal committee led by a President, who governs the city from the Sanctum Tower with access to every student's register. Despite the GSC having the main authority within Kivotos, many of the schools operate and lead their districts with virtually autonomous independence with almost every school district having a rich, long-lasting history to them, with the three most powerful schools being Millennium Science School, Trinity General School, and Gehenna Academy.
Before the events of the game, the GSC President summons the player character, a teacher with the education status of Sensei, to be the advisor of SCHALE, an extrajudicial organization established by the president herself. She then proceeds to disappear, which is followed by a rise in criminal activity and military presence in the city. As Sensei helps the students, clubs, and academies of Kivotos with their various problems, the Sensei must also deal with school rivalries, criminal warfare, corrupt corporations, rogue AIs, paranormal creatures, mysterious groups, and insidious cults that threaten Kivotos, often with the assistance of their
Characters
This list is limited only to major characters that have appeared in both the game and the TV anime and does not include those that have appeared only in the game and/or had made cameo appearances in the TV anime.[14]
All character names culturally sort family names before given name, including in official English language display. Names with slightly differing native pronunciations from the official English translation will display romaja.
Development and production
The game was first introduced by Nexon Games (formerly NAT Games)[16] and Yostar by its initial name, Project MX. The announcement, alongside the first promotion video and arts was released in February 2020.[17][18] Yostar announced the mobile game and held closed beta tests for the Android version in July 2020, where it is now known by its current name as Blue Archive.[19] Initially scheduled to be released in 2020, it was later moved to February 4, 2021.[20][21][22]
Media
Anime
Original net animations
Two short original net animation[2] have been released individually as promotional material of the game. Both titles were produced by Yostar Pictures and released in their official YouTube channels.
The 1.5th Anniversary Short Animation was released on July 16, 2022, as a special 9-minute animation for its summer events and half-anniversary event, featuring Abydos High, Allied Hyakkiyako, Trinity General, and Gehenna Academy students on their quest of preparing for their summer activities.[39]
Beautiful Day Dreamer is another short animation title, featuring the Game Development Department (GDD) from Millenium Science School. The title was released on November 22, 2022, with a duration of around 9 minutes.
The 2.5th Anniversary Short Animation was initially scheduled to be released on July 23, 2023, but was confirmed on a December 24 livestream session that it was ultimately cancelled due to quality issues.
Cultural impact and reception
Popularity
While originally criticized due to lack of content and various in-game bugs that hampered the initial experience, the game has marked spikes in popularity later on with their improvements, with it now enjoying a huge successful fanbase especially in the Asia–Pacific region (such as Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea).
The game has been a recent big hit at Comiket, with the data for its C102 event in Summer 2023 showing the game had the highest number of circles participating in the general net social games section, with 894 circles selling doujinshi products for the game alone.[83] This is a spike of increase from 446 circles for their Winter 2022 event (C101).[84] Due to its reception, the game moves from the general net social games section to their own section in the Winter 2023 Comiket (C103) onwards, with genre code 336.[85] The numbers twinfolds to 1718 circles in C103 and expands to 1922 circles in C104. It was reported that some prominent staff like chief developer PD Kim Yong Ha and sound composer Mitsukiyo also visited the booths in the events and met the artists as a form of support.
External links
References
- Tanish Botadkar. Blue Archive's upcoming update features new story events, characters, and more Pocket Gamer, 25 August 2022, retrieved 28 August 2022^
- Tanish Botadkar. Blue Archive, the highly anticipated anime RPG with over one million pre-registrations, has launched on Android and iOS Pocket Gamer, November 9, 2021, retrieved December 17, 2021^
- Egan Loo. Yostar Pictures Animates Blue Archive Game's 1.5th Anniversary Short