Blue Archive

Overview

Blue Archive was Produced by Kim Yong-ha and developed by NAT Games in South Korea. Yong-ha described the game as "An RPG about finding miracles in everyday life." The game was released in Korea, Japan, and China by Yostar in February 4, 2021, and later published worldwide by Nexon on November 8 of the same year.

The game involves collecting a squad of heavily-armed schoolgirls through a gacha system, building them up with RPG-like mechanics, guiding them through each level by manually targeting and triggering their EX Skills, then watching visual novel style cutscenes as the player builds a rapport with each of them.

Setting

The setting is a giant city-state called Kivotos, populated almost entirely by schoolgirls with unique halos above their heads and guns, and talking animal-people or robots as adults. Kivotos is split between multiple different Academies (or "High Schools"), mostly managed by different student groups. Kivotos as a whole is managed by the General Student Council, and its "club" named SCHALE, which intervenes to settle larger disputes between different Academies. However, the GSC President has mysteriously disappeared, prompting SCHALE to call in a Sensei (the player character) from outside of Kivotos to restore order.

Plot

The Main Story currently consists of 6 different "Volumes" (including the Volume Final that ends the first story arc).

Volume 1: The Foreclosure Task Force

Abydos Academy is down to just five students, burdened with a massive debt from Kaiser Loans, and on the verge of shutting down entirely. The five students, all members of the Foreclosure Task Force (or "Countermeasures Committee"), call on Sensei to help them save Abydos. Along the way, Sensei finds out more about the workings of Kivotos, the issues the students face, and the fact that everyone has guns but doesn't seem to die from gunshots.

Volume 2: Clockwork Flower Pavane

In Millennium Science School, Yuuka of the Seminar group threatens to shut down the Game Development Club unless they actually get more members and make a game instead of just playing around on their time. The Saiba twins, Momoi and Midori, drag Sensei into their club to help them find the "G.BIBLE," an artifact that will supposedly help them make the perfect game to save their club. Along the way, they encounter a humanoid robot sleeping in some ruins, named AL-1S, and decide to give her the name "Aris" (or "Alice" in other versions), and add her as a club member.

Volume 3: Treaty of Eden

The "Tea Party," leaders of Trinity General School, ask Sensei to oversee the newly created Remedial Class Club and prevent the four students placed in it to raise their failing grades before they are expelled from the school. However, Sensei soon learns that this Club has a secondary purpose: One of the students in the club is suspected of being a traitor, trying to disrupt the signing of a peace treaty between Trinity and their rival school Gehenna, and Sensei is asked to try and figure out which one of the four girls it could be.

Volume 4: The Rabbit of Caerbannog

SRT (Special Response Team) Special Academy has suddenly shut down overnight, and its students are being transferred into the Valkyrie Police Academy. However, not all SRT students agree with this move, and are publicly protesting the General Student Council. SCHALE sends out Sensei to deal with the situation regarding SRT, Valkyrie, and the RABBIT Platoon, before it spirals out of control.

Volume Final: Where All Miracles Begin

A series of disasters, both mortal and divine, suddenly strike across Kivotos. Sensei must rally their allies across the city to retake SCHALE from Kaiser PMC, and then stop the source of the "False Sanctums" from destroying everything.

Volume 5: Hyakka Ryōran

The second main story arc of Blue Archive. This Volume takes place at Hyakkiyako Alliance Academy, as members of their Hyakkaryouran Conflict Resolution Council call upon Sensei for aid.