| Stella Glow | |
| Developer: | Imageepoch |
| Director: | Dai Oba |
| Producer: | Hideyuki Mizutani |
| Programmer: | Taichiro Kuroiwa |
| Platforms: | Nintendo 3DS |
| Genre: | Tactical role-playing |
| Modes: | Single-player |
Stella Glow is a 2015 role-playing video game developed by Imageepoch for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in Japan by Sega, in North America by Atlus USA, and in Europe and Australia by NIS America. Its story centers around a young man who must journey to unite four witches so he can save his home town from destruction. It was the final game by Imageepoch before their bankruptcy.
Gameplay is divided into different areas, free time and battle time. During either players have the ability to purchase items and fight random monsters, but there are certain things that can only be accomplished via free time and battle time. In free time players are given three opportunities to build relationships with their teammates, perform odd jobs, or explore the surrounding area. They are also given the opportunity to "tune" the witches, a process that becomes necessary when personal strife would prevent the player from increasing their relationship with the respective witch. Doing any of these things will cause time to pass and the extent to which a player develops a relationship can impact the game's ending. Engaging in battle time will progress the game's story. Battles are turn based and the extent of a character's abilities can depend greatly on how close Alto is to the person, as a closer relationship or friendship can allow the character to unlock various abilities.
A witch, Hilda, has been crystallizing people all over the country. Alto, an amnesiac, must unite the other witches and have them sing the Anthem that will undo Hilda's efforts. Alto can tune and amplify the witches' songs. The witches' powers stem from Qualia crystals.
Alto sets out with the Regnant Knights, led by their captain, Klaus, to search for the remaining witches. Along the way, they are harassed by Hilda and her followers, who attempt to assassinate the witches and claim that they are trying to protect the world in doing so. In some of these battles, Alto and the witches are assisted by Angels, alien beings that are hostile to Hilda. Eventually, Alto unites the witches, they sing the Anthem, and the crystallized people recover, but Angels attack the capital. Klaus reveals he is in league with the Angels, and he is Xeno, a companion of the ancient hero Elcrest.
Hilda surrenders to Alto and reveals that she is one of Elcrest's companions, and Alto is Elcrest, having been hibernating for the past 1000 years. Thousands of years ago, humanity's negative emotions spawned a godlike being, the Mother Qualia. Whenever humanity's numbers grew too large, Mother Qualia would awaken and perform the Eclipse, wiping out the majority of humanity. The witches are her way of observing humanity and they would sing the Anthem to trigger the Eclipse. 1000 years ago, Elcrest tried to destroy Mother Qualia. He stopped the Eclipse, but Mother Qualia corrupted him and he had to be put into hibernation. Hilda stopped her own aging so she could protect the world until Elcrest's return. Mother Qualia forcibly corrupted Xeno into one of her agents, and returned him to Earth as Klaus. Hilda believed the only way to prevent Mother Qualia awakening was to crystallize humans.
Alto resolves to confront Mother Qualia, and the five witches learn the Celestial Hymn, a spell to weaken Mother Qualia. Alto reawakens his memories as Elcrest. The young girl Marie is an Angel, and a piece of the Mother Qualia. Marie's sister Eve, who represents the Mother Qualia, kidnaps Marie with the intent to merge her back into herself. Alto and his companions travel to the Moon and kill Xeno when he attacks them. They weaken Eve with the Celestial Hymn. Marie pleads with Alto to kill her and Eve to permanently destroy Mother Qualia. Depending on whether the player raised their affinity with Klaus to rank 2, the player is left with the choice of killing or sparing Eve.
There is an epilogue that varies depending on the character Alto has the highest affinity with.
Imageepoch trademarked the name Stella Glow in August 2014.[1] The game was designed as a celebration to commemorate a decade of the company's history. The game was initially planned to be self-published by Imageepoch, but publishing rights went to Sega instead.[2] The game's soundtrack was written by Shunsuke Tsuchiya and Yasunori Mitsuda.[3]
Stella Glow received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game holds a 78.78% rating based on twenty-three reviews at GameRankings. According to Famitsu, the title sold over 16.875 copies in its first week on the Japanese market.[4] It sold approximately 22.294 copies during its lifetime in Japan.[4]